Work trip to Istanbul, Turkey - 30th to 31st May 2007

My second trip to Istanbul in under a year, and unlike last time, I actually got to see a bit of the city on this visit. After one of those horrendous trips through Heathrow, which really makes you think that it is a third-world airport, I finally got there to 30-degree heat and blazing late afternoon sunshine. Of course, after having been before, being mugged for £10 of hard currency at the airport was no surprise, nor was the dodgy scrum of taxi drivers outside the arrivals hall.

I arrived just in time for dinner with some colleagues, which was in a restaurant with the most fantastic view over the Bosphorus. We were outside a restaurant on a quayside, with our table right next to the water on the European side. This photo was basically taken from my restaurant seat, overlooking a magnificent mosque, and a bridge over the Bosphorus. Obviously, being extremely old, Istanbul is crammed with amazing old buildings, narrow streets, and a very impractical street layout - in fact, the hilly nature of the city makes you think that it isn't perhaps the best site for a modern city!

Typically for a Brit abroad, the following day started off beautifully, but was then interrupted by a huge rain shower at lunchtime. My Turkish hosts seemed most shocked to see such dodgy weather, and seemed to be blaming me for it. So I made a quick escape to the airport for the plane home - again a nightmare journey, with the toilets on the plane broken and out of order for the final 2 hours of the flight! All a very long way to go for a few hours of meetings, but I was glad to get a chance to do something other than work this time - and that view over the Bosphorus was worth getting on a plane for.

Rumble Strips, Pull Tiger Tail, The Little Ones, Blood Red Shoes - Koko, London - Tuesday 29th May 2007

Thanks to the NME again for putting a great lineup of bands together, for their New Music Tour. Last year's tour featured Boy Kill Boy, The Automatic, Forward Russia, and The Long Blondes, who have done OK since. Well actually, Boy Kill Boy have done next to nothing since, as have Forward Russia. The Automatic have done pretty well since, and the Long Blondes have got more famous, but could not really have been more overhyped at the time of the tour last year. Nevertheless, a decent opportunity to see some hotly tipped new bands.

First up on the bill tonight were Blood Red Shoes, a boy and a girl from Brighton. They look like the White Stripes, except with the girl on guitar, and the boy on drums. They sound not too unlike them as well, with trashy garage punk rock mainly the order of the day. Of course, with only 2 members in a rock band, they both need to keep quite busy, so the both the drummer and guitarist shared lead vocals. The guitar consisted of a few simple chords, played very loud and very fast, and sounding very trashy and dirty. The drummer was the real star of the show, an excellent drummer, great vocals, and he bobbed around in his chair like a nutter. All in all, it was a very good noise for only 2 people to be making.

One annoyance was that the band seemed very grumpy on stage - they said hello, but accused the crowd of looking bored - not the thing to do if you want to win over a London crowd. At the end of the set, the guitarist took part in a comedy "smashing" of her guitar, except that it wasn't the guitar she was playing during the set, presumably she has a special guitar just to act out that particular rock and roll cliche. I really liked the music they played, it was loud and rocky, and when the girl was singing, it reminded me of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But their moody attitude was not so good - maybe they were just having a bad day!

Following Blood Red Shoes were The Little Ones, a band from California who seemed to have a decent following of fans, even before they played a note - their entrance onto the stage was greeted with quite a cheer. But I thought their set was very average - the first and last songs stood out, but the rest did not leave much of an impression on me, let alone a positive one. They sounded like many of the American bands at the "strange" end of the scale, the vocals reminding me in particular of Mercury Rev at points. But unlike many of the bands they sound like, they seemed to lack many decent songs.

"Kooky" is a word I believe is used to describe bands like this - but I just find them a bit annoying. What they lacked in songs, the band did at least try to make up for in stage presence, and interaction with the crowd. They were very smiley and happy, and tried hard to ensure that the audience were having a good time - which many seemed to be. But the songs seemed far too commercial and forgettable for my liking. They will probably do OK in the sunshine at festivals, but I won't be there to watch them.

Pull Tiger Tail also came on stage to massive applause, and played what for me was the best set of the night. I had seen them and liked them before, and was again impressed by their tunes, and the urgency and energy with which they play them live. With 2 guitarists and no bassist, the bass came from a keyboard, and the sound of it was turned up very high in the venue, reverberating through my stomach.

They played at least 4 or 5 really good songs in their set, including Animator and Hurricanes, both of which I knew from their MySpace profile. The reaction in the audience was incredible, with lots of mental moshing and dancing. Towards the end of their set, they had drummers from the 2 previous bands on stage with them, to play on one of their songs - including the excellent drummer from Blood Red Shoes. All in all, they reminded me of lots of the things I like about We Are Scientists - although the music is different in style, the band are just as good for having a good time whilst watching.

After their set finished, I was a bit surprised to see lots of people leave the venue - not surprised that they were hardcore fans of Pull Tiger Tail, but slightly surprised that they weren't sticking around for the Rumble Strips. They missed a treat, as it turned out.

Last time I saw the Rumble Strips was at the Camden Crawl, at a pub about 15 yards from this evening's venue - it was literally straight across the road. A packed boozer and a great gig, but a very different venue to tonight. But, despite the venue being several times the size, the band looked like they could easily have been headlining a bigger venue. Pausing infrequently to talk too much, they rattled through a good set, including all of their familiar songs.

The band have a quirky sound, reminiscent of Larrakin Love, and old festival stalwarts Dodgy. That said, it is a very catchy sound that should see them get very much more popular in the next few months. This was of course not as good a gig for me as the previous time I saw them - stood about 5 yards from the band, in a pub holding a couple of hundred people. But I still really enjoyed their show, and will be making a beeline to see them during the summer. Should be good.

The Pigeon Detectives, Air Traffic, Cheap Hotel - Astoria, London - Wednesday 23rd May 2007

With the Champions League final happening tonight, the day was full of nauseating news stories about how Liverpool fans are "special", and "the best fans in the world". The odd, story or two, of course, didn't toe the party line 100%, but instead painted a more familiar picture of our loveable, shellsuit-wearing friends from the north.

Given all this, I was very pleased to be avoiding all of the plastic Scousers in London, and instead going to see the Pigeon Detectives play some of their excellent songs. Last time I had really enjoyed their show - with the album out in 5 days, and a significantly bigger show at the Astoria, it promised to be a cracker.

When I got into the venue, a band called Cheap Hotel were playing. They had 2 female guitarists, one of whom also sang some vocals. Their songs were extremely average at best, and their final song was introduced as their new single. Not sure how many they were hoping to sell, but I don't think it will be all that many. The most worrying thing about them was that the bassist was wearing a t-shirt with the name of a band on it. This in itself is not too bad, except that it was one of their own band's t-shirts. How poor is that - by all means wear a nice Strokes t-shirt or something, but don't wear one with the name of your own (crap) band on the front!

Anyway, on to the main support band, who were Air Traffic. Having seen them a couple of times before, most recently at the Camden Crawl last month, I kind of knew what to expect. They played a set which was heavy on their singles, both past and future. The band really go for it on stage, and it is very clear that they are giving their performance everything - which helps to transmit some enthusiasm to the crowd also. But, the basic problem with them is that their songs are very safe, radio-friendly (and Radio 2 at that) ditties - not rock and roll at all, and not even all that inspiring. They are really like a new version of Keane, with the addition of a lead guitarist. This addition makes them better than Keane (generally, adding guitars tends to make bands better in my experience), but fundamentally, they are still just like Keane. Which is not good.

The band give it their all when playing live, which means that watching them is much better than listening on Radio 2. But, try as I might, I just cannot muster that much enthusiasm for them. They are like a band that were formed with the specific purpose to open up at Keane gigs forever. They will probably be very commercially successful, and make massively more money than I ever will - but I cannot bring myself to like them very much (not that they will care, obviously, especially with all that money they'll make). The tunes are OK, quite catchy, quite nice to listen to, but I will leave that to others. Good luck boys, we were just never meant to be compatible.

When the Pigeon Detectives came onto the stage, they ploughed straight into Romantic Type - one of their previous singles, and in my opinion their best song. By the time the song had finished, the singer had already dived into the crowd to sing one chorus, and several drinks had landed on stage. Quite a beginning, and I feared that they had wasted the best song and biggest excitement at the start of the set.

Luckily this wasn't the case, the set carried on with good song after good song for a while after that! I said last time I saw the Pigeon Detectives that the live show, and especially the manic behaviour from the singer, really makes this band very different live to on CD - you have to see them live to really get what they are all about. This show was no different, as the singer darted around the stage, continually throwing the microphone up in the air, jumping around, then catching it again in time for the next lines of the song. Or at least that was the plan. He seemed quite pissed this time around, so a number of songs were punctuated by the sound of a mic landing on the floor, half a line missed, then the resumption of the song once the mic was retrieved again!

Most of the new album was showcased in this set, which was generally fantastic throughout. One thing I liked was that, with 2 songs to go, the singer announced that the band are not the sort to do encores, but that they had 2 songs left. That almost made it like an encore, as people knew they were coming to the end of the set. And the band didn't have to bother leaving the stage! Eventually, the last song was current single I'm Not Sorry - the energy of the band's larking on stage, the frontman especially (who is absolutely crazy), never fails to get the audience fired up, and the songs are good enough to ensure a fantastic time is had by all. Another very good gig, by a band I would highly recommend.

The Maccabees, Jack Penate - Astoria, London - Thursday 17th May 2007

One year ago today, Arsenal were 15 minutes away from winning the Champions League. Depressing, but I could think of a much worse way to forget about the first anniversary, than going to this gig. The Maccabees released their acclaimed (and excellent) debut album this week, and this was the last date of a very successful UK tour. As if that wasn't enough, Jack Penate, after being thoroughly excellent at the recent Camden Crawl, was supporting. And, the whole thing at the Astoria too, my favourite "medium-sized" venue.

On entering the venue, it quickly became very apparent that there was a VERY young audience for this show. The gig was open to anybody over 14, and it seemed that the majority were between 14 and 18. Which of course meant nice short queues for the bar. The fact that both the Maccabees and Jack Penate take care to play "all ages" gigs regularly, has definitely helped to make both of them massive on MySpace, and made sure that they are extremely popular amongst "the kids". I felt very old, until I saw Steve Lamacq at the bar, which made me think that I wasn't all that old after all.

Jack Penate's set was, again, amazing - with the guitar riffs and poppy songs that really manage to get people fired up. Of course, the audience here needed no firing up, to the extent that the floor was actually bouncing up and down because so many people were jumping. Quite scary. There was moshing, crowd surfing, falling over, and by the end of the set, the floor was a sweat-soaked mass of people. A short but quite brilliant set, which never dipped from being extremely high-tempo throughout.

I got the impression that many of the audience were there to see Jack Penate as much, if not more than The Maccabees - so the whole thing was as mental as you are ever likely to see a support set get. Obviously the crowd here was very different to the Camden Crawl, more hardcore Jack Penate fans - and the atmosphere was much better for it. The set closed with first single Second, Minute Or Hour, and new single Torn On The Platform. Jack threw his baseball cap into the crowd, there was screaming and cheering, and all in all it was an awesome set.

The Maccabees came on stage to the massive sound of The Clash's Clampdown, which started their set off fantastically, and that was the way it continued. Their album is full of brilliant songs that mix indie and pop, with a little bit of punk thrown in too. They played for just over an hour, and it was a set that I never wanted to end. There were at least half a dozen huge highlight songs, including About Your Dress, Latchmere, Precious Time, Lego and X-Ray, and the rest weren't at all bad either.

For a group of people with such posh names, they really do know how to rock, and to put on a very mental show. Orlando, Felix, Hugo, Rupert and Robert do not sound like rock and roll names, but lead guitarist Felix in particular was going completely mad on the left hand side of the stage. The mosh pit was covering the majority of the floor for most of the songs, and tunes like About Your Dress went off even more than that.

All in all this was one of the best gigs I have been to for quite a while, and everything a good gig should be. It was at the Astoria, with 2 great bands, playing poppy guitar songs. The crowd were incredibly up for it, went mad, and completely adored both bands. The venue was outrageously hot, and the music was loud and good. Almost the perfect gig - I want to see both bands again VERY soon.

Willy Mason, Elvis Perkins - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Wednesday 16th May 2007

I last saw Willy Mason almost exactly a year ago, supporting Radiohead. That time, he had already started to move from being a soloist, to having a few other musicians on stage with him. With a new album released recently, containing some more complex songs, I was interested to see how he would try to play them live - with the band or without? Despite the gig being at Shepherds Bush Empire, whose flat floor, and annoyingly-placed steps and bars mean that it is really difficult to see from large parts of the venue, I was looking forward to this for a while beforehand.

The support band for the whole Willy Mason tour was a guy called Elvis Perkins, a singer-songwriter from New York, who plays with an interesting band, containing a strange mix of jazz and folk instruments. For a singer/songwriter, his voice reminded me a bit of Brendan Benson, although his band was much more of an eclectic mix of musicians - a double bassist amongst them. When I first walked in and saw them playing, I was non-plussed. But, that was probably just because I walked in during a dodgy song. The songs after that were generally good, and the band really grew on me by the end of their set. More than a bit strange, but an interesting band with some good songs.

Willy Mason's set started with him strolling on stage alone, with a guitar, and starting to play Feel No Pain. By the end of the song, however, as it built up, he had been joined by a drummer, guitarist, bassist and banjo player (who also doubled as a backing singer). A much different proposition to his last headline dates, which just saw him playing solo for most of the time - "Willy Mason" is now a full band, full time, and I have to say is quite a bit better for it. The sound is generally bigger, as you would expect, and Willy himself seemed more confident as the leader of a band, rather than the vulnerable guy with a guitar that he used to be.

The sound from the band was technically impeccable for all of the set, this is a complex, well-rehearsed set, and it sounded incredible - especially for some of the more recent, more intricate songs like new single We Can Be Strong, and When The Leaves Have Fallen - which is a masterpiece. Of course, there were a decent number of older songs on show too, but the sound was fantastic, and it was great to hear such good musicianship.

Now, you know when you go to see Willy Mason, that most of the songs will be slow, quiet, and, well, reflective - with lyrics that need to be listened to properly. You need to stand still, be quiet and pay attention, and there is unlikely to be any crowd surfing or moshing. That's the deal, in return you get a great gig. But all that does get ruined when there are literally dozens of people at the back of the venue, talking really loudly over the top of the music. Mostly, I have to say, girls, who were obviously there to see the hit singles, but otherwise to chat and giggle with their mates about the current stock of Top Shop on Oxford Street (this was an actual overheard conversation, not an unfair stereotype).

There is a pub next door to Shepherds Bush Empire on either side (a Walkabout and an O'Neills in fact), which provide perfect venues for such inane chatting of shit. I do wish that several dozen people had chosen that option instead tonight, rather than going to see Willy Mason, but ruining the enjoyment of hundreds of others that had gone to actually listen to the music. Why they went to see a band, then didn't watch or listen to them, escapes me.

Anyway, lets take nothing away from Willy Mason himself and his band. Their sound was incredible, and they are definitely better as a full band, because it really allows the cleverness of the songs to come to the fore. Luckily, Willy Mason confirmed an appearance at Glastonbury today too, so hopefully I'll get a chance to see him again soon, without all the idiots yapping at the back.

Portsmouth vs Arsenal - Fratton Park, Portsmouth - Sunday 13th May 2007

We finally get to the last match of what has frankly been a very disappointing season. We moved to a new stadium, but definitely took the hit in terms of results on the pitch. We dropped too many cheap points as we took time to get used to the new stadium - both the pitch and the atmosphere. We suffered especially as the new ground seemed to lift the smaller teams that came to play us. We missed too much of too many influential players through injury, not least Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie. And, with the exception of the Carling Cup, we were out of contention for all of the trophies far too early.

We did get to see the emergence of some great young talent, especially in the run to the Carling Cup final, and Cesc Fabregas started to truly become one of the very best midfielders in the world. But overall, the season was a story of what could have been, especially after being 15 minutes away from winning the Champions League a year ago.

Portsmouth on the other hand have had a great season - in fact still able to qualify for the UEFA Cup on the final day. Their recent cash injections, plus some smart signings by Harry Redknapp (mainly of old Arsenal players like Lauren, Campbell and Kanu - although David James is also noteworthy), have delivered a season that their fans could never have expected.

End of season games are often a bit weird, and the atmosphere was one of Pompey fans celebrating the end of a good season, with Arsenal fans just relieved that the season is finally over! Plus, everybody had cause to celebrate the news that Graham Poll has decided to quit refereeing, and today was to be his final game - good riddance!

Going in fancy dress for the last game of the season, meant a fantastic seat in the very front row, very close to the action, and much of the game was watched through the goal net. Mart Poom started the game, and it was nice to see him after a couple of years of him never getting off the bench! Other than that, we had a strange lineup, with no recognised striker on the pitch (and no, Baptista is no longer a "recognised" striker in my opinion).

This all meant that the game was far from exciting, with Arsenal certainly just seeming to go through the motions for much of the time. We did get a penalty just before half time, but Craptista contrived to miss it, for his third penalty miss of the season. Why his teammates let him take the penalty I will never know, but at least it wasn't important, and some credit is due to David James for a decent save. The second half began with some great banter with David James, who was bemused to arrive in front of a load of Arsenal fans in fancy dress, and was joining in the fun with us - one of those things that occasionally reminds you that (some) footballers double as human beings, and some have a sense of humour as well.

The major incident of the second half was Poll's decision to disallow a Portsmouth goal. It was at completely the other end to me, so I didn't see it at the time, but TV replays showed a clear offside and a correct decision (for once) from the crap ref. Still, that didn't stop the idiots on Match Of The Day (Lineker especially) droning on about how "controversial" it all was. How can an incident where a referee makes a perfectly correct decision be described as "controversial"?

The amusement was of course that the small-time Pompey fans then had a perfect scapegoat for their failure to qualify for Europe. Seeing such small-time fans so hopping mad is always very funny. Birmingham City, Newcastle United, Everton and Spurs fans also exhibit this very well - I can only assume it comes either from wearing too much blue, or from some kind of inferiority complex. Moan, moan, moan, moan, moan.

So, the game finished 0-0, it was not a classic by any means, but then end of season games are often like that. No more football for a while now, it will be a long 3 months without a World Cup or European Championships, and most probably without the transfer budget to bring in too many exciting new players either. Still, if we can get all of our players fit for the middle of August, that would be the first step to doing much better next time.

Maximo Park, Long Blondes - Forum, London - Saturday 12th May 2007

Like The View a couple of weeks ago, Maximo Park also chose to end their UK tour with a choice of intimate London dates. Instead of playing somewhere horrible like Alexandra Palace, they decided to play three smaller dates, at the Astoria, Forum, and Shepherds Bush Empire. This is a very good trend, made even more interesting by the different support bands at each date - Art Brut, Electrelane, and the Long Blondes for this date.

Hopefully, more bands will start to do this, giving people the chance to see them in smaller venues, rather than huge arenas. It also means more chance to visit some of London's better venues, like the Forum and the Astoria, where the view is good, the atmosphere is one of friendliness and devotion to the bands, and the whole experience feels less manufactured - grubby carpets and all.

Going to a gig tonight was also a great way to avoid the awfulness of the Eurovision Song Contest - but then pulling your fingernails out would be preferable to that.

The Long Blondes support set was a good one. Last time I saw them, about a year ago, I was pretty nonplussed, but this time I though they were much more impressive. Of course, knowing a few more of their songs is very likely to have helped me enjoy them more, but I think they were actually better as well. There seemed to be much less pouting from the lead singer this time, so more concentrating on playing the songs. Their sound was rockier than I recall, and in a support slot, they concentrated mainly on the safe banker songs, rather than trying anything too risky. But, I really enjoyed their set - not sure if I would pay to see them headline, but I would definitely say they are well worth getting to a gig early to see.

Last time I saw Maximo Park, about a month ago, it was in a tiny venue that still contrived to provide a pretty bad view and sound. Despite only holding a couple of hundred people, and the band putting on a great show, the sound was muddy and muffled if you stood anywhere other than in front of the speakers. No such problem here, the band sounded ear-splittingly loud, and their sound was quite frankly fantastic.

Playing a similar set which opened up with Graffiti, followed by Girls Who Play Guitars, they were simply awesome from start to finish. I have never seen Maximo Park play live where their performance was anything other than completely brilliant, and I'm happy to say that this gig continued the trend. Listening to their albums is one thing, but it really does not prepare you for how amazingly good they are live. From start to finish, they played one great song after another, but the intensity, loudness, and brilliance of their live shows is overwhelming at times. A truly fantastic live band, not to be missed if you get the opportunity.

The Belgrave Scandal - Jamm, London - Friday 11th May 2007

Belgrave Scandal gigs are obviously like London buses - you wait ages (in this case about 3 months) for one, then a couple come along one after another. Fresh off the plane from Budapest, it was off to the Jamm bar in Brixton for a pretty big gig by Scandal standards - at a club night where Bonehead, formerly of Oasis, was to be DJ-ing. This helped to ensure a good turnout, of Scandal fans, and of Bonehead/Oasis fans that came along to see the bands as well.

By the time the band took the stage at about 10:15, the venue was nicely packed, probably just under a hundred people there. The Scandal came on and played probably the best set I have ever seen them play. The Barfly gig on Monday showed that they have been practising, improving the vocals, and getting more inventive with the way they play. Tonight's gig took all of that, added a sizeable and appreciative crowd, a sense of excitement and occasion, and a band on pretty top form musically. That meant everything was in place for a great set, and a great set it was.

The crowd were supportive, being made up in large part of friends of the band, which meant that there was good banter between band and audience. When there were technical problems, they improvised and played a short burst of Ring Of Fire, whilst the problems were fixed - this got a great reaction. The sound in the venue was excellent, helped by a decent setup, and somebody there that knew how to work it all properly. And, of course, the tunes are definitely in place, are very good, and getting better when played live.

This was one of those gigs where it all seemed to come together - the quality of the songs, a band that played them well, but looked like they were having a great time at the same time, and a decent sized audience there to enjoy it all. It was a pleasure to watch - I felt that the band definitely moved up a level tonight - lets hope that this is the first of many memorable gigs like it.

Work trip to Budapest, Hungary - 9th to 11th May 2007

A couple of days in Budapest, to attend a conference that my company organises - the same thing took me to Berlin last year, so a nice change of scenery this time. Bob Geldof was the main speaker, and the company always seems to pull out the stops for this one - so some nice hotels, and lovely venues for social events are usually on the menu.

I had been to Budapest twice before, once at some point in the late 90s (it all seems like a blur now!), the most recent in 2003. This was also my first trip to Eastern Europe for a while. I always remember Budapest as being a nice city to visit, not as good as Prague all in all, but not bad for a weekend. They call it the Paris of the East - funny, because Shanghai, Riga and Bucharest all claim the same title. If you stay close to the River Danube, they have a point, but in much of the city, that description is stretching the truth a bit!

During my stay in Budapest, I spent a lot of time sitting in taxis or cars, being driven from one place to another around the city. When I say I spent a lot of time, I mean much more time that one would reasonably expect. Traffic is bad in a lot of cities, but Budapest is a complete joke. The road from the airport into the city (the capital city, remember!), is a single carriageway road, that trundles along for ages, with red traffic light after red traffic light. Then, once in the city, you hit the real traffic jams. Crossing the river is a complete nightmare at any time, and it is quite often quicker to walk. So, lots of time spent sitting in taxis, whilst they generally went nowhere fast.

Of course, much of this is the fault of the 40 years that Hungarians spent being ruled by Communists. They couldn't have nice consumer goods like cars for a long time. As soon as they were introduced to capitalism, they all went out and wanted to buy Western cars. In fact, so many people did so, that they all now sit in their Western cars, going nowhere because the city is completely snarled up. Of course, they have every right to buy however many cars they like, but it does not make Budapest a nice place to visit if you need to get around town.

The other interesting legacy of Communism is that it seems to be compulsory for Hungarian men over the age of 35 to have either a dodgy moustache, or a fully poor beard. Communist architecture also still scars the city all over - you see magnificent churches, museums, bridges and palaces, not to mention stunning buildings that are not even used for anything all that grand - then next door, a horrible 60s communist square concrete building.

Whilst in town, I did get the opportunity to see most of the nice bits (and they are truly lovely), and was also reminded by the great May weather that this part of Europe does have some fantastic summers. The parliament buildings, chain bridge, fisherman's bastion and castle, as well as the River Danube, are all beautiful attractions, so it was great to get to wander around and see all of them again.

In Budapest, you do get the feel of being in a decent sized city, where things happen - a feeling that you don't get so much in places like Prague. But it is hard to get over the fact that, away from the riverside bridges and buildings, and outside the Buda side of the river where the castles and palaces are; much of the city is not terribly attractive or endearing. The touristy stuff is fantastic, and will divert most people very enjoyably for a good weekend, but having done all that before, and now come here for work, I doubt I'll feel the need to rush back too soon.

The Belgrave Scandal - Barfly, London - Monday 7th May 2007

First time seeing the Belgrave Scandal for a while, and they have obviously been busy in the meantime. They signed a management deal a few weeks ago, so this gig was hastily arranged so that their new representatives could actually see them play live. As well as being busy entering the murky world of music industry business, they also seemed to have been busy practising! It was obvious from the last time I saw them, that the band are much tighter, much more well-polished in playing their tunes, and have been working on some interesting new arrangements for some songs as well.

They played a very tight 7-song set, including new songs Same Old Same Old, and The Soho Shuffle, which went down very well with the decent sized audience. The vocals sounded much clearer than I have heard them before, with some good key changes in places, and a much better range of vocals and music generally. The band definitely have the tunes, and seem to be getting slicker and better at playing them, too. Now they have a management deal, next stop is surely a record deal, then to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Possibly.

Arsenal vs Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London - Sunday 6th May 2007

As soon as the disgraceful Cashley Hole went off to take millions of Russian roubles by signing for Chelsea, it was always a nailed on certainty that his first appearance back at Arsenal would be full of utterly deserved hatred for the little shit. His autobiography, where he blamed everybody else for everything, and generally moaned about his difficult life for 300 pages, did nothing to endear him to anybody at all - so much so that he has spent the season being booed just about everywhere he has been, and not just by Arsenal fans.

Given the way that his new employers have contrived to ruin football - by buying trophies, intimidating referees, signing players they don't need (just so that others can't get them), employing a manager that makes Pravda seem quite straight-talking, and generally showing no respect to anybody at all; it was also pretty certain that Chelsea's first visit to the Emirates Stadium would not see them afforded a terribly warm welcome.

Unfortunately, Cashley bottled it got a hurty knee or ankle or something, so he couldn't make it. How predictable, and proof that he is a complete coward as well as a greedy, disloyal, whinging scumbag. Never mind, because the chance was there to get a result, and put the final nail into the coffin of Chelsea's championship challenge. Handing the Premiership title to Manchester United is far from an ideal thing to be doing, but I'm sure most neutrals were hoping that Chelsea would be sent home without a trophy.

Before the game in the Rocket, I have rarely seen so many people, so up for a home game - especially when we ourselves have nothing to play for. When it was announced that Cashley was too scared to show up, there was a bit of deflation, followed immediately by a determination amongst the fans to let him know what we thought of him regardless. In fact, during the first half, the level of utter hatred for all things Chelsea was fantastic - whistling and booing whenever they had the ball, and generally leaving them in no doubt that we do not like them.

Its a bit annoying that we could only muster this to get on Chelsea's nerves, but it does at least show that Arsenal fans are capable of showing some passion. The singing of "Liverpool", to taunt them about their Champions League exit, was horribly embarrassing (something that lower league clubs would have done), but the intensity of the barracking that we gave Chelsea did convince me that Arsenal fans can do something other than sit in silence if they want to.

The game itself, well well well. Chelsea came out all guns blazing at the beginning I thought, but by the end of the first half, Arsenal had got themselves firmly on top. Just before half time, we were awarded a deserved penalty, when the useless Boulahrouz was caught climbing all over the equally useless Baptista. Why on earth he felt the need to do that, I have no idea - Baptista was far too crap to score anyway, so his blatant foul was bemusing to say the least. Gilberto scored the penalty to put us 1-0 up, and Boulahrouz was sent off. Then the half time whistle went.

Now, when teams go down to 10 men, sometimes they kind of collapse, and it is fairly easy to finish them off. This was not one of those times, in fact it was the opposite - where the team with 10 men digs in and pulls out an amazing performance. Chelsea did that for much of the second half, and it very nearly worked for them - they needed a win, but did very well to come back for a draw. The referee didn't help the game from anybody's point of view, continually blowing his whistle for some very fussy free kicks. But Chelsea's second half display was very impressive. Slightly out of character also, they were attacking with nothing to lose, which meant that they were forced to abandon their usual defensive, risk-averse approach. Jens Lehmann was man of the match for much of the last 20 minutes, but despite all this, Arsenal could still have clinched a win in injury time, when Eboue hit the bar with a rocket of a shot.

So, Chelsea's league challenge ended, and their team went over to see their fans. That meant they could be fully booed off the pitch, with boos, whistles, and chants of "what a waste of money" ringing firmly in their ears. Excellent stuff, although it was again a shame that Arsenal fans en masse could only muster such passion to hate Chelsea, rather than to support their own team. Still, hating Chelsea isn't a bad place to start.

After the game and back in the Rocket, it was the end of season party for supporters' group Red Action. Perry Groves was in attendance, fully participating in the drinking and singing. In fact, when the karaoke machine came out, he was first up to lead the couple of hundred punters in a better-than-expected rendition of Sweet Caroline. I somehow doubt that Cashley Cole will ever be loved enough by any group of fans, to be in that situation - Perry Groves is a true Arsenal legend.