Work trip to Philadelphia, USA - 21st to 25th October 2007

Not too long since the last time, I was back in the US, and back in Philadelphia, for a week's work. This time, I flew out there on a Sunday, and arrived at a near-deserted Philadelphia airport. It was so deserted, in fact, that ours was the only flight full of people in the immigration hall when we got there, so I got through in under 10 minutes - which is totally unheard-of. The immigration officer I saw had a book on his desk called the "Al-Qaeda Reader", which no doubt was helping him to spot terrorists. Beard, yes. Dark skin, yes. Funny name, yes. Speaks Arabic, yes. Big rucksack, yes. Hopefully every immigration officer has one, that'll help keep the nation safe!

Very soon after arriving in the country, in fact the first time that I tried to buy some food, I was re introduced to the inescapable fact of customisation in the US. Americans are used to having everything exactly the way they want it, down to the most trivial detail. Do you want your salad "chopped", or not? Well, if I'm honest, I don't really care, and the 10th such similar question gets a bit tedious. I just want a sandwich, on some kind of bread - I don't care which of the 10 varieties of bread it comes on. At one point, just after midnight one evening, I went to a "convenience store", and walked past the coffee counter. Even at that hour, there were at least a dozen different types of coffee available (even more than are captured in the photo here) - why would anybody need that much choice in coffee at midnight on a Tuesday night? During the trip, I also visted a (normal) "Pharmacy", which sold cigarettes, and lots of other bad things, but that's another story entirely!

One of the highlights of my first day in the office, was getting to play with my geeky IT colleague's new iPhone, which obviously isn't available in Europe yet. They really are quite fantastic toys - I wasn't all that excited when I first heard about them, but having played with one now, I have to say that I really want one. The way you control everything from a touch screen (including zooming in and out on stuff, with some very cool finger movements), and the general intelligence of the thing, is amazing. After playing with the iPhone, I went to buy an iPod touch for somebody back home - this is pretty much the same thing, just without the phone - and it took a lot of willpower to resist the urge to get it out of the box and start playing with it!

Whilst I was away, I was gutted to miss the magnificent Arsenal's 7-0 win over Slavia Prague - by the look of it, an absolute textbook display of how to play football, which had everybody purring. Annoyingly, I didn't even get to watch the game as I was stuck in a meeting, so I had to rely on Sky Sports website for updates. Isn't that sod's law, that the game I missed was so spectacular.

Again this time, I couldn't help noticing that there are lots of mental people on the streets of American cities. At night in the centre of Philadelphia (which is pretty normal for America), you can't walk more than a couple of blocks without being approached by people that want something from you. It is a bit threatening because lots of them look and sound a bit mad, and I am generally more comfortable with the street weirdos that you get in England - maybe because I am more used to them. The street nutters always really strike me when I go to the US - partly because of the number of them, the frequency with which they approach you, and how they are an integral part of most cities, yet a million miles away from the mainstream people walking past them.

Many "regular" (white) Americans are "assholes", and treat lots of people in their country, service industry workers in particular, like shit. But then, their whole culture is geared up to do exactly that - pay certain people a pathetic "minimum wage", then put them through the indignity of serving other people, and practically begging to earn the tips that make them able to scratch a decent pay packet. In return, "normal" Americans are allowed to expect the earth from these people, they treat them badly when they don't get it, then they wonder why there are huge class divisions, and massive resentment in the country.

Alongside all this, you have the fact that lots of migrants to the USA are very hard working, grateful for the opportunities that come their way, and believe that their destiny is in their own hands through hard work (rather than being owed something by everybody else) - and the country is therefore a total magnet for skilful, ambitious people from literally all over the world. Sadly, many of the people that were born with US passports as their "right", are nowhere near as hardworking or self-reliant, and perhaps the place would be better if its "citizens" needed to re-earn the right to stay there every year. The UK faces the same problem I feel, that many of the immigrants that the Daily Mail complains so bitterly about, actually have more of the qualities that the country needs, than many of the locals.

And it is this strange mix in America, that makes it so fascinating. On one hand, the country creates the ultimate environment where people can advance themselves (if they can be bothered), and for many people it really is the land of opportunity - which is definitely something great about the place. But on the other, there are swathes of people, many of whom keep the country running by providing service industries, who are treated like dirt by the rest of the population, and that seems to be OK - which is definitely something I hate about the place. Very weird, and rather worrying that this rather unhealthy mix of things seems to be the way the world is being led.

The Hold Steady, Art Brut, Demander - Fillmore At The TLA, Philadelphia, USA - Tuesday 23rd October 2007

Whilst on a work trip the US, I was lucky that the NME Rock and Roll Riot Tour was hitting town whilst I was there. Having been to the UK version of this in London last week, it was good to do the double, with 2 excellent bands in The Hold Steady and Art Brut on the US tour. I had been to this venue before, admittedly under a different name, and really enjoyed it - so I was looking forward to going back. A good place, and at around 1,000 capacity, a much smaller venue than you'd get to see these kinds of bands play in London.

The first band on were Demander, a three piece with a female singer, who also played the bass. I had listened to a couple of their songs on MySpace before the show, and wasn't really impressed. Seeing them live kind of confirmed that, with not a great deal interesting going on. Eddie Argos from Art Brut was having a drink at the bar during their set, which was interesting. I must admit that they did get significantly better towards the end of the set, but I won't be rushing back to see them.

Next up were Art Brut, playing something longer than a "normal" support set, at about 45 minutes. I was due to go and see them in London in June, but had to drop out thanks to a nasty bout of food poisoning. At this gig, of course, hardly anybody in the audience had heard of them, so very few people knew what to expect. I was wary to begin with, about how Americans would react to some very over the top Englishness. As it turned out, though, this was a great way to see Art Brut, watching them completely win over a crowd that had never heard of them before, to the point where they were eating out of the band's hand by the end.

The set was drawn pretty equally from across Art Brut's 2 albums, although the sound, and the quickfire nature of the lyric delivery meant that it was at times difficult to hear what Eddie Argos was saying. But, all in all, Art Brut are one of the funnier bands you can watch - the stage presence of all of the band (but the singer in particular) is amazing, and they really put on a good show. From Blame It On The Trains towards the beginning of the set, through Nag Nag Nag, to the finale of Direct Hit and Good Weekend, their set had people dancing and moshing, and Eddie Argos had people laughing. A really good live band, (with a lookalike for Gareth Keenan from The Office on guitar), I fail to see how anybody could watch them live and not enjoy it.

After a mercifully short changeover, The Hold Steady appeared, and started their set with a fantastic version of Positive Jam, the first track on their debut album, every word of which was sung back loudly by the majority of the crowd. That song is not well known enough in the UK, and not instantly likeable enough, to play it first, and this was the first sign that the set would be very different to the Hold Steady gigs I'd been to in the UK before. Of course, in the UK, the band have novelty value, being so American - which just doesn't apply here - but they also seem to attract crowds here that know the songs much better, and that know songs from more than just the latest album. This was an outing for comparative die hards.

The Hold Steady had been playing new songs already on this tour, and this continued with the debut of an excellent new song called Lord I'm Discouraged, something which the NME Review of the gig surprisingly failed to pick up on. (This review also contains utter fiction about Eddie Argos tearing through the crowd topless at the end of Art Brut's set. He did get into the crowd on one occasion, and he did unbutton his shirt on a different occasion - neither were at the end of the set). This new song (and a couple of others) were played with a double necked guitar - the ultimate in rock cheese, which of course the Americans loved, and seemed to see no cliche whatsoever in.

When the set got around to Your Little Hoodrat Friend, the venue went completely mad, and that song was the undoubted highlight. In fact, many of the highlights were songs that aren't from Boys And Girls In America, again showing how much deeper the American fans seem to be into the band. Many of the songs were played quite a bit faster than the recorded versions, which I thought meant that a few of the lyrics got a bit lost - I would have preferred some of the tunes to have been heavier sounding, rather than faster, but there we go. The band rarely stopped to talk to the audience, which was cool, and gave the set a real sense of urgency.

As the set wound on, the band gave a mention to their English t-shirt seller, who they met in Manchester (the English one), but who had the broadest Scouse accent imaginable. Towards the end of the set, there was a blistering version of Southtown Girls, a rendition of a brilliant song that I'd never heard before called Girls Like Status, with the classic chorus line "guys go for looks, girls go for status", and to finish the show, a manic version of Killer Parties, complete with a huge cheer during the lyric about Philadelphia. A great gog overall, seeing the Hold Steady in America was a very different experience to when they are in Europe - it is a full throttle show, and extremely enjoyable indeed.

Review

Arsenal vs Bolton Wanderers - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 20th October 2007

Those boring international breaks, where there is no Arsenal football, really do seem to go on forever. This time, England lost and effectively screwed any chance of qualifying for the Euros, which at least should keep the pubs relatively free of idiots next summer. The round of qualifiers saw Robin Van Persie get injured for a month, but did also see Tomas Rosicky and William Gallas come back from their recent injuries. Swings and roundabouts really.

In the week leading up to this game, Bolton sacked their coach, and replaced him with Archie Knox, who used to be Alex Ferguson's assistant at Aberdeen and Manchester United. Never a good time to play a team, when they have a new coach, and particularly one whose first aim will be to tighten Bolton up defensively. The Bolton that we all know and hate, were sure to make an appearance. The day was deceptively warm and sunny, despite there being leaves on the ground, a hint of a cold bite in the air, and some menacing looking black clouds around - but in the sunshine, it really was a very nice (and unseasonably warm) day.

The first half of the game was utterly unremarkable. Not much in the way of chances, shots, corners, or much decent football to write home about. Bolton had 10 men behind the ball whenever Arsenal were in posession, and were getting stuck in with some robust tackles. Mike Riley was predictably being weak when it came to punishing the fouls that came Arsenal's way, and midway through the first half, seemed to be losing control of the game somewhat. He was bottling the important decisons about booking Bolton players, and instead made the stupid decision to book Cesc Fabregas for his reaction to one particularly nasty foul. OK, players shouldn't get involved with dissent and afters, but it really does make you wonder why referees seem to punish dangerous tackles in exactly the same was as the (understandable) angry reaction to them.

Anyway, the talk at half time was about how generally dire the game was - certainly not a classic, and Arsenal looked slightly jaded, like they had forgotten to play together during their fortnight away for internationals. Luckily, the second half was better. Bolton's defending stayed as resolute as ever, but fortunately, Arsenal were up to the task of getting through them. The first 20 minutes of the second half looked like a slow building of pressure - Bolton players were running around a lot, and it looked like they had a couple of players more than us at some points. But, a fantastic double substitution on the hour mark, changed the game. Arsenal had been busy tiring the Bolton players out, and when Rosicky and Walcott were introduced, it was clear that the extra injection of class was something that their tired legs couldn't cope with.

The first goal was one that was long overdue, both in the match, and for Kolo Toure. On many occasions over the last few years, we have had a free kick around 30 or 35 yards out from goal, and knocked it square for Toure to fire a thunderbolt towards the goal. Usually, they either hit the wall, or practically go into orbit. This time, the shot arrowed into the bottom corner. We'd all been waiting for one of them to go in, so the reaction was pandemonium, and Kolo himself was jumping around like a madman in celebration.

Once Arsenal had scored, it was all downhill from there. I don't remember Almunia having anything all that difficult to do all game, and even once we were a goal up, Bolton still didn't threaten much. Adebayor had a comedy miss, where he was one-on-one with the keeper, and contrived to take the ball wide, then fall over in the most amusing fashion imaginable, on the corner of the six yard box. Then, one of many surging and exciting runs from Theo Walcott, ended with a brilliant ball in across the back of the defence, and a great finish from Rosicky for a well-deserved goal. Game over, and Arsenal's momentum restored.

With the next 2 league games against Liverpool (away), and Manchester United (at home), this was a game where a win, of any kind, was needed - and it was great that we managed to get it. Four points from the next 2 games would be a decent return, 2 or 3 points wouldn't be too shabby either, but beating Bolton was needed in the run up to an important couple of weeks.

The Enemy, The Wombats - Brixton Academy, London - Wednesday 17th October 2007

NME's Rock And Roll Riot Tour rolled into Brixton Academy tonight, with the reputations of all of the participating bands growing with each show they play. The Enemy have a debut album which went straight to number one in the charts; and although they are very populist and not especially original (in much the same vein as Kasabian and the Kaiser Chiefs - lad rock), they seem to be quite good at what they do, at least on the strength of their impressive singles. Also on the bill were The Wombats, who are getting lots of XFM and MTV2 play, and Lethal Bizzle, a hugely successful crossover from rap to indie.

I managed to miss the whole of Lethal Bizzle's set, because they swapped the bands around, and added a fourth name to the bill. The Wombats were supposed to be 3rd on the bill, and I knew from MySpace that they were on at 8:20 - the addition of an act called South Central, I assumed, would be opening up just before them. I turned up at 8:15 to find out that South Central were the superstar DJs playing in between the bands, and that Lethal Bizzle had been and gone. Annoying, because I was really looking forward to seeing him.

So, The Wombats started my evening off, and they were thoroughly excellent from start to finish. Even the presence of a very annoying couple right in front of me - who were arguing loudly, then crying, then snogging throughout the set - didn't manage to put a dampener on it! They had a huge proportion of the crowd that were really into them, and there were hundreds at the front, jumping around enthusiastically. There were even glowsticks being hurled between band and crowd. All in all, it was like The Wombats were headlining!

As for the music, it was excellent throughout, every song was really good I thought. The highlights (just) were the ones I knew, but even the ones I'd never heard before sounded good - can't wait to get the album on my iPod. They seemed to be having a lot of fun on stage, and the crowd were enjoying it all too. They finished up with current single Lets Dance To Joy Division, and Backfire At The Disco, then departed. I have seen worse headliners than that - obviously it was a short, high energy set, but they really were excellent.

Before The Enemy came on, the DJs were playing some indie classics from the mid-90s, including Reverend Black Grape, Common People, and Bittersweet Symphony. I had forgotten how incredible the latter is when played loud, and when the drums kicked in, I had a shiver going down my back. When the entire venue joined in singing all the words, it was a fantastic moment. At the end of the song, all the lights went down, The Enemy came on stage, and after a short graphic thing on their screen, went straight into playing Away From Here - which sent the audience (especially those at the front) absolutely mad.

The Enemy are 3 borderline chavs from a shitty town (with a very short, ratty-looking boy as a singer), and they sing about how crap life in a dead end town can be. So, the crowd they attracted were also pretty chavvy, and many from dead-end towns too I suspect. In that respect at least, they are quite similar to Hard Fi. However, this does make their songs a little bit boring after a while - yes, we know that Coventry isn't very nice! Yes, we know that having a job with no prospects is crap. We also know that lots of people write music as their main way out from a crap life. But it does get a bit repetitive after the fourth song about it.

They did sound good (especially for 3 people, it was a big noise), but I thought that the singles were obvious standout tracks - and there was a lot of formulaic "indie by numbers" beyond that. Maybe if I'd listened to the album more, I might have got into this gig a bit more, but judging by what I saw here, I'm not inclined to listen to the album too much. They sound good, and are clearly competent musicians, but I just find it hard to get too excited by many of the songs they write.

There was one song in the set, the title track of the album - We'll Live And Die In These Towns - in which I thought I was listening to a cover - the verses sounded exactly like That's Entertainment by The Jam. But when the entire venue started singing along with the anthem chorus, I realised that The Enemy may not be the most original band around (far from it), but they do seem to be getting very popular. I don't see it myself - it is strange that they will sell many times more records than a band like The Maccabees - but then it is even stranger that Snow Patrol and Keane will sell even more than that.

The Maccabees, Derek Meins, Kid Harpoon - Roundhouse, London - Tuesday 16th October 2007

After a strange set from The Maccabees on Saturday, in front of a largely empty venue, this was a proper headline gig, the climax of a very successful tour for the band. This show was at the Roundhouse in Camden, a venue which, at around 3,000 capacity, has to be one of the biggest that The Maccabees have headlined. It is a strange (and not ideal) venue for a rock gig though, more on that later.

Kid Harpoon was the main support band, and there was a pretty decent audience in there watching. I didn't see all of the set (in fact, I didn't see very much at all), but what I heard was quite interesting. It sounded quite quirky and poppy, a sound that I'd think wouldn't appeal to everybody, but wasn't bad at all. After a break while the Maccabees' equipment was all set up, all were ready for them to come on stage - they were due on quite late, at 9:45, which I guess was understandable given the fact that they have only one album of fairly short songs.

At 9:45, some guy appeared on stage and started playing songs acoustically. He was called Derek Meins, and there were a couple of people with him too. His songs and performance weren't bad - but absolutely nobody wanted him to be there. Everybody was waiting for The Maccabees to come on stage, so when this guy that nobody had heard of came on, it deflated the anticipation that had been building up. Decent songs and a decent performer, but the timing was not great at all, and he got a bit of abuse because people wanted to see the headliners.

After Derek's set, the Maccabees came on to the sound of The Clash's Clampdown, and a great crowd reception; and started ploughing into playing their album. Orlando was quite chatty with the audience, explaining that all they had wanted to do was get to make a second album, and thanks to people's support, they would be able to do it. They played a few new songs, which sounded like fairly typical Maccabees songs (i.e. poppy and very good!). And, the audience went mad when songs like Latchmere, About Your Dress, Lego, and set closer Precious Time were played.

In fact, the scene in the middle of the audience was very mental indeed, with bodies and limbs flying around all over the place. The encore included another excellent new song, then manically good versions of Happy Faces and First Love. The band wandered off, and Turn The Page by The Streets started playing - a cool ending to an almost perfect gig.

On the way out of the venue, there was a huge crush on the way down the stairs, which really brought home how the place is not ideal for 3,000 drunk attendees of a gig. The main venue is up a flight of (very slippery when wet) stairs, and the cloakroom is right at the bottom of the stairs, which means that nobody can move on the way down. About half of the 3,000 people had decided to meet on a bridge over the stairs, which meant that nobody could move around there either. And, throughout the gig, it seemed like I spent half the time in a queue for the gents - there seemed to be about half a dozen urinals in the whole place. For 1,800 seated, polite "customers", or for an art exhibition, I'm sure this is all fine - not so sure about it for a busier, more mental rock gig. Maybe it is a positive reflection on The Maccabees, that they put on busy, mental rock gigs, but I'm not a fan of watching them in the Roundhouse.

Work trip to Paris, France - 15th to 16th October 2007

Quick trip to Paris, to see all the French people who are pretending not to care that England just knocked them out of the rugger World Cup, in their own backyard. Don't believe a word of it. The trip started with a very early Eurostar, and some very weird food whilst on the train - some sort of sausage thing that looked like a small brain. Just what you want, first thing in the morning! On the way, we came to a standstill somewhere in northern France, and were amused as the train manager explained that this was because we had "hit a dare", which we later worked out was actually a "deer".

Arriving in Paris just before lunchtime, it was a lovely sunny Autumn day, although things did start to get very cold as the afternoon turned into evening. A bit of a wander around in the evening, near the Elysee Palace where I was staying, and some good food for dinner - one thing that Paris is great for.

The main point of my visit was to go to a conference in La Defense, the Canary Wharf equivalent of Paris. It seems to be one of the "party" venues for the rugby, and had a huge screen up in the main square of La Defense, which strangely was showing the football between Scotland and Ukraine when I was looking at it. Seeing Shevchenko's face on a 20-foot TV screen was very disturbing. But the Grande Arche de La Defense was a very impressive sight in the autumn sunshine.

After an absurdly elaborate lunch (lentils with foie gras for a starter, anyone?), it was off to the Eurostar home. There, I encountered the "traditional" image of French customer service. Staff refusing to speak English at all (if you pay £450 for a return between France and England, they really should!), and refusing to do even relatively simple things to help out. Maybe they did care about the egg chasing a bit more than they were letting on, or maybe they were just being deliberately obstructive. Given that the entire French public sector (railways, metro, airport workers, etc) is on strike later this week, maybe they were just starting early.

Maximo Park, The Maccabees - Brixton Academy, London - Saturday 13th October 2007

Back at Brixton for the second night in a row, for some more Maximo Park. This was an XFM Big Night Out, with the usual indie disco action after the gig, into the small hours. But, unlike previous XFM Big Night Out shows, this felt much more like a normal gig, which just happened to take place an hour later than normal. Everything was also made slightly surreal by England's Rugby World Cup semi final against France, which was happening during the first half of the gig.

The rugby meant that, when I got into the venue just after 9pm, it was practically empty, with hundreds of people in the pubs around the venue, watching the game. This meant that, when The Maccabees came on at 9:30 (still 20 minutes before the end of the game), the venue was still very sparsely populated indeed, and it was very easy to wander almost all the way to the front. Insufficient respect being shown to a brilliant support band! Being midway through a headlining tour, and then supporting somebody else in front of a half empty room, must also have been a weird experience for them.

The Maccabees' set was different to those that I'd seen earlier in the year (possibly because they were supporting rather than headlining), with a brief scare half way through, as traditional set closer Lego was played - I thought that was the end of the set, after less than 20 minutes! They played a new song which sounded pretty good, as well as the obvious X Ray, Latchmere, and finishing up with a brilliant version of First Love. By the end of the set, the room was at least a bit fuller, with victorious rugger buggers streaming in.

Talking of which, hearing 4,000 people singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, is not something I ever want to hear at a gig again! If you want to sing that, bugger off to a rugby match! There was a huge chorus of it before Maximo Park came on, and I bet most of the singers hadn't watched a rugby match since the last World Cup. There's nothing more annoying than bandwagon jumping sport fans (as we might find out again if England win the World Cup, or if Lewis Hamilton wins the Formula One title).

Anyway, when Maximo Park eventually came on stage at about half ten, the crowd was suitably drunk, which meant that the atmosphere was more mental than the previous night. They played exactly the same set as the previous show, and it was equally blistering – I enjoyed it more because I kind of knew what was coming. After having heard the new album live a few times now (and giving it some heavy rotation on my iPod), it is a more complex, intelligent, and interesting record than the debut, and some of this comes across when the songs are played live.

Songs like Books From Boxes, Nosebleed, and The Unshockable, have such well written lyrics and meanings, that they really come alive when you see them played at a gig, with all the emotion obvious to see on Paul Smith’s face. Some people say that the future of the music industry is for bands to give albums away, and make their money playing live – if that is true, Maximo Park should by rights be one of the big winners out of that – because you haven’t experienced the full glory of this band until you have seen them live.

This show finished at around midnight, and saw lots of people dash off to get the last Tubes home. In fact, 10 minutes after Maximo Park had left the stage, the venue was pretty empty again. A shame, because those that left missed a good disco, with the band playing some records in one of the rooms, and a good few minor indie celebrities to be spotted around the venue. A great night out with a great band, and I can’t wait until they play live in London again.

Maximo Park, Good Shoes - Brixton Academy, London - Friday 12th October 2007

This was the first of two consecutive nights watching Maximo Park at Brixton Academy. Pretty much every time I've seen them in the past, I've walked out wanting to repeat the experience again immediately - so I thought I would do so for once. These 2 Brixton nights also boasted some great support acts, with Good Shoes along tonight (as on the rest of the Maximo main tour), and The Maccabees along tomorrow – 2 of my favourite bands of the year. All in all, this was a good excuse to have a great Friday night out.

After being relieved of my chewing gum by the absurdly over-zealous security guards (it might stick to the floor, apparently, and even promising not to chew any whilst in the venue doesn’t let you retain it), I got a beer and found a position for Good Shoes. They came on and started off an uplifting 35 minute set with The Photos On My Wall. Initially, as the venue was quite empty, the sound was echoing around a lot, so the band didn’t sound as good as they could have. However, knowing the songs pretty well, I was enjoying it, and already looking forward to their headline London show next month.

As the set wore on, the venue filled up, and the sound started to get better – the last 4 songs in particular were sounding great. Luckily, they saved much of the best for last, so new single Smalltown Girl got an airing, as did Morden, and debut single All In My Head. By the time the last stragglers were getting into the venue, the band had a decent number of people dancing at the front. It will be great to see them headlining a (smaller) venue soon, where the sound and crowd is all set up especially for them, because they sounded good in this set.

Maximo Park’s arrival was greeted with total hysteria in the audience, and I was amazed by how many girls there were in the crowd (maybe the 2 are related). Maximo played a very different set to their earlier gigs this year, with Limassol and Going Missing coming along much earlier in the show, rather than at the end. Paul Smith, as ever, looked amazing in his black suit, red shirt and bowler hat – and he was really energetic, climbing on top of speakers, and running around manically.

In all, the set was a typically brilliant Maximo Park set – one of the best live shows you can ever see, but (for Maximo), nothing really out of the ordinary. That shows what a fantastic live band they are, that their average live show is better than most bands' peaks. By the time Our Velocity closed the main set, and a totally mental Graffiti finished it all off, they had played every song bar one from their current album, and all of the good stuff from before that as well. I watched much of the gig thinking how fantastic they were, but also being very pleased that I’d get to see it all again tomorrow. A truly fantastic live act, I just can't see them enough at the moment.

Arsenal vs Sunderland - Emirates Stadium, London - Sunday 7th October 2007

If ever proof were needed about how much football has changed over the last 15 years, it arrived this weekend. Because of Thursday night's UEFA Cup games, and just about every other game (including this one) being moved for TV, there was only one Saturday 3pm kick off in the Premiership this weekend. A very sad weekend for the football traditionalist, and it made watching Soccer Saturday and Match Of The Day a very boring affair indeed.

Still, Arsenal are still top of the League, winning away in the Champions League during the week (and becoming the first English side ever to beat Steaua Bucharest at their ground) - so it isn't all bad. The good results (in potentially difficult games) keep on coming - although we haven't played a properly decent side on top form yet, it is all useful stuff to get these kinds of results on the board. Sunderland at home is also a game that should be won easily, despite the obvious determination of our old mate Roy Keane's side.

Quite a few people were wearing black for this game, to mourn the passing of Denton, an absolutely legendary Gooner - who died in a car crash this week. There was a huge march of hundreds of people around the ground before the game kicked off - a massive turnout of people (from other clubs as well as Arsenal fans) who knew and respected Denton. Many were still there after the game finished, outside The Armoury, and lots of people joined them to pay their respects. May he rest in peace.

The game was a very strange one - Arsenal were 2-0 up and seemingly cruising inside the first 15 minutes. The first goal came after Arsenal had actually put the ball in the net, but Rob Styles stupidly failed to play advantage, and pulled play back for a free kick. Luckily, Robin Van Persie absolutely smashed the free kick over the wall, whereupon it hit the crossbar and ricocheted back off the ground, and into the roof of the net. A blistering shot, which reminded me of his penalty against Fulham on the first day of the season. No messing around from Van the Man. Less than 10 minutes later, Arsenal added a second, from a bizarre source - Philippe Senderos. When a third goal was disallowed for offside (harshly) shortly afterwards, it looked like a complete rout could be on the cards.

Then Sunderland came back into the game. They were committed and physical (sometimes over-physical, as Alex Hleb among others found out), and never seemed to believe that they were out of the game. 2 goals, the latter just after half time, brought them level, and started to remind Arsenal fans of the frustrations of last season. Sunderland kept up the commitment, defended well once they were level, wasted lots of time, and although Arsenal looked much the better side, another goal was proving elusive. There were loads of chances, the woodwork was hit at least twice, and there were some incredible fluffs by Arsenal players in front of goal - but no goal.

Finally, with around 10 minutes left (and after the introduction of the hugely impressive Theo Walcott), Van Persie got the winner from a Walcott pass, and the ground went crazy. A few more missed chances later (and a red card for a terrible tackle by a Sunderland player), and Arsenal's 10th victory in a row was complete. Afterwards, Roy Keane tried to claim that Manchester United are currently better than Arsenal, but we all know how seriously to take that. This was a rollercoaster of a game, obviously a relief that Arsenal won, but it was very entertaining and absorbing along the way. A 4-0 thrashing would have been easier on the nerves, but this was one of the better games of football we'll see this season.

Work trip to Brussels, Belgium - 3rd to 5th October 2007

A couple of days in Brussels for a conference, and a good opportunity to drink some nice Belgian beer. On my first evening there, I had dinner close to Grand Place, which looked pretty impressive when the buildings were all lit up in the dark. The conference then ran for a day and a half, and was followed by a deeply unimpressive Eurostar journey home. Usually, the Eurostar works like a treat, but this one was late, horribly overcrowded, and with not much service to speak of once on board. Not good at all, and just when it is at its busiest, as Brussels empties out for the weekend with all the EU workers heading off.

I was staying in the Conrad Hotel this time, which was also where the conference was. This is a massive five star hotel on Brussels' equivalent of the Champs Elysess, with all the posh shops right nearby. But, despite some of the outward luxury, and the extreme comfortableness of the bed in my room, it really wasn't great value for money. When you pay almost 300 Euros for a room for the night, then still get ripped off at every possible turn after that, it does leave a bit of a nasty taste in the mouth.

8 Euros for a can of Coke from the minibar, 30 Euros (on top of the 300 Euro room - come on!) for a Continental breakfast, plus another 7 Euros if you want it on room service, 25 Euros for (not especially fast) broadband access for a day - that's almost as much as I pay for a month at home! The list went on and on - and that was before the huge rip off of the phone call charges from your room. It was 6 Euros for a half pint of beer at the bar (this in the country that specialises in beer, and where it is usually very cheap), and when a "mystery" 40 Euro bar charge that I knew nothing about appeared on my bill, I had to protest at the ridiculousness of it all.

Luckily, I think that practices like this are largely from a bygone age - people have much more choice over this stuff now, and will hopefully start to refuse to pay up for some of this overpriced nonsense. The ability to charge 25 Euros for a day of broadband access in particular, is fast disappearing - hopefully people will remember hotels that rip them off like this, and desert them in droves. Hotels like the Conrad are a relic of the 70s and 80s, where travel was a luxury thing, and people were not price sensitive to this kind of thing. It isn't like that now, and I hope the consumer has their revenge on the rip off merchants. I certainly won't be going back.