Jay Z, Vampire Weekend, The Courteeners, Black Kids, Los Campesinos!, Shakin Stevens - Glastonbury Festival Day Two, Pilton - Saturday 28th June 2008

And again the Blogger character limit can't do justice to a day at Glastonbury. The title above should read Jay Z, Amy Winehouse, The Last Shadow Puppets, Vampire Weekend, The Courteeners, British Sea Power, Black Kids, The Teenagers, Los Campesinos!, and Shakin Stevens. As well as wandering past for bits of Hot Chip, Pigeon Detectives, and others.

But Shakin Stevens first - the big "joke" artist that opened up the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday. I heard all of his set, much of which was quite folk and country influenced. He got a very good reaction from the (very impressive) crowd that showed up to see him. By far the best reaction though (and, I suspect, the reason that many were there) was when he played This Ole House, which admittedly did sound very good! Welsh Elvis indeed!

Los Campesinos! were the first band of the day that I made a proper beeline for, on the Other Stage. Having seen their unique show at the Camden Crawl, I was definitely not going to miss them. There weren't many people waiting for them when they came on stage, so it was easy to get right into the middle - even if endless people with flags were obscuring the view of all 7 of the band. I again really enjoyed Los Camp's set, it was interspersed with some very funny chat to the crowd, and the songs of course sounded excellent. The quiet parts of the songs just make you yearn for the poppy guitar bits even more, and when they come, they are fantastic. A really good band, who I really want to see somewhere small again soon.

A 5 minute walk across ground that had now completely dried out after the previous day's rain, brought me to the John Peel Stage, where The Teenagers were playing. Kicking off with the excellent Scarlett Johansson, they seemed to have a very enthusiastic hardcore of fans at the front of the tent. Although I didn't know all that many of their songs, they sounded very good, and even the songs I didn't know were keeping me entertained. The main thing about their set was the dozen or so girls that they got up on stage with them for final song French Kiss - and of course, the amusing French-ness of the singer in particular when talking to the crowd. This was a good way to spend a lunchtime - although I'm not sure I would make a special beeline to see The Teenagers again, I was glad I went.

By the time Black Kids took to the stage, the sun was starting to properly come out, and any mud that had been around the previous day had gone for good. The crowd on the Other Stage was big, and very up for what Black Kids had to offer - which was 40 minutes of sunny, party music. They got the crowd dancing, they fired them up with their chat in between songs, and on the last 2 songs I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You and Look At Me (When I Rock Whichoo), they kicked off a huge party at the front. Just what the doctor ordered, and it kicked off a day of great music in the sunshine.

I then moved back across to the John Peel Stage, where British Sea Power were playing. They had a big crowd, with hundreds more watching on the bank outside the tent, enjoying beer in the sunshine. Obviously BSP usually have a very devoted cult following, and today was no different - lots of people waving tree branches, and I saw lots of BSP t-shirts being worn in the audience. Their set was very enjoyable indeed - lots of their classics, mixed with some climbing up the stage rig - a decent afternoon Glastonbury set.

Next up in the John Peel tent came what was, for me, the best set of the whole festival, and probably the best show I have seen The Courteeners play. The tent was busy, but unlike the Ting Tings where many people were just curious, this tent was packed with a hardcore of Courteeners fans. The band were preaching to the converted from the word go, and as a result, the set was like a joyous homecoming. The band seemed incredibly up for it, especially Liam Fray, who was continually looking out into the audience like he couldn't believe what was happening. The crowd were even more up for it, and during some of the more lively songs such as Cavorting, Acrylic and Not Nineteen Forever, it was properly kicking off in the middle of the audience. Liam stirred the crowd up more and more as the set went on (wearing a very cool looking t-shirt with Axl Rose on it too!), then declared that it was the greatest day of his life. It felt like that for many watching too, so good was the set. The undoubted highlight of Glastonbury for me.

Vampire Weekend were up next in the tent, and given how many people had watched them on the Other Stage the previous day, I was slightly surprised at how much room there was inside the tent. Maybe people had their fill on Friday, and went off elsewhere, particularly as the set was clashing with both The Wombats and The Raconteurs. The people that weren't there missed a treat, with the more intimate environment bringing out the best in the band. They were talking to the crowd more, and the guitars sounded much more rock and roll than the relatively "clean" sound on the Other Stage the previous day. If that was a pop show, this was more of a rock show. Oxford Comma in particular in this set sounded incredible, with a guitar edge that had been missing when I'd seen them outdoors.

With not much in the way of "must see" stuff on for the rest of the day (and a tough choice about which headliner to watch, we headed up to the Park Stage for the "secret" debut show by Alex Turner's new band, The Last Shadow Puppets. Getting up there, we found a stage where it was pretty difficult to see, because the sun was going down right behind it. Blinding, literally. There seemed to be some kind of open mic going on when we arrived, with an MC introducing various famous guests, including Martha Wainwright, members of Portishead, and quite a few others. Then, as the numbers around the stage were still swelling, The Last Shadow Puppets were introduced. Alex Turner and Miles Kane came onto the stage, and played several acoustic songs from their album. Obviously, given the big orchestral sound of the album, this sounded very stripped down, and it just didn't seem like the way those songs were intended to be played.

The sun still made it tricky to see too much of what was going on, but later in the set, you could definitely make out Matt Helders joining them on drums. There was another guy on guitar too. Sadly, that guy was Jack White, and I knew nothing about it until reading the reports afterwards. Having fancied seeing The Raconteurs, but opting for Vampire Weekend instead, I was a bit annoyed that I had managed to miss Jack White twice in as many hours - including once when he was playing a guitar less than 20 yards away from me! Never mind.

Walking back down from The Park towards the main stages, I passed the Other Stage, and heard some of Hot Chip's set, which sounded pretty good. Also on the Queens Head stage, right next door, I walked past right as the Pigeon Detectives were coming on stage. The tent was nowhere near as busy as when I was there on the Thursday, which was strange considering how popular the Pigeon Detectives are. They seemed to be loving playing in such a small tent, especially as their "proper" slot the following day was on the Other Stage, much bigger, and much more public.

After a food and beer stop, I headed around to the Pyramid Stage, where the mess that is Amy Winehouse was shambling her way through some of her songs. Watching the disaster of her set, there did seem to be a distinct difference between her performance on the "hits", that I presume had been arranged in advance to be televised, and the other songs. The songs for TV were passable enough, the rest was just ridiculous. Admittedly, this wasn't a lot different to most Amy Winehouse gigs for the last couple of years, except with the added bonus of a fight at the end, which gave the whole set a surreal ending. Definitely one of those famous Glastonbury sets, for all the wrong reasons.

And finally, Jay Z. Probably the most written about gig anywhere in the world this year, so I thought it really had to be seen. Shame, because having subsequently seen some of the Massive Attack set on TV, I probably should have gone there instead. The set started off with film of all the controversy about booking him, and the cover of Wonderwall that followed was a stroke of genius. After that, though, I didn't really get what was going on. In just over an hour, he apparently played almost 30 songs, many of which seemed to be truncated, and many others seemed to be just Jay Z rapping over a sample of a riff from a more famous song. All of the reviews were fantastic (but then, were they ever going to be anything else), but the set just didn't do anything for me. I remember seeing Eminem headlining Reading in 2001 and being similarly disappointed - maybe big outdoor rap shows are just lost on me.

Given the slightly disappointing Sunday bill, the fact that I'd been there since the Wednesday, and the need to start work again on Monday, we left the site on Sunday lunchtime. The weather, especially on a glorious Saturday, made this the best Glastonbury for a few years - the lack of sellout did also seem to bring back some of the 17 year olds that had been noticeably missing from recent years. A few more scallies around too - which does at least mean that Glasto seems to be getting some of its spirit back.

The Cribs, MGMT, Ting Tings, Young Knives, Vampire Weekend, Glasvegas, Kate Nash - Glastonbury Festival Day One, Pilton - Friday 27th June 2008

Festivals are always a good way to test the character limit that Blogger puts on the titles of posts. On the first day of Glastonbury, as well as the bands listed above, I also saw good chunks of The Enemy, Editors and The Subways sets. The rain came as usual, but not in anywhere near as large quantity as last year, and so with nowhere near the annoying, muddy effects. Friday is usually the best day for bands at Glastonbury, and this year was no exception.

The day started at the rather uncivilised hour of 10:45, when Kate Nash's set on the Pyramid Stage started. Sporting a fairly elaborate stage set, with some shiny letters behind her saying "Kate Nash", she played a very well received set. Starting with Pumpkin Song, the set was much, much better than I expected. Obviously, most of it was drawn from the album Made of Bricks, but she did also find the time to play a couple of decent newer songs. Most of the songs seemed to be being played a fair bit faster than they sound on record, which meant that they didn't hang around for too long and allow people to get bored. The Glastonbury crowd (especially on the Pyramid Stage) often seems to like whatever Michael Eavis decides to put in front of them, but the warm reception for Kate Nash definitely seemed to be a genuine one.

Following Ms Nash were The Subways, who I saw recently, and wasn't impressed by. As the NME Review of their set points out, it was difficult to see them for lots of the set, because somebody had been a bit over enthusiastic on the smoke machine. What they didn't mention was the crowd's reaction to the band, which I thought was very muted indeed, and hardly helped by Billy Lunn's on stage performance. The annoying American accent was out in force, and although the band sounded good, I thought that Billy talked too much, and tried to interact with an audience that mostly wasn't interested.

During Oh Yeah, he didn't sing the chorus, telling the crowd to sing it instead. In a 1000 capacity venue where everybody knows the song and has specifically travelled to see you, that may be fine. In a field at midday with 40,000 people, many of whom have no idea who you are, it is a stupid thing to do. Their best song therefore fell completely flat as you couldn't hear the chorus, and people started to lose interest. Very silly - it may have sounded great to the 2000 people at the very front (and via the microphones on TV), but more than 20 yards back and you would have wondered what on earth was going on.

After leaving The Subways feeling a bit disappointed, I headed over to the John Peel stage for Glasvegas. This was quite busy, probably helped to some degree by the fact that it started to rain just as the band came on. They played the exact same set that I had seen the previous day, to an equally good reaction from the audience. You probably wouldn't say that Glasvegas are the ideal band to cheer you up, but during some of the particularly loud and powerful guitar riffs, I found myself standing in awe of the noise they were making - fantastic.

Having seen one of the most talked about and recommended bands of the weekend in Glasvegas, I immediately headed to the Other Stage to see another in Vampire Weekend. This set drew an absolutely huge crowd to the Other Stage, definitely the biggest I saw there all weekend. The band sounded excellent, one strange thing was that they sounded exactly like their album, in a way that few other bands do to quite the same extent. The singer was wearing an interesting luminous pair of sunglasses, but the band were dressed like middle class American college students, which of course is their core audience. I really enjoyed their set, with final song Walcott being a particular highlight.

Next it was off to the John Peel Stage, via my tent, to see The Young Knives and The Ting Tings. During The Young Knives set, the back of the tent was already getting packed for the Ting Tings set which was due immediately afterwards - providing the annoying prospect of people watching a band that they weren't there to see, so talking loudly all the way through. Mind you, I thought that the Young Knives set was one of the more disappointing that I saw over the weekend. The band are clearly competent enough, but their set selection was somewhat strange - being almost entirely composed of songs from their new album, which of course very few people had heard. I know that bands need to promote their records at gigs like this, but the Young Knives also have a number of established singles from their previous album, most of which didn't get an airing. They sounded good, but the festival crowd didn't really seem to want a full showcase of their new album.

The Ting Tings did know how to give the crowd exactly what they wanted, though. There is nothing like a recent number one single, combined with a fairly small slot with little competition on other stages, to really bring out the crowds. For this set, the newly expanded John Peel Stage saw its biggest crowd ever - the tent was absolutely packed, and there were people as far as you could see outside as well. Luckily, given the number of people there, the band played a fantastic set, which very much justified all the attendees. Singer Katie was electric on stage, with a neon microphone cord, and seeing 2 people switch between guitars, vocals, keyboards and drums was constantly entertaining. The tent frequently erupted into huge cheers as songs started and finished, and of course the band saved the best reaction until last, when they played That's Not My Name to one of the best receptions I think I have ever seen at a festival. One of THE great Glastonbury sets.

Another trip back to the tent to escape the rain saw me catching the majority of Editors' set. It seemed to get a very good reaction from the audience, and certainly sounded like a classically big Pyramid Stage show, but I was struck at times by how similar many of the songs sounded. Before that had quite finished, though, I dashed back to the John Peel to catch MGMT play to another big crowd (although I think the rain was definitely helping to fill the tent). Somewhat surprisingly given their album, MGMT played what sounded in effect like a pretty standard rock show, with a normal rock band setup. Many of the songs very long, drawn out and self-indulgent from a guitar solo point of view - classic New York cocaine rock. The set was good, and the band sounded good, but at times seemed to lack something.

Then, 3 songs from the end, "something" arrived in a massive way. The singer (who had been wearing his normal clothes until then) disappeared, and came back wearing his psychedelic kaftan. The band then fired up Time To Pretend, and the tent went absolutely crazy. A fantastic song anyway, but the band's performance of it was out of this world - absolutely amazing, and you wondered whether to concentrate on dancing, or on keeping your eyes locked onto the stage. If anybody thought that things couldn't get any better, they immediately did, as the band launched into Kids - which was even more incendiary, and sent the audience even wilder. The song (and set) ended with the entire audience chanting the tune to Kids - always a good sign. The MGMT set was a weird one - I think they could probably play the best 4-song set in the world, and their last 2 songs certainly would take some beating, by any band. But, there was a lot in the set that was nowhere near as good. Maybe a reflection of just how good Time To Pretend and Kids were, maybe a reflection on the rest of their stuff - I'm not sure.

Next on the John Peel Stage were Reverend and the Makers, so naturally, I ran away as fast as possible. I headed for the Other Stage for a beer, where The Enemy were playing. I caught about half of their set before heading off again, but they had a big crowd, and sounded really good. Starting your set with Away From Here is always going to get things going well, and they played a couple of interesting sounding new songs as well. The crowd were very up for the set, and there was even a red flare in the audience at one point - Italian football style. The Enemy looked very confident, and totally at home in such a big slot - nothing seems too big a challenge for them. They are not the most photogenic band by any stretch of the imagination, but they definitely seem to have a hardcore fanbase, and write songs that strike a chord with lots of people. And, they sounded really good, which always helps.

And so to the headliners - the final band I saw on Friday were The Cribs, headlining the John Peel Stage. Arriving in the tent about 25 minutes before their set, I was amazed at how empty it was - especially with Panic At The Disco and Kings Of Leon not exactly being "must see" as headliners for various reasons, I thought there would be more undecided people wandering around. Despite the NME Review saying that they packed out the tent, this was absolutely not the case in my experience. There may have been people stood all the way to the back, but I had more space around me than I'd had for any band all day - and that was pretty close to the stage.

Anyway, not to worry - although I had partly hoped for a packed tent, with people going crazy for The Cribs' set, this did at least mean that you could get pretty close. The band came on and went straight into Our Bovine Public, which obviously kicked things off very well. The set was fast, frantic, and the crowd at the front were going mad. The sound (as is often the case for Cribs shows I find) was distinctly dodgy, sounding like the music was coming through a cushion - but no matter, the band played an excellent set, and it was a great way to finish a brilliant day. Because the set finished early, I also got to hear the last 3 or 4 songs from Kings Of Leon's set, as I wandered back to my tent. A band-packed Glastonbury day.

Glasvegas, Dead Kids - Glastonbury Festival Day Zero, Pilton - Thursday 26th June 2008

It isn't until the second day of Glastonbury that any bands start to get anywhere near any stages. After opening the site on Wednesday, the day I got there, it was actually pretty good to spend that evening wandering around, exploring the site, and not needing to worry about who was playing where. A very entertaining visit to the Silent Disco passed the time, as well as a look at some of the hippies and general weirdos that seem to gravitate towards the Stone Circle.

But after all that, Thursday saw some bands playing at last, in the Leftfield and Queens Head venues. I especially wanted to see Glasvegas play at the Queens Head - a good chance to see one of the most hotly tipped bands of the festival, playing a warmup show. The Queens Head is a pretty small tent, and, being one of the very few places with music on at 6pm Thursday, was absurdly busy - making spending too much time there an especially unpleasant experience.

When we arrived at the tent and fought out way inside, an Australian band called Sparkadia were just finishing their set. Their songs sounded like good solid indie pop songs - quite mainstream, but certainly enough to get the audience warmed up. After their set and a short changeover, Dead Kids appeared for a half hour set. Fronted by a manic looking guy in a "USA" tracksuit top, they put on a frantic and mental show, all carried by the frontman's crazy antics. In their half hour, they completely won over the crowd, none of whom were expecting to see them, especially as Make Model were listed instead on the timetable.

Their songs and live set reminded me of a slightly more rock version of Does It Offend You Yeah, and overall they played a highly entertaining show. For the last song, the singer brought a large floor standing bongo on stage, and ended up throwing it to somebody in the crowd. Who then ran off with it, prompting all of the band and crew to jump into the audience at the end of the set, in search of it. A bizarre end to a gig that had lots of moments like that, so was absolutely anything but dull - definitely worth seeing again if the chance presents itself.

Another changeover, during which the tent got increasingly packed, hot and unpleasant to stand in for too long, and Glasvegas appeared to a rapturous reception. The band were all dressed in black as usual, and singer James Allan also sported his shades, looking like a dead ringer for Joe Strummer. Having heard most of their songs before, I knew a fair bit of what to expect, generally amazing lyrics about people's lives, wrapped up in incredibly powerful guitars and drums. The set was like that, but even more so.

Glasvegas have been described as making a wall of sound, and that certainly isn't giving them too much credit. The guitars on their first few songs sounded immense, very loud, very powerful, and not like anything that many other bands get close to. The brooding lyrics and relatively slow songs are too drawn out for many people (which is why I don't think they'll be quite as big as some are predicting), but I loved it. New single Geraldine was an obvious highlight, as were the guitar riffs on Its My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry - amazing stuff. They didn't talk between songs, it was just a set where they came on stage, played one song after another, played Daddy's Gone at the end, then left to a wild reaction from the audience. A great show, and although I thought it started to flag a bit towards the end (and I wondered how many more songs of the same quality they may have had up their sleeves) it gave me a tough choice about what to do the following lunchtime when they played again.

Work trip to Athens, Greece - 16th to 18th June 2008

After a couple of trips to another of the ancient capitals of the world earlier in the year, I got to spend a couple of days in Athens, in the sweltering June heat. Needing a light jacket at 6am in the UK, when I got up to go to the airport, I found myself sweating buckets as soon as I got off the plane in Athens. My meeting and hotel were right by Syntagma Square, one of the main landmark squares in the city; and within a leisurely strolling distance from Plaka, the main tourist warren of alleyways, tavernas and small shops.

During the couple of days there, I got a couple of hours free to go for some sightseeing. When I'd been to Athens before, I had never done the full Acropolis experience, being put off either by the walk up the hill, or the €12 entry fee when I got up there. This time, I thought I may as well go for it, although annoyingly, the previous day had been a Greek public holiday, where entry was free! This did mean that the place was nice and empty though, so we got a decent walk around, unhassled by people. The obvious view of the Parthenon, pictured here and the centrepiece of the Acropolis, is one that everybody knows - and for good reason, because there is nothing else up there that compares to it. There are other buildings, remains of buildings, and columns, but the Parthenon really is quite an amazing sight. To think that all of it was standing by about 400BC, when even Rome was a small village next to a swamp, is incredible. However, like Italy, you do sometimes get the feeling that this was as good as it ever got, and that many things have hardly moved on since!

The photo here is of the Temple of Zeus, of which you get a great view when standing on top of the Acropolis, as well as a fantastic view of the (more) modern city of Athens. One of the great things about the city is the peculiar piece of high rock on which the Acropolis is built - which forms the centrepiece of the city, and gives amazing views over the rest of the place. This is certainly one of the big attractions, because it makes the photos look quite stunning! You can see the Acropolis from unexpected points all over the city, and the great weather means that Athens is a very nice place to be.

Whilst I was there, I also managed to eat a lot of very nice food, from kebabs to, er, more kebabs. And a huge mezze which left me almost unable to move after a couple of hours of very dedicated eating. I even managed to find my way around using an English map, but reading Greek street signs, which is always one of the more confusing things about a language and city that doesn't use "proper" letters. All in all, a lovely couple of days in Athens, a city I have always managed to have a great time in, and which I hope to visit again before too long.

Work trip to Amsterdam and Zeist, Netherlands - 12th to 13th June 2008

This short trip to the Netherlands was a tale of airports and football. I went to Amsterdam after work, and had to endure an excruciating flight. I was sitting in the front row of the economy section, so immediately behind the back row of club. In said back row of club, were a couple - a short fat man in his 50s, and a thick chavvy woman in her 30s. They were both on a dirty weekend, cheating on their other halves, and going to see Bon Jovi at the Amsterdam Arena. He was loudly showing off to his bit on the side, by being an irritating wideboy. She was acting like lady muck because she was in business class (for a 40 minute flight). Horrible, horrible people, I hope I never see them again.

I stayed in a hotel near Schiphol, and had the pleasure of a room that faced the runway, whilst being completely soundproofed. When I first looked out of the window, I thought I could see a runway, but couldn't see any planes. After a minute or so, I almost had a heart attack when a huge Boeing 747-400 hurtled past the window, very close by. I was staying at the excellent NH Hotel, where they give you a free toothbrush and pack of Smints in your room - fantastic.

Back at Schiphol the following morning, I saw many people dressed in Orange, and about to fly to Switzerland for the Dutch game against France that evening. Many attractive ladies, dressed in orange and drinking first thing in the morning - spirits were already high, and it was strange to see drunk people in Schiphol airport that weren't British stag parties.

Typically for work trips to the Netherlands, a return train journey across the country was involved - and I saw lots of orange flags out in celebration of their Euro 2008 participation, and the win against Italy. The newspapers (from what I could make out) were going just as crazy as their English counterparts do when the country is involved in a major tournament. Maybe we aren't alone in the overt patriotism related to football, although the equivelants of the morons with the St George cross didn't seem to be there. When I landed back in the UK, I headed straight to the pub to watch them demolish France - must have been a great party in the Netherlands that night.

The Subways - Koko, London - Wednesday 11th June 2008

Three years ago The Subways were a great new band, and they seemed like their rise would be unstoppable. Their songs were brilliant, they were utterly incendiary live, they were fast tracked into Glastonbury and they even supported Oasis, on more than one occasion. They had an exciting dynamic - cemented by the fact that the singer and bassist were a teenage couple - that no other band had. They could have been huge, but since then, it all seems to have gone wrong.

Tonight, the band arrived on stage as a totally different proposition. They have made what can only be described as a "difficult" second album, after a near 3 year gap that has made many forget that they ever existed. And they have taken a very different direction with their new sound, moving away from the NME indie sound, towards the Kerrang stable of heavy metal lite bands. Something which is only likely to divide their former fans, and risk shunting them into more of a niche. The young couple have even split up since their exciting early days, although they are both still in the band.

Never mind all that, the band arrived on stage to a rapturous reception, singer Billy appearing bare chested, and staying that way throughout. As expected, the set was a pretty even mix between old songs, to which the crowd went mad; and new songs, which were received politely but somewhat more mutedly. As if to underline the Kerrang alignment, Billy seemed to adopt a very strange "American rock star" accent during songs, reminiscent of when I saw Ozzy Osbourne last year. Of course, between songs, he reverted to his real accent, that of a fairly polite 21 year old from Hertfordshire. Most bemusing why the American rock god accent was put on.

All this said, The Subways did a lot of things very well. Billy constantly apologised for the gap between the last album and tour, and this one - caused in fairness by a pretty nasty illness that he suffered. When they played Oh Yeah, it was just like old times, a scintillating few minutes. And the stage dives, speaker climbing and general hyper activeness of old was still there in abundance. In general, the old songs sent the audience mental, and you could see plenty of bodies jumping and flying around the venue.

But despite how good the old songs sounded, and how great it was to hear them again, and see everybody going crazy to them, it just seemed like there was something missing. The newer songs are generally not a patch on the older stuff, and that definitely showed through in the audience's reaction to them. The band also seemed to be missing much of the spontaneous, fresh, excitement that they had when they first appeared. I guess that some of this shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but after being so exciting when they first arrived, The Subways are "just another band" now - and I think they'll struggle to recapture what they had with some of their excellent early songs.

The Pigeon Detectives - Brixton Academy, London - Friday 6th June 2008

For the third time this year, I spent the evening in the company of the Pigeon Detectives. Having seen them a number of times before now (and always coming away entertained by their excellent live show), I very much knew what to expect here. Stepping up to Brixton Academy is always a big move for an up and coming indie band, but the fact that they headlined 2 huge homecoming dates in Leeds only a month ago, suggests that they have already done bigger and better than this.

On arrival in Brixton, it was noticeable how few touts there were on the streets - I think I only saw one all night. After a joyous few minutes where I thought they may have all been killed (or given up touting), I realised that it was probably because they were all at Wembley Stadium for the Foo Fighters gig instead. It generally seemed much quieter than for a normal Brixton gig - maybe all the locals had gone to Wembley too. Getting into, and getting a beer in the venue was also pretty easy - this was definitely one of those "sold out" Brixton gigs that feels quite spacious. There were probably only a couple of hundred people "missing", but it always makes the place seem that much emptier, and I must say, more pleasant. You can still jump around in a packed moshpit at the front if you want to, but there is space to be found too if you want it. Most civilised.

In recent Pigeon Detectives gigs I have been to, I've written about a second album that sounds like a very promising sign for this summer's festivals; the occasional dulling of singer Matt Bowman's craziness on stage; and of the gradual increase in the number of total idiots in the audience at Pigeons shows - a fate which has of course also affected Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs and The Enemy recently, and Oasis much less recently. This gig featured all of these themes again. The band bounded on stage to a very loud background of The Who's Baba O'Riley, and got things moving immediately by playing last single This Is An Emergency. Their performance was very tight, almost choreographed to those that have seen it before, but still managing to appear spontaneous to the untrained eye.

Matt Bowman was in the crowd and generally somewhat less manic than I have seen him before, but this is Brixton - seeing the band can be difficult enough in such a big venue, so maybe it was best that he stayed on stage. The set ripped along and seemed to be over in no time at all - at just over an hour, it wasn't the longest of Brixton sets, but was very enjoyable, which seemed to make it all pass by quicker. The idiots were out in force throughout the venue (there seemed to be a particularly large "oi oi saveloy" contingent at this show - maybe they were warming up for V Festival in Chelmsford), but even that couldn't detract from the Pigeons songs and show.

All in all, a very good show, and the Pigeons are now off to play probably every festival under the sun. They should get a good reaction to their new songs, which have hit the mainstream just in time for the festivals. I will probably head for one of their sets at Glastonbury, although I must admit now to being slightly overdosed on them - maybe you can have a bit too much of a good thing.

Trip to Vietri Sul Mare (Salerno), Italy - 1st to 5th June 2008

A nice few days in a small town called Vietri Sul Mare, close to Salerno, in Campania. Which is in Italy. To get there required a trip through Naples airport, then Naples city, which provided a very rapid introduction to how utterly chaotic life in this part of the world generally is. The whole place just seemed to move at a million miles per hour, with people moving at speed in every direction around you. Even for somebody living in London, this was something to get used to! Naples, even on a Sunday, was an experience, if only providing a good lesson in how to avoid getting run over.

A hour or so on a train through the countryside and down the coast, with fantastic views of the coastline on one side, and Mount Vesuvius on the other, and we arrived in Vietri Sul Mare, which is a very picturesque coastal town near Salerno. Our hotel had an amazing view along the coast, and of Salerno in the distance. The town of Vietri itself had lots of ceramic shops, all of which were of course very keen to sell overpriced souvenirs to tourists. In fact, the whole Amalfi Coast looked to be completely designed to extract money from the thousands of (largely 50-something American) tourists that visit the place.

Despite it only being early June, the area was getting crowded already, making me glad that we weren't around in August, when it must be a nightmare. Many of the restaurants made it impossible to order what you wanted unless you spoke fluent Italian, "helpful" waiters directing you towards "special" menus, which you couldn't really avoid, even if you asked. Throughout the trip, I often felt like people were completely trying to rip us off, and of course, unless you speak good Italian, this is really difficult to avoid.

On numerous trips to Italy in the last few years, the place often leaves me bewildered. Getting around using public transport (outside a big city like Milan or Rome) is very confusing - it just doesn't seem to make sense like things do in France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, in fact pretty much anywhere else. Things seem to be designed to be deliberately confusing to outsiders! Anyway, that is just a fact of life I guess - It shouldn't take away too much from the weather, food, and general style and pace of life. This part of the country is where buffalo mozzarella comes from, so after a few days, I was fully cheesed out!

Sightseeing in Herculaneum and Vesuvius, Italy - 4th June 2008

Whilst in Italy, there was an excellent opportunity to take in both some history and some geography on the same day. All of it was related to Mount Vesuvius, the big (and still active) volcano that erupted in 79AD, burying a few of the towns nearby in mud and lava and ash. Pompeii was the most famous victim, and there is a huge excavation site there where the lava and mud has been removed, and the remains of the town put on display for people to walk around. Herculaneum is pretty much the same idea, except much smaller, more compact, and easier to get around in a couple of hours. It also has the advantage of being closer to Mount Vesuvius itself, so you can do both in a day. So it was that Herculaneum got the nod to visit.

Walking into the site, which basically used to be a small Roman town, it was amazing how much of a "hole" it sat in. Clearly, the influx of lava and mud managed to completely bury the whole place, as well as pushing the seafront out by a few hundred yards too. When you think that this all happened all around the volcano, you start to think about the huge volumes of stuff that must be required to bury towns, add lots more to the landmass, and build the whole land area up by several metres.

Looking around was an interesting experience, you can still see the (narrow) streets, gardens, restaurants and crossroads that were part of the ancient town. Most of the houses have survived in amazing detail - much better than many of the excavations in Rome - and were obviously built of strong stuff. It was amusing to think that modern day Italy has in many respects not managed to better many of the innovations and techniques that the Romans introduced. I'm not sure if that says more about the Ancient Romans, or about modern day Italy.

After a good tour of Herculaneum, we went to catch a taxi bus to Vesuvius. We paid 16 Euros for the trip, and waited until a minibus full of people had arrived, then set off. The journey was a bone shaker, the minibus being driven up extremely steep hills, round endless very tight bends, and over roads that hadn't seen a coat of tarmac for a while. The journey was a bit nauseating in parts, but just as it really started to get tedious, we entered the Vesuvius National Park, and the roads got much smoother. We were dropped off at about 1000 metres up, and left to walk the rest of the way up to the crater.

The walk was tiring and steep, not least because the ground was made of volcanic dust, which felt rather like walking through sand - not easy. As we approached the top and saw the view over the surrounding countryside, it was again incredible to think about the sheer volume of crap that must have come flying out of the top of the volcano, to cover such a large area so comprehensively. At the top of the volcano, the view inside the crater was awesome - I expected to see a hole down the middle of the volcano, where lava flows, but of course there was none. The only disappointment was that you really can't take a photo inside the crater that does it justice - it is just too big to get it all in with a normal camera. A stunning view though, and well worth the walk, plus the bone shaking journey up and back.

A really good day's sightseeing here - from both a geographical and historical perspective, this part of the world really does have some world class attractions, and it was great to be able to take in so much in such a short time out of a holiday.