Arsenal vs FC Porto - Emirates Stadium, London - Tuesday 30th September 2008

After the slip up against Hull City on Saturday, there was obvious demand amongst Arsenal fans for some kind of reaction. There were calls for the first team to be dropped en masse and the kids brought back in, calls for Gallas to be stripped of the captaincy (probably not a bad idea, given the fact that, were he not captain, he might not even be in the team). And, most ridiculously, there were calls for Wenger to go - which thankfully didn't happen.

When reviewing the Hull game, I said that on another day, Arsenal could have won that game by a few goals. This was that "other day". We created plenty of chances, put a few away, and Porto's few chances didn't happen to amount to anything - despite a couple of spectacular saves from Almunia. The same display yet the opposite outcome to the Hull game. True, Porto were surprisingly uninterested, and looked very surprisingly crap. Maybe they just don't travel well, or maybe they aren't the side they were - probably a bit of both - but it was a surprise how lacklustre they looked. Certainly made things easy for Arsenal.

Van Persie and Adebayor finished the game with 2 goals each - Van Persie's were both fantastic goals in their own way - the first was the all important one to break the deadlock, and his second came after a fantastic piece of skill and shot. Adebayor's goals, however, were less good - a penalty, and a header that can only have been a mishead, but it foxed the defender and went in. Added to the chances that Adebayor missed - there were many, and some were criminally easy - Van Persie had the better game for his 2 goals. Still, nobody was complaining about either at the end.

By the time the game was all but won at 3-0, there was some fun with substitutes. Ours were warming up wearing pink bibs - possibly Arsene Wenger's revenge for Saturday. Porto put on a sub called Hulk, who was introduced to massive cheering from the home crowd - especially as the announcer called him "The Hulk". After that amusement, our subs actually did OK - Bendtner had a great game I thought, and Vela looked pretty lively as well.

All in all, this was another game in a period where Arsenal are seeming to blow hot and cold - and this was one of the "hot" games. We seem to be able to sweep anybody away when things are going well, but equally capable of losing games to teams we really shouldn't lose to. We are top of our Champions League group, which is a decent place to be - but we need to work on the consistency if we are not going to come up too short again. Which means that the international break for 2 weeks coming up, is again most unwelcome. No home game now until 18th October, lets hope we can build on the Porto and Sheffield United games, and forget the Hull game quickly. Tonight certainly helped us do the last of those.

Arsenal vs Hull City - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 27th September 2008

Since the disastrous performance and result at Fulham 5 weeks ago, things have been mainly good. Arsenal had won 3 league games in a row, scoring 10 goals in the process and conceding one. No goals conceded from open play all season, top of the League, and the kids won convincingly in the Carling Cup. The mood before the game was generally that things could be a lot worse. Hey, we could even lose at home to a newly promoted team - that would be bad!

This game was one of those hiccups - seemed to me like it was just one of those things that happens to teams sometimes. Only our second ever defeat at Emirates Stadium, and you could have got good odds on the first 2 teams to beat us being West Ham and Hull City. It was a pretty freakish result - although one that Hull worked hard for, were well organised to go after, and in the end may have deserved. Arsenal created far more chances of course - but from the opposition point of view, it was 3 points well earned by their organisation and commitment in defence, chances well taken, and a goal worthy of helping to win any game.

From Arsenal's perspective though, this was a smash and grab. All seemed fine at half time - Arsenal had created the better chances and had the majority of possession, even if they hadn't got all that close to a goal. When Fabregas was involved in bundling the ball into the net about 5 minutes after half time, it seemed like another win was on the cards. But then, a fantastic goal by Geovanni, followed by a winner about 5 minutes later, completely knocked the stuffing out of the home side. By the time Arsenal came to terms with what was going on, and what they needed to do, Hull had organised themselves enough in defence to make that task extremely hard. Then, their commitment right up until the end ultimately frustrated Arsenal, despite a good number of chances being created and missed.

What lost Arsenal this game, in truth, was the abysmal defending from the corner that led to Hull's winner. An unforgivable lapse in concentration, again, from a set piece - and William Gallas in particular deserves both barrels for allowing it to happen for the umpteenth time. Our weakness from set pieces is such a well known and glaringly obvious failing, that any team could feasibly come to Emirates with a game plan to win corners, nick a goal, then shut up shop. It seems ridiculous that any team with title aspirations should have such an obvious weakness.

All in all, this is a game that Arsenal could quite easily have won - the wonder goal knocked us onto the back foot, and the set piece goal took full advantage by hitting us where we were weakest. But Arsenal created plenty, and on another day, the game could easily have been won by 3 or 4 goals. Just one of those things. It was nowhere near as depressing as the Fulham game a few weeks ago, where nothing was created, and we never looked like being able to score. But, despite the fact we could have won it, there definitely remains something significant to work on in training this week.

Hull City (or "West Brom" as Arsene Wenger rather unfortunately called them afterwards, in a moment of confusion) fans celebrated in North London all evening, after a very good result for them. I'd rather see that than have Chelsea, Man U or Spurs fans celebrating in our backyard, so fair play to them for being chuffed with a pretty spectacular result for their team.

Suddenly Vince, The Belgrave Scandal - Luminaire, London - Friday 26th September 2008

Friday night, and there was a Belgrave Scandal gig to provide something to do. Taking place at the Luminaire, one of London's distinctly better venues, the band were playing just a 4 song set as part of a charity event. But, as an added bonus, each band was also interviewed on stage (by a very over excited female "presenter"), after their set.

I arrived just in time for the start of the Belgrave Scandal's set. Their 4 songs were the fantastic Black Pages, followed by newer song 5 O Clock Shadows, then Take That Train, which went into House Of Cards. A strange set, but then that's what you get with 4 song showcases like this. For me, it wasn't their best 4 songs - Black Pages and House Of Cards are fantastic songs, but the other 2 are not amongst their best in my humble opinion. A decent performance though, made all the better by the venue's decent sound system (which also made the guitars sound ear splittingly loud).

After the Scandal's set (and their interview), I then saw the 4 song set by the next band, called Suddenly Vince. Their style was not exactly my thing, but I thought they did what they did very well. Clearly quite heavy metal influenced, the power guitar chords sounded excellent - but they had much more of a classic indie look. Their second song was a really good one, but the others just didn't quite do it for me. They did it all well, but its just that "it" wasn't right up my street.

So, a quick way to see a couple of bands on a Friday night - good venue, good event, and I got a nice free CD to boot. Excellent value for £7, and all for a good cause as well.

Arsenal vs Sheffield United - Emirates Stadium, London - Tuesday 23rd September 2008

The first round (for Arsenal) of the Carling Cup, which of course means cheap tickets, and young(er) players. Arsenal designated this as "members game", which means reduced prices - but the way they imply that they are doing the fans a favour by "giving something back" (as opposed to being forced to reduce prices to have any hope of selling out), always seems a bit cheeky. The squad for the game, announced earlier in the day, contained a number of unknowns in Francis Coquelin, Abu Ogogo, Emmanuel Frimpong, and Jay Emmanuel Thomas. There were some knowns in the extremely promising Jack Wilshere, Fran Merida, Mark Randall and Henri Lansbury. And, despite there not being a player over the age of 23, still 5 internationals in Song, Fabianski, Bendtner, Vela and Djourou.

The crowd for the game, like the players, was quite a bit younger than normal - the reduced prices and increased availability meaning that many people who don't normally go to games were there. So, there were lots of people milling around outside, looking clueless about where they were supposed to be going. It took until about 20 minutes into the game for the stands to properly fill up, such were the number of people that took an age to work out where they were supposed to be. Maybe I'm being harsh here, but even if you've never been before, these things are all well signposted - with colours, letters and numbers. Maybe people lose the ability to read, and lose any common sense, when they visit a strange place for the first time.

By the time the lower tier had everybody in it, Arsenal were 1-0 up, Nicolas Bendtner (one of the most senior players, of course), scoring with an excellent low shot into the corner. Up until that point, Arsenal had had the vast majority of possession, and created a few chances - Sheffield United just didn't really seem to be at the races. In fact throughout the game, I struggled to work out whether Arsenal were completely outplaying them, or whether they just weren't really trying all that hard. I suspect it may have been the former, which makes the win all the more impressive.

By half time, Arsenal were three goals to the good, Bendtner (again) and Carlos Vela adding the other two. Just after half time, Vela scored a very skillful and cheeky second, to make it 4-0. Then Jack Wilshere, who had been terrorising the away side all game with his passing and movement, scored with a great low shot from 20 yards. Finally, with a few minutes left on the clock, Vela completed his hat-trick for 6-0.

This was a stunning victory, which proves once again how very good these kids are. Obviously they were playing with something to prove, but the way they swept aside a team that (presumably) have aspirations of promotion to the Premier League - and a team that have a number of decent players like James Beattie and Gary Speed too - was extremely impressive. Merida, Wilshere, Vela and Gibbs all had fantastic games, all the more amazing considering their ages, and of course all the journalists were purring about the kids, like in this Guardian Report.

For me, watching the game, the incredible thing was that it was just like watching the Arsenal first team - they play exactly the same way. Replace Fabregas with Merida, replace Eduardo with Vela, replace Adebayor with Bendtner, replace Toure with Song, or Gallas with Djourou (except that the latter two looked like they can play together). Everybody slots into a specific position in the team, but the team itself plays exactly the same game in exactly the same way. A fantastic thing to see, and all thanks to Arsene Wenger - I'm sure every Arsenal fan is well aware of the huge debt we owe that man, after watching what incredible players he has brought us - despite what that idiot Michel Platini says. Roll on the draw for the next round, and I'm certainly hoping for another lower division team at home, to try to do it all again.

Work trip to Philadelphia, USA - 8th to 10th September 2008

A couple of weeks in the US ended with a few days back working in Philadelphia. I feel like I've been to the city so many times now, that it seems quite routine. I don't feel the need to go and explore during my lunch breaks any more - and this was a very hectic few days anyway, so I didn't get much chance. Hence, no photos - because much of the place just seems normal now. I was intending to go and look at the Liberty Bell, which (along with Independence Hall), I've never seen in all of my trips to Philadelphia (much to my shame). But, it didn't happen in the end, so the only Liberty Bell I saw was the one inside the baseball stadium.

On this brief visit, I got to experience Howard Stern first hand for the first time, whilst his radio show was blasting out of a taxi that was stuck in traffic. It can only be described as "interesting" that at 9am on the radio, I heard the f-word, the c-word and the n-word dozens of times - fantastic! I can see why the Christians don't like him.

This was a long trip away from home, where I became strangely settled in the US - but by the end of the trip, I was glad to be going home. A week and a bit of baseball, hotdogs, the US election, and US life in general was a good home from home, but I appreciated landing back in the UK at the end of this trip.

Philadelphia Phillies vs Florida Marlins - Citizen Bank Park, Philadelphia, USA - Tuesday 9th September 2008

After seeing the Phillies lose at Shea Stadium a couple of days earlier, I got to see them lose again, this time on home turf. Apparently they often do this - get close to the top of the division, going into the final part of the season, then screw things up. So, Phillies fans seem to have very low expectations when their team has manoeuvred themselves into a decent position - because a disaster cannot be far away. As an Arsenal fan, this is somewhat familiar.

The Phillies play at Citizens Bank Park, a very new, purpose built stadium which has all of the comfort that Shea Stadium does not (and that presumably, that the Mets new stadium will have). The seats have lots of legroom, they have nice drinks holders in them, the toilets are plentiful and clean, and there are plenty of places to part with your hard earned dollars. This game was "dollar dog" night, so with unlimited hot dogs for a dollar each, you didn't actually need to part with all that much cash. They did make the money back on beer though, at $6.50 a throw.

This was another game that the Phillies lost. They raced into a 7-1 deficit after the first 2 innings, which deflated the crowd, and meant that they were probably always going to lose from the word go. The Phillies did stage something of a comeback, scoring 3 runs in the 4th, and 4 in the 6th, but after a start like that, it was always going to be very difficult to win the game. It finished 10-8, a very high scoring game, with some excitement towards the end as the Phillies got close to the Marlins score. But ultimately the home fans were frustrated.

These 2 trips to baseball were a bit of an eye opener - American fan culture was very much in evidence, but seemed pretty tame for both games (although I hear that Mets fans can be lively at times). The game of baseball itself seemed quite boring, and (excuse the pun), games seemed a bit hit and miss as to their interest level and excitement. But then I guess having grown up with baseball, Americans are much more likely to see the attraction. The crowd really seemed to appreciate the few exciting moments (although there were more moments I'd describe as "tense" rather than "exciting"), which makes you wonder why they don't go for a proper sport like "soccer".

New York Mets vs Philadelphia Phillies, Shea Stadium, New York, USA - Sunday 7th September 2008

I was supposed to be going to the US Open men's final on my Sunday in New York, but the hurricane related rain on Saturday had washed out play for that day. So, everything happened a day later than planned, which meant that my tennis ticket rolled over to the Monday (when I had to be back at work in Philadelphia). You win some, you lose some. So, determined to see some sport, we headed off to Shea Stadium to watch the baseball. Shea Stadium is right next to the US Open tennis centre, which was pretty cruel, as if I was being taunted for my bad luck in not getting to see any tennis!

We got the Subway from Grand Central Station out to Queens, and as we approached Shea Stadium, the train started to fill up with New York Mets fans. When the train pulled in, we had the US Open on our right, and two baseball stadia on the left - Shea Stadium, and the Mets new stadium, which has almost finished being built, and which will become their new home next year. So, the last season at Shea Stadium, venue of The Beatles' legendary gig - I was pleased to have got to visit before it closed. Not surprisingly for a stadium that is about to be knocked down, it has been somewhat neglected recently - it reminded me of an old-school football ground in terms of the facilities. Still, some of the American marketing shine was still there, so I availed myself of a $5.50 "souvenir soda" (basically just a Coke in a nice plastic Mets cup).

The game itself was the second of a double header that day, against the Phillies. Strange, as I was due to be watching the Phillies at home a couple of days later. The Mets had lost the first game quite convincingly, so the crowd were restless! The first innings ended 3-1 to the Mets, which of course got the home fans making some noise again, and promised a high scoring game. But then, as baseball games can so often do (apparently - this was my first ever baseball game, so I didn't know this before), the scoring dried up - so after getting to 3-1 very quickly, the game finished dragged a bit before eventually finishing 6-3.

Whilst sat in the stands watching the game, it was interesting to see and hear the American version of terrace culture. Phillies fans sat in with Mets fans (the 2 being so close and it being the weekend, I suspect this was more prominent than usual), and Mets fans occasionally shouted "Phillies suck" whenever an away fan stood up. There were a few chants, the main one being "Let's Go Mets". All in all, it was pretty tame though, but then I suppose the comparison should perhaps be between baseball and cricket fans, rather than football fans. Overall, I didn't think much of the game of baseball (both this specific game, and the game in general) - there were a few tense moments, but that was about it - but I certainly enjoyed the whole occasion.

Trip to New York, USA - 6th to 8th September 2008

After Montreal, came New York. Flying into town on a Saturday when the tail end of a hurricane was hitting hard, was an interesting experience. Visibility was next to zero, the air on the descent was pretty turbulent, and when we landed, it looked like the entire contents of the Caribbean Sea were being dumped unceremoniously on New York. Some of the roads on the way into Manhattan were flooded, and people generally seemed to be sensibly staying off the streets.

So, Saturday night was spent sheltering from the rain in a succession of restaurants and bars. We went to the Mercury Lounge, the legendary gig venue on Houston Street, to listen to some unknown New York bands. Then, we went to the Spotted Pig near Greenwich Village, a place where many a famous person has been spotted recently.

Sunday was the more productive day - once the hurricane had passed through, it was back to being gloriously hot and sunny again. My hotel was one block from the fantastic MoMA, so it seemed rude not to head over there for a quick spin around. Two blocks from there, and on a combined ticket, was Top Of The Rock, the observation deck at the top of the Rockefeller building. This wasn't open the last time I was properly in New York for sightseeing, so I was really keen to go for a look at the view.

After going through all of the ridiculous buildup, suspense and hype that the organisers make you walk through (which is typically over the top, as one would expect from New York), we got to the lift, and got to the top of the building. The view did not disappoint, I thought that the 2 main views (looking north and south, or uptown and downtown) were incredible. The first view, of Central Park, reminded you just how vital that place is to New York - tall buildings crowd right up to the edges of the park, but it provides a huge, green, empty contrast with the rest of Manhattan. The downtown view shows the skyscrapers of Manhattan in all their glory, along with the Statue of Liberty, and the Empire State Building nearby. The view from that building is impressive, but I thought that "Top Of The Rock" was better - probably the best view in New York, now that the World Trade Center is no more.

Very much like the last time I was in New York (although that was a very brief visit), I felt instantly at home as soon as I stepped out onto the street there; and was reminded how much I completely love the place. New York and London are, for me, the two best cities in the world, by a very long way. The sheer number of big ticket attractions and famous things in New York (this is brought home when you are wandering around and see Radio City Music Hall, which is utterly iconic, but not even one of the most famous places within 5 blocks of where it is), trumps anywhere else in the world. And the unique things about the place are so familiar and endearing, they just make you want to come and live here.

This was a short trip to New York, but a great reminder of what a fantastic place it is. We hung around in midtown mostly, so on our day of sightseeing, we didn't go anywhere south of 42nd Street, north of 59th Street, east of 4th Avenue, or west of 7th Avenue. A pretty small block, with more than enough to do, but still only a tiny fraction of the city. I think its about time I "did" New York properly again - a week or so here is badly needed!

Trip to Montreal, Canada - 5th to 6th September 2008

During a big trip to the USA for work, I had to spend the weekend away. Looking around for what to do, an Oasis tour (where they were starting to play their new album) was going on in Canada. Having never been to Canada before, I decided to get on a plane from Philadelphia and go for a look around, as well as to take in the gig. So, I flew to Montreal for a day looking around the city, and an evening watching Oasis.

Landing in Montreal, the first thing you notice is that everything is in French. Of course, I knew that people in Montreal speak French, but to see everything in French, and only sometimes with English underneath, was a bit of a surprise. I had plenty of time to get used to it, as I was stuck in an immigration queue behind a huge planeload of people. Then, when I got to the desk, I was asked an absurd range of questions by the immigration officer. What I was doing, what I was carrying, what I was planning to do for the rest of the day - all very weird. Eventually he put a stamp in my passport and let me go though.

After getting to my hotel and dumping bags, I went out into the city on an absolutely gorgeous day - 30 degrees plus, sunny and really humid and sticky. My image of Canada had generally been that the whole country was white with snow and ice for the whole year, so this was a pleasant surprise - if a bit strange to be in such warm weather. The city itself reminded me of San Francisco in that it has quite a relaxed, almost artistic feeling about it. Compared with the US (and, I hear, Toronto too, which is apparently the serious, businesslike cousin), Montreal is very relaxed - you can drink at 18, nobody IDs you, people smoke spliffs on the street and nobody seems to care, and the nightlife is late and edgy. I saw many eccentric people there, and the city seemed to be a place that encourages such individuality.

The other thing that really strikes you about Montreal is (I suppose not too surprisingly) the clash between French and North American influences. So, the streets are all in blocks, and there are lots of skyscrapers - so far, so North American. But everything is in French, and every so often, you come across a building (usually a church) or street that could very easily be in Paris. The clash of cultures is probably best summed up by the fact that Canadian French (as well as not being much like French French in lots of other ways) has words for pounds, ounces, feet and inches. Parisians would scoff at the abuse of their language and metric system, but it is a good example of how Montreal seems to be stuck between France and the US.

Overall, I really liked Montreal. I wasn't in town for very long, but definitely got the feeling that the city would be a great place to hang around and spend some decent leisure time. I'm really glad I went, the city seems very young, vibrant and artistic. It was difficult to tell if this was a summer thing, and whether everybody hibernates when it gets cold, but I definitely liked what I saw there.

Oasis, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Matt Costa - Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada - Friday 5th September 2008

After visiting a few of what seemed like many Irish bars in that particular part of Montreal, we picked up our tickets and got into the Centre Bell just after 7pm. The music was supposed to start at 8:00, so we took our seats and waited. The arena was a fairly standard ice hockey arena, with lots of seats on the floor, and some steep stands on all sides. Being in Celine Dion's home town, all the signs in and around around the arena were in French above English, and all the staff tended to speak to you in French first. However, being an Oasis gig, the vast majority of the audience were obviously speaking English, and then some - there were lots of football shirts (even Man Utd shirts, worn by more than one clueless idiot) and union jacks in the crowd.

The first act on stage was Matt Costa, who started off as one man with a guitar (presumably Matt himself), but was then joined by a couple of other musicians. His set was pretty quiet, and struggled to fill the big venue, which was of course almost empty at the time. One or two of the songs sounded OK, but it was just the wrong venue for an act like that to be playing, so it wasn't anywhere near as good as I'm sure it would be in a smaller room.

As soon as Matt Costa finished, I went outside, and almost immediately heard cheering and music. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals were on stage - they must have got onto the stage within 5 minutes of Matt Costa leaving. I have liked Ryan Adams for a while, but never seen him before - he makes so many albums that I just can't keep up, and I have never gone to see him live because I'd always thought he'd play loads of stuff I didn't really know. So, this being a short-ish set (and for free), was a great chance to see what he was like.

What he was like, I thought, was fantastic. Ryan Adams' voice, guitar playing and of course songwriting is clearly very good indeed, and The Cardinals were tight, and really complemented him very well. Lots of the songs sounded very country influenced, which wasn't a surprise, and there were a good number of nice vocal harmonies as they went through the set. A few of the songs I knew, like Let It Ride, and a newer song called Two, were just incredible to listen to - they sounded quite haunting at times, and I really enjoyed their 40 minute or so set. In fact, it finished too quickly.

Oasis came on stage at around 10pm, quite a bit later than anticipated (but then Montreal does seem like quite a laid back, late night city). They started off with a very well received Rock N Roll Star, followed by Lyla and new single Shock Of The Lightning. Liam seemed to be on good form, having some healthy banter with the crowd; although Noel was pretty quiet throughout the gig, not really saying very much at all.

For the first time in a while, the set was heavy on some older songs that haven't been heard for a few years. Songs like Slide Away and Champagne Supernova were welcomed back into the Oasis set, and they finished it all up with I Am The Walrus again, for the first time in years.

Many of these older songs, along with the absolutely immense versions of tunes like Wonderwall, Supersonic and Morning Glory, really do help to remind you that there is little better than hearing Oasis play some of their best songs - and most bands that are around today would still struggle to write half as many great songs as Oasis did in around 1995. They might not have made a decent album for over 10 years, but the fantastic songs they wrote between 1994 and 1996 mean that, rightfully, they have their place in music history. Listening to Liam growling the words to Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova in particular, reminded me of 1996, when Oasis basically ruled the UK, were probably the biggest band in the world (for a short time at least), and seemed to be speaking for a whole nation and generation of people with every word that Liam sang. No decent albums since, but Oasis will always matter as a band because of that. A shame that many of the Canadians in the audience at this gig don't have the same memories, they missed out on something incredible, and this show brought it all back.

The gig was much better than I had expected it to be - Oasis were on good form, Liam was fully snarling as he does so well, and the guitars sounded great. They played 4 or 5 new songs, which I thought were a bit hit and miss - Falling Down is fantastic, Ain't Got Nothing isn't bad, the rest I wasn't sure about. I loved Shock Of The Lightning the first time I heard it - now it sounds like so many Oasis songs from the last 10 years - forgettable. But the new songs are something of an irrelevance, it will always be about the stuff from Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory - the 2 albums that make this band special.

The Montreal Gazette review a couple of days later seemed to approve of the gig - which was overshadowed somewhat a couple of days later when Noel was attacked on stage in Toronto. Very bizarre, and reading about that made me all the more glad that I got to see a proper set, with all the songs, and no attacks on guitarists. Judging by this show, Oasis seem to be back on form - the UK is in for a treat next month.

Work trip to Philadelphia, USA - 3rd to 5th September 2008

September started with a lengthy work trip to the US - involving being in Philadelphia across 2 working weeks. Some fun to be had over the weekend, but some work to do first. I went down to Heathrow Terminal 4 using the worst and poorest value "Express" train service anywhere in the world, the good old Heathrow Express. 15 minutes to Terminal 1, followed by a further 12 minutes wait for a connecting train to Terminal 4, then 4 minutes on said train. Add that to the 10 minute wait to get out of Paddington on a train in the first place, and you get a grand total of 41 minutes to get to the airport. For £15 each way, its a rip off, and I would have been better off getting the Tube from Green Park for £4. You live and learn - thank God BA are moving out of T4 in a couple of weeks.

I was on a bit of a later flight to Philly than I usually get - and really reaped the benefits. The plane was pretty empty, so I had a few seats to myself, and really good service from an underworked cabin crew. The flight was boring as ever, but on arriving in Philly, the taxi to the stand was all of 2 minutes, and I was through immigration and in a cab no more than 15 minutes after the plane's wheels hit the runway. Truly incredible - especially the speed through immigration. I'm not sure if this is becoming the norm for US immigration, but I hope so! It was pretty hot and sweaty outside, even at 8pm - just a different world to the rainy weather in London the same day.

The following day after work, I had the misfortune to see some of the Republican party convention on TV, where VP nominee Sarah Palin was making her acceptance speech. Looking at the Republicans in the audience, with cowboy hats on, yee-hah-ing at everything they liked the sound of (which was mostly just personal attacks on Barack Obama), I was quite scared. Most of the Americans I know and work with are intelligent, educated, professional and urban-dwelling people - so they are mostly Democrats. This was completely the other side of the country - the rednecks and other assorted idiots that may well vote for another 4 years of George Bush lite. Watching this on TV, it was an utterly terrifying prospect.

The day after Sarah Palin's speech, came John McCain's acceptance speech - which was due to start at 10pm, but which was delayed slightly, so that the end of the opening NFL game of the season didn't steal all his viewers. Which I thought gave an interesting picture of the priorities of the American people. I suspect it would be even worse in the UK - at least the NFL is a reasonably interesting sporting event - in the UK, it would probably be Big Brother taking precedence.

So, watching all this political stuff on TV, and seeing the pound sliding against the dollar by the day, meant that there was only one thing to do - go shopping. On my final day in the office, I snuck out at lunchtime for a raid on Old Navy. Stocking up on $25 pairs of jeans is at least one advantage of visiting the US regularly - but if those Republicans do win the election in November, I will be extremely glad I don't have to live here all the time.

The Fratellis, Airborne Toxic Event, Electric Touch - Fillmore At The TLA, Philadelphia, USA - Thursday 4th September 2008

Whilst on a work trip to Philadelphia, I noticed that the Fratellis were in town. I'm not normally a huge fan of them, and would certainly not go to see a headline show of theirs in London - but the $16 ticket price, plus the fact that I was at a loose end, persuaded me to go. A couple of colleagues came along too, so we had the ingredients for a good evening of beer, food and music. It was the NFL kickoff game that night too, so all of the bars were pretty packed, which added to the fun.

We got down to South Street in Philly at around 8pm, to see a big "Sold Out" sign on the venue door - I think this was the first gig I'd been to there (after seeing We Are Scientists and The Hold Steady there previously) that was a sellout. After a couple of beers in nearby bars, we eventually went inside and found a spot at the upstairs bar, and watched the opening band - called Electric Touch. They had an English singer, (with a strange accent - a mix of Scouse, Irish and American), but I think they were based in the US somewhere. The English influence on the band shone through, they played songs which reminded me of The Coral and The Beatles, and indeed they included a version of Come Together in their set. As a band opening up for another British band in the US, they worked really well - not sure that they would go down very well in the UK though, where we have lots of more authentic British artists.

The next band (and main support act) were called Airborne Toxic Event - whilst I could see why they were supporting The Fratellis (they were a decent enough fit with their sound), I didn't really get into their set. Don't get me wrong, they sounded OK, but nothing really jumped out and grabbed my attention during the set. Nothing too bad, but equally nothing that gave any kind of "wow" about them. Nice enough to listen to, but they kind of became like background noise after a few songs into the set.

After all that (and at about 11pm), The Fratellis came on stage, and played a set which drew almost exactly half and half from each of their albums. They played for quite a while as well (an hour and a half, including the encore), which probably means that they played the majority of both albums too. The set was pretty tight, and the band seemed very well practiced in playing it, but then, after a summer of back to back festivals, they probably should be. They had some good banter with the crowd, and seemed to be having a good time on stage. And certainly, they were getting a pretty good reception from the audience, with some big cheers and some serious dancing going on.

So, a decent set from The Fratellis - but despite that, I was still a bit underwhelmed. I suppose that, not really liking them all that much, this shouldn't be a surprise - but all this gig did was remind me why I don't like them. Their few good songs (of which Flathead really stands out as a great track) sound brilliant, but there just aren't really that many of them - lots of average stuff amongst the few great tunes. In particular, nothing that I heard from the new album really jumped out at me at all, as something that I'd go and listen to again. A good live band who play their songs well enough, but for me, they just don't have enough decent songs to make them anywhere near a favourite.