Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur - Emirates Stadium, London - Wednesday 29th October 2008

This was a good game of football - with, from an Arsenal fan's view, an utterly shameful result. No team - I don't care who they are and I don't care who they are playing - should draw a game after being 2 goals up in the 89th minute. They certainly shouldn't do it if they aspire to win the League, and they most definitely should not do it against their local rivals, the team at the bottom of the League. Arsene Wenger admitted he was angry afterwards, and most Arsenal fans were even angrier - with him and his team. First Fulham, then Hull, now Tottenham - this Arsenal side have such a soft centre at times, it is ridiculous. We have now dropped 10 league points without even playing a decent side yet. On our day we can beat the best in the world, but we don't have enough of those "days" at the moment; and our off days are very worrying indeed.

From a neutral's perspective, this was a great game - reminiscent of the 5-4 game at White Hart Lane in 2004. Neither team's defence really covered themselves in glory - Spurs' defence and keeper seemed to crap themselves every time Arsenal brought the ball near them; and Arsenal's keeper in particular (not helped by his defence), let in practically every shot that Spurs managed to get on target. In terms of the play, how Spurs managed to get a draw still confuses me, because Arsenal played them off the pitch at times. But, we have only ourselves to blame for what happened in the end.

The first goal, and the first sign that this might not be as easy as we'd all hoped, came after about 15 minutes. Bentley picked up the ball about 40 yards out, and booted it over Almunia's head and into the net. The goal reminded me of the "Nayim from the half way line" effort that Spurs are so fond of - a bit of a freak goal really. Bentley saw Almunia off his line, and it was a good strike - but not one you see every day. By just after half time though, Arsenal had got themselves back to 2-1, with two very similar goals. A corner which Silvestre headed in, and a free kick which Gallas headed in. Not often that you see 2 Arsenal goals from set pieces in a game, but nobody near me was complaining.

It even got better before it got worse, 2 more goals from Adebayor and Van Persie, and all seemed to be well with the world. Then it all went wrong. Gael Clichy fell over for no apparent reason, the defence failed to close Jenas down, and he curled a shot past Almunia for 4-3. Then, right into stoppage time, another long range shot bounced off the post, the Arsenal defenders were nowhere to be seen, and Lennon got there first to score the equaliser. Spurs players and fans celebrated like they had just won the Champions League (a reminder: it was only a draw, and you are still bottom of the League), and there was silence pretty much everywhere else in the ground. If you lose a game you deserved to lose, there are no complaints, but to throw away a win like that is just ridiculous. Fair play to Spurs, in keeping going until the end, and playing for each other when they got their chances, they did what we used to do quite well.

Afterwards, Arsene Wenger trotted out the usual crap about the team being young, and about this being a learning experience. How many more learning experiences must we watch this team go through, after Fulham, Hull and now Spurs? Surely they don't need to learn how to not concede 2 goals in injury time? Something seems to be wrong with the Arsenal team at the moment, and we can only hope that it gets fixed soon. I suspect that the root of the problem might begin with a "G" and end with "allas", but we will just have to trust (again) that Arsene knows best. But more than a few Arsenal fans are finding their faith in Arsene distinctly tested just lately.

Oasis, Glasvegas - Roundhouse, London - Sunday 26th October 2008

The final show in the BBC's Electric Proms was a big one. Oasis and Glasvegas, at the Roundhouse in Camden. It was announced a few days before their album came out (although those in the know had been hearing rumours for a while before that), and when tickets went on sale at 8:15am one day, they were all gone in literally a few seconds. Then they were all over eBay for silly money. So, I was delighted that the promoters (and presumably the BBC themselves) put some very strict anti-touting measures in place. Ticket holders had to go to the venue any time from 10am on the day of the gig; show photo ID, a credit card, and proof of address, and be wristbanded, along with their guest. You then needed your wristband and a ticket (the number of which was cross referenced against the wristband) to get back into the show later. Really strict, and hopefully this will be applied to other gigs in huge demand in future. Anything that makes tout vermin's lives harder, or that removes their customers by making them not willing to risk cash if they may not get in, is great news.

Anyway, I got into the venue just in time to see most of the Glasvegas set, although I did miss the first song or two. Watching from the back, they looked and sounded incredible as ever. Since I last saw them, their album has come out, almost outselling Metallica in its week of release - so they are becoming really big news. I thought that their sound was much clearer than any time I've seen them before - maybe because there were professional TV sound engineers looking after it. And, they were very very loud - even after half an hour, my ears were fully ringing when they left the stage. A really good set, and I'll definitely aim to go and see them again soon.

Between Glasvegas and Oasis, there was the opportunity for plenty of celebrity spotting in the seats upstairs in the venue. First person we saw was Joe Cole and his WAG, sat in the front row at the side of the stage. Then, more and more people kept appearing in the centre of the upstairs - Samantha Janus, Nicole Appleton, Russell Brand, and eventually James Bond Daniel Craig. When that lot were all in place, it was remarkable how crap Joe Cole's seat was by comparison - definitely a second class celebrity at this gig!

Eventually, Edith Bowman bounded on stage and introduced Oasis, and we could then get on with probably the best Oasis gig I've seen in a long while. The small venue helped, and the idiot count was extremely low - this was fairly hardcore, pretty cool Oasis fans only. Liam seemed up for the show, and all of the band in general seemed to be really enjoying themselves - when that shows through, it always makes for a good gig. In many respects, this was like the triumphant homecoming gig in front of a select group - and in that regard, it was a privilege to have been there.

There were rumours of special covers, and songs that aren't played very often, but none of that materialised - the set was identical to the one that has featured on the current tour. Although there was a 50 piece choir backing Oasis, they didn't really seem to do anything different as a result - the choir just fitted in around the band's normal set. In the venue, you couldn't even really hear the choir, it was only when I got home and put the TV on that you knew they were there. Having said that this was a fairly standard Oasis show, the sound was very good, and there was a fairly riotous atmosphere for the vast majority of the songs. So although the songs were the same, the occasion, performance and atmosphere were all significantly better than a normal Oasis gig.

The set lasted for about an hour and three quarters, and hearing songs like Slide Away, Wonderwall and Morning Glory never fails to remind you of how absolutely fantastic Oasis are/were as a band. The old songs sound so good (even if Liam's voice can't quite do all that it used to any more), that you almost wish they would stop making new records, and just play all the classics every time. Of course, everybody, including the BBC, NME, and Gigwise were at this show, so reviews are ten a penny. From my perspective, this was a special show, one that I feel lucky to have been at, and a great reminder to the world of what a good band Oasis are.

New Orleans Saints vs San Diego Chargers - Wembley Stadium, London - Sunday 26th October 2008

I had an American colleague in town this weekend, so I reluctantly abandoned West Ham vs Arsenal, and went to Wembley for the annual NFL game there. I'd never been to an American Football game before (although I'd done hockey and baseball before), so was interested to see what it was like. Although, probably the reason I'd never been before was that it doesn't really interest me that much - so I was more of a curious observer than anything else. In Central London during the day, and later on the approach to Wembley, I saw plenty of people wearing NFL clothes, split pretty evenly between Americans and Brits. The Brits in particular were wearing shirts from any and all teams, not just the 2 that were playing this game.

After the pre match warm up, sponsored by Visa (which I was really grateful for - how else would it have happened, without Visa's amazing support?!), the players buggered off, and the "pre game show" began. This featured Stereophonics playing a couple of songs (not very loudly) from a stage which was wheeled onto the pitch just beforehand. The whole thing was supposed to by hyping up the excitement levels, but it all just seemed more than a bit fake. Whilst Stereophonics were playing their songs, the Saints cheerleaders were doing their stuff, people were moving big inflatables around, and some soldiers brought British and American flags onto the pitch. There was lots going on on the field, but I struggled to see the point of it all. Then, they had the national anthems sung - Ne-Yo singing the US anthem, and Joss Stone singing God Save The Queen. When Joss Stone was introduced, she was roundly booed, and deservedly so! Finally, we had the "coin toss", which Rebecca Adlington "helped" with - strange to introduce a British swimmer that won 2 Olympic gold medals, when this just seemed to give the Americans there an excuse to talk about how Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals. Anyway, after all of this completely over the top buildup, the game finally started!

The game itself was a decent enough game actually - fairly open and high scoring, with a few touchdowns, and some good "glory" passes and runs. One thing I noticed was that it seems to take forever and a day to do anything - for example, the last 5 minutes or so of the second quarter took about half an hour! Kick the ball, take 6 seconds off the clock, stop the clock, go for an advert break! It all just seems to drag out far more when you are in the stadium (which to be fair is also true for televised football matches, especially the break after the players come out) - which of course reminds you that this sport is made for TV. All those breaks are great when you are at home watching on TV - go to the loo, grab a drink, etc - but they drag the whole thing out absurdly when you are in the stadium, and it actually makes it pretty boring. Of course, the OTT stuff carries on through the game, with a very excitable announcer with a ridiculously deep voice talking shit throughout.

Other than all this, I noticed a few strange things apart from the game. Firstly, the sheer number of people hanging around the pitch during the game - to be expected when you have 50 players on each team, I suppose. At most points, there were just dozens and dozens of people milling around the edges of the pitch, making it all seem much more important and involved than it probably is - being just a glorified game of rugby. The other thing I noticed were the heat pipes, which spray hot air at the players on the bench, to keep them warm. Stupid, and further proof (as well as the pads and crash helmets) that NFL players are sissies. I know it can get pretty cold in the US, but you wouldn't catch football and rugby players standing by a heater, oh no!

An interesting experience all in all, quite funny to laugh at some of the ridiculously excitable and hyped up parts of what goes on. The BBC showed the game, and got into the spirit of things too. I was really glad I went in the end, but I'm not sure I'd rush back to an NFL game - the fluff around it is more interesting and exciting than the game itself at times, which is never a good sign for a sports match!

Vampire Weekend, Pete & The Pirates, El Guincho - Forum, London - Friday 24th October 2008

One of the best bands I saw at Glastonbury this year were Vampire Weekend, and there were so good, I saw them not just once but twice. So, when they announced their autumn UK dates, I was very keen. By the time the gig actually came around, I had not listened to them for a while, and had almost forgotten about them in some respects, so this show was almost like a reintroduction to the band.

We got into the venue just after 8pm, and were surprised to see the opening act, El Guincho, still on stage. I guess that, given the relative lack of material in Vampire Weekend's catalogue, there was a good explanation for that. El Guincho were 2 Spanish guys, one of whom had a synthesizer, and the other had a drum machine. They both played interesting sounding stuff, and shouted over the top. They reminded me a bit of the Ting Tings in a strange way (and not just because there were 2 of them), and I could totally see why they were supporting Vampire Weekend. I probably wouldn't go and see one of their shows, but they were interesting enough to watch for 20 minutes or so.

The main support act were Pete & The Pirates, who I was really looking forward to seeing. I like a lot of the stuff on their album, and as a former Reading resident, it is always good (and more than a bit surprising, given the lack of decent venues there), to see a band from Reading. Anyway, their set was a good one - they had a good number of fans in the audience, and they went down really well. Knots, one of their best songs in my view, appeared early in the set, and Mr Understanding (their absolute standout tune) was towards the end. The rest of the set sounded good - the band sounded tight and competent, and they had more than a few very decent tunes. Last time I saw them, I liked them - but tonight they were better than I remembered.

Vampire Weekend came on stage late, as expected, and to a fantastic reception. Mansard Roof as the first song got everybody excited, and the set was of course mostly drawn from their album. There were a couple of new songs (definitely one, maybe two), but the sound of tunes like Oxford Comma reminded me of just how good they are live. They sound very much like they do on record, with the excellent exception that the guitars sound much, much rockier and better when they play live. The set was fairly short but very good, didn't dip at all, and when they left the stage, everybody was still up for much more. The encore included a very amusing cover of Fleetwood Mac's Everywhere, as well as a very fast and furious version of Walcott, which topped the night off brilliantly - a great song, played fantastically well by a very good band indeed.

Work trip to Plzen and Prague, Czech Republic - 22nd to 24th October 2008

After a ridiculously long day trip to the Netherlands, I spent a day in London - then got up absurdly early again for a trip to the Czech Republic. When the alarm went off, I spent a good few minutes wondering why on earth I hadn't just gone directly there. My first destination was Plzen (or Pilsen if you prefer), where my company has an office. A 40 minute or so cab ride from Prague airport, and we were there - a fairly small town, which looks in many respects like a mini version of Prague, at least in the central old town. One of the big things that Plzen is famous for is a massive brewery, so we sampled some of the produce during the evening we spent there. One other remarkable thing about the town is the synagogue pictured here - it is one of the 2 or 3 biggest in Europe, and has fairly recently been restored. Looks amazing and very imposing from the front - part of you wonders how a synagogue of this size managed to survive Nazi occupation, World War II, and 40 years of Communist neglect. Impressive.

After a day and a half in Plzen, we went to Prague for an evening out, before returning home. It never ceases to amaze me that, no matter the time of year, the centre of Prague is absolutely crawling with tourists. We were staying somewhere pretty central, so I took my colleagues on a walk around the old town. It was pretty freezing cold there already (a reminder of just how damn cold it gets in winter), so after a short visit to the Old Town Square, we retired promptly to the warmth of a bar. Just like the last time I was here, baked pork knee on a spit was very high on the agenda, washed down with plenty of lovely Czech beer.

You don't have to spend much time in Prague to appreciate what an incredibly beautiful city it is (which was lucky, as I was only there for about 12 hours this time) - but the sheer number of tourists do tend to affect the experience somewhat. All those glass shops and souvenir shops, and the establishments that "cater for tourists" (i.e. at vastly increased price and reduced quality) tend to affect the place, and not in a good way. I guess it it rather selfish and unreasonable to wish that all the tourists would go away, but the city could definitely do with a few less of them! A victim of its own beauty, I suppose.

Work trip to Utrecht, Netherlands - 20th October 2008

A day trip to my office in Zeist (which is a lovely little town in the middle of nowhere, close to Utrecht), meant a very early alarm call in the morning - a 4:40am taxi to get to the airport in time for the first flight of the day. In fact, I think my flight (the 6:25am British Midland, if you care) is the very first flight of the day to take off from Heathrow. Once the plane was full and it pushed back from the gate, we sat on the tarmac until precisely 7am, whereupon we took off - I guess because the Heathrow runway only opened for takeoff at that time. A huge 37 minutes later, and we had landed in Amsterdam, and an annoying 15 minute taxi after that, we were at the gate. It is often irritating to lose an hour on the way from the UK to Europe, because no matter how early you get up, it is virtually impossible to get anywhere by 9am.

After a quick injection of caffeine in Schiphol airport, I met a colleague, and we embarked on the train journey to Zeist. Obviously, being the Netherlands, this is a rather unremarkable journey across flat countryside, although we did see some windmills and farm animals on the way. Plus the Amsterdam Arena. A change in Utrecht, where we bought some very nice chips with mayonnaise, and we arrived in Zeist about an hour after we left the airport. Picking up more colleagues there, we though we would be better served heading back towards the bright lights of Utrecht for some lunch.

That was a mistake. Being a Monday, and being a town which is occasionally lively but mostly quite pedestrian, there were not an abundance of places to get food. We walked around the whole city centre, past the Dom church tower, which is the tallest and most recognisable building in the city. Despite a few tourists around, there seemed to be no restaurants open for lunch. So, we eventually retreated back towards the station, for one of the strangest Chinese (or more likely, Indonesian) meals I have ever had. Obviously, the Dutch used to own Indonesia, but the food they got back was perhaps not the best - it looked to me like the Indonesians may have played a small joke on their colonial masters, at least in this restaurant.

Eventually, by 4pm, it was time to head back to Schiphol - after a very long day that had left me flagging. One of those journeys followed where you just want to get home as quickly as possible, but everything seems to be happening really slowly. A delayed plane, a big queue for immigration, and long wait for the Heathrow Express back into London - all most annoying. It was a good day, certainly better than a day in the office, but the length of the day reminded me exactly why I usually try to spend a night when I visit the Netherlands.

Arsenal vs Everton - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 18th October 2008

After what has seemed like ages (I swear that international breaks get longer and longer every time), Arsenal played a game again. A disappointing result away at Sunderland in the last game before the break, pretty much summed up a very inconsistent start to the season so far. Fantastic against Sheffield United, Blackburn, Porto and Bolton, but average (and nowhere near creative enough) against Fulham, Hull and Sunderland. We haven't really played a decent team yet, but are still stumbling in too many games we should be winning. The season so far has been useful at realigning Arsenal fans' expectations - and we won't be challenging for the League based on recent displays. Our best is certainly good enough to win cup matches against anybody - if we produce it at the right times - but it doesn't seem to happen often enough to sustain a title challenge.

This game was an excellent three points - not the most simple or convincing three points, but a much needed and well won three points all the same. Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United all winning at the weekend made it all the more important. Everton went ahead in the first half, taking advantage of some (more) lax defending to get the first goal of the game. After that, you feared a "defend at all costs" 70 minutes, and the rest of the first half was a pretty tight and dull affair - with Arsenal's heads looking as though they had dropped.

The second half was, thankfully, a completely different performance. Some reshuffling of personnel saw Kolo Toure come off injured (and pass the captain's armband to Manuel Almunia in the process), Alex Song move to his better position of centre back, Eboue move to his better position of right back, and Walcott come on to add a bit of spice to the game. Altogether after this, Arsenal looked a bit more balanced, and we were back level after around 5 minutes, following an excellent Nasri shot from outside the area. Robin Van Persie made it 2-1 soon after, finally managing to finish off a move where several others had tried and failed to get the ball into the net. Then, in the last minute, Theo Walcott got the goal that his second half performance had deserved - the Everton defenders never looked comfortable with him, and he took full advantage as they started to tire.

Other than a victory where we came from behind, there were 3 other fair talking points from the game. The first was who was captain in William Gallas's absence - Kolo Toure for the first half, then Manuel Almunia for the second half. Clearly, Wenger went with experience and length of service, but there were many in the crowd (me included) who would have loved to have seen Cesc Fabregas given the armband - it would have been a great statement of intent.

The second talking point was a disgraceful tackle by Tony Hibbert, where he clattered all the way through Denilson. When a few Arsenal players (most notably Gael Clichy) took exception to this and squared up to him, Hibbert grabbed Clichy by the throat, and a melee ensued. The ridiculous outcome of this was that, despite giving the referee more than enough justification to have sent him off twice (once for the tackle, and once for grabbing Clichy around the neck), he escaped with a pathetic yellow card. And, even more outrageously, Clichy was also booked for his part in the aftermath. So, one player tries to maim another, one player takes exception to this, and both get the same punishment. Next time a player gets injured like Eduardo, I hope that lax refereeing, and especially the failure to punish these tackles properly, is given its fair share of the blame.

And the final talking point was in the stands, specifically in the away section. There appeared to be stuff being thrown down onto the Everton fans, from the upper tiers of Arsenal fans. Clearly and understandably, the Everton fans weren't best pleased about this, but Arsenal's stewarding only seemed to blame the Everton fans, and make the situation much worse. So, there was a 10 minute standoff in the away end, which looked quite animated. This YouTube clip seems to show what was going on, and this opinion piece provides some more detail. Very strange - there has never been an incident like this at Emirates before, so something must have happened to make people decide to throw stuff off the Upper Tier. But why at Everton fans, especially when our next home game is against Spurs - whose fans would of course make a much better target?

Anyway, a good 3 points out of this game, and with Spurs losing again, it was a good weekend overall for Arsenal fans. Talking of Spurs, when The Guardian print a whole page of jokes about your club, you know you are a true laughing stock!

Oasis - Wembley Arena, London - Thursday 16th October 2008

After a sneak preview of the new Oasis material and show in Canada last month, here was the real thing - London dates, with the full Oasis experience back at home again. Of course, seeing Oasis in the UK is somewhat more authentic (the Canadians, much as they loved the band, couldn't beat the fanaticism of a UK crowd) - but it does also mean spending your evening with more than a few total idiots. And not just the ones on stage, there are usually rather a lot of them in the crowd too.

Tonight, however, the idiocy was confined mainly to the venue management and security. Given that Wembley Arena is one of the more soulless and expensive places to watch a band in any case in my experience, they really have to go some to make it much worse - but they managed to. Arriving outside just after 8pm, I eventually got inside just before 9pm, missing the first 3 songs of the Oasis set in the process. There were 2 people scanning tickets, which was taking a hopelessly long time, so the queues were backing up all around the venue. Add some inept and especially officious security, and it was obvious there were going to be problems. Totally unacceptable from a venue that claims to be "world class". When you charge £40+ for tickets, the venue really should be hiring enough staff to get people inside, and able to see what they paid for - otherwise they are just taking their money, and expecting paying punters to put up with it. Whatever the excuses were, they weren't good enough.

When I did eventually get into the arena to watch Oasis, the set was the same as the standard for this tour so far. My Big Mouth, which they had played a week or so ago, was sadly dropped again, and Live Forever was still missing. But, all the recent set staples were there, and having listened some more to some of the new album, tunes like I'm Outta Time sounded like they could be real growers. All in all, the band sounded on top form, really good and loud, and it was a very good set. Liam and Noel didn't seem especially up for it, and did look to be going through the motions a little bit - but they sounded very solidly great.

This show was filmed and shown live on MTV, so we had the strange situation that the main room lights were on throughout the show. This did mean that it didn't really seem like being at a gig in some respects. Just as TV companies can screw paying football fans around by changing kickoff times, it seems that they can screw paying music fans too, by leaving the lights on at gigs! Still, as long as the people watching from their sofas enjoyed the show, that's all that matters - they are the people that keep the live music industry afloat, after all...

So, a great set from Oasis, but lots of other things around the gig were far from great. Which is a real shame, because it must be a bummer for Oasis to play a really good show, but have idiots around them meaning that many people still have a bad overall experience. Apparently there were many hundreds of fake tickets that didn't get people into this show too, quite apart from those with valid tickets needing an hour to get in due to crap security Judging by the army of touts outside beforehand, plus another army of fake merchandise sellers outside afterwards, and those crap security guards and greedy venue management; there certainly were plenty of scumbags around to ruin people's days. This kind of thing happens to Oasis more than most other bands - a sign of how successful they were, and how big and important they still are as a band. Really good set from a great band - but a shame that so many parasites (outside the venues) and incompetents (managing the venues) manage to dampen the experience.

Cajun Dance Party - ULU, London - Friday 10th October 2008

A few months after first seeing them at the Bloomsbury Ballroom, I went to see Cajun Dance Party at ULU. Which is a place that even London taxi drivers have no idea of the existence of, or even the street it is on - maybe it is in some kind of black hole. So, after directing the cabbie there, we eventually camped in the secret back bar (the one with no queues whatsoever, unlike the packed one that most people seem to gravitate to), and waited for the band to come on. There was a support band, called Swanton Bombs, but I didn't see enough of them to pass judgement.

As Cajun Dance Party came on stage, the back bar emptied, and we got a decent place quite near the front of the stage. There were still tickets on sale for this gig a couple of days before, and it didn't look anywhere near sold out to me - there was plenty of space around. Which, given the fact that the venue only holds about 800, was a surprise - I had expected CDP to be able to sell out at least a venue this size.

The set included most of their album The Colourful Life, as well as about 3 or 4 new songs, including the excellent Five Days. Highlights for me were Amylase and The Race, both brilliant indie pop songs. But, the PA sounded generally very quiet throughout, which was a bit strange. And, exactly the same as the last time I saw them, I thought they sounded very similar - too similar - to how they sound on record. Don't get me wrong, I like their CDs, but the live set just lacked something for me. They seem very good at making great sounding albums, and then at almost exactly reproducing that sound when they play live. It sounds good, but to me, it doesn't make them very exciting as a live band.

A good show overall, but it left me wondering what to think about Cajun Dance Party. Listening to their CDs, you scratch your head and wonder why many more people don't like them - and why they aren't already playing places like the Astoria, rather than struggling to sell out ULU. But then when you see them live, it all seems a bit too polished, and like the CD - so I can understand why their gigs aren't such huge attractions. But surely people need to have seen them live first to work this out? All very confusing.

White Lies - ICA, London - Tuesday 7th October 2008

My first trip to a gig at the ICA (although I had been there a couple of times before to look at photos and paintings), and the headline band were White Lies. They used to be called Fear Of Flying, before they completely changed name and direction. They played a big showcase at the Camden Crawl, then signed a huge record deal after the customary bidding war. Very few gigs, but plenty of hype and coverage since, this was their first "proper" tour. The London date sold out in June, and was a pretty small venue for this tour, given the size of the other venues in much smaller towns. You suspected that some people - either the band, their management, or their record company - were trying to starve the London public of White Lies, to build up the hype and anticipation. This was their first sold-out London gig, and so was accordingly stuffed with a mixture of industry people and die hard fans.

After a couple of support bands, White Lies took to the stage just after 10pm. Dressed almost all in black, they immediately piled into their set, the first number of which was a synth heavy tune - it reminded me of The Killers, or, dare I say it, The Bravery (but in a good way). To be fair, this first song wasn't really representative of their whole set, but it certainly did set the tone for a show containing a whole range of influences. The synthesisers sounded like The Killers, the similarities with bands like Interpol and Joy Division were obvious, and the singer even sounded like Jim Morrison at times.

Throughout the set, it was blindingly obvious how absolutely huge the band's sound is. They are very tight, very polished, and sound absolutely like the finished article when they play live. It was strange to listen to the massive sound they were making, where the bass made your stomach vibrate, and the riffs reminded me of Muse - in that they wouldn't be at all out of place in a stadium. But then, when the songs finished, you could hear individual people clapping and cheering, in a crowd of 300 or so. White Lies are much too big for venues like the ICA, and pretty soon, they will quite obviously be playing much bigger places.

So, the sound was huge, the live performance was incredible, and they will be graduating to very much bigger venues in the very near future - you can absolutely see how this band will headline festivals and stadia, and would probably go down an absolute storm in the US. A comparison with U2 isn't as completely ridiculous as it sounds. Despite all this, the one thing I wasn't completely sold on was (all of) the songs. A few were incredible, a few were pretty good, but a few were average. Of course, as a young band, there is plenty of time and scope to write more songs - and if they can continue to write more like their best, I think they will be a very significant band for years to come. Tonight's gig could well turn out to be an "I Was There" show.