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.

Work trip to Philadelphia, USA - 19th to 22nd May 2008

Within 2 weeks of a week long trip to Chicago, I was back in the US - Philadelphia this time - for a conference and a load of meetings. The guy at immigration gave me some funny looks as he thumbed the previous US entry stamps in my passport, and even asked why I had bothered to go home between the 2 trips. He seemed to find the answer satisfactory, luckily, so I avoided the rubber gloves. Half an hour later, I got out of a cab in the city centre (or "center"), right outside Philadelphia's magnificent City Hall, with the statue of William Penn on top. This always used to be the tallest building in town, and was briefly the tallest building in the world when it was built 100 years or so ago. A pretty impressive building, it is a huge place.

Of course, this trip took me away from the UK for the Champions League Final - which I wasn't too upset about, as it meant I got to avoid all the rubbish that was written and said in the UK during the build up. Clearly. nobody winning would have been the ideal for me in this game, (failing that, Manchester United, grudgingly) so it didn't turn out too badly in the end. I skived off work on the Wednesday afternoon, and made for an Irish boozer in Philly in time for the 2:45 kick off, to watch the game. On the way, I passed by the Love Statue. which seemed to look much more photogenic than I have seen it before, with the fountain behind it in full flow for a change.

In the Irish Pub, there were a surprising number of Chelsea fans (in Chelsea shirts), virtually all of whom were American, and I suspect many of whom did not support Chelsea 5 years ago. Of course, there were still more Manchester United fans, including almost all of the foreigners in shirts in the bar. The rest of the bar was full of a mix of Americans and Europeans who didn't care as much who won, but just wanted to see the game. At kick off, the bar was absolutely packed, and it got busier and busier as the game went on. Strangely, though, it started to empty out a bit at the end of extra time, some people at least seemed not be be staying for penalties - of course missing the delightful sight of John Terry screwing it all up, and Nicolas Anelka finally losing the trophy. If only Ashley Cole has missed too! I was surprised at how full the bar was for the game, even if the rest of the city was no doubt completely unaware of the game's existence.

On this trip, I got to see some things in Philadelphia that I've (rather shamefully) never seen before on my numerous trips there. The photo here is of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which features the famous "Rocky Steps" (and Rocky Statue outside). I also saw some of the "Independence" stuff in town on this trip, notably Independence Hall, and the National Constitution Center, which celebrates the foundation of the US as a country. Sadly it was dark for much of the time I was at this end of town, so no decent photos made it - but I will definitely wander down there in daylight for a better look on my next trip.

This was a short, chaotic but good trip to Philly - every time I go there, I grow to like the place more and more. It probably isn't the greatest city in the US, but combines a lot of the European-ness of a big East Coast city, with characteristics that definitely make it a lot more American than Boston or New York - the 2 places that most Europeans get to go. I am a fan of the place, and become more so every time I go - a city with a lot good to say about it.

Work trip to Chicago, USA - 5th to 9th May 2008

A week in Chicago, at a much better time of year than my previous trip in the freezing cold. This time, I flew out there on Bank Holiday Monday, still with a raging hangover from extended drinking after the Arsenal vs Everton game the previous day. In fact, getting up at 8am UK time to get to the airport, followed by an 8 hour flight, then a half day meeting when I got there, made for something of a day from absolute hell. But, once I had had the chance to get some sleep, the week turned for the better.

Sadly, there were no majorly interesting gigs on in town this week (apart from a Black Kids show which seemed to be at the end of the earth in Chicago terms). Also, the White Sox were in town, but it rained extensively during all of their games, drenching my colleagues, to my amusement. So, it was just work, eat, sleep for a week, with a little bit of sightseeing and shopping slipped in there too.

The experience of going to another city for a week, and being just like a normal commuter (just in a different place) is something I've been getting increasingly used to lately. This being the US, it is a common sight to see people walking along the street, holding those big plastic coffee cups, and practically being hooked up to an intravenous supply of coffee on their way to work. Always something that amazes me - lots of countries like their coffee, but the Americans seem to have the capacity to drink huge amounts of it - the country runs on oil and coffee.

Little else to report from this trip, other than that I was pleased to see Chicago in better weather, I would have hated for my only impression to have been a ridiculously cold wasteland - so it was good to see the place in better climes.

Sightseeing in Chicago, USA - Friday 9th May 2008

A few hours spare in Chicago was the ideal opportunity to wander around the city for a while, and take in some of the "sights". I say "sights", but most of the good stuff about being in Chicago was more about just being there - being dwarved by the skyscrapers, and walking along streets with railway tracks running on top of them, like in the picture here. It was much warmer than when I was there before, which meant that I could actually notice some of this stuff, instead of freezing half to death.

The biggest Chicago attraction is probably the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, but when you are in the city, you usually wouldn't know it was there. There are so many other tall buildings around, that you only catch a glimpse of it very rarely - it is almost as if it doesn't exist most of the time. So you tend to head for other attractions instead, the most obvious of which is Millennium Park, a fantastic collection of public art, gardens, and an outdoor theatre. The sculpture in this photo is known as The Bean, and is incredibly shiny, so it gives a great reflected view of the city skyline and the lakefront.

Millennium Park being quite new (and this being America), corporations have made their mark - The Bean sculpture is in a part of the park called AT&T Plaza - most original. The other amazing sight in the park is the concert arena pictured here - designed by Frank Gehry, the lattice roof stretches back for quite a way, making a very decent looking place to watch a show.

In the time I had, I managed to get a good feel for the city - there aren't exactly all that many major "sights", in the Big Ben, Tower Bridge sense of the word, but walking around Chicago is a classic North American "big city" experience. The skyscrapers everywhere make for the feel of an important place, and there is more than enough there to keep one amused for a few days off. Of course, the $2 for £1 shopping can't really help but be a bigger attraction at the moment, though.

Arsenal vs Everton - Emirates Stadium, London - Sunday 4th May 2008

This was a real "end of season" game, neither team with much to play for, so it was a pretty dull affair. Nobody on the pitch seemed to care much, Everton came with no attacking ambition, and by half time everybody in the crowd had lost the will to live as well. A shame, because it was a lovely sunny "end of season" day, and a decent game (not to mention some trophies being presented) would have been fantastic. Still, maybe next season. We didn't even get to say Happy Birthday to Cesc Fabregas, today being his 21st birthday.

The boss gave a few players, Fabregas and Flamini included, a rest today - which meant that the team was a strange mix of some players getting a rare start in the first team (like Denilson and Fabianski), and others playing to receive the applause and adulation of the crowd (like Adebayor, Gilberto and late substitute Jens Lehmann). All this made the game a bit disjointed, the team wasn't exactly an established team, but then the game and result didn't really matter.

Everton needed only a point to qualify for Europe for next season, so tried some halfhearted attacking in the first half. When they realised that it probably wasn't going to get them anywhere, they put lots of men behind the ball and tried to defend a 0-0 draw. They showed little ambition, so they probably got what they deserved from the game - nothing. Andy Johnson in particular was an annoying little shit, falling over, questioning every refereeing decision, and generally acting like he should have been playing for Chelsea rather than Everton.

The only goal of the game came quite late on, a fantastic cross from substitute Armand Traore on the left, nodded in by Nicklas Bendtner. Bendtner has been a bit part player this season, but has notched a few goals all in all, which shows that he could be useful given a run in the team. Certainly a step up from Aliadiere, who managed one Premier League goal in his whole Arsenal career. At the end of the game, the players came around for a lap of honour, with particular honour for Jens Lehmann, playing his last game for the club, who got a very good, and very well deserved ovation.

After a promising start this season, and with everything still going swimmingly until mid February, the last couple of months have been difficult for Arsenal fans. Because of that, I like many others am a bit sick of football for the time being, and am eagerly thinking "roll on August", when we can start with a fresh slate. Hopefully Chelsea won't be English or European Champions when we start playing football again, and hopefully we'll have a squad with slightly more strength in depth to do better next time.

The Kooks - Brixton Academy, London - Friday 2nd May 2008

After being really impressed by The Kooks last time I saw them, and having heard some of the promising tunes from their new album in more detail since then, I picked up a ticket for one of their 2 sold out nights at Brixton Academy. It was my first trip to Brixton for a while, and immediately on arriving in the area, I could tell that this was not exactly going to be a gig full of hardcore music fans, more a branch of The Kooks female under 16s fan club.

I missed the support band on purpose, after listening to their songs on MySpace, and discovering (not to my surprise) that they recently supported Mika, I decided to give them a miss, reasoning that the time would be better spent in the pub. It seemed quite cheap of The Kooks to sell out a big UK tour, then not to put on a decent support act, but there you go. So, the first music I heard of the night was when I walked into the main room, just as The Smiths' "Ask" kicked in. Not a bad start.

The Kooks came on stage just after 9.30, to a lot of screaming - and the first verse of their first tune, Always Where I Need To Be, was sung back by almost everybody in the crowd. Very quickly, I realised that this was more like being at a Boyzone show, judging by the audience, and the sheer amount of high pitched screaming going on. As beer flew over the top, people were squealing in horror as if it was the most ghastly thing they had ever experienced. The sound also seemed much quieter than the recent Astoria show, I may have been dreaming this, but I'm sure the guitars were turned right down.

As the gig wore on, things got better. The band were tight, and many of their songs are of course really quite good. Sway was a particular highlight, as was Eddie's Gun - and even the few duff new songs like Mr Maker and Do You Wanna seemed to sound OK. Then, 40 minutes in came the moment that almost made me embarrassed to be there. Naive started, people screamed, hands were in the air, cameras were out, and 4000 people seemed to screech the words back - it sounded almost excruciating. The last song of the main set, You Don't Love Me, was introduced, and as the final guitar solos played, and the guitars were left feeding back on stage, it seemed like a lot of the audience thought that this was rock and roll at its most edgy and dangerous. Which of course it was most certainly not.

The encore was more of the good and bad. Luke Pritchard emerged on his own to play Seaside and Jackie Big Tits, both of which were again met by screaming and general idiocy. Then the band came back, and played a fantastic version of Stormy Weather, where I'm sure the guitars had been turned up significantly from the main set - so they were as they probably should have been all along. The final song of the night was Sofa Song, which again sounded good if you ignored the screaming.

This was a really weird gig for me - I really quite like The Kooks, and thought that the band sounded excellent. But, the audience was awful, possibly the wettest crowd I have ever seen for a gig at Brixton, almost to the point where it really affected enjoyment. On the way out of the show, the PA was playing A Whiter Shade Of Pale (which sounded amazing when played that loud), and I heard at least 3 people say "what the hell is this crap" - which kind of summed lots of the crowd up. I have experienced crappy audiences like this at Kooks gigs before, so I think I will be sticking to seeing them in small venues only from now on, where at least some of the idiots won't be quick enough to get in.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Proud Galleries, London - Thursday 1st May 2008

A flying visit to the new Proud Galleries in Camden, to the excellent Another Music = Another Kitchen club night - which hosted The Courteeners' first ever London gig in the not too distant past. As well as that, they routinely feature sets by the best new bands out there, so it is good that Proud Galleries has reopened (bigger and better) to be their home again. The occasion this evening was a fairly rare London set by the excellent Bombay Bicycle Club. Getting into the venue, I was surprised to see it pretty empty altogether, although of course the night was still young when I got there. The new Proud is much bigger than the old version, now featuring (almost) enough toilets, a much bigger gig room, and a bar in a stable - should be a very good venue this summer.

Bombay Bicycle Club came on stage at about 10:30pm, the singer sporting a nice 6th former pair of glasses, a yellow t-shirt and floppy hair. He looked taller, lankier and skinnier than I remembered him, and looking at his bandmates, they looked older than the 17 and 18 years old that they are. Their set was again very good, the 2 surprises were again that the venue was not much busier to see them, and that many more people have not heard of this band. Open House in particular is a fantastic song, and although it got the crowd rocking from foot to foot this time, you just expect that this should be a song that's making a gig venue go crazy. Hopefully it soon will be.

All in all this was something of a surreal gig, seeing a really good band play some really good songs, in front of a pretty small crowd of largely disinterested people. One of the stranger shows I've been to recently, but still good to see BBC again, and good to get a look at the new, improved Proud Galleries.

The Pigeon Detectives, The Metros, The Rascals - Islington Academy, London - Tuesday 29th April 2008

After a short break to write and record their new album, the Pigeon Detectives are back, set to release their second album a year (almost) to the day after their first. Early indications are that it will be another cracker, if lead single This Is An Emergency is anything to go by. This gig was put on by MTV2 to film a few bands for TV, and came less than a week before the Pigeons were due to play 2 big sold out gigs in Leeds Millennium Square. When we got into the venue, we were very pleased to find that the upstairs bar was open, anybody was allowed in, and nobody seemed to know it existed - this meant a bar with no queues, and a perch on the balcony to watch all the action.

First band on were The Rascals, who also supported the Pigeon Detectives last time I saw them. Sadly, there was no appearance from Alex Turner this time, but the band seemed to cope OK without him! They came on stage very early, which meant that I (and most others) missed the first few songs, but their set was well received. I'm not sure I quite "get" The Rascals, some of their songs are OK, but others seem distinctly average to me - and the singer occasionally sounds like the singer from The Coral (not a good thing). They are clearly a good band when they play live - they look and sound very exciting - but I'm not quite sure that they have the quality and depth of songs to match. Set closer Is It Too Late is a standout song, but there aren't too many more where that came from.

Next on were The Metros, a band that I'd also seen recently and been a bit disappointed by. This time, they were a million times better than the last time I saw them, helped in large part by decent sound instead of crap sound. They had a devoted band of fans at the front of the crowd, and rattled through a set of 10 or so songs that seemed to be over before you knew it. But they seemed to be another band that put on a great live show, are very good at playing their instruments, but don't seem to have the songs to match. The second song of their set, Last Of The Lookers, plus the final 2 songs, Education Part II and Live A Little were the clear highlights of the set. These are really good songs, but there is little else to match that quality. Their sound is very reminiscent of The Ordinary Boys (and they attract fans who also like them), and to some extent The Holloways, and I suspect they will probably be similarly successful - a popular niche band that don't quite break out to the mainstream.

Maybe the Pigeon Detectives had been watching the football, as they came on stage about 10 minutes after the final whistle. Kicking off with This Is An Emergency, then I Found Out, it was clear that the singer was up for the gig, and also fairly clear that the crowd was a band of enduring devotees, rather than some of the more idiotic fans that have come along lately. There was moshing, there was crowdsurfing, but there didn't seem to be too many fools there.

The set was drawn almost equally from the old and new albums, and the new songs sounded reassuringly and instantly familiar. Maybe that's because the style was not all that different from the older songs, and many of the new songs were "more of the same" from the Pigeon Detectives. However, many were also more complex, more developed, and more mature than anything on their first album. Songs like Making Up Numbers and You Don't Need It were among the best I've ever heard from this band, and are true classics in the making. They will sound great when the band play venues like Alexandra Palace and bigger, as I think this album will mean they can.

The influences in the Pigeon Detectives songs are also clearly growing. The aforementioned You Don't Need It has a riff straight out of a Strokes song, and Nothing To Do With You is the Pigeons equivalent of the Foo Fighters' Big Me, but in their own style of course. And all of this is bound together by probably the best frontman in the country at the moment, Matt Bowman. It occurred to me halfway through the set that the other 4 band members could walk past me in the street, and I wouldn't know who they were - I never look at them during gigs, because you just have to keep watching the singer.

Lets not forget the older songs in this gig too, because Romantic Type, I'm Not Sorry and the rest all sounded fantastic here as well. Releasing so much material in such a short space of time seems to keep everything sounding fresh as well - we are lucky to have 2 bands around at the moment (Arctic Monkeys being the other), who are extremely prolific in their output, and keep the great songs coming and coming. This was a very good gig in itself, but as the first big showcase for the new album, was an extremely exciting taste of things to come - the new album seems to be even better than their debut, and significant fame should now be beckoning.

The Courteeners - Astoria, London - Saturday 26th April 2008

After having seen them several times over the last 9 months, with the band getting bigger, bolder and more popular with every step, I guess you could describe this gig as the one where The Courteeners came of age as a proper popular UK indie band. Having released their album 3 weeks ago, this was the last date of the nationwide tour in support of it, in front of a packed Astoria. A landmark gig for any band on the way up, and the atmosphere was full of anticipation as everybody waited for the band to come on.

The band came on stage very shortly after 8:30, a crazily early time for a Saturday night. Because the Astoria have club nights on after gigs, everything has to happen really early - that meant it was easy to get a good spot, as lots of people hadn't made their way into the main room that early. The band strode on and started off with the familiar Aftershow and Kimberley, followed immediately by a surprisingly early rendition of Acrylic. We then got to hear some of the band's excellent b-sides (one sign of a decent band, and one that Oasis were always very good at), including the first time I had heard the brilliant Smiths Disco live and electric with the full band. A great version of a really good song, and it was going around in my head for the whole day after the gig.

As the gig went on, I got the feeling that The Courteeners really are building a hardcore following of fans. People were shouting every word to every song, and seemed to know all of the words, all of the things that make the live songs different from the recorded versions, and all of Liam Fray's on stage tricks. They sound fantastic live of course, and they really do seem to be building momentum and a fanbase to match. At the end of the last song, What Took You So Long as ever, the audience were singing back the refrain long after the band had departed. It sounded like a football crowd on Charing Cross Road, as lads were singing The Courteeners at the tops of their voices.

This band are definitely becoming something special in terms of the songs they have, what the lyrics seem to mean to people, and how many people are getting into them. They won't be as big as Arctic Monkeys or Oasis, but I can really see them getting into the Kasabian and Kaiser Chiefs league of bands - household names, songs sung in pubs up and down the country on Saturday nights, big crowds at festivals, and big headline gigs. I am thinking about retiring gracefully from watching them now, at least until they have a load of new songs - but tonight was a really good show (again) from a band that are just about making it big - and fully deserve to do so.

Setlist: Aftershow / Kimberley / Acrylic / Smiths Disco / Slow Down / Kings Of The New Road / Please Don't / Cavorting / Bide Your Time / Fallowfield Hilbilly / No You Didn't, No You Don't / An Ex Is An Ex For A Reason / Yesterday, Today And Probably Tomorrow / If It Wasn't For Me / Not Nineteen Forever / What Took You So Long.