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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.