Milburn, The Mighty Six Ninety - Bush Hall, London - Wednesday 29th March 2006

Off to see Milburn again, this time at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush. Chandeliers on the ceilings, nice photos on the walls, all in all a somewhat posh venue for a gig like this. Having never been there before, I was struck by the size - once your ticket is ripped, you are in the bar, and 5 yards further on, you are in the main hall - very small indeed.

The support band were the Mighty Six Ninety. They featured a female keyboard player with an extremely revealing dress, basically she stood on stage throughout the set with her breasts on show. She didn't actually seem to play the keyboard on more than about half of the songs, which did make me think she was something of a gimmick. After the set, she spent the rest of the gig walking back and forth through the crowd, who had little choice but to recognise her.

Mighty Six Ninety's set started very well, the first couple of songs were pretty good. On the first song, the singer sounded like Morrissey on an upbeat tune; and the second track was reminiscent of the Killers' pop leanings - instantly catchy and easy to start to like. The set did seem to flag somewhat in the middle, and got slightly frustratingly boring; but the last few songs returned to the form of the beginning, and were excellent.

The catchy songs could mean that this may be a successful live band - but if their website is anything to go by, they are still a very fledgling band.

Milburn came on stage sociably early, and did much of what we know they are capable of. Playing just-released single Send In The Boys early on in the set, they had the crowd going from the first verse. The room was not completely full, but there was a large and absolutely manic semicircle at the front, of very hardcore kids going totally mad throughout the set.

The venue was clearly not well suited to this kind of gig - no pit between the crowd and stage meant that security were constantly on stage trying to repel crowdsurfers - and they were awful at it. One bouncer in particular kept getting in the way of the guitarist playing his guitar - as if the bouncer was the person we were all there to see! The lighting was just fixed spotlights that didn't move or flash, and the sound was also not good - the venue tried to compensate for this by just turning it up. That of course didn't make the sound good, it just made it loud bad sound. A good venue for a more sedate act, but not for an energetic rock band.

Despite all this, Milburn triumphed, because the quality of their songs shone through every obstacle that a dodgy venue could throw up. Final song What You Could Have Won will be a guitar classic for sure, and I'm sure there are many more where that came from.

Arsenal vs Juventus - Highbury, London - Tuesday 28th March 2006

Patrick Vieira returns to Highbury! The season after leaving, it really was totally inevitable that we would draw Juventus at some point, just because Paddy would play against us. Annoyingly, he has spent the whole season so far doing what we know he is capable of, playing consistently like a world class player. Sadly, he didn't do that for his last 2 seasons at Arsenal, and probably wouldn't be doing it were he still with us.

Still, he was Arsenals captain, played for us for 9 years, and for many years to come, new Arsenal signings will be assessed as to whether or not they are the "new Vieira" - that in itself is some tribute to the man. I was not wholly confident going into this first leg, partly because of the whole "Vieira returns to haunt Arsenal" factor, but also because Juventus are absolute masters at getting the results they need.

In the end, the lack of confidence wasn't justified. Literally the whole Arsenal team played extremely well, and we were also helped by the fact that the runaway Italian league leaders played terribly badly. Vieira himself summed Juventus up, with a performance I remembered only too well from his last few seasons at Highbury - no real commitment, very half-hearted, booked for a silly tackle, and left on his arse by an 18-year-old half his size. Fabregas on the other hand was incredible, with Toure and Reyes also more than a match for Juventus.

The only possible complaint was that Arsenal maybe could and should have scored a third, but even that is not going to take the gloss off a magnificent team performance. Juventus will be nowhere near as bad as that in the return leg, and in fact still have a great chance of going through, but Arsenal looked incredible in every department tonight, ripping the away team to shreds.

Papers the following day made much of the "old vs new" battle in midfield in this game, and Cesc Fabregas was the undoubted winner. Vieira's booking means he is suspended for the second leg next week, so his decline is complete - played out of the game by Fabregas and the rest, then needlessly booked out of the return. He used to be a world class midfielder, you know.

Fingers crossed for Turin next week, but Arsenal should be heading for the semi finals.

Morrissey, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, White Rose Movement - Channel 4 Album Chart Show, Koko, London - Monday 27th March 2006

Free tickets abound for this TV show, so I snapped one up and went along to watch The Album Chart Show being filmed. A bunch of bands play live in Koko, playing 3 or 4 songs from their album. A vain and talentless TV presenter shouts excitably in between, and they film some footage of the audience clapping wildly.

The TV show is supposed to seem just like a televised gig, in reality it is somewhat different to that. The bands play 3 or 4 songs each, there is far more time spent without bands playing than with them playing, and the presenter needs numerous takes to film the link sections between bands. It is most definitely focussed on filming a TV programme, rather than putting on a gig and happening to film it. But then again, the tickets are free, so no complaints at all here.

The hosts and security guards could not have explained more that they needed everybody not to take flash pictures of what was going on, and not to film it on their phones. There was after all several grand's worth of TV filming equipment in the building, so it was being captured just fine, thanks, and the flashes don't look good on telly. This seems to be an impossible message to get through, as either deaf, stupid or ignorant people continued taking photos with flashes throughout.

Morrissey came out first (strangely), and played his new single, You Have Killed Me, and 3 other songs from his new album. I had heard none of the other 3 songs before, but all sounded very good indeed. That is one problem of the Album Chart Show, they try to film enthusiastic audiences, but play them songs from as-yet unreleased albums, that they can't have heard yet! Also, they do nothing to make sure that the audience are actually fans of the bands playing - which you would think makes the job of "audience enthusiasm" a lot harder.

After Morrissey was the White Rose Movement, a band I had heard lots about before, but not seen before. I won't be rushing to one of their gigs anytime soon, they were a Bravery-lite, with ridiculous 80s haircuts, and more (bad) style than substance. Only 2 songs, so bearable for that long.

Last band I saw were the Yeah Yeah Yeahs - never seen them before either, despite liking a good few of their songs. I have to say they were fantastic, they played 2 excellent songs from their new album, which really left me wanting to watch them play a whole gig.

Tragically, the producers weren't 100% happy with the sound they had recorded, so the band had to come back and play again - playing 1 new song and repeating 1 song from the first attempt. Now that is a bonus you don't get at a normal gig!

The Raconteurs, 747s - Astoria, London - Thursday 23rd March 2006

When Jack White and Brendan Benson get together in a band, you have an inkling that it might be special. This was The Raconteurs fourth ever gig, their first London gig, and they have only 2 songs in the public domain, that anybody has a reasonable chance of having heard. None of that seemed to be a problem.

Support band were the 747s, who I had more than enough of last time I saw them. One song did sound passable on the second listen, but if this is one of the brightest new bands coming along, then I fear the wave of decent music over the last couple of years may be coming to an abrupt end. They remind me of bands I saw in 1996, when seemingly any band with guitars could get a record deal. Not good at all - supporting The Strokes and now The Raconteurs is something they don't really deserve on their CV.

The Raconteurs themselves had never played a gig until earlier this week, when they kicked off this 4-date tour in Liverpool. Good reviews from those that had seen them already were more than justified. I had long wondered what kind of noise Jack White would be able to make if playing in a full band. He is an amazing guitarist, and the White Stripes make an incredible noise for 2 people. In a band of 5 people, Jack White is even better, and Brendan Benson isn't too shabby either.

The real surprise for me hearing The Raconteurs play, was how much it rocked. None of Benson's usual quiet, semi-acoustic stuff, and none of Jack White's pianos and other strange instruments from the last White Stripes album. This was just guitars, turned up loud, and played stunningly well. At times, the wall of guitar noise was awesome, and most of the tunes weren't bad either, although obviously the vast majority were being heard for the first time. But, some good choruses in particular, and some excellent Brendan Benson-fronted songs in there as well - the album sounds very promising indeed.

About four songs in, the band played their only well-known song to date, Steady As She Goes, and the venue took off. There was no going back from there really, as they mixed fast rock song with mid-pace rock song, the gig never slowed down. An initial set lasted around 45 minutes - seems short, but there was minimal talking or break between songs, they just came on and launched into one song after another.

During the encore, it was Jack White solo time. The 3 songs they played all featured lengthy solos from the main man, and he really is an incredible guitarist. A few days ago when I saw the Black Crowes, this kind of self-indulgence was too over the top and became annoying - no such trouble here, the welcome was never in danger of being outstayed.

Watch out for this lot - by rights, they should slay the festival circuit this summer, they are without doubt my favourite new rock band.

Black Crowes - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Saturday 18th March 2006

Billed as "An Evening With The Black Crowes", this was one of 3 nights where the band played for (literally) the entire evening. First coming on stage at about 7:45, and going off just before 11pm, there was only a 10-minute interlude halfway through. So, almost 3 hours of music promised, from a band that have more than enough material to play for that long.

Inside the gig were more people there on their own than I think I've ever seen at a gig. Lots of people with long hair and/or beards, you could tell that this was one that attracted the Black Crowes anoracks - of whom there are plenty.

I have to say that this gig was something of a disappointment. In a first set lasting over an hour, I would be surprised if the band played more than 6 or 7 songs. The last song of the set lasted for (literally) 20 minutes, when it could have been done much better in 5 minutes, without all the self-indulgent guitar, drum and harmonica solos.

The second set was marginally better, but still suffered from a lack of conciseness - too much oodling around with long solos and jamming sessions in the middle of songs. The musicians in the audience were clearly loving every second, but I really thought that I didn't pay £30 to see a band jamming - you can hear that for free in any student hall of residence.

There were good parts - the band are quite clearly amazing musicians, and the singer's voice is what I can only describe as unique - incredibly good indeed. But, I couldn't help feeling that, given half the time to play in (a hour and a half is still generous), the set would have been much better - more concise, and shorn of all the extravagance and unnecessary self-indulgence.

Maybe, on my first trip to see the Black Crowes, after a decade or more of knowing their music, I completely missed the point of what the band are about. But, if 3 hours of guitar solo is what they are about, it will certainly be my last trip to see them. The highlights of the gig were absolutely amazing, but they came along too infrequently amidst the jamming.

Arsenal vs Charlton Athletic - Highbury, London - Saturday 18th March 2006

Arsenal started "only" 2 points behind Spurs at the beginning of the day, which is the best situation we've been in for a while. Having also won our last 2 League games with good performances, and got to the Champions League Quarter Finals, optimism is all the rage again at Highbury! And, who better to visit than Charlton, who don't exactly have a sparking record against Arsenal - Henry's backheeled goal last season just the latest torment for them.

On the morning of the game, I went to choose my seat in Arsenal's new stadium. Ushered into a meeting room with virtual reality views on a computer, it was a surreal experience trying to imagine the view from particular seats. When the time came, we chose where to sit, and were swiftly robbed of £870 each to pay for it, a full 6 months in advance of getting anything back.

Whilst choosing seats, one of my group wanted to change the name on a ticket. "Not possible", we were told. However, taking payment from a credit card in a different name to the ticket holder - not a problem. As long as somebody pays, its all money to Arsenal these days. I used to be proud to be an Arsenal fan, because they did things a little better than all the other clubs. Now, where money is concerned, they have well and truly sunk to the lowest level.

Anyway, after recovering in the pub from the hammering our credit cards had just taken, it was into Highbury for the Charlton game. In truth, it was as one sided as these things get - Arsenal had a few good chances to take the lead before they eventually did after a whole 13 minutes. 2 more goals later and a 3-0 win that can only be described as "routine", or even "very routine", was secured - Arsenal never really got out of second gear. With a stupidly cold wind freezing everybody to death, getting back to the pub after this one was a huge relief!

Work trip to Paris, France - 13th to 14th March 2006

Another trip to Paris, and it never ceases to amaze me how keen people there are on jumping the Metro barriers. Five minutes after getting off the Eurostar, I go into the Metro, and see 2 people barging through the barriers behind others. Later the same day, I see 2 more people effectively just vault the turnstiles and in. It seems that nobody pays at all!!

A wander to the Champs-Elysees in the evening is always a good way to kill time, on a Monday night it is also a very quiet way to kill time, because the place is hardly what you'd call busy.

The Eiffel Tower seemed to have been adorned with a massive searchlight at the top, and lots of sparkling lighting all the way up it - quite clearly visible from the bottom of the Champs-Elysees, and a very impressive sight. A quick trip into Fnac and Virgin, the 2 big record stores in Paris, revealed that James Blunt is being very heavily promoted all over, with great success. If the French like him that much, maybe we should just revoke his passport and donate him to them forever (the Americans are also eligible for this generous offer).

Paris in the springtime is indeed lovely - although chilly, there is a clear temperature difference from London, and the place is starting to wake up and blossom again. Waking up myself in a hotel room and watching the news, you can tell that Spring is starting - the students are on strike, and protesting outside their universities. Very typically French - except that in the middle of winter, they have sit-ins indoors in the warm instead.

Finally, I have sat through enough meetings at work, in enough different office locations, and eaten more than enough mediocre "meeting" sandwiches for lunch. The French don't do things quite like that - it is an insult to their love for food. In Paris, there are companies that deliver a full lunch in a big box, for people in meetings. 3 courses, loads of bread and cheese, and all tasting amazing. Somebody in London had better start doing this, or I may do it myself and make my millions.

Arsenal vs Liverpool - Highbury, London - Sunday 12th March 2006

After beating Madrid during the week, then being drawn against Patrick Vieira and Juventus in the next round, the final act of "European Week" was to play against the recently deposed European Champions of last year. Liverpool have had trouble scoring goals of late, but have always managed to score against us, no matter how much they are struggling for form elsewhere. Of course, there was also the danger of getting too excited about beating Real Madrid, and losing league games as a result. With Spurs losing the day before, a win was essential to stay in with a shout of 4th place.

The game started well enough, with Arsenal taking an early lead through a brilliant Henry goal. The pass from Fabregas was perfect, and the finish was equally amazing - truly a great goal all round. Arsenal had much the better of the remainder of the half too, creating a number of good chances. All were missed, however, and you started to get the feeling that we might pay for our failure to kill the game off.

A second half containing yet more missed opportunities, then the punishment happened. It took a foul on Fabregas to create the space for Liverpool to exploit, and get in a shot that Lehmann was unable to hold. The rebound was forced over the line by Luis Garcia. It was one of the few sniffs of goal that Liverpool had all afternoon, and thanks to typical jammy luck, it went in. Very annoying, but you can easily get punished if you don't take your chances to put the game beyond doubt.

If Liverpool had enjoyed their stroke of luck, Arsenal's turn came soon afterwards. Xabi Alonso got a deserved booking, quickly followed by an undeserved one. The red card came out, it wasn't at all justified, but these things happen sometimes. Arsenal were as much the victims of bad luck as Liverpool, with the foul in the build up to the goal, so it really seemed like swings and roundabouts, despite Benitez's complaints after the game.

Ten men or eleven, the mistake that led to the winning goal was a howler, about which Steven Gerrard will have nightmares for years to come! In no danger at all, a misplaced backpass turned into a perfect defence-splitting pass for Henry to run on to. He picked up the gift of a ball, rounded the keeper, and stuck the ball into an empty net. Thanks, Stevie!

A lesson there, for boring teams that try to waste time in games by going back to their own goalkeeper - it isn't always a good idea. Much better is to do what I heard Jens Lehmann saying in the first half, to a ball boy that gave him the ball back - "All the time we are leading, you take your time, OK?"

I was sitting in Row A of the North Bank for this game - I don't usually like being so far forward, as you lose all sense of perspective on what is going on in the game. Today, though, proximity to the players added something that I haven't experienced for a while, and I unexpectedly really enjoyed being so close to the front of the stand. Hearing the mad German keeper's rantings does make for a very entertaining afternoon!

The Rifles, Milburn, The Michelles - 93 Feet East, London - Thursday 9th March 2006

For me, despite them only being the support band, tonight was about Milburn. Having seen them before supporting the Arctic Monkeys, most recently at the Leadmill in January, they have all the hallmarks, and all the great songs, of a band that will see significant success this year. Since January, they have signed to a major record label, and have a single, Send In The Boys due for release later this month, with its video already over MTV2.

With The Rifles, who are not so shabby themselves, also headlining, this gig makes a 240-capacity venue seem ridiculously small - it could have sold out many times over, or been moved somewhere much bigger. The fact that it wasn't, makes this gig something of a special event, with both bands just about to move onto bigger things, and many people locked outside whilst it all happens.

First band on were The Michelles, who admitted that they were playing their biggest gig. They did have a couple of good songs, but were not exactly what you would describe as a tight band, and their set seemed quite disjointed, with lots of faffing around between songs. Despite this, the audience was pretty large, and pretty supportive of them - not a bad band, but definitely in need of polishing for playing better live.

By the time Milburn came on stage, the venue was packed. The singer emerged wearing a Rifles t-shirt, and the set was a total triumph from the word go. Hugely better than the last time I saw them - partly because I'd been listening to more Milburn songs in the meantime, but also, as objectively as possible, because they were just much better.

Bantering with the crowd, and clearly revelling in playing in front of an audience that knew the words and the chords, they were better than a lot of headline bands I've seen. They now have the sharpness as a live band, to go with the great songs - Milburn are starting to become big, and I will be following them around as far as possible to witness it happening.

The Rifles aren't a bad band either, with several good tunes, and sounding a bit like the Jam - which is always unlikely to go down too badly at a guitar gig in London. I suspect that, although they are also starting to acquire a decent fanbase, and will probably do well this year - that Milburn will eclipse them in terms of popular appeal, especially outside the South East. Two excellent bands, good luck to both.

Arsenal vs Real Madrid - Highbury, London - Wednesday 8th March 2006

Back to Highbury for the Champions' League return leg against Real Madrid, and I had no confidence whatsoever that Arsenal would be able to finish the job they started in the Bernabeu 2 weeks ago. Apparently, only 4 teams have ever recovered from losing a Champions' League first leg at home, but if anybody can do it, Madrid can. Away goals (especially late ones) counting double just threaten to add to the hazards that are already plentiful when you play against this lot.

Chelsea losing to Barcelona last night was very amusing indeed, but we knew that we had to survive the following 24 hours before gloating at them too much. I had a seat in the West Stand for this one, which, thanks to Ticketmaster's website crashing more regularly than normal, has been far too common an occurrence this season.

Arsenal started with the expected line up, Fabregas and Reyes again in the side, presumably because it is fairly obvious that Madrid hated playing against them first time around. The story of the game was that throughout 90 minutes of utter hell for the watching Arsenal fans, the team weathered the storm, and got the result they needed to get into the last 8. A 0-0 draw between Arsenal and Real Madrid seemed somewhat unlikely, but that's how it turned out.

During the game, Lehmann stood out with a masterful performance, and one incredible save in particular. Hleb for me, despite an indifferent review in the following morning's tabloids, was commanding throughout. And, the defence with the average age of 22, with Flamini playing left back against the England captain, were of course outstanding. This starting 11 should be retained in full for the next round, because they look capable of getting the better of anybody - and, pleasingly, of doing the physical work needed to get results in this competition.

One reason I'm especially glad that Madrid were knocked out was their bad sportsmanship. Roberto Carlos, as well as being wholly overrated, gave one of the most niggly displays I think I've ever seen - dirty fouls, gamesmanship, and all the other tricks in the book. Guti wasn't much better, and Zidane and Ronaldo (surely the fattest footballer in the entire world), just flitted between disinterest and low level cheating, probably out of frustration that they are both now shadows of their former selves.

The referee didn't help calm Arsenal fans, he seemed to think that Zidane falling over warranted a free kick on every occasion, despite the fact that the surface was very wet and greasy, and that Zidane seemed perfectly adept at falling over without the help of any Arsenal players. The number of times he helpfully gave Madrid a lucky free kick in Beckham or Carlos territory started to get downright suspicious towards the end.

But, none of the obstacles derailed Arsenal tonight - we completed the job of knocking the biggest club in the world out of Europe. Real Madrid are far from being a team at the peak of their game right now, in fact they were arguably there for the taking for Arsenal. Even so, achievements like this don't happen every week, so this is a big one. The West Stand was rocking all evening - you know you're at an unusual game when that happens.

Five O Clock Heroes - International Hi Fi, Garage, London - Saturday 4th March 2006

The current law seems to dictate that every indie disco in London must have a band playing as well - and so it was at the Garage's Saturday night club night. Five O Clock Heroes came across town after headlining the Barfly in Camden earlier in the evening, to play a late gig.

Bands at indie discos are all well and good, but when the club effectively runs from 11:30 until about 2:30, it kind of blows a big hole in the middle of the night if the band isn't on until 12:30. By that time, the DJ, had built the music up, the place was packed, and the indie club was in full swing. So, a band coming on at 12:30 was always going to be fighting an uphill battle to keep people interested.

Five O Clock Heroes were good, they played a half hour set, which had 2 or 3 really strong-sounding songs. As a band, they were good. But at a club, coming on slap bang in the middle of the night, they weren't what the majority of people wanted to hear at that moment in time. The energy level dropped, and then the band were always struggling to keep the crowd with them.

Indie clubs with bands - no problem. Just get the bands on early, before the club has got going too strongly - otherwise even a good band can take the wind out of a good club night.

Fulham vs Arsenal - Craven Cottage, London - Saturday 4th March 2006

This is traditionally one of the better away games of the season - for the last few years it has kicked off at a sensible time, it isn't very far away, and the timidity of Fulham's support often means that thousands of Gooners can descend on the general area to take the place over. And we usually beat them.

It was no different this year - I got to a pub that was packed with Arsenal fans for the lunchtime Chelsea game. A nice walk through the park to the ground later, and we were in the combined away/neutral end, which in fact was just a huge away end. This is made of meccano, and tends to bounce up and down quite easily, making for an entertaining (if slightly rickety) game.

I have moaned before about the negative tactics of teams that we face away from home - not really wanting to play, and just concentrating on stifling Arsenal rather than doing their own thing. Fulham can't be accused of this - they tried to play a football match against us, and we completely took them apart as a result. Thierry Henry in particular was magnificent, but many others weren't far behind.

This game made me wonder - why does anybody give us any space on the ball at all, when they know how deadly we can be with it? Of course I'm not complaining at all, but you'd think Chris Coleman might have learnt something from our last 2 games. Madrid, who let us play football and got battered; and Blackburn, who closed us down and won the game. Still, never mind, eh!!

A good 4-0 win to take into the Madrid home leg - we know we are in for the same kind of game then, but also that Madrid will not play half as badly as Fulham did today. Still, a good confidence booster, and more encouraging signs that we are still a team with the ability to play anybody that's put in front of us off the park. There are still very few teams in the world that can play a better football match than Arsenal.