Willy Mason - The Bedford, Balham, London - Wednesday 21st September 2005

Its very rare that one gets to see a gig like this. The Bedford is a great little pub in South London, with a small theatre upstairs. They have music on several nights a week, but rarely somebody with a following like Willy Mason.

I found out about this gig purely by chance, with an idle look at Willy Mason's website. All looked closed, and I was about to click away from the site, when I saw a paragraph in grey text at the bottom (it was almost like they were trying to hide it!). A pub gig, in front of 200 people, and tickets were available! So, off we went.

The venue itself was a circular theatre upstairs in the pub (which is a nice pub, if you don't mind being surrounded by rugger buggers called Tim). Very small, with a downstairs and a balcony which went all the way around the room. Thus, the strange prospect of being able to watch Willy Mason whilst standing behind him.
Willy's set was a long one, including most of his debut album, and about 5 or 6 new songs as well. His record deal had just been renewed that day, so we will get a second album soon. And, judging by the songs aired this evening, it will be better than the first - the new songs sounded instantly familiar, and excellent, even if he does have an unhealthy obsession with writing about insects! Willy took requests towards the end of the set, so he quite literally played something for everybody!

The man is an undoubted songwriting genius, the fact that he is only about 20 years old just adds to the amazement - how he writes the lyrics he does at that age is incredible - a very clever person indeed.

After the gig finished, Willy Mason was wandering around the upstairs bar, chatting with various people, and seemed genuinely surprised and overwhelmed with the level of support he has from fans in the UK. Willy then retreated to his dressing room, and a few were allowed to follow. The real treat of the evening was a private gig in the dressing room, as Willy sat on the sofa and strummed a few songs.
A magic evening, and a privilege to see such a talented artist in such intimate surroundings.

Arsenal vs Everton - Highbury, London - Monday 19th September 2005

After the last home league game against Fulham, where Pascal Cygan scored a very unexpected 2 goals (even one would have been amazing), tonight it was Sol Campbell's turn.

Big Sol scored both our goals, both with headers from set pieces, and both made you wonder "why can't we do this more often?" (or at all).

Everton looked as they always look against Arsenal, not very good. After sticking 11 goals past them in the League last season (and another 3 in the Carling Cup), they seem to be good opponents for us. Tonight was more like the Everton that crashed out of the Champions League qualifiers, than the team that came 4th last season.

3 more points at home, the contrast between home and away form could not be greater at the moment.

The Lemonheads - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Thursday 15th September 2005

The second night in a row with the Lemonheads. This was the first date to be announced, so the crowd was that bit more committed. The famous people were also out in force for this one.

The band played much the same set, in much the same way, as the previous night - the album was similarly rattled through with the minimum of fuss. But, tonight, after the album had finished, the band took to playing a longer and more varied set of other songs. Stove, the song that I had wanted to hear the previous evening, made an appearance, as did Big Gay Heart, and a number of other classics that I had nearly forgotten about!

Seeing a band twice in 2 days was a strange experience, but The Lemonheads are one of the few bands I'd willingly do that for - bring on the new album and full tour.

The Lemonheads, Eugene Kelly - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Wednesday 14th September 2005

The Lemonheads' first UK gig for 8 years, and this was even more special than the length of time might suggest. As part of the "Don't Look Back" series of gigs, the band were to play the whole of their album Its A Shame About Ray in order. Given that the record is just under 30 minutes long, it could have been a very short gig.

Eugene Kelly, formerly of The Vaselines, provided support, the obvious highlights of his set were the songs that were covered by Nirvana, in particular Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam. Eugene looks to have aged significantly since the early 90s, and his knack for writing great songs is unfortunately not quite matched by his ability to sing them himself - but perhaps being known as the guy that wrote a great song covered by Nirvana is not a bad thing to be remembered for.

The Lemonheads came on stage and launched straight into Rockin' Stroll, the first song on their classic album - the crowd went predictably wild. Evan Dando looked in fine form, and seemed to be enjoying playing live again. The album was rattled through with minimal delay, and the band then started on a mini-set of songs from other albums. Being Around was an obvious highlight, although my mate and I were very slightly disappointed at the lack of Stove.

A great gig from a great band, who apparently are now reformed and making a new album - I cannot wait for more live dates.

Middlesbrough vs Arsenal - Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough - Saturday 10th September 2005

The Invincibles, unbeaten away from home in 2 of the last 4 seasons (2 of the only 3 times that its ever been done in top flight football). We seem a fair way away from that now, with the second away defeat in a row in the League (3 in a row if you count Birmingham at the end of last season - which lets face it, does count really). And this, unlike the Chelsea game, was a deserved beating.

Arsenal were extremely jaded, and missing important players through injury, after the international break, but lets take nothing away from Middlesbrough, who certainly have the players to be a very competitive side if they could put a decent run of form together. They fully deserved their 2-1 win, which was effectively a 2-0 win really, Arsenal's goal coming as a weak consolation at the very end of the game.

To cap it all off, a nightmare journey there and back meant that the day was far longer than I'd ever wanted it to be, and a trip back to London from Middlesbrough after a performance like that is not a pleasant one

England vs Australia (Day 1, 5th Test) - The Oval, London - Thursday 8th September 2005

The Ashes were looking a whole lot better than my previous experience back in July. Draw the final test at the Oval, and the series would be ours for the first time I can really remember. The whole country seemed to be watching, and I had offers in excess of £250 for my ticket for the first day of the match!

On the way to the ground, it seemed as though everybody with a publicity stunt to play, was playing it in the very near vicinity of the Oval. We saw Page 3 "stunnas", Nando's carnival buses, and lots more besides. The fact that it was a glorious day helped everbody's mood even more.
A great day's play, lots of drinks, and a good start to the match for England. I guess we all know what happened over the following few days, and it was great to be a part of it. The evening session was something of a beer-fuelled blur, but that's all part of the fun.

After play had finished, it was off to the pub, to drink more, sing songs with the leader of the Barmy Army, and generally take the piss out of lurking Australians Ashes Losers.

Pixies, The Futureheads - Alexandra Palace, London - Thursday 1st September 2005

A return to see a fantastic live band, on a most welcome return to London. Before the gig, I took the brave step of ordering a professionally-recorded and mastered double CD of the gig, from pixiesdiscs.

Every Pixies set seems to be a different one, such is the depth of material that they have - you usually get about 30 songs over an hour and a half. Tonight didn't disappoint, although the perennial difficulty of getting to and from Alexandra Palace is always an annoyance.

The Futureheads did well in support, although the echoes around the venue during their set were a touch embarrassing (why did they have the support band on so quietly?).

The Pixies ruled the place for an hour and a half, with non-stop classics, one after the other. A great gig, one that makes you feel happy inside as you're leaving.

Kasabian - Astoria, London - Thursday 25th August 2005

Off to see Kasabian in a fantastic venue, the Astoria. Previous Kasabian gigs I've been to have not left a great impression, mainly because they have all been outside, with the wind (and sometimes rain) blowing the sound all over the place. I'm still a fan of many of their songs, so seeing them in such an intimate venue gave them a good opportunity to redeem themselves. This gig was a warmup for their headlining of the second stage at the Reading Festival the following day.

One thing about the Astoria in summer is that it does get extremely hot, and this gig was no exception. Even from the relative safety of the balcony, it was sweltering when Kasabian came on stage, and only got hotter as the gig went on.

From the moment that Kasabian came on, they completely blew the place away - they were incredibly loud, and played a very intense set. The balcony in the Astoria was shaking from the first song onwards, and the band kept the crowd going for the full hour or so.

As the set began to draw to a close, Kasabian started to play some of the classics with which to end a gig. The gig had been excellent up to this point, but when the band played LSF, the place went wild. I have to say that their rendition of LSF was definitely one of the best performances of any song, by any band, that I've ever seen - it blew the roof off the place. My ears were ringing for a few days afterwards, but an awesome gig.

Arsenal vs Fulham - Highbury, London - Wednesday 24th August 2005

A collectors item match, in more ways than one. Thierry Henry moved to within touching distance of the all-time Arsenal goalscoring record. Lauren missed a penalty. The ground was full of redcurrant shirts (and no jackets) for probably the last time until it gets warm again in April. And, Pascal Cygan ended up scoring 2 goals, leaving him just a tantalising 181 or so away from the all-time Arsenal scoring record.

In reality, despite scoring first early on, Fulham did not look a great side, and were eventually swept aside fairly easily. Seemed like a confident, convincing performance, and a good way to bounce back after defeat against Chelsea.

Surrey vs Kent - The Oval, London - Monday 22nd August 2005

A large non-event, this one, because it rained solidly all afternoon. Even though there was very little prospect of any play, we dutifully went to the Oval, then to the pub near the Oval, to wait for the rain to clear and play to start. But, it never happened, so we just stayed in the pub and got drunk instead. Not a bad fallback option as it turned out.