Despite the humidity of the venue, the preponderance of atmosphere-sucking corporate knobheads in the audience and my hayfever-induced lack of sleep, Feist at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire was without a doubt one of the best gigs of the year so far. After a very entertaining opening set from Mayor McCa, a tap-dancing, kazoo-tooting one-band band, the ( Read more... )

It's always cool to discover new places completely by accident, and the Wallace Collection by Bond Street was a truly magnificent find. It's one of London's less well-known, but most highly regarded galleries, but the main draw for the more testosterone-fulled among us was its astoundingly cool weapons collection. Honestly, I've never seen such an ( Read more... )

...were good. Nothing earth-shattering, but very pleasant all the same. The material from their debut (which I'm unfamiliar with) actually came across better than a lot of the Van Occupanther stuff- they cocked up my favourite track "Young Bride" with an out-of-time intro and insufficient energy to make the song really come alive, which saddened me ( Read more... )

So, the only drama series I’ve watched in a long time has finally come to an end, but I’m glad to report that it went out on a high. Harkening back to classic cop shows like the Sweeney, Life on Mars combined a sparkling script imbued with shameless, but commendably unsentimental nostalgia, a wonderfully British sense of humour and an occasional ( Read more... )

Had a most satisfying long weekend; not only did I spend most of it patronising Watford’s glorious watering holes, but I also got a rather impressive haul of Easter eggs (seven!) What’s quite shocking is that I’ve only eaten two and a half of them- what’s happened to the legendary cacao-whore of yore, the bane of Cadbury’s who would consume ( Read more... )

In a vain attempt to pass myself off as a "cultured individual", I decided to go down to [i]la theatre [/i]tonight. The absence of skinny-jeaned hipsters, hurdy-gurdys and opportunities to sing "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH!" in a wildly offkey manner freaked me out a bit, but I managed to keep a hold of myself before I started screaming "YOU'RE NOT AS ( Read more... )

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/baby_metallica

Hopefully this case will justify my decision to call my first born Arcade Fire Are Fucking Awesome Elmahdi.

http://www.hecklerspray.com/grand-theft-auto-iv-offends-new-york-types/20077737.php#more-7737

If they ever make that game, that would officially make my life...:-D

Support bands are an inevitability of the gig circuit; a chance for up-and-coming bands to gain some performing experience and for the audience to have something to listen to whilst the main act snorts lines off hookers or violate horses or whatever rock stars do before shows. More often than not, they’re no more than average mediocrities, at best ( Read more... )

I'm off to Glasto! WOOOOOOOO!