Arctic Monkeys, Lancashire CCC, Manchester

Just back from the gig in Manchester which is a clear contender for 'most northern gig' of the year awards.

First time I'd been to a gig at a cricket ground so was interested to see what the format would be like. In a word, pretty shit. It was a massive space to fill and, as you can see from the video, we couldn't be arsed to go down the front but the sound system was too low. They were clearly thrashing the arse out the amps as the sound went completely in the middle of a song and was off for about 3 minutes. "You're not singing anymore" was the chant from the crowd. Poor.

Fights for beer which ended up with the stewards being to to sod off by the police and them controlling the queues. What a joke. The venue overall was poorly run and should stick to cricket. 3/10.

So, anyway, we went to see the Arctic and there were pretty good. Good set with all the top tunes played through. Opening number was Fluorescent Adolescent - video below as requested by KH, this one's for you. Loads more videos will get added here or go to http://www.youtube.com/eppingphil

Overall, top night, good hotel and plenty of beers. Shame Jim and Dave missed it but me, Pete, Mark and Sunni had a top time. It's not that grime up north after all but only 7/10 from me.

Fluorescent Adolescent

Brianstrom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmFoPTyK3-Y

Mardy Bum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBs1kIHOkWs

I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4kJGOVjbWA

Do Me a Favour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeZnPfXZ2rU

When The Sun Goes Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts0nbajWnSc

If You Were There, Beware
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWYa4P2YL38

Kasabian @ Somerset House

We love Somerset House but we hate the English weather we've had this summer so we were all keeping our fingers crossed that the heavens wouldn't open. Somerset House, just off The Strand in London is a great little open air venue which plays host to a week of gigs every summer.

Friday 13th was lucky for us as we got tickets for this relatively intimate venue to watch the Kasabian boys. They'd just come off the back of Glastonbury and T In The Park so were more used to playing to 50,000 rather than the 1000 people there last night.

Storming set. Loved every minute of the show. Really loud and everyone was bang up for it. Totally loved it. Glad we got to see them again as won't be watching them at V (sorry, Foo Fighters win this clash) and the ended the night with a 4 or 5 song encore which included Club Foot, a super acid sounding version of Apnoea and the almighty sing-a-long version of LSF. Proper, proper, proper quality night out. 9/10

Massive instrumental opening track video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8O92uwcnCk

Empire Video

02 Festival Review

02 Festival Review - Friday 15th June - Faithless
Sorry this has taken some time to get up but I've had a few PC issues. We went to the o2 Festival in Hyde Park for the first time and pick two of the4 days - Friday and Sunday.

Let's start off with the review of Friday which was headlined by Faithless. We got to Hyde Park about 5 in the evening and yes, I know, we had already missed loads of stuff. We caught the end of Just Jack who looked super goodlive (looking forward to seeing them later in the year) and we saw the whole of Mark Ronson. This was MR's first ever live performance and they rocked! Excellent set with a fantastic mix of singers doing all the tracks you know from the album. This album for me is certainly a candidate for 'sound of the summer' - if you know what I mean.

Next single out off the album is the Lilly Allen version of the Kaiser Chiefs,. Oh My God, which is bound to do good things. Best track of the set for me was Stop Me - absolute classic tune ripped out with a funky horn section and the best live vocals I've heard in ages. The guy on the album is Daniel Merriweather - not sure if it was him on stage but if so, hat's off to you Mr Merriweather, storming vocals. Mark Ronson - good band, great live and better than the CD. 8/10

So, on to the headliners then, Faithless. If you read this site you'll know that we are big fans of Maxi, Bliss, Rollo and co so it's hard to write another review of these guys without all the normal 'fantastic' and 'brilliant' type comments. We've seen them in every type of venue now and it all times of the day and night. This was a good set which kicked of with Insomnia so got the big festival crowd jumping. They rocked through everything we know and love: Mass Destruction, God is a DJ, We Come One, Tarantula, etc. All super tight and super jumpy up and downy due to the way Maxi whips the crowd up. Can't believe how old that guy is - amazing. Anyway, Faithless rocked and our first day at o2 was over. They get 8/10 as well. Video to follow at some point....

The venue gets a def 8/10 as well. Lots of nice! Food to choose from, loads of bars so no queuing for beer all day, fun fair, loads of other stages and lots of space to chill in the sun.

02 Festival Review - Sunday 17th June - Kaiser Chiefs

We were much better organised for this one and got the venue nice and early so caught loads of bands. Top new bands for me were Under the Influence of Giants - loved them - and The Pigeon Detectives who everyone seems to be banging on about at the moment.

Up right before the Kaisers were The Editors. We'd seen them a couple of years ago at Brixton so was keen to see them in the big open air arena and they didn't disappoint. Really good set with a good mix from the new album and all the favs from the other one. Really like their set even if leadsinger Tom Smith gets a bit emotional and OTT with grinding out the lyrics.7/10.

Video from The Editors set here:
Munich: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBPLJ5JcKJ4
Bullets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1ehQmEONIw

Last up on Sunday and indeed closing the 2007 o2 Festival were Kaiser Chiefs. I guess this was a bit of a Glastonbury warm up for them as they were off there the following weekend. Pretty good set by the Kaisers but then it generally always is. Ricky is super tight and engages with the crowd really well. All top sing-a-long stuff with Ruby being a stand out tune. 8/10 for the Kaisers.

I saw part of their set from some sort of fairground ride - thanks Suzanne for that experience. The turbo shandies gave me the confidence I think! I really enjoyed the o2 Festival and can safely say we'll be back next yearfor a day or so of festival fun in the capital. Nice.

Video from Kaiser Chiefs here:
I Predict a Riot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuFncx6h5I0

Ruby Video below: