We caught the Pigeons!!

Top gig last Friday at The Forum in Kentish Town. The last night of the marvellous
Pigeon Dectives tour and it went with a bang.

On stage at 10pm, beer glasses flying at 10.01pm and lead singer Matthew Bowman soaking wet by 10.10pm at the very latest.

All the big tunes were there from the debut album, Wait for Me. Stand out tunes were, of course, I'm Not Sorry, Take Her Back and they new classic, Romantic Type.

I've got a couple of quality vids which I'll post as soon as I get broadband online in my new house, should be tomorrow according to BT.....

Shout out to Suzanne who I bumped in to from work. "I didn't know this would be your sort of thing" I believe you said. I'm not that old!!

Looking forward to seeing them again, 8/10.

Video: I Found Out


Video: Take Her Back

Foo Fighters at O2 Arena 18/11

First up I have to mention the venue. I know this has already been done but it really is an awesome place. We arrived on the Jubilee Line from London Bridge straight out into the damp miserable late afternoon but not an issue as we walked the 500 yards or so under cover to the O2 entrance. The first thing you notice is the enormous scale of the place. We walked around through the "street" area buzzing with giggers, cinema goers, Tutankhamun visitors and even the locals who just turned out for sunday evening drink and dinner.

Most of the eateries had queues out the door which is a sign that it maybe struggles a bit when a sell out is on in the main arena but we settled on Inc Brasserie with tables available in the bar area at which they also served us with some decent burgers (which they also never billed us for - so value for money they get 10/10!). 3 hours and a number of pints later we decided to head for our seats and check out the main arena itself so back round to the main entrance (our seats were in Zone A), no queues and head up to our section.

We had seats in the lower tier in the back left hand section, just 2 rows from the back (and the exit), on the aisle. Decided to check out the bars, which was right outside the exit, whilst the toilets are just the other side of the exit. At this point I'm feeling a bit like were in an ad for 'Carlsberg don't do concerts but if they did.............'.

Dave Grohl runs on and kicks off the set with Let it Die, a high tempo screamy little number from the new album and followed up with The Pretender. Its already clear the acoustics work much better in here than Wembley and Earls court. From then on its a solid mix of old, new and everything in between never ramming the new album down our throats. Grohl charges endlessly around the stage and down the runway that goes out to the middle of the floor, until a second stage comes down from the ceiling to the centre of the floor area.

Everything changes for a while now as they take to this stage to perform an acoustic set including a classic version of My Hero, we get introduced to the band and they wrap this section with DG performing most of Everlong in solo before rejoining the band on the main stage to finish it off in more typical Foo's style and by now the roof is coming off the place. They play well over 2 hours in all, including a slightly dissappointing encore that features System of a Downs Serj Tankianm doing The Dead Kennedys' Holiday In Cambodia and Kaki King performing Ballad of The Beaconsfield Miners before wrapping up with Best of You. To be fair, they saved the very best for last.

The venue and the Foo's get 9/10

Foo Fighters, The O2 Arena, 18/11

Cracking night out at The o2 for the mighty Foos and our first time in the 'big' arena. Well, it is big so think Wembley Arena or Earls Court. We had seats in the lower tier rear corner but had a great view of everything.

The Foos proper ripped it up. Highlight was when another stage came down out the ceiling at our end of the arena and they did a great acoustic set there. They did about 6/7 songs there so was a great chance to see them up close at our end.

Loved the gig, and love this venue. 8/10.

Video: DOA

Mark Ronson, Shepherds Bush, 26/10/07

What a night at The Bush. First of I get to go on a date with a lovely girl .....and she pays for the gig! Quality!

Mark Ronson had played the BBC Electric Proms the night before and there views had it down as a major night so expectation was high. Oh what a night we had. Shepherds Bush was absolutely fucking rocking to the Mark Ronsons All Stars. I've not seen everyone dancing, from ground floor and all 3 upper tiers since Faithless.

All the tunes from the album were there plus many others - including a new single from Daniel Merriweather. The night was topped with the extra special guest, Sean Lennon. Sean's a childhood friend of Mark, teaching each other to play the guitar, but they had never sung together on stage. Sean rocked out a Beach Boys classic, Sail on Sailor, before going back of stage - later to reappear for the encore - before the band did a super remix version of Valeria as the final song of the set.

So to the encore. Everyone knew it was going to be Stop Me of course but what other song? Well it was a brilliant brilliant brilliant version of the Stevie Wonder classic We Can Work It Out. Sung by Daniel Merriweather, Tawiah and, of course Sean Lennon. When Sean sung his verses it started to get all a bit emotional cos, of course, the most famous version of this song was sung by his Dad John. Big hugs between Sean and Mark at the end before the stage was filled with a million people and DM belted out Stop Me.

Brilliant night. Loved it. As did every single person in the building. Proper party atmosphere for the first 'proper' headline gig for Mark Ronson. He looked stunned with the way the audience was reacting. Thanks to my hot date for a cracking night out - you might get a second look in if you arrange nights out like that again ;)

I was too busy dancing to take video for once. Check out other peoples comments on Youtube, 'best gig ever' etc. Top top night. Enough said. 10/10

Youtube Video: We can Work It Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAOpgkOPX8Y

Other Youtube Video: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mark+ronson+shepherds+bush

Just Jack. Shepherds Bush

Oi Oi! You've got to love the cheeky cockney style of Just jack. This was the last night of their tour and the last gig of songs just from the debut album.

Good night had by all in the smallest venue in town. Only slight downside is that, Starz is by a mile their best song, which they obviously did last as the encore, so the next album will need to beef up a bit on the 'bigs hits' front.

7/10

The Editors, Brixton.

Shit. Worse than shit and not a patch of the band we'd seen in the past and at V this year. An absolute banker for worst gig of the year. Sorry boys.

2/10

Juliette and The Licks, Indigo, The o2

I'm going to start this post with a review of the o2 Venue as it's my first time there. In a word, amazing. I can hear the executives at Wembley Arena crying in to their over priced beer and shit food, after all that place only underwent a multi-million pound face lift 2 years ago, for no visible improvement.

The o2 just about ticks every box possible. 2 mins walk from North Greenwich tube station, wide open space inside, tons and tons of great bars and restaurants, giant screens everywhere showing you wants on and whats coming up, multi-screen cinema and of course the 2 big venues. Wembley Arena is dead. Long live The o2.

Juliette and The Licks were excellent. They played in the smaller Indigo venue which is a real treat in itself. Intimate but not packed. Great big bar and a stage framed like a widescreen TV. The played a great set and she packed the same high energy punch we saw a the V festival, out main reason for coming back to see her today. Excellent night 8/10.