BAND: Alkaline Trio
SUPPORT: Snowdogs, Face To Face
VENUE: UEA LCR
DATE: 13th March 2002

The first band I ever see live and it had to be the lacklustre support band, Snowdogs. They set the tone for the evening, or rather, the volume - and that was far too loud. Sure, aggressive punk rock needs to be loud by definition, but when all you can hear is a wall of feedback, somebody really should have turned the volume down. But they didn't. It's hard to tell how good they were, though I suspect it was more a case of how bad they were instead.

Face To Face were slightly better. The volume didn't help their performance either, though they seemed more confident with what they were doing and whilst not at all memorable beyond the end of their set, an improvement on Snowdogs. Namedropping Green Day and The Offspring only served to highlight two things: how much better the kings of SoCal punk rock are than Face To Face, and how much older this lot were. The lead looked like he was pushing forty.

In fact, in this way, Face To Face had an advantage over Alkaline Trio. Younger and less confident than their second support band, Alkaline Trio's set suffered from a serious lack of stage presence. Many songs went by on occasion without anyone on stage even acknowledging the audience. Their performance was adequate, they played a good mix of crowd pleasers like "Private Eye" and "Stupid Kid" and older songs I didn't recognise, but again, they suffered from the high volume. Even with the instantly recognisable opening riff to "Take Lots With Alcohol" it took time to recognise which song they were playing. A pity. They were let down by their technicians.

BAND: 'A'
SUPPORT: Fenix*TX
VENUE: UEA LCR
DATE: 21st May 2002

In the absence of second support band, the German group Beatsteaks (caught up at customs in France), both 'A' and their first support band, Fenix*TX played longer sets. 'A' took this as an opportunity to push the boat out. Fenix*TX took this as an opportunity to make prats of themselves. The first rule for all support bands should be to never, ever do cover versions unless you can do it better. The second rule should be to never, ever do covers of Nirvana. Fenix*TX remain memorable now only for their truly awful rendition of "Territorial Pissings" (so terrible I only recognised it during the 'Just because you're paranoid...' interlude) and their impromptu Imperial Death March from "Star Wars".

'A', on the other hand, justified waiting through an hour of Fenix*TX. Obviously aware that, having years on Blink 182, they're not going to be able to peddle the same clownish routine for much longer, Jason Perry and co gave it their all. The emphasis was very much on their latest album, with crowd pleasers aplenty, but also the occasional nostalgic glimpse at their less mainstream and less successful past. Perry made an excellent frontman, keeping up the hyperactivity for nigh on ninety minutes, linking the songs with his comfortable and confident comedy routine. At different points of the show he was climbing atop the loudspeakers, stealing hats from audience members and blatantly ignoring the crowd surfing ban to leap into the audience.

And earlier that day I'd gone and got a "Starbucks" single signed by the band at HMV, regretting for a long while that I'd not taken my album with me as well, and regretting to this day that I hadn't popped into one of Norwich's many Starbucks cafes and got them to sign a logo emblazoned napkin instead.

BAND: Jimmy Eat World
SUPPORT: (unknown)
VENUE: Brixton Academy
DATE: 1st June 2002

Some bands self-publicise too much. Their idea of stage presence is to stop between songs to repeatedly remind the audience about their new album. The band who supported Jimmy Eat World didn't even tell us what they were called. Which was unfortunate for them, as they proved to be the best support act I'd seen up to that point. With most songs it takes a couple of listens before you get into it. With some songs you're already there by the time the final chorus comes along. This band, whoever they were, were like that.

Jimmy Eat World were good, not spectacular, but above average. Jim Adkins had a reasonable stage presence, inciting the inevitable singalong to "Sweetness" ("Sing it back..." etc) and using tried and tested techniques to stroke the audience's ego. The show was worth it for "Salt Sweat Sugar" and "The Middle" alone, but I'm no fan of their earlier stuff, of which I felt too much was played. I'd be happy to see Jimmy Eat World again given their performance, but I wouldn't return to Brixton after dark for the privelege. I've never felt like an ethnic minority before.

BAND: Green Day
SUPPORT: The Crush
VENUE: Wembley Arena
DATE: 18th July 2002

What can one say? It's Green Day. This was the final leg of their Pop Disaster tour, which at numerous spots on the American leg saw them supported by both Jimmy Eat World and Blink 182. That might have been better than The Crush. They were also supposed to have been supported in the UK by Less Than Jake and No Doubt. That might have been better than The Crush too. It's not that The Crush were bad, per se, generic and samey though they were, it's just that I knew songs for all the other potential support bands. A good support act starts stirring up excitement. The Crush just felt like an unnecessary delay before the main act.

It was, however, worth the wait. Essentially the "International Superhits" tour, Billie Joe and co didn't just play a set, they put on a show, thus proving why they deserved to play Wembley. Energy and enthusiasm were the bywords for the night. I went in knowing I'd be happy if they just played my then favourites, "Basket Case", "Longview" and "Welcome To Paradise", but came out actually preferring "She", "Brain Stew" and "Waiting" more. It's not often you can say of a band that they're better on stage than they are in the studio.

Of particular note was the apparent spontaneity. Sure, Green Day were doing a pre-planned set and Billie Joe was following a scripted comedy routine, but his propensity to improvise in the spare of the moment took it one step further. At one point he invited people up onto the stage to play a song with the band - something he regularly does at concerts, apparently. The first kid who went up, it turned out, couldn't play a thing, and just wanted to give Billie Joe a hug. Not willing to be upstaged by this oik, however, Billie Joe then grabbed the kid and kissed him full on the lips. He then gave his guitar away to a girl who could actually play it.

From the seismic opening with "Maria" to the appropriate "Macy's Day Parade" encore, I can't find a niggle with this gig - apart from perhaps, my being seated too far from the stage.

BAND: Elviss
SUPPORT: (n/a)
VENUE: UEA LCR
DATE: 27th September 2002

The Kerrang! club came to UEA, and brought Elviss with them. Unfortunately or otherwise, I had discovered blue Aftershocks that evening and was not quite attentive as I would normally be. I gather they weren't much cop, however. With a ticket price of about £3, Kerrang! weren't going to bring a classy band with them, though I doubt this performance did Elviss any favours. I just hope the music was so loud the poor bandmembers couldn't hear any of the heckling coming from drunken audience members (who shall remain nameless).

BAND: Hundred Reasons
SUPPORT: Copperpot Journals, Kinesis, InMe
VENUE: UEA LCR
DATE: 29th October 2002

Support bands are a necessary evil. It's pretty much the only way for new, up and coming bands to get themselves noticed, but when they're truly awful, as so many seem to be, you do wonder whether they deserve it, though. Three support bands is two too many. They wear you out, so that by the time the main act appears three hours after you arrived, you really don't care. Hundred Reasons weren't even that bad. The lead singer was as enthusiastic and energetic as lead singers need to be, their set was well paced and polished, but by the time my favourite "If I Could" came along in the encore, I'd been standing up for over four hours and really just wanted to go home.

It's not that the other support bands were bad either. Both Kinesis and Copperpot Journals were good, if not particularly distinctive. Stars of the evening, however, were not them, nor Hundred Reasons, but InMe. Any issues I had about bands where all the members are younger than me were dispelled by their excellent set. You could tell they were a little nervous about playing in front of 2000 odd people by the way lead singer and guitarist Daniel MacPherson sneaked sheepishly on stage, but by the end of the evening he was rolling around in the dirt looking like he was thoroughly enjoying himself. "Underdose" and "Firefly" ended up being the highlights of the evening instead of "If I Could".

BAND: Foo Fighters
SUPPORT: Cave In
VENUE: Wembley Arena
DATE: 23rd November 2002

My retrospective opinion of the Wembley date of the "One By One" tour is different from that with which I came out of the arena. At that time, I found their latest album rather hit and miss, so found the show suffered for that fact. Since then, however, "One By One" has gone up in my estimation to be my second favourite Foos album after "Nothing Left To Lose". In retrospect, then, there was probably little wrong with this gig.

It started tremendously, with "All My Life" being milked for all its stadium rock potential as the Foos started off behind a screen on a dimly lit stage, only for the screen to drop and the lights to come on full with the explosive chorus. Unfortunately, the show started to sag half an hour later, when they began playing what I consider filler songs from the earlier albums, such as "Hey Johnny Park". Other bugbears would be Dave Grohl's dick joke routine: par for the course from his younger counterparts, but a little incongruous from someone of his age (and reputation, as Nicest Man In Rock). I personally also thought they played my favourite "Learn To Fly" too fast. Ending with an encore of "Breakout" was a suitable high on which to conclude the evening, however.

Cave In were so-so. Though they've since released at least one classy song on their "Antenna" album, their performance here was pretty generic stuff in the style of the Foos. They really shouldn't have ended their performance with a Led Zeppelin cover, either, as it was very bad. And then between them and the Foos turning up on stage we had an extened wait whilst "The Ketchup Song" was played repeatedly. The fifth time it started up, there was such a tremendous boo that the powers that be switched it for something else. Far more entertaining were the girls waving the banner reading: "Show us your monkey wrench, Dave!"

BAND: 'A'
SUPPORT: Voodoo Glowskulls, Goldfinger
VENUE: UEA LCR
DATE: 28th November 2002

'A' were so good the first time I just had to see them again. Well, no, but not all the bands I've seen have been worth a second chance. This was the Inner City Sumo tour (I believe that was the name), dual headlined by Goldfinger, for whom most of the people at the gig had obviously come to see. They were a confident group, maybe even a little up themselves, for they weren't that remarkable. I only knew one of their songs prior to the show ("Vintage Queen") and they didn't play it.

The other band supporting 'A' this time was the Voodoo Glowskulls, who were good for a few laughs. The lead singer bounded onto the stage in a rubber skull mask, and it just got more camp from there on in. The songs all sounded the same, but were short enough, so they were on and off again within thirty minutes.

The 'A' set was also shorter this time, but Jason Perry's routine was just as polished as last time. Impressively, their act wasn't just a rehash of what they'd done before. There was the same selection of crowd pleasers, but mixed in there this time round were a couple of new songs. The show overall might not have been as good as the first one they did, but as a band I think 'A' were better, if only because by this time somebody had found the volume knob at the UEA LCR and turned it down.

BAND: Murderdolls
SUPPORT: Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
VENUE: Norwich Waterfront
DATE: 8th December 2002

"Hi, I got within six feet of Joey Jordison last night." So went an instant message I sent to a rabid Slipknot fan the night after I went to see this supposed Slipknot spin-off band. That was something of an exaggeration, though. It was more like ten feet - and that was standing near the back. The Waterfront in Norwich is such a small venue it has the intimacy of a large pub, yet the sound technology of somewhere like the LCR. It was perfectly suited to a Murderdolls gig. The sound has never been better.

The Slipknot and Static X connections were forgotten as soon as Wednesday 13 led his heavily made-up mob into the strobe lit stage. In fact, the band went on to prove themselves more a parody of Slipknot than a spin-off. They're more of a goth, schlock, pop punk band; this isn't a band that puts on silly masks and still wants to be taken seriously. You know that when you're laughing at them, they're laughing with you.

Having only one album of material, their set was obviously going to be predictable, but mixed in with that was some dumb comic shtick and some rabble rousing banter about thanking god for middle fingers. As a one-joke band they might not have a startlingly long career ahead of them, but the Murderdolls know how to turn an audience on, and they did it in spades.

Not something that could be said for the atrocious Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, however. The only positive thing I can say about them is that they played twenty identical songs in thirty minutes and then they were gone. Particular highlights include their stoned singer dropping the microphone and taking a while to realise, and the point he started to talking to his mummy at the back of the audience. She wasn't actually there, of course, but that didn't stop him.

BAND: Sum 41
SUPPORT: American Hi Fi, Mighty Mighty Bosstones
VENUE: Wembley Arena
DATE: 8th February 2003

Arriving at Wembley I was slightly worried on seeing an overgrown toddler in a Sum 41 t-shirt. I knew the band were popular with the kids, but not pre-schoolers, surely? When we got inside, however, the age range was as wide as any concert, the average being far closer to my own. This time we passed on seats in favour of going into the standing area, so I got a much better view of the bands.

Of which the Mighty Mighty Bosstones really, really shouldn't have bothered. I don't dislike any genre on principle, it's just that I don't like any ska/ska punk songs (except for the odd snatch of trombone in NOFX songs). The highlight of their act was when they stopped performing and the lead singer apologised on behalf of all Americans for the election of George W. Bush. For comic value, their dancer (actually a guy in a suit jerking spasmodically around the stage) kept my interest.

It would have been better had the Bosstones come before American Hi Fi, who opened the gig, but were much better. I only really knew "Flavour Of The Weak" and "Hi Fi Killer" before the show, but they converted me. I could tell they felt rushed keeping to the half hour first support slot, though.

Sum 41 also gave it their all. I'd read bad things about a lack of confidence and a focus on their crowd pleasing earlier songs, but much of the concert was devoted to their new album, from which most of the songs were played. Deryck Whibley made an excellent, hyperactive lead, leaping around the place, ranting against Anna Nicole Smith and providing good links that built up excitement between the songs. The only disappointment was that they didn't dress up for the Judas Priest-baiting "Pain For Pleasure" they performed twice for an encore.

BAND: Feeder
SUPPORT: Serafin
VENUE: UEA LCR
DATE: 11th February 2003

Too many people in too little space. I ended up spending most of the Feeder gig right at the back after several hundred people surged toward the stage when I was only a feet from the front. This didn't, however, stop it being one of the best UEA LCR shows I've been to. Serafin opened the concert and proved to be sound support. They played a couple of exceptionally catchy songs and I suspect they'll be ones to watch in future.

Feeder played a good set, mostly consisting of material from "Echo Park" and "Comfort In Sound". Grant Nicholas was a subdued frontman, thanking the audience between each song, apologising for the recurring technical problems and whipping up the inevitable anticipation for "Buck Rogers" on a regular basis. Their use of a projected video backdrop turned the stage into a sort of live action music video, which was a nice touch. It was a surprise to find Grant Nicholas only playing rhythm guitar, however. They brought on some stranger to play lead.

BAND: Coldplay
SUPPORT: Ian McCulloch, Feeder
VENUE: Earl's Court
DATE: 16th April 2003

Halfway through the song that converted me to Coldplay, "Yellow", I realised that this was the largest number of people I had ever seen in one place before. Coldplay being the face of mainstream British rock music, Earl's Court was full of weekend rockers and people of an older persuasion. It was slightly different from most of the gigs I've been to, therefore, if only because I don't really think Coldplay are suited to playing such a large venue.

I was seated as far from the stage as possible (the use of the overhead screens was much appreciated here - Wembley could learn a thing or two about that) and by the time we found our seats the first support act (Echo and the Bunnymen lead singer Ian McCulloch's other band) had started. They were soft, melodic and inoffensive, but not really my cup of tea.

Feeder, on the other hand, I already knew what to expect. The emphasis was more on their quieter songs, those most in keeping with the tone of Coldplay, though they did find time to fit in "Buck Rogers". Their set was a much truncated version of their own show, but if nothing else, the band proved they could have a future in stadium rock.

The Coldplay set was predictable. A few crowd pleasers to begin with, a rousing encore, but twenty minutes too long in the middle, and little audience interaction. "In My Place" would have been a great finale, yet Chris Martin insisted on playing what can only be described as a dirge for his final song, after issuing an apology for selling out. Truth be told, though, I don't think anyone would have come to a show at Earl's Court if they cared about that.

NAME: V2003 Festival
VENUE: Hylands Park, Chelmsford
DATE: 16th/17th August 2003

Late last year I found out that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were playing a single show at the London Arena in the spring. A friend tried to get tickets, but with no joy. Their first UK show in years was sold out within five minutes. So this summer I finally bit the bullet and submitted to the delights of campsite toilets so that I could go and see them at the Virgin two-day music spectacular in Chelmsford.

Fortunately, they alone almost justified the £100 ticket price. Their Sunday night performance was the grand finale to the Chelmsford leg of the festival, and it’s hard to imagine it could have finished on a higher note. After coming on ten minutes late to allow the audience to work themselves up first, they burst straight into a super-charged rendition of “By The Way”. I wouldn’t have liked to be any closer to the front for that song. The earth quickly began to feel a whole lot less solid beneath my feet, and that’s even without any partaking in any of the prevalent fermented or herbaceous experience enhancements all around. Of course, perhaps a hundred thousand people can be wrong, and the Chilis aren’t the biggest rock band on the planet...

Their set, like all great performances, was a mix of the predictable and the leftfield. The band quickly covered all their bases and reeled off the hits from the “By The Way” album. Then things started to head a little more into oddball territory. Such as when Flea put down his bass and played the trumpet. Or when frontman Anthony Kiedis started taking the piss out of the disco music coming from one of the other stages... and John Frusciante took over singing duties for a disco cover. Other welcome tangents taken included a Ramones cover, Frusciante’s frequent improvised solos and, indeed, Flea’s too. This is a man who puts the guitar back into bass guitar. Flea’s taken what’s considered a background rhythm instrument and turned it into a one-man music machine. Frusciante remains the greatest guitarist I’ve ever seen. The bastard just makes it look so damn easy.

Playing for nigh-on ninety minutes, they reached “Californication” before the encore and then concluded with “Under The Bridge” and another song I didn’t recognise. There was a good mix of old, almost rap-like funk rock, and their more accessible recent mainstream songs that invited frequent sing-alongs. The only disappointment was that they didn’t play “This Is The Place”, one of my personal favourites from the last album. Still, an easy challenger to Green Day as best live act I’ve seen.

The other highlight of the festival was the Queens Of The Stone Age. Unfortunately relegated to second support to the Chilis (behind David Gray, of all people), they only got a one-hour set, and that just wasn’t enough, damnit. They had very little in the way of stage presence, but I got the impression that was because they were trying to cram into their slot as many songs as possible. They toyed with the audience, however, such as finishing a song, waiting for applause, then repeating the last few bars until nobody was sure whether they were finished or not – and then not clapping when they were.

Initially plagued by sound problems (Nick Oliveri was too loud, Josh Homme was inaudibly quiet), their short set really took off with “The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret” and reached something of a high, if you’ll excuse the pun, with “Feelgood Hit Of The Summer”. In the middle of which, Josh Homme insisted on stopping to tell the audience just how much he loves drugs. I don’t know quite what the leftover Morcheeba fans made of the band. Anyway, it just made me want to see more of them, though part of me was grateful Nick Oliveri didn’t strip (if only because I had a wager on him not doing it).

Those two bands were the main reason I bought the tickets to V2003, but at that price, I was going to get my money’s worth. I’d already seen the Foo Fighters, but they were another highlight, on the Saturday. If anything, I think their shorter set was better than the one they played at Wembley. There wasn’t enough time for them to indulge their passion for weaker songs from the first album just to please old school fans. This was straight-up rock for today’s mainstream audience and was very much centred around the “One By One” album, but with enough time to do my favourite, “Learn To Fly”. Playing second fiddle to Coldplay, Dave Grohl couldn’t resist having a little dig, announcing the Foos were going to play a ballad next, like ‘one of those Coldplay songs’, before launching into the Courtney Love-baiting “Stacked Actors”.

After that, I wasn’t in a Coldplay mood, so debunked to the second stage where Feeder proved the reliably more up-tempo finale to Saturday evening. This was the third time I’d seen them and it won’t be the last. They’re headlining Wembley this winter, and their set seemed perfectly structured for an arena that size, starting with “Come Back Around”, ending with “Just A Day” and throwing in “Buck Rogers” in the middle where nobody was expecting it. Grant Nicholas’ stage presence still hasn’t improved much beyond telling the audience his parents were amongst us, though.

The other main band I was looking forward to was Ash, who came to UEA just before I got their “Free All Angels” CD. I was in desperate need of a sit down when they did their set at Saturday teatime, so my verdict on them is not too objective. They had a well-structured set, mixing favourites from their last album with their more heavier older stuff and the odd new song as well. Never less than accomplished and entertaining, and it’s good to see a female lead guitarist once in a while, but unlike certain other bands, it didn’t make me any more or less of a fan.

And yes, I’m talking about The Hives there. Please shut up, you useless plebs. I actually quite liked “Hate To Say I Told You So” before I saw this bunch of shrieking Europeans. The lead singer (is his name Pele? that’s what it sounded like to me) screamed through the songs, screamed between songs, and sometimes just screamed for the sake of it. He was not funny, he was not entertaining, and I am glad his band finished early. Some bands I saw that weekend were great, some I was ambivalent to. The Hives were the only one I really wanted to take a machine gun to.

The complete opposite can be said for Reel Big Fish, who I didn’t really like before I saw them. I’m not a big ska or ska punk fan, but this band did a great set on Saturday afternoon. I only knew two of their songs, “Sell Out”, which they opened with, and “Where Have You Been?” (or whatever it’s called), which they ended with. Their lead singer claimed to be ill, so one of the trumpeters took over singing duties. He proved more than capable, but this provided scope for a running joke. The lead singer still played lead guitar, and spent much time begging an audience member to give him his helium balloon because he was ill. Very entertaining.

There were a few other bands I knew a few songs for. The Cardigans were sandwiched between Reel Big Fish and The Hives on Saturday afternoon. I liked “Love Fool” and “Beautiful Game”, plus their set design was interesting, but I preferred the lead singer when she was blond. Then on Sunday afternoon there were Morcheeba, who opened with the only song of theirs I knew that they played, "Down By The Sea" (I knew another one they didn’t perform). I had thought they were pretty mellow, but they were rockier than I imagined, and were never less than entertaining.

By the time he came on, though, David Gray seemed a little incongruous. QOTSA had just finished, the Chilis were yet to come, and here we were treated to some acoustic ballads. I recognised a few of them, most notably the singles ("Babylon", etc), but to be honest by about halfway into his set I just wanted the Chilis to hurry up and was more interested in the guy mooning the audience from a security platform. David Gray himself proved to be an entertaining showman with his jibes at the audience and his mad drummer in the yellow Hawaiian shirt was funny.

Two artists I’d heard nothing of that proved to be quite good were both on the Sunday. PJ Harvey started pretty dubiously with a proto-ballad that didn’t really suggest she had much skill on the guitar, but further into her set she started playing her newer, harder, rockier stuff and even though I sat down through the entire performance, she was quite good.

The Zutons, meanwhile, opened the second stage. They had a fresh style that was half The Coral, half The White Stripes, by way of Nirvana (myopic old me thought he was a dead ringer for Kurt Cobain from where I was sitting in the sun). They seemed like a new band, playing new kind of music, but it’s hard to say whether their zany use of bongos and electronic piano whistle things was just a gimmick or not. Still, a good live act.

The remaining artists I was ambivalent to. Guitar-based girl band Eisley opened the main stage on Saturday, and they were okay, but I think I was just open to their easy listening pop rock because of the novelty factor. By the time they were followed by the reformed but washed up Eighties soft rockers Echo And The Bunnymen that factor was gone, however. There was nothing new about their sound. It was old and stale decades ago, and they almost outstayed their welcome.

On the Sunday we had Skin, headed by the former lead singer of Skunk Anansie. It wasn’t bad, per se, and she was a confident lead, but I can understand why people threw a giant inflatable ball into her face when she came down to the audience and clutched some guy to her breast and sang into his hair. She was followed by Inspiral Carpets. They seemed to have about four fans in the entire place, all behind where I was standing. To me, they just sounded like an even more washed up version of Echo And The Bunnymen.

NAME: Reading Festival 2003
VENUE: Reading (duh!)
DATE: 22nd August 2003

Click here for my Reading photo gallery.

I’ve always had a very soft spot for Blink 182, being the band that got me into this whole music scene, so when I heard they’d be making their first UK appearance in over two years at the Reading Festival, I promptly got a ticket. All other regrets (regarding the organisation, the campsite, the facilities, etc) aside, they were worth going. Of course, playing second fiddle to Linkin Park, they were never going to be able to steal the show, but they made the most of it.

Their set was too short for my liking, barely reaching an hour, whilst Linkin Park got ninety minutes (and Metallica, Sunday’s headliner, was scheduled for two hours). However, they played all the songs I wanted them to play, rounding off with a rousing finale of “Dammit”, my favourite song of theirs. There was the usual Blink-style banter about sexual relations with mothers and dogs and a flaming FUCK sign that rose up and down at the back of the stage. It all went down well with the crowd.

In fact, it got a little mad where I was standing. As per usual, a mosh pit opened up right behind me and I was more than a little crushed, but it was a great atmosphere. For all the flak the band get, they certainly had a lot of fans where I was. On more than one occasion the people around me drowned out Mark Hoppus or Tom DeLonge’s vocals. I can’t remember any other band I’ve seen where virtually every song becomes a sing-along.

Their new songs weren’t bad, either. Nothing terribly different from what we’ve come to expect, but just as catchy as usual, only heavier. Mark proved to be the better singer live, and drummer Travis Barker proved why, instrumentally, he is the most talented person in the band. He had changed a lot of the drumming, which made it more interesting, and it worked. As a taster for a tour in their own right, I’m afraid I’m no less of a fan of the uncoolest unpunk band (well, at least until Good Charlotte were scheduled to appear on the Sunday) than I was before. Here’s looking forward to that new album.

So obviously Blink was the highlight of the festival for me but the worst band of the ten that performed on the main stage on the Friday was easily Finch. I knew two of their songs, one of which they did adequately ("New Beginnings"), and the other of which (the fantastic "Letters To You"), they didn't even play! Criminal! I doubt they would have garnered themselves any more fans from the rest of their performance. Screamo-core, as I quickly dubbed it. The lead singer spent much of the show (that I saw – I quickly sat down and couldn’t see the rest of it) bent double at the back of the stage, facing away from the audience and screaming into the microphone. Not good. Maybe they were hampered by sound problems other bands were having, or maybe they’re just bad outright. There didn’t seem to be any melody to their songs. There’s more to being raw and emotional than just making a distracting noise. Still, they weren’t as bad as The Hives were at V2003, so that’s one thing in their favour.

Two pleasant surprises were Bowling For Soup and Staind. I had a ticket to see Bowling For Soup when they descended on UEA for the second time this year but in the end didn’t go. I’m still not sure whether sitting through three dodgy support bands would have been worth it. Doing a half-hour set at Reading, the pop punk outfit with the catchy songs didn’t outstay their welcome. They played “Girl All The Bad Guys Want” and “Emily”, my favourite songs of theirs, plus their annoyingly hummable latest tune, “Punk Rock 101”. Still not sure whether it’s ironic or not. After all, they are Americans. Anyway, they kept the momentum going with the usual sub-Blink willy jokes aimed at Less Than Jake and got a good crowd reaction.

I didn’t think I’d appreciate Staind. I always thought they were nu metal with added misery. And they were, kind of. I didn’t know any of their songs. After their first one I sat down. Heavy, detuned guitars and wailing vocals – not my thing. However, as they began the second song of their set, things became interesting, when all of a sudden their guitar rig broke down. Quickly improvising, lead singer Aaron Lewis took up his acoustic guitar for a song they presumably planned to play later. I don’t know what it was called, but it wasn’t all that bad. It quickly became apparent that the band was going to have to do without electric guitars for the entire set. Lewis got a little peeved, so did the audience, but instead of abandoning it altogether, Staind made the most of it. They muted the drums, turned down the bass, and brought out another acoustic. And it actually worked. It got a little muzak-y toward the end, but kudos to the band for not giving up and winning over initially negative crowd opinion.

InMe I had seen before, upstaging Hundred Reasons. At Reading they opened the main stage on the Friday. I entered the arena to the sound of “Underdose”, my favourite song of theirs. They certainly seemed capable of playing to tens of thousands of people, but to be honest, I wasn’t paying too much attention. I was queuing up at the t-shirt stall until after the end of their set.

I was similarly not too bothered about seeing Less Than Jake. That kind of ska punk isn’t my thing, but after Reel Big Fish at V2003, I thought I’d give them a chance. They opened with the only song of theirs that I recognised and after that pretty much lost my interest. They were inoffensive and passed the time, but I was just waiting for The Datsuns to appear after them.

I missed The Datsuns at UEA, so this was one of the bands I was looking forward to seeing the most. The recurring sound problems that had plagued the earlier bands returned to hamper their show somewhat, but it was still a good set. They played the three songs I was waiting to hear, “In Love”, “MF From Hell” and “Harmonic Generator” was the highlight of the festival at that point. There wasn’t much chat or stage presence to be had, but a confident, capable performance overall.

The other band I was looking forward to seeing was Placebo, that bizarre, much-maligned Anglo-American-European hybrid of a band with gay frontman Brian Molko sweating his way through a predictably disappointing set. It wasn’t disappointing in that it was a bad show. Molko is a great lead, who looks like he’s really enjoying himself, and engaging in some pratfall slapstick with his bassist was more stage presence than most of the bands that preceded them had. However, the set ignored their first album, including my favourite songs of theirs, “Nancy Boy” and “36 Degrees”. Fortunately they did a lot from my favourite album of theirs, which is the new one. “The Bitter End” and “This Picture” were done very well. I don’t know why they had to finish with a cover version of The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?”, even if it is a great song and they did it well. They’ve got plenty of their own songs that would have been just as good a finale.

Whilst Blink and Linkin Park had their fans, the area in front of the stage first got really busy and crowded when The Darkness put in an appearance. I was ready to write off rock’s latest ‘saviours’ as being one of those Emperor’s New Clothes bands that people only like because it’s the in thing. I even sat there thinking of a pun to write about the Emperor’s New Catsuit. However, I have to admit that The Darkness won me over. I’d only heard a couple of their songs, but neither particularly grabbed me beforehand. And now I have their album. During the set “Growing On Me” really did start growing on me. I don’t know if they’re ever going to be anything more than a novelty band, and I still don’t like the way people are claiming they’re the future of rock music when they’re pure retro, but I’m suitably converted. Frontman Justin Hawkins was a great stage performer. He pranced around in his catsuit, posed for the film cameras with his guitar and engaged with the audience (such as a poll whether to do the censored version of “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” or not) rather than just thanking them or telling them they’re beautiful...

Which is the trap that the day’s headliners Linkin Park fell into. I’ve got nothing against the biggest rock band in the world (allegedly). I like quite a few of their songs from both main albums, but it’s another case of liking the songs rather than the band. I only stayed for the first six or seven songs, in which they did my two favourites from the new album, “Somewhere I Belong” and “Lying From You”. What I saw of their set was never less than polished and capable, but maybe it was because I’d just seen Blink – Linkin Park just didn’t excite me. Granted, I went right to the back, so could only see on the distant screens, but everybody back there was sitting down and watching, quite ambivalent to the band. As I was departing after that first half-hour or so, I passed somebody calling out for Busted instead.

I didn’t see enough of the finale to fairly comment on it. Maybe when they reached “Crawling” and “In The End” they would have been able to stir me up, but I didn’t hang around long enough. I just got the impression it was a very tightly structured show, rather than a balls-out rock concert. Lead vocalists Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda bounded around the stage constantly, but it all came across as very orchestrated. Stage presence never amounted to much more than Mike Shinoda telling the audience they were beautiful and the best audience the band has ever played to. Which, quite frankly, made me cringe. I’m sure they had their fans close to the front, but I would have much preferred it if they had played second fiddle to Blink.

BAND: Hot Hot Heat
SUPPORT: Fiery Furnaces, Franz Ferdinand
VENUE: Norwich Waterfront
DATE: 30th October 2003

The Fiery Furnaces set the tone for the evening, which was very much about Sixties revivalism. The leader singer came unconfidently onto centre stage looking one part Janis Joplin to one part The Ramones. Indeed, it took a while to tell just which gender she belonged to. Their short set largely consisted of some energetic ballads, not too worthy, with a line of humour running through, and they didn't outstay their welcome. Highlights included the manic lead guitarist never missing a chance to wank his guitar, the song about kicking dogs, and such cheese fest lyrics as "when I was single/my pocket did jingle".

Franz Ferdinand looked even more the part, complete with Sixties reject hairstyles and dress sense. As with Fiery Furnaces, their set was suitably short, so there wasn't much time for patter. Just pure retro aimed straight for your nostalgia bone, but pulled off with much aplomb. I had heard bad things, but they proved themselves worth a listen. Highlights included one particularly catchy song that I can no longer remember (so it wasn't that catchy), plus the bassist. He was a moody so and so who kept giving various members of the audience the evils whilst wearing a garish quasi-Hawaiian shirt. Not so sure about those mechanical strutting movements the two guitarists kept making, though...

When you get bad support bands, the wait in between them is a respite. But when you get good ones, as we did this time, the waiting is the worst part. And indeed, in the space of the one hour Hot Hot Heat kept us waiting after Franz Ferdinand's departure, I started to get into that uncomfortably hot and achy state where I stop caring about the main band. It happened at Hundred Reasons as well.

Still, it's to Hot Hot Heat's credit, then, that they managed to pull me back by playing a short fifty minute set sprinkled with all the stand out tracks from the album. It all culminated in an obvious encore of "Bandages". The frontman proved to have great stage presence, abandoning the microphone stand early on to bounce around the stage constantly. By halfway through the set his semi-afro was starting to wilt and sweat was flying from his forehead. I pitied the poor Greg Rusedksi lookalike guitarist who came on in a duffel coat, and am not surprised he abandoned it pretty quickly.

BAND: Radiohead
SUPPORT: Asian Dub Foundation
VENUE: Earl's Court
DATE: 26th November 2003

On arriving at Earl’s Court, the building was already reverberating with the apparent direness of the Asian Dub Foundation. However, once inside the arena, they weren’t actually that bad. Interesting and different is how I can most positively describe them. I’ve never heard anything like their sound before. They had a few catchy songs, but I still wonder what a reggae-rock band with Hindu spiritual influences was doing supporting Radiohead. They got their biggest cheer when they started chiding George W. ‘Boosh’.

This peculiar choice for support band made me worry that Radiohead’s notorious pretension would carry on into their live performance. And it did, to an extent. I had already heard that they rarely play “Creep” these days, one of my favourites. My position on bands refusing to play crowd favourites is that for £20, they should damn well do what the audience wants. And there were people behind us calling out for “Creep” as well (but more of them later). I don’t subscribe to the idea that live shows should be about the bands doing what they want and ignoring the audience. Anybody who has read enough of my reviews here will notice I give more favourable reviews to those bands that acknowledge the several thousand who have come to see them. If bands want to do their own thing, they should be playing in their garage, not in front of 20,000 people who have paid an extortionate amount to get in.

Anyway, apart from “Creep”, Radiohead played all the songs I wanted to hear. At two hours, it was the longest set I’ve gone through, but was structured well. New album favourite “2+2=5” was the second song they did, and “Paranoid Android” was thrown in at precisely the right spot in the middle of the set where most shows tend to sag. "Karma Police", complete with singalong finale, was the penultimate song of the encore. There was a broad mix across the range. It was good to see they weren’t totally ignoring where they came from, so the impression I got was of a band who’ve been everywhere. As it should be. Fortunately, precious little was done from “Kid A” and “Amnesiac”.

Thom Yorke only really said more than a few words to the crowd when going on about Dubya hijacking the capital, though he did surprise me by leaning into the cameras and twitching his eyebrow during one song. In fact, the band made especially good use of the screens in the arena throughout, not just using them to give those of us at the back a view of the stage, but using some mixed-up visuals to support the music. Of course, the night couldn’t end without one final appearance of Mr Yorke’s inner petulant child. As with Coldplay’s Chris Martin on the same stage a few months before him, he had to end the night on an unrecognisable dirge.

And anybody who thinks Radiohead only attracts the intellectual elite to their shows need only meet those morons behind us. They could only have been from Essex. After seeing the ‘No Smoking’ signs they thought it was amusing to chain-smoke. Between every song one of the slappers leapt up to shriek “One! Two! Free!” (phonetically spelled to recreate the experience). And even before the performance started it took her a while to realise that putting her foot on the back of my seat was actually kicking me in the spine. None of us in the vicinity needed to know when she felt the desire to urinate, either, but that didn’t stop her announcing it loud enough for us all to hear.

You’d expect better behaviour in a Slipknot mosh pit.

BAND: Muse
SUPPORT: Elbow, (unknown)
VENUE: Wembley Arena
DATE: 27th November 2003

The first band that came on, we were sure was Elbow. After all, Elbow had been described as the new Radiohead, and the singer sounded a bit like Thom Yorke. But no, as it turned out, this was an unidentified second support act. Not that it mattered. The thing about these bands touted as the new Radiohead is, it makes me wonder: what was wrong with the old Radiohead? The first band, whoever they were, were quite heavy, but didn’t keep my attention, and I even started musing about the death of Dave Grohl at one point. During Elbow themselves, a bit lighter, but still uninspiring stuff, I was just thinking about popping off to the toilet as soon as the lights came back up again.

However, when Muse finally showed up, they banished any ill-feeling about the support acts they had subjected us to. They opened straight into “Apocalypse Please”, the first track of their stunning new album, “Absolution”. Their well-structured set saw “Newborn” and “Citizen Erased” come in pretty early, and rounded off with a triumphant rock-em-sock-em finale consisting of no less than “Bliss”, “Plug In Baby”, “Time Is Running Out” and “Stockholm Syndrome”. It was a show completely without pretension played for all its crowd-pleasing potential. Matt Bellamy and co were near infallible. As with Green Day before them, I went in wanting certain songs ("Plug In Baby") and came out preferring others ("Newborn").

Unlike the other bands I have seen at Wembley, Muse made full use of the screens in the arena. This made it more intimate for those who were quite far back. Their use of a computerised backdrop (like Feeder’s, but better) also helped turn their stage into more of a set. At one point the side screens caught the bassist looking as if he was standing in front of a sunset. The warp effect employed for “Space Dementia” was also very cool. As was the piano that turned into an electric light show whenever Bellamy played it.

In fact, if there was one fault in the night’s proceedings, it was that Bellamy notoriously doesn’t like to talk to the audience. The one time when he said more than a few words, he gabbled quickly and unconfidently into the microphone. And really, when you’re putting on a show like that, you don’t have anything to be nervous about.

BAND: Metallica
SUPPORT: Godsmack
VENUE: Earl's Court
DATE: 20th December 2003

I take back anything I said on certain Internet forums that Metallica should retire if they keep needing to cancel tour dates. I suppose when you do sets that last 2 hours 15 minutes, exhaustion is a valid excuse... no, reason. My sympathies, though, to those who have suffered from a cancellation. I gave up trying to think of gigs in terms of how I'd rank them around the time of V2003, but Green Day's July 2002 concert has always been a benchmark. Maybe just perhaps it finally has a challenger.

Surprisingly, for someone who only had five Metallica albums when they went to see them, and had only got two of those the day before, precious few of the songs went unrecognised. It didn't really take off for me until fifteen minutes in, when Kirk Hammett plucked those ethereal natural harmonics that signal the start of "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (my favourite track off "Master Of Puppets"). It seemed like everybody knew what song it was only three notes in. I'd heard two untruths about this song: one, that they rarely play it live; two, that they always mess it up. Rubbish.

From there on in, for the next hour it was just pure class. I can't remember in what order they came, but there was a broad mix spanning their entire career, including "Frantic", "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and "Four Horsemen". Particular highlights for me were their, hohum, 'quieter' tracks, "Sad But True" and "Nothing Else Matters". I was also glad they played "Some Kind Of Monster", which is perhaps my favourite track off "St Anger", and I gathered is their next single. I'm just giving it another listen right now to check whether that solo was there in the studio version...

Peculiarly enough, "Master Of Puppets" came right in the middle of the set, but it didn't feel out of place, even though this was one gig that didn't need a big hitter to prop up the second half, when interest tends to flag as bands save all their great tracks for the finale. Which came, the first time, 1 hour 15 minutes in. And the second time about twenty minutes after that. And the third time another few songs after that. After "Seek And Destroy", it was perhaps obvious what form the encores would take, with "One" and "Enter Sandman". It was worth the wait.

Unfortunately, two hours is about my limit standing up. Once "Enter Sandman" was over and they launched into another song, I just needed to sit down, so I decamped to the bar right outside the arena itself. I listened for a bit, but after "Enter Sandman" there seemed to be something of an exodus anyway, so I went for the train during what sounded like the final round of applause. Who knows, they might have done a third encore after that and played "St Anger". It wouldn't surprise me.

The sound in Earl's Court was near perfect (except that one of the microphones failed to pick up James Hetfield's vocals as well as the others did). Perhaps it was just where I was standing, because I remember Radiohead being muffled. Even during the solos I could hear every note Kirk Hammett played clearly. Well, not every note, obviously, if he really can play nineteen notes a second as "Total Guitar" claimed. How the hell did they count, that's what I want to know.

Anyway, he usurps John Frusciante's position as the best guitarist I have seen. I'm glad he didn't do what many guitarists are famous for doing in his position and self-indulgently improvising new solos on the spot. He got any desire to improvise out his system in a little one-man display before "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" but apart from that, he played every solo perfectly. And he made it look so damn easy, too...

The rest of the band also helped put on a show that was more than just a set. James Hetfield was a very confident frontman, with a fine line in self-deprecating humour. He didn't have to stoop to the level of Linkin Park-style "Oh, you're the best audience we've ever had!" rubbish, because he knew he didn't have to.

Robert Trujillo also seemed to have fit into the band nicely, stomping around the stage with his bass slung low like he'd been doing it as long as they had. He also took part in a rather surreal double act with Lars Ulrich after the drummer took his t-shirt off and started stomping around after him, whipping him with it. Trujillo even played a few chunky notes every time he was struck.

As if to remind everyone just whose band it was, Lars Ulrich just wouldn't stay behind his drumkit for more than a few songs. One time he decided to play them from the front. Another time he insisted on making Kirk Hammett play guitar with one of his drumsticks. Hammett then got his revenge by forcing his guitar upon the drummer, and seating himself at the drums, but they were both versatile enough to pull it off. I don't think Ulrich will be playing "Damage Inc" anytime soon, though.

I don't need flashing lights and big bangs to make a band look exciting, but when you're an intense act like Metallica, it creates the right atmosphere, the right ambience. So the smoke and the lights were very well done, and I think the explosive, flaming finale did more damage to my hearing than the preceding two hours of heavy metal.

As for Godsmack, they started playing whilst I was still queuing up outside and finished whilst I was still queuing up for my Metallica t-shirt. They sounded like outdated sludge rock, grunge plus, and they really need to get over their Alice In Chains obsession. I don't know why they didn't go the whole hog and name their new album "Facelift" instead of "Faceless".

BAND: Funeral For A Friend
SUPPORT: Franz Ferdinand, The Von Bondies, The Rapture
VENUE: UEA LCR
DATE: 4th February 2004

The NME Awards tour came to town, bringing with it what was at first glance a gaggle of soundalikes. Funeral For A Friend kinda sound like a mellower Finch, The Rapture sound kinda like a more monotonous Hot Hot Heat and The Von Bondies kinda sound like a noiser White Stripes. As for Franz Ferdinand, well, they sound like nobody but themselves, but then again, they do kinda fit into the same garage rock niche as the other two support acts.

Indeed, Franz Ferdinand was the main reason I bought my ticket in the first place, having been converted when I saw them support Hot Hot Heat and being much enamoured with their "Take Me Out" single. They played a set just shy of half an hour, playing that song third, to the delight of the audience. They also played one of the b-sides to the single ("Words So Leisured") but at a faster tempo, which I preferred. (Since getting the album I've found out this version is actually called "Darts Of Pleasure"). At the last NME Awards tour it was The Thrills that went on to become the biggest, and I predict the same for Franz Ferdinand. So perhaps that's why the bassist looked much happier this time...

The Von Bondies were up next, playing a set which if anything was shorter than Franz Ferdinand's... but seemed twice as long. Jack White's least favourite band were the worst of the four. I quite liked their new single when I listened to it in Virgin, and they pulled it off well, but it was also the second or third song they played, so the rest of the set just went downhill after that.

Next on was The Rapture, they of the failed Afros and... glockenspiels. Yes, on the numerous occasions when the sax player realised nobody could actually hear him anyway, he dumped the saxophone and minced around the stage generating a clip-clop rhythm. I had flashbacks to Monty Python. Anyway, their set was pretty varied, alternating between energetic garage rock leaning toward pop music, and slower ballad-y songs. Unfortunately, variety isn't a term that could be applied to the singer's voice. It wasn't so much a case of his inability to sing full stop, and more that he could only sing one note. It was like somebody had fed the lyrics into Stephen Hawking's talking computer.

Anyway, eventually Funeral For A Friend emerged. In the meantime between them and The Rapture, a good few hundred people had left - understandable, given that Funeral For A Friend sound nothing like their three support acts. Indeed, likening them to Finch isn't doing this lot justice. Finch are very much in the three power chords and you're done school of guitar playing, but Funeral For A Friend's two guitarists were both skilled, and the rhythm and lead complimented each other to create a sound which has that heavy post-hardcore grind, but also a lead line that cuts through when it's required.

I wasn't too well acquainted with the band before I saw them, though they managed to steal the evening from Franz Ferdinand. There's was a perky, energetic set, linked well by the frontman even when his orders to the moshers to create a circle were ignored. "Juneau" got a big crowd cheer, as did final song "Escape Artists Never Die", the current single and my favourite. There was no encore, but their hour long set was just right anyway, neither overstaying their welcome nor losing my interest. I don't know about best band of the year, but I'll get round to buying their album one day.

BAND: Blink 182
SUPPORT: Nervous Return, The Motion City Soundtrack
VENUE: Wembley Arena
DATE: 6th February 2004

I remember just after getting my first 'alternative' album ("Take Off Your Pants And Jacket") pointing out the skanky 14-year-old grungers sitting on the steps in Norwich's permanent marketplace in their hoodies, and telling Luke if we ever went to a Blink 182 concert, it'd be full of people like that. It was meant derogatorily. As it turned out, over two years later, and at Blink's first London date in over three years, I wasn't too far wrong. And I still mean it derogatorily. The audience was divided between screaming teenyboppers and your par-for-the-course hoodie-wearing mob. Indeed, this seemed to be a Blink concert tailored for a mainstream audience that have brought their parents with them rather than the more risque rock show they put on at Reading 2003.

First support were Nervous Return. Never heard of them, and given this performance, probably never will again. It wasn't so much three-chord punk rock as one-chord punk rock. Two guitars really doesn't work for this form of music, especially when they're both overdriven and single-coiled (i.e. very squealingly trebly). This led to a muddied sound that drowned everything else out. Actually, they did get better as they went on, but their best songs were those that were bass-led (a very Blink-inspired touch).

Next up were the Motion City Soundtrack. And some of the people in the audience were evidently such big Blink fans that they didn't even realise this five-piece band weren't Blink until several songs into their set. That's not to say they sounded anything like Blink. Actually, I can't remember much about their set. I lost interest even quicker than I did with Nervous Return, and spent some time noting just how full Wembley was. The highlight of their act was when the superfluous keyboardist kept doing acrobatics over his instrument.

As for Blink themselves, well, they were okay. Not great, not as good as they were at Reading, nor as good as they were on their excellent live album, but I still enjoyed their set. It was largely based around the new album, and they played most of it, pulling off my favourites "Violence" and "Down" well. This was interspersed with the crowd-pleasers from their last three albums, most notably "All The Small Things" mid-set and "What's My Age Again?" to begin with (well, after the untitled "shit piss fuck cunt" song they also opened with at Reading). The encore consisted of "Stockholm Syndrome" (complete with Joanne Whalley's spoken intro from the CD), "First Date" and "Dammit".

But there was no "Adam's Song", no "Mutt", no "Carousel". The newer songs seemed much more freshly rehearsed than the older ones, as well. However, my two main contentions with the concert are the sound and the length. The sound I don't blame Blink for, but their microphones were pretty poorly set up, and in a typically all-out Blink chorus, it was nigh on impossible to hear any lyrics at all. There were also occasional feedback booms from the bass. The length, on the other hand, has been a notorious bugbear with Blink gigs before. They played just shy of an hour and a quarter. Ten minutes more and they could have fitted in all the lesser songs I tend to like more. However, as always, if I had to make a choice between a 90 minute set where I only know 45 minutes worth of songs, and a 75 minute set where I recognise all but one, I'll pick the latter. It's just that Green Day managed to do both - play a 90 minute set, but play only one song I didn't know.

I wouldn't want to rank this concert against all the other arena shows I've been to, mainly because its placing would be unfavourable compared to most of them, and that would give an unrepresentative impression of my opinion. I still enjoyed this concert a lot, but it just didn't inspire me to go learn any Blink songs. I'm left no more (though also no less) of a fan than I was before.

BAND: Lostprophets
SUPPORT: The Bronx, Avenged Sevenfold
VENUE: UEA LCR
DATE: 11th February 2004

First support group, The Bronx, would have benefitted from a better frontman. Either that, or the one they've got could lose thirty pounds (or keep his t-shirt ON), stop jumping down into the audience where no-one can see him and... learn how to sing. Their half hour set wasn't actually that bad. The lack of a bassist wasn't to their detriment because it allowed their guitarist to come through clearly. It's just that the lead singer's post-nu metal growl became boring after a while.

Second support act, Avenged Sevenfold, were actually pretty good. It's like the Madden twins did a lot of crack (well, Diet Coke) one evening and thought it'd be a laugh if they did some Metallica covers. Because that was both my first and last impression of Avenged Sevenfold - the Good Charlotte of pop metal (even down to the bassist with dodgy spikes and even dodgier eye shadow). Truth be told, I was quite impressed by their set. The singer had a polished voice; a dynamic vocal range that went from growl to melodic with ease. Their guitarist was also very proficient, even if most of his licks were the derivative side of inspired by Kirk Hammett. Maybe one to watch. I'd have to hear some studio stuff, though.

After a slightly longer wait the Lostprophets finally emerged to chants of "Prophets! Prophets!" and... the "Kill Bill" theme music! They launched straight into "We Still Kill The Old Way", the explosive opener to new album, "Start Something", promptly followed by second track, "To Hell We Ride", both of which were well received by the audience. Initial sound problems (lead singer Ian Watkins' vocals being almost inaudible) were solved about this point.

"Fake Sound Of Progress" came mid-set, complete with singalong, followed by "Last Train Home". There was no encore, but a predictable yet suitable finale in "Shinobi Vs Dragon Ninja" and "Burn Burn". If there were any faults it was with the guy manning the decks. The new album being less nu metal inspired and more guitar led, he was left redundant for all the new songs, so took to attempting a shouty harmonising with Watkins. Except all he ended up doing was sounding like an irritating guy making a noise when you're trying to listen to a good song. Apart from that, the Lostprophets had plenty of confidence in their new material, though I'm not quite sure whether Watkins really speaks like that, or whether he was putting on a laughably exaggerated Welsh accent...

BAND: The Offspring
SUPPORT: The Start, Rufio
VENUE: Wembley Arena
DATE: 11th March 2004

The Start were inoffensive and undeveloped. There was a smattering of potentiality there, and they could become reasonably big, but they're never going to headline Wembley themselves, I'd wager. Luke likened the female vocalist to Cerys Matthews, formerly of Catatonia, and that sums her up well. She was a confident lead, her voice complimented the cosy, safe rock beat. That said, their lanky guitarist managed to pull off some nifty moves, that came out quite clearly, setting a standard for good sound that lasted all night. It was probably a good idea the singer made a joke of it when she tried to incite a singalong amonst a crowd who had never heard of them and nobody could, though...

Rufio followed, the complete opposite. They lost my interest pretty quickly on. I wasn't sure which gender their singer was initially, his voice was so weak. They lacked confidence, perhaps even more so than The Start, but The Start made a self-deprecating joke out of their set to compensate. There was nothing special, nothing any greater than generic about this. Rufio are Just Another Support Band TM. Such a non-entity I almost feel sorry that they're deluding themselves and that I'm slating them. But they make me have second thoughts about even reviewing support acts on this page.

The Offspring played a short set. And I mean short. They managed to beat Blink 182 in being on and off the stage within the hour. However, suffering from indigestion as I did all that evening, I won't complain about that. They opened with "Neocon", an obvious opener for its slow build-up and for being first on the new album. But it seemed like just another Offspring retread on "Splinter" and it failed to excite me as a gig opener. However, in the next fifty minutes they went on to play all the songs I wanted to hear, including "Walla Walla", "Feelings" and "Million Miles Away". They did not, however, play "Original Prankster".

The main part of the show climaxed with "The Kids Aren't Alright", probably the most rousing moment of the evening for me personally, even though Noodles did mess up during the interlude, and was playing out of time with the bassist and drummer. That didn't spoil the song, though. The encore was a predictable yet suitable rendition of "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)", the recorded intro for which elicited the largest cheer of the night. Anyway, little chatter, jokes or audience interaction, but they did promise to be back this summer, presumably for a festival.

BAND: Red Hot Chili Peppers
SUPPORT: Chicks On Speed, James Brown
VENUE: Hyde Park
DATE: 20th June 2004

Click here for my Chili Peppers photo gallery.

Gates opened at 3.30pm, first support act on at 5.30pm. They were Chicks On Speed, who I won't even bother reviewing because they were bottled off by 5.45pm. "We don't like having things thrown at us!" they claimed, having said only moments previously, "Always express yourself in whatever way you like." I don't know what they were on, but I doubt it was amphetamines. Their music might have had an audience somewhere, but the Chili Peppers are mainstream and attract conservative music fans, so this was not the place to try it out.

Fortunately James Brown got a much better reception, befitting a legend who was performing songs older than most of the audience. There was a lone guy near us shouting "Fuck off!" throughout his performance, and toward the end of his hour long set I couldn't help but kind of agree with the sentiment, if not the deed. I recognised about a third of the songs, "Soul Man", "I Feel Good" and "Living In America" being particular highlights. Stage presence was excellent; the whole band put on a real show. His two guitarists were incredibly accomplished and JB always knew when to step back and let any and all of his support band show off their funky abilities. The bevy of dancing girls weren't unwelcome either. Kudos must also go to Brown's hairdresser for ensuring he hasn't had a hair out of place since 1973.

Just as Chicks On Speed were not suited for such a mainstream event, the Chilis were the opposite, and I would say actually tailored their set to be more accessible to "Top Of The Pops" viewers than when I saw them at V2003. So that meant only a few nods toward their older material, with the emphasis being very much on three of their last four albums. In effect, it was the greatest hits tour with extras, plus a couple of covers. "Californication", "Under The Bridge", "Can't Stop", "The Zephyr Song", "Parallel Universe" - they were all there.

"By The Way", which had proved the electric opening to their V2003 performance, didn't have quite so much impact coming a few songs into their set. They did an extended version, with guitarist John Frusciante chiming in with that impossibly high soprano of his and complimenting Flea's bass widdling. Indeed, the pair of them continued to be that perfect double act, Frusciante's stripped down lead lines an antidotal balance to Flea's frenetic slap-bass technique. They both did less individual soloing this time, but they interacted more with the audience than singer Anthony Kiedis did. Maybe he was having an off day.

I don't really have a highlight. They played nearly all the songs I wanted to hear (including "Universally Speaking" this time, though still no "This Is The Place") and arranged them superbly so that the show didn't flag at all in ninety minutes. There was no pretension here. No Radiohead-style "We're not going to play any of our popular songs" bad attitude. The Chili Peppers continue to be crowd pleasers without sacrificing artistic integrity.

BAND: Green Day
SUPPORT: New Found Glory
VENUE: Brixton Academy
DATE: 24th January 2005

As if I was going to miss this one…

Luke and I had been speculating about who was going to be supporting Green Day for weeks. He had read that Sugarcult and A Simple Plan were on warm-up duties, whilst an interview Good Charlotte did with “Total Guitar” implied they were - and their live appearance on “Top Of The Pops” a few days before the gig seemed to suggest they were in the country. As it was, it wasn’t until we were queuing in Brixton and some gal with the New Found Glory mailing list moseyed on by that we found out.

The thing that always put me off New Found Glory was the vocalist. A lot of their genre mates have nasally-orientated singers, but this guy (is his name Jordan?) always sounded like he had bagpipes for nostrils or something. Fortunately for them, however, at hundred plus decibels that level of your voice is pretty much cut out, so I dare say I much prefer them live than on CD. I recognised more songs than I thought I knew of theirs, though the only one I liked enough before to be able to name was “My Friends Over You”. Which they pulled off with aplomb, as per the rest of their set.

It was a confident performance. Not much in the way of banter; they seemed to know their place was playing second fiddle to Green Day, so it was on and off in under forty minutes, not overstaying their welcome. The entire band were energetic. I had trouble actually counting the guitarists they ran around so much, though their synchronised bouncing made me think: Busted. Their performance was bolstered by a finely attuned sound system that didn’t just make their riffs descend into a thunder of fuzz to my unaccustomed ear. As a warm-up to Green Day, they were much better than Nervous Return and the Motion City Soundtrack were for Blink 182 last year.

And then it was a twenty minute wait listening to cheesy pop. Almost as bad as “The Ketchup Song” at the Foo Fighters. And then, as if all the cheese was chosen simply for the contrast, “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones came on. “They’re on,” Luke said knowingly, remembering they played that exact same song just before Green Day came on last time. Sure enough, out went the lights, and wild went the crowd.

They launched straight into a barn-storming performance of “American Idiot”, which predictably turned into an impromptu karaoke crowd sing-along without any prompting from Messrs Armstrong, Dirnt and, er, Cool. Nor, indeed, the Billie Joe lookalike second guitarist, the guy on the piano, the bloke who came on to do the “Ooh-ooh” bits for various songs, the sax guy, or the one who dressed up alternately as a rabbit and bumblebee (NB: some of these might actually have been the same person).

Billie Joe's “Let’s wake up those fucking rednecks!” must surely be the quote of the night, and the best received, though I’m not sure when exactly it came.

Next on the line-up was “Jesus Of Suburbia”. Yes, all of it. And they pulled it off superbly, making it probably the (first) highlight of the night for me, as it was the highlight of their latest album. Seamlessly slipping from one part of the suite into the next, you wouldn’t have blamed the band if they stopped for some banter just whilst they got their breath back. But no, next was “Holiday”, accompanied by some excellent light-based backdrops simulating bombs falling and exploding.

The impression I was getting at that point was that they were just going to play the entirety of the “American Idiot” album in order, and in its entirety, as they have done on occasion in America. But no, after “Holiday”, Billie Joe announced they were next going to play “St Jimmy”. And then played “Are We The Waiting” instead (though admittedly merging it successfully right into “St Jimmy”, as per the album).

As for the rest of “American Idiot”, they played “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” at the end, and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” was dedicated to Johnny Ramone, either ignorantly (Johnny Ramone having been a die-hard Republican and supporter of George W Bush), or just plain reverently. I would have liked them also to play the nine-minute “Homecoming” suite, but wasn’t too disappointed when they didn’t.

In total Green Day were on for over one hour forty minutes, which was probably just the right length (take note, Blink 182 and The Offspring - this is how it’s done). They could have cut a couple of songs, but I’m just saying that because I didn’t know them (two out of a couple of dozen isn’t bad going). However, moreover I would have rather they replaced them with the likes of “Macy’s Day Parade”, “Welcome To Paradise” and “Waiting”, none of which they played.

The second half of the show was made up of a random mixture from all over their back catalogue. “Longview” got a big cheer as their first ‘old’ song played on the night, preceded by a bit of the old bass widdling from Mike Dirnt. As for “Minority”, I even saw an old bald guy singing along to that - the same old bald guy Luke had said was a parent when commenting the only people at the show older than us were parents. Not so. “Basket Case” proved to be a similar sing-along affair.

The encore was excellent. It included a cover of Queen’s “We Are The Champions”, complete with the chorus flashing up behind the band, just in case there really was anybody who didn’t know the words. Who needs to see the reformed band sans Freddie Mercury after that?

The best part of the encore, however, and the (second) highlight of the night for me was Billie Joe’s solo electric version of “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”. The guy really can play more than just a few power-chords, even live. The best bit was when he turned the orchestral interlude into a guitar solo. Sure, we’re not talking Metallica or anything here, but he captured the melody perfectly, with enough bends and vibratos to make the real punks hate that song (and the band) even more.

As for stage presence, that was on a par, if not better than their Wembley gig. They were closer to the audience, so it was more intimate (or perhaps it just seemed that way because I was closer to them). One guy was dragged up on stage to help Billie Joe shower the crowd with giant water pistols from atop the sound system. The poor guy promptly puked on the stage when he came down and Billie Joe unknowingly started getting him to dance. That’s one kid who’ll remember this concert for a long time, but I suspect the better memories will outlast the bad.

As last time, Billie Joe got members of the audience to make up a band. And as last time, some lucky girl walked off with one of his guitars. The bassist got permission for an almighty stage-drive. The poor drummer got nothing (maybe he kept one of the sticks). Actually, the girl deserved it. Once she built up the confidence she really got into it, even if it was just two power-chords. This interactive part of the gig even managed to make me forget the annoying bitch knocking me in the doodahs repeatedly with her handbag.

I long gave up ranking live performances, though Green Day and Metallica always shone above the rest. And on the basis of this gig, I don't think Green Day are going to be shifted from that pedestal anytime soon.

BAND: Judas Priest
SUPPORT: Scorpions
VENUE: Hammersmith Apollo
DATE: 17th March 2005

Despite not being bad gigs in and of themselves, what disappointed me most about the Blink 182 and The Offspring shows I went to last year is how short they were. After all, once upon a time, main acts used to be on longer than an hour. And so, it would seem, did the support acts. Scorpions, a German band that peaked in the Eighties, opened for Judas Priest, played for over an hour - and then did an encore. I'd never heard of them, of course, my musical knowledge of the 1980s being confined to the decade's survivors (oh, and that tape of songs sung by the "Playschool" presenters I had).

That said, I don't think I could find a bad word to say about the Scorpions, besides the generic complaint I have about support acts when usually (but not always) it's the main act I'm there to see. Though on the home straight into the grave, the Scorpions were very energetic, perhaps even more so than Priest after them. Their music was inoffensive and catchy; bands like this may have been two-a-penny twenty years ago, but hearing proper melodic metal is refreshing these days (even if they'd probably be classified hard rock by today's nu-metal saturated standards). I don't know if I actually knew any of their songs, but two seemed familiar. Don't know the names, but one had lyrics about 'bad boys', and the other had lots of whistling in it. Anyway, a one hour plus set, and they didn't outstay their welcome.

The best thing I can say about Priest themselves is that the only thing they did that really truly pissed me off was when they started ten minutes early. I was still at the bar when they came on, and finally at the front of the queue... though I had been there for five minutes already. I always get this. It's one reason why I rarely bother with T-shirts anymore. There's never enough time. I get to the front, and the inept McJobbers deal continuously to the person left and right of me. A German guy thought it was hilarious when he got served before I did, but I can only thank him for drawing the dumb bitch's attention to the fact that I'd been waiting since before he joined the queue: I got served next. By which time Priest were already several minutes into "Electric Eye".

According to Luke, the lights went down, an ultraviolet light picked out a giant eye backdrop, and then Rob Halford appeared through the middle of it. Ten minutes earlier than he should have, damnit! I'm sorry I missed that, but I still caught the second half of the song. At the end of the day, missing a couple of minutes was negligible, because Priest played for an almighty two plus hours, beating Radiohead in the longevity stakes and almost competing with Metallica. There's something to say for these old bands who charge the Earth to get in, but then truly do give you your money's worth. In comparison, those hour-long sets by Blink 182 and The Offspring make them look lazy and disinterested.

These are not charges you could ever level at Judas Priest. They may be able to claim their pensions soon, but they gave it their all, and more. As I told Luke, I wouldn't want to be the one washing Rob Halford's selection of leather costumes that evening. The guy didn't stop moving for a second, unless to bend over for an agonised falsetto screech. Sometimes it was hard to keep track of him as he traversed the multi-levelled set. There were dual platforms on either side of the stage, to which he regularly climbed (or was elevated by rising platforms), with or without flags (which he duly mounted in front of smoke and wind machines). Glenn Tipton (he of the mirrorball scratchplate on his guitar!) and KK Downing were also almost relentlessly headbanging in synchronicity (as was the bassist; sorry, forgotten his name - Ian somebody? He stood near the back of the set most of the time) and doing near-robotic stomps backwards and forward.

The set also came into particularly effective use for "Judas Rising", one off the new album. Halford disappeared, only to come rising up at the back of the set, his feet seemingly on fire, as if symbolising Priest's phoenix-like return from the dead (or as good as). Hot on the foot (if you excuse the pun) of that came "Breaking The Law", which was a big crowd-pleaser. Most of Priest's thirty plus year career was represented, with the old stuff mixed seamlessly with the new. There was "Hellrider", "Hot Rocking", "Turbo Lover" and "Take On The World" before the encore (plus plenty of others I've either forgotten whether they played or not, or didn't recognise to begin with, such a vast amount of material they have produced that I've only really touched the surface thus far).

The encore is where things really took off for a second time (or perhaps third or fourth). We had surpassed the one and three quarter hour mark by that point. The spotlights came on, smoke filled the stage, then an engine began to rev. It would have been disappointing had Halford not pulled this stunt, given the number of promotional photographs there are of him and the band on the stage, him on his motorbike. On he rode, to delirium from much of the crowd. Priest finished the show with a suitably rousing finale of "Living After Midnight" (which would surely reach at least number two in the pop charts were someone like The Darkness to record it today) and then "You've Got Another Thing Coming".

And then it was all over. No second encore, unfortunately, which meant two songs I especially wanted to hear didn't get played. The backdrop during the finale even had the word 'united' on it, and I thought it would be rather topical for them to play the song "United", even if it is as cheesy as it is catchy. But no. Neither did they play "Better By You Better Than Me", but I suppose when you've got so much worthy material under your belt, it must be difficult to pick a set-list out of it.

There was a surprising range of ages represented by the audience. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, given how long Judas Priest have been at it, but some of the fifty year olds were your well-dressed middle class types, not overgrown teenagers still trying to squeeze into their leathers and chains. And thankfully, hardly a spotty teen in sight. Usually you can't escape at least one Slipknot hoodie.

I suppose the best thing I can say about this gig is that the next morning I woke up with "Living After Midnight" stuck in my head, and an irrestible urge to download the "Breaking The Law" guitar tab.

BAND: Kylie Minogue
SUPPORT: Melody Club
VENUE: Earl's Court
DATE: 6th May 2005

Coming soon...

BAND: Garbage
SUPPORT: JJ72
VENUE: Brixton Academy
DATE: 9th June 2005

Coming soon...

BAND: Weezer
SUPPORT: Tegan and Sarah
VENUE: Brixton Academy
DATE: 14th June 2005

Coming soon...

BAND: Audioslave
SUPPORT: And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
VENUE: Brixton Academy
DATE: 21st June 2005

Coming soon...

BAND: REM
SUPPORT: Jonathan Rice, Idlewild, Feeder
VENUE: Hyde Park
DATE: 16th July 2005

Click here for my REM photo gallery.

I knew as soon as I heard about the 7/7 terrorist attacks that REM would cancel (or be forced to). Luckily, there was nothing scheduled in Hyde Park for the following week, so they were able to simply postpone their show. This resulted in it being the grand finale of their "Around The Sun" European tour.

Presumably it also resulted in The Zutons vanishing from the bill. Perhaps they had their own gig to play that night, but regardless, they were replaced by Jonathan Rice and his folk band (as he described it). They started early, so were already playing as I came out of Marble Arch station, but to be honest I thought it was Idlewild. All I thought I knew of Idlewild were that they were a sub-Coldplay band who played ballads, and that's precisely what Rice and co were doing. People were lying down on the grass, snoozing in the late afternoon sunshine, and I'm sure Mr Rice and his chums would like to have attributed such stuppor to a combination of the heat and the alcohol. But no, it was the dreary, bloodless, unchallenging soft rock they were playing. Didn't know any of their songs, yet conversely I'd heard it all before.

In comparison, Idlewild were full of passion and verve. I'm still not a big fan, but I recognised a couple of songs (including "You Held The World In Your Arms") that I didn't realise were theirs. On and off in the space of half an hour or so, during which they did ten songs, so there wasn't much room for talk or stage presence, but the energetic lead bloke bigged up their native Scotland and overall they were much better received (and, indeed, known) than Jonathan Rice.

And so on to Feeder. This was the fourth time I've seen Feeder, but the first time in almost two years. The evolution in their stage performance was noticeable. I remember Grant Nicholas sitting down with his acoustic on stage in the UEA LCR and the only thing he ever said to the audience was a repeated word of thanks. He's now blossomed into someone who's both comfortable and confident as he leaps around the stage, lapping up the surprisingly big audience reaction they got, and actually talking back to them. He's now also started playing more of his own lead guitar parts, instead of just rhythm (though he still has his second guitarist). They played all their hits, starting with "Just The Way I'm Feeling" and ending with "Just A Day".

I always felt Feeder were out of place supporting Coldplay when I saw them at Earl's Court, and worried the same problem would befall them supporting REM, whose infrequent forays into distorted guitar work don't even make b-sides. However, I sat right under the speakers for their set, and it didn't sound tinny or artificially mellowed. That said, "Pushing The Senses" and "Tumble And Fall", songs from their new, softer-sounding album definitely went down as well with the REM crowd as old faithful, "Buck Rogers". Clearly aware this is their trademark track, Feeder did a new introduction to the song that gradually morphed into the main riff. And I dare say it was better than the original. Always reliable, our Feeder.

REM came on at 8.20pm and played for two hours in total. Michael Stipe might be precious about his arty roots, but these days he's clearly a savvy businessman and a confident, experienced entertainer as well. If you're playing Hyde Park, you don't sit around and play the obscure numbers to a crowd which are largely going to be casual fans having a day out, not the hardcore types who will travel halfway across the country and expect to hear "Little America". Not that I would have minded had they played more from the pre-Warner days, or even a few more off the under-rated "Monster". However, this was basically the greatest hits show, plus the singles from their new album.

They opened with "Bad Day", the single they recorded for their Warner-era greatest hits, which was an excellent way to launch the show, having a distinctive guitar riff, and an energetic vocal part (in contrast to the shuffly mumbly songs that fit better in the middle of the set). It got a predictably good reaction, as did "What's The Frequency Kenneth?", so clearly there were enough true REM fans in attendance to have heard "Monster"'s stand-out catchy single (or maybe they had just bought the greatest hits CD or DVD).

Particular high points included "The One I Love" and "Orange Crush", for which the stage was bathed in orange light and the screens around Hyde Park just went orange for a bit. How... fitting. There's was lots of leaping around and whooping for most of the gig, but this all stopped for "Everybody Hurts", which the band pulled off perfectly. Like a method actor, Stipe stood on stage, staring blankly into the audience, clearly conjuring up whatever memories of the feelings he had when he wrote it. The audience was transfixed: a little swaying, the usual few lighters in the air, and middle aged couples wrapped arms around each other and smiled as perhaps they too remembered the early 1990s.

Tracks from the new album were also well received. Stipe dedicated "Leaving New York" to his 'second home' (New York, obviously), and dedicated "The Outsiders" to everyone who had ever felt like he did at some point in his life (an outsider, obviously). He also explained in the lead-up to "Electron Blue" that it was the inspiration for his make-up: a streak of blue across his eyes. It did seem at times that this was a mask he was wearing. The real Michael Stipe seems like a quiet, introverted, cerebral person, and perhaps by putting on the make-up, he could adopt the showman persona. There were hints at his nervousness, but only between songs: "this next place is about a song" instead of "this next song is about a place". See, not only George W Bush who suffers from the old malapropisms.

"Losing My Religion" was the last song they played before the encore, which predictably went down a riot, but by that stage it no longer seemed like simply their trademark song. They'd been performing plenty of those for the last ninety minutes. The excellent encore consisted of "Nightswimming" (with Mike Mills on piano, interrupted by Stipe's insistence on climbing on top and stamping his feet on the keys), "The Great Beyond" (which I used to hate, "I'm pushing elephants up the stairs" always sounding the ridiculous side of pretentious, but is now growing on me), "The End Of The World As We Know It" (the first REM song I really liked, thanks to the movie, "Independence Day") and the fitting, "Man In The Moon".

In fact, the one and only complaint I had about this entire concert was that the guy who was editing the footage from the video cameras on the stage clearly thought he was Quentin Tarantino. Without relenting, the entire gig was reduced to ten thousand half-second cutaways. It got annoying to watch, because basically, you couldn't.

BAND: The Offspring
SUPPORT: Send More Paramedics
VENUE: Brixton Academy
DATE: 16th September 2005

Coming soon...

BAND: Stereophonics
SUPPORT: I'll get back to you
VENUE: Hammersmith Apollo
DATE: 20th September 2005

Coming soon...

BAND: David Gray
SUPPORT: David Kitt
VENUE: Shepherd's Bush Empire
DATE: 24th September 2005

Coming soon...

BAND: The White Stripes
SUPPORT: The Virgo Intacta, Greenhornes
VENUE: Alexandra Palace
DATE: 9th November 2005

This was my first time at the Alexandra Palace, which isn't a specialised music venue, nor one that's been customised. The stage was set up temporarily at one end of the Great Hall, much like a stage at a festival. The sound was pretty good quality considering, no muffling bass lines, and the guitars came through clear and crisp. However, the floor was flat, not sloping toward the stage as in most theatre-based venues, so at times it got hard to see.

The Virgo Intacta didn't announce they were from Southend until the end of their thankfully brief twenty minute set, but I suppose the signs were there as soon as they started singing. As far as I could tell, the lyrics of every song were about going to the pub, getting drunk and/or stoned and then screwing some girl. It was like the Kaiser Chief's "I Predict A Riot" by way of The Streets, except this wasn't a comedy band; I got the distinct impression they thought they were artistes. No guitar, just an inaudible piano, and a singer who was standing up behind his drumkit, which consisted of less drums than your average pop punk band. As Luke said: "It's the world's first chav garage band." And the garage is exactly where they should have stayed.

The Greenhornes were an improvement, but they lost my attention after a while so I couldn't really tell you much about them. The frontman pitched his vocal range somewhere between Kurt Cobain and Robert Plant. He wasn't particularly endearing. He didn't address the audience; he didn't even move. As Luke said, they just stood there like robots; they could have been playing to the wall. The frontman was quite a good guitarist, even if his bluesy Page-esque solos got a bit repetitive when they cropped up in every song.

The best thing I can say about The White Stripes is that their encore was one of the best I've seen, with a barnstorming rendition of "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself", followed by "Seven Nation Army". The cheering started before Jack White even struck the first chord, as he stepped on the whammy pedal and plunged a couple of octaves. They followed this up with some quiet and uninspiring song I didn't recognise, and nobody was leaping around and singing along to that, so I can only assume I wasn't alone. Seems quite common for bands to do that now.

They opened with "Black Orchid", and as with the rest of their set, delivery was perfect; you could just as easily have been listening to the CD. Even when he knocked over a microphone stand (by accident, not in that embarrassing wannabe-rockstar way that The Virgo Intacta's frontman pushed his over - and later had to come back on to pick it up himself), Jack got down on his knees and put his head on the floor to sing to it. And he still managed to play the guitar at the same time. Maybe it was staged and he'd practised it after all. If not, good save.

To be honest, I only really know the songs off "Elephant" and a few of the singles from the other albums, so I was disappointed but not shocked that before the encore they played about ten songs in a row that I didn't recognise at all. The reason I was disappointed, however, was because after "Black Orchid" they launched into this strange medley thing where they played bits from a large number of songs, but merged them all into one long song. As Luke suggested, it seemed like they had wanted a two hour set, but had only been given ninety minutes.

Another highlight, which got almost as big a cheer as "Seven Nation Army" was Meg White taking over the singing duties for "In The Cold, Cold Night". Most of the time she just sat behind her drums, flicking her hair and smiling without a care in the world. She doesn't have the greatest voice, but it suited the song. Jack, meanwhile, not allowing himself to be upstaged, got behind the drums and played the guitar at the same time. Like one of those guys who busk under railway bridges. I'm sure Jack White would love the stripped-back raw comparison.

BAND: Bob Dylan
SUPPORT: a zimmer(man) frame
VENUE: Brixton Academy
DATE: sometime in November

Shit.

BAND: Foo Fighters
SUPPORT: Eagles Of Death Metal, Futureheads
VENUE: Earl's Court
DATE: 17th December 2005

Coming soon...

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