All in All

Gig of the week was seeing the Flaming Lips at the Albert Hall on Saturday, especially as we were lucky enough to have downstairs standing tickets. This meant that we were able to get within 3 rows from the front and could spend the entire show dancing, knocking the giant balloons out of the way and brushing the constant confetti from out shoulders.

I sort of felt sorry for those up at the top, because the only place to really enjoy them was right down at the front, but then again, some people prefer to buy seats and relax at a gig.

I have mixed feelings about gigs at the Albert Hall (not least losing out on getting tickets for Bruce Springsteen last year). The last time we were there was to see Morrissey a couple of years ago and we were seated pretty high up, and after a while I really couldn't care less if I was there or not (I wasn't that fussed about Morrissey anyway, to be honest), but if you can get downstairs standing, it is one of the best venues in London.

Roll on Mogwai in September!

Well, Easter has come and gone, Mac is back up a mountain and despite my best hints, a tight work timetable meant that Mac failed to buy me indulgent chocolate yet again.

Never mind, I'll just have to stop off on my way home from work and Hotel Chocolate and treat myself when I feel I have been good enough and deserve the treat

But don't forget the birthday, Mac

In my blog entry the other day about support acts, I forgot to mention the Semi-Finalists who supported Battles. Again, I didn't pay them much attention, partly because I didn't rate them that much and partly because of the stress of getting to the gig, making sure Mac did book tickest after all, making sure he came back from a meeting in Manchester on time, trying to spot Fran Healy from Travis who was apparently there.

Anyway, the new cd has just been released and they are also getting rave reviews everywhere, so at least I can say I was there at the start, even if I don't necessarily agree with all the fuss.

There is a wonderful article on www.kissonline.com at the moment detailing an agressive dispute between Kiss tribute band MiniKiss (all short people) and TinyKiss (also all short people) about who owns the right to the concept.

You really couldn't make this stuff up.

I've decided this year to pay more attention to the support acts when I go to gigs, after all, you never know when you're going to find a jewel out there that you would have otherwise missed out on. I guess the background to this all comes back to Hot Chip. They supported Bobby Conn last year and I really couldn't be fussed and was very dismissive about them. Now I am obsessed with their most recent single 'Over and Over' and desperate to see them at the Luminaire.

So who have I seen this year so far and is there a jewel out there?

Definitely Richard Hawley, who supported Nick Cave. I was straight onto Mac after the gig saying how he should listen out for him. At that point he reminded me that Richard Hawley was the guy Jonathon Ross kept playing and I said was good, but then instantly forgot. At least I'm consistant, I guess.

Howling Bells and Brakes supported the Editors. I thought Howling Bells were a bland Texas tribute band so imagine my surprise to see them get a 4 star review in the Guardian. I may give them a second chance if they support someone I'm seeing again but at the moment I stand by my first judgement. Brakes also supported Belle & Sebastien, but I'm not fussed about them.

Kathy and I went to see new Norwegian electro-pop band Lorraine at 93 feet east. When we arrived the first supprt, Happy Attack, were on. They sound exactly like they look in the picture above. It was like seeing Blazing Squad without the production, but they enjoyed themselves and when they came offstage after their set you realised that 50% of the crowd were their school friends come to see them so I wasn't too vocal in my patronising comments. The Whip were lost by being caught between the euphoria of your school mates band and the headliner. For info, they were trying too hard to be the new Joy Division/New Order. Lorriane were good though.

Finally, Parka were the main support for Lene Lovich last night. Glaswegian (I was going to say that all good things come from Glasgow, but then I remembered interior design obnoxious queens Colin and Justin are from Glasgow so that went out of the window), Jangly guitar, would love to be the new Franz Ferdinand/Kaiser Chiefs but will probably not reach that level as the public will have already moved on and want something new and not another copy of what's gone before by the time they get the necessary exposure.

So as things stand, only Richard Hawley looks to be a jewel so far.

As a 16 or17 year old I never went to gigs (aprtly because living in the sticks of Watford there wasn't a nearby venue, and partly because no-one liked what I liked and I wasn't prepared to go it alone), but how I wished I could have seen my top acts of the day. In time, maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't. No chance ever of seeing Abba, and that's probably for the best now. I caught the Blondie reunion tour in 1999 and it wasn't bad. Hazel O'Connor did a pa at GAY once and, well, at least I was pleased to say I had finally seen her. But finally last night I saw the best of all (circa 1978), Lene Lovich.

I think she's mid 50s nowand she came across slightly like the dotty old lady in tie-dye at a village fair running the fortune telling stall, but she was wonderfully weird, entertaining the goths (and me in my cyan 'Music is my boyfriend' Hidden Cameras t-shirt, standing out like a sore thumb as usual). A short set, covering old stuff (Yay!) and new ('The Insect Eater', an odd little ditty about the adventures of Dracula's assistant Renfield where she really weirded out and long-time partner Les Chappell shouted 'earwigs' a lot was cringingly embarrassing, but who cares). It was real back to basics stuff, Lene, accompanied only by Les on either a guitar or a Bontempi organ (near enough) I really had to admire her because it would have been so easy to perform to backing tracks (which was no doubt what Hazel O'Connor did at the Duckie 10th anniversary on Saturday, not that I'd have gone to find out due to our relationship with certain Duckie regulars).

Anyway, she did a cracking version of 'Bird Song', and that's all that matters. It's not going to win any awards for gig of the year, but it was a fun night out with a bit of nostalgia thrown in for good measure.