Lots of music over the last months, starting with:

James

James played the O2 Arena in June, with Razorlight in tow, so a good line-up. We also took the delinquent student (AKA Gem) along for the ride. They were, of course, very good, though the Arena is still a pretty poor venue.

Foo Fighters (times two)

Quite a bigger gig over at the even worse venue of the London Stadium, that great hulking thing in the middle of a park which is neither athletics, football, or music venue. The Foo Fighters had to work pretty hard to make up for the insane entrance arrangements (why do we always end up walking round half the stadium having entered via the designated entrance?) and crowd control (it took an insanely long time to get through the queues to the tube the second time, because they seemed to decide to let the other half of the crowd go first). Still, the Foos are big enough and offered a great night and two days later a possibly even better one (helped by Gem being along to the second).

Green Day

A week later saw another big rock band in town, Green Day playing the much better venue of Wembley (even if again, we had to walk literally about three quarters of the way around the stadium to get in!). Nothing But Thieves supported, but hardly stole the show. Green Day were on very good from, and hearing the whole of Dookie and American Idiot was pretty cool.

The Killers

Another week, another gig, and a return to the O2 Arena, except this time way up the seating, at such a height that it did actually induce a bit of vertigo (not helped trying to climb the steep steps with hands full). I spent most of the support act (Travis, who were surprisingly good) trying to deal with a way to watch without feeling too dizzy! The Killers eventually took my mind of it though, with their normal roaring set and staging.

Ashtray Heart

A bit of a last minute announcement and scramble for tickets, but managed to get to the Shepherd’s Bush Empire for Ashtray Heart (AKA Placebo). Up in the gods, but at least we had what felt like an almost private bar for that level, and still a semi-decent view down. They were awesome of course.

On The Beach

As mentioned when discussing our trip there, we travelled down to Brighton not just for a break but to see The Libertines playing on the seafront. It was an all afternoon and evening affair, to which we arrived across the beach (thankfully only having to deal with the ridiculous “self service” beer dispensers the once) just in time to catch The Big Moon. Their chilled out set seemed to set the vibe, helped by it being a (very) hot day, with the sea to one side. The beer was cool though, and the crowd quite friendly, even if I don’t think the guy in front of us clinging to his bottle of wine, barely able to stand, made it to the end.

Following Big Moon the Irish band The Mary Wallopers were entertaining and quite funny, taking the piss out of the boats off shore. They were followed by the ever great The Charlatans who ran through a fine set—even if it was a bit weird to be seeing them in daylight; Sproston Green remains one of the great live experiences whatever the time though.

By the time the headliners came on Heather was feeling a bit too hot and bothered, so we had moved back beyond the central big screen (which was a bit too close to the stage to be honest—it could have done with being a bit further back). So we watched the boys mainly on telly, but still hearing them live. It was less chaotic than some Libertines gigs, possibly a reflection of the sort of day it had been. All in all, a fine little one day festival—unlike the next one…

Priory Live (Sort Of)

Having missed last year’s Priory Live thanks to the torrential rain, we were looking forward to this year’s, particularly as it turned out to be a lovely hot day. With Space and The Farm headlining it looked like being a good time—except it was spoiled by the pretty awful organisation. For a start the second stage was far too close to the main stage, meaning in quiet moments the dance music drowned out the main performers. More importantly though, the bar quickly developed a queue of epic proportions and, more seriously, ran out of anything non-ale (no cider to start with! A serious misjudgement somewhere on how much Pimms would be needed). And frankly, we gave up after the first handful of acts and went to the pub instead.