Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Driver 8, Take A Break

Michael Stipe, Cardiff CIA by Mike Gray

A return trip to Cardiff, including an overnight drive. 9 hours sleep in two nights. Two REM gigs. Worth it? Totally. Two very different shows, one indoor, full of rarities and a more traditional big stadium show, both delivered with energy to burn.

Manchester Photos

Cardiff Photos

Saturday, August 16, 2008

After the break, more Stereophonics!

"After the break, more Stereophonics!". Is there a sentence more likely to break the human spirit?

Frankly, so far 4Music's V Festival programming has been a load of wank at best. The right channel keeps cutting out when they go to live coverage, and because bands occasionally swear, they cover it over with crowd noise, which just sounds ridiculous.

It's hosted by wankers who use words like "fezzie" and "rizzle", and while Muse are, as I type, entertaining the masses, we've instead got a pointless piece with a couple of morons on a camp site showing us a bag to wee in. It's like a metaphor for the quality of their coverage.

Oh, it gets worse. The following has just scrolled across the screen. "Still to come... performances from Jamie T and the Pigeon Detectives".

Shit, and shit. What kind of name is the Pigeon Detectives for a band anyway? Tossers.

And why is it that festival crowds on television always look like a neon clad argument for mass sterilisation? I'm sure it's never that bad when I'm there in real life? Or maybe I just don't notice.

Update: Age has not withered the unremitting awfulness of "Stella" by Jamie T.

Update 2 : They're showing The Pogues. Shane MacGowan may possibly have visited a local hostelry. He appears somewhat refreshed, and news hasn't reached him about the legality of smoking in the workplace.

Friday, August 8, 2008

State of The Union

David Ford has started blogging. In an entirely unsurprising turn of events, they make great reading.

http://www.fordisms.blogspot.com

Monday, August 4, 2008

Sometimes they just don't get it.

I just got emailed an invitation to pre-order the new Ben Folds record. Excellent news, I thought.

It wasn't.

Firstly, if I want all the available music, Mr Folds would like no less than $84.99 US of my money. Plus shipping. Plus customs charges. So, since we're friends, let's call that £50.

Mr Folds can, let us be blunt, go fuck himself. It's all very well to have an exclusive package available with whatever bits and pieces they like to add, but to make the bonus CD of new songs only available in the most expensive package in this day and age, is absolutely ludicrous. Don't want the DVD. Don't want the vinyl. Don't want the box. Don't need it signed. I. Just. Want. The. Music. - and to pay a fair price for it.

Doesn't matter. They won't ship to the UK anyway. So I'll download it.

Oh, and want pre-sale tickets? Buy it again, from iTunes. They've got their own bonus tracks too!

Hooray for this brave new dawn of music retail.