Air @ Royal Albert Hall

Around 2009 I came up with a long list of music acts I'd like to see live and Air were on that list. Then in early 2010 they played a gig in London but unfortunately I was busy doing something else that day. Later on that year they played 2 further gigs in London but again I was busy doing other things. Given they'd played 3 London gigs that year I thought I'd get plenty more opportunities to go and see them play. Little did I know it would be 14 years before I'd get the next opportunity.

Incidentally Fridays gig at the Royal Albert Hall was their 3rd one of the year in London. The first was at a much smaller venue earlier on in the year, the first I'd heard of it was the news that it sold out instantly. Then they also played at Royal Albert Hall on Thursday night. These gigs also sold out quickly but fortunately I was able to get a ticket.

I'm continuing to do gigs sober due to the rip off beer prices at these venues. A pint of beer at the Royal Albert Hall costs £7.80.

They were playing their debut full length album "Moon Safari" in full. Aside from a drummer, it was just the 2 of them on stage rotating between multiple instruments. When it came to "All I Need", no guest vocalist came out, instead they were doing minimal vocals themselves which made it better in my opinion. Similar story "You Make It Easy". 

After 50 minutes the album had been played in full but there was still plenty more of the gig to go. Not for some people though who were only seemingly interested in hearing "Moon Safari" and left once that was finished.

The bulk of the rest of the gig was tracks from the "Talkie Walkie" and "1000 Hertz Legend" albums. Both are solid albums which I own, but it was evident that "Moon Safari" is easily the best album. The only other tune they did was "High School Lover" from The Virgin Suicides soundtrack which is arguably their biggest track outside of "Moon Safari". They did a great performance of it and a few more people left once that had finished.

Overall it was a great gig and worth the 14 year wait.

Snoop Dogg @ The O2 21/03/2023

The last time I'd bought tickets to see Snoop Dogg in concert it ended up being cancelled after he was banned from the country. Then in 2019 I bought tickets to see him at The O2 with the concert taking place in April 2020 and we all know what happened then. More postponements happened and I started doubting it would ever happen, but it finally did this week.

I'll start with my obligatory rant about The O2. They no longer do paper tickets or even pdf tickets you can print out. Instead you have to use an app which is fuckin annoying. It took me ages to figure out how to get to the tickets. Have the app by all means, but give people the option of paper tickets. You are able to take your credit card and ID to the box office on the night, but the credit card I bought it with in 2019 has long since expired. The queue at the box office on the night was also huge which goes to show people don't want these sodding apps.

I opted not to drink beer on the night but I went to the bar just to see how much of a rip off their beer is these days. It was £8.50 a pint, absolutely disgusting that they charge these prices. I think you have to buy it on an app too so I think it's safe to say I've already had my final pint at The O2.

Onto the gig then and we had a DJ warming up to start off with. He played some classics by a lot of the big name rappers from the 90s and early 00s as well as some shit by the likes of Rihanna and Beyonce. Given Snoop Dogg himself has collaborated with some pretty abysmal artists in more recent years I guess that was to be expected.

Then up came Versatile, an Irish rap duo I'd never heard of. They were funny but I won't be in a hurry to go out and buy their music. They'd done a collaboration with Coolio and paid tribute to him by covering  "Gangsta's Paradise" and I found it funny hearing them rap it in an Irish accent.

Next up was D12, well 2 members of D12 anyway. I'd not heard anything of theirs since the "D12 World" album but it would seem they've not really done anything since. They fitted in a lot of tunes from their 2 albums and I enjoyed it.

Then it was time for Snoop Dogg himself which began a video of him backstage asking if we're ready for him to rock this motherfucker. He arrived on stage to "The Next Episode".

There was a time when I owned all his albums and I have his first 10. He'd released a further 9 albums since including 2 since the gig was originally going to take place. I'd listened to said albums back in 2019 to get myself up to date but have long forgotten anything on them.

I had no such thing to worry about though, he was mostly doing the classics with plenty from his debut album "Doggystyle", just the way I wanted it.

He also did some of his more questionable modern collaborations with Katy Perry, Jason Derulo and David Guetta, but you can't have it all. The lack of Katy Perry and Jason Derulo actually being there meant those performances were short and more tolerable.

One of his earlier collaborators who is sadly no longer with us was Nate Dogg. We had "Aint No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None)" with the recording of Nate Dogg's vocals which was good to hear. It's possibly my favourite Snoop Dogg tune.

There was also a tribute to 2Pac via their collaboration "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" and he also covered "California Love" but only did the Dr Dre verse. He also paid tribute to Notorious BIG by covering "Hypnotize".

Perhaps the most bizarre cover of the night was "Too Close" by Next. This was followed by a screening of his "Just Eat" advert before he came back out and covered "Jump Around" by House Of Pain.

It was then another video which this time had Pharrell Williams telling us to sing "Minnie the Moocher" but change the lyrics to "Snoop Doggy Doggy Dogg". Snoop Dogg then came out one last time to do "Drop it Like it's Hot" and "Who Am I (What's My Name)" followed by a couple of more modern records.

It's quite odd really that a man with so many albums performed so many covers or tracks that don't even appear on his albums. At the same time though that's what I'd want from a Snoop Dogg gig if I'm honest. It was the "I Wanna Thank Me" tour but he did nothing from that album. I recall it being one of his better modern albums, but had he mostly done tunes from that album it wouldn't have been as good.

Overall it was a great night and worth the wait.

Goldfrapp @ Royal Festival Hall

Last night saw the end of what I believe to be the longest period of my adult life without seeing any live music. Originally scheduled for the end of the first week of lockdown 2020, the gig celebrating the 20th (now 22nd) anniversary of Goldfrapp's debut album "Felt Mountain" finally happened.

I've seen Goldfrapp enough times now that I can no longer remember how many times I've seen them. One thing I do remember the first time I saw them was drinking expensive beer that tasted of socks. A combination of being older and the fact "Felt Mountain" was a downtempo album meant I decided against drinking beer, so no rant about the rip off beer prices.

As this is the longest I've ever waited for a gig it's probably the one I've given the most thought to prior to it happening. I had this vision of Alison Goldfrapp walking onto the stage with "Lovely Head" the opening track to "Felt Mountain" playing.

That never happened though, the tunes played were not in the order of the album and "Lovely Head" was in fact the last tune they did prior to the encore.

I own every Goldfrapp album and have listened to them all enough times to know them pretty well. What became apparent last night though is that whilst I recognised the tunes, I'd forgotten what many of them were called.

Alison was probably the most talkative I've ever seen her on stage. She normally has very little to say between the songs, but last night she was engaging with the audience asking how far people had travelled to go to the gig. When someone shouted out "Peckham" she asked what bus did they get, which was quite amusing.

In the encore they did a trio of some of the bigger tunes in "Ride A White Horse", "Strict Machine" and "Train". OK I haven't completely forgotten the names. Being more uplifting numbers, we all got off our seats for the first time. A shame it ended after that, but hopefully the latter two were a warm up to a 20th anniversary gig of "Black Cherry" next year. 

Groove Armada @ Greenwich Music Time

Last night I went to see Groove Armada at Greenwich Music Time. It was the third time I'd been to Greenwich Music Time but the first time I'd seen Groove Armada in concert.

I guess the first question is why has it taken me so long to see them in concert? Well I loved "At the River" when it first came out, but found there other tunes were quite hit or miss. Then over a decade later I heard "Paper Romance" which I thought was the best thing they'd done, so much so I bought the "Black Light" album which I thought was very good. As the years have gone by I've started to appreciate some of their older tunes that I perhaps didn't like on first hearing, which brings us to the present day.

To the gig itself then, being an outdoor gig where umbrellas are banned I was hoping it wouldn't rain and fortunately it didn't. As with most gigs I go to I feel I must have a rant about the beer, not only was it £6 a pint but the only beer they sold was Carlsberg which is horrible. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I'll happily arrive at a gig at the beginning of the night and watch the support acts if I could buy decent beer at a reasonable price.

On the stage when I arrived was Horse Meat Disco, a name I'd heard but knew nothing other than that. It was a DJ set playing some well known records such as "Big Love" by Fleetwood Mac and "Blue Monday" by New Order, which I thought was a decent warm up.

Then Groove Armada arrived on stage. They began with a short medley of their hits i.e. a few seconds of each, I wondered if that would be all we'd hear of the hits of whether we'd hear them in full later.

The first actual tune we heard was "The Girls Say". Then came "Look Me In the Eye Sister" and "I Won't Kneel" from the "Black Light" album. Singer St Saviour came onto the stage to mime them, it turns out she had lost her voice so fair play for turning up.

Despite being nearly a decade old, "Black Light" is still their most recent proper studio album so I was hopeful we'd hear plenty of material from this. The bulk of the earlier tunes in the set though were from the "Soundboy Rock" album including "Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control)", unsurprisingly Mutya herself didn't turn up to sing it.

The high point of the gig though, as expected, came when they did "Paper Romance". St Saviour was back on the stage to mime again and it sounded like they'd kept Ben Duffys vocals on it too. This was followed by "Easy", the only one from the "Lovebox" album they played that night. Then came "I See You Baby" and "Get Down" before they left the stage.

For the encore they came back and did "At the River" which I think they needed to do, if anything because we were by the River Thames. It was followed by "Cards to Your Heart" from the "Black Light" album and to finish off they did "Chicago" followed by "Superstylin".

Was it worth the wait then? Yes definitely, Groove Armada are one of a very small number of music acts where I prefer the newer material to the older stuff so in my mind the best time to see them is after the newer music was made.

Kruder & Dorfmeister @ The Roundhouse

Back in 2010 Kruder & Dorfmeister played their first live gig in London. Unfortunately I was away from London that particular weekend so couldn't go. I thought that me have been my only opportunity to go and see them, but this year they did their 25th anniversary tour which included 2 nights in London, so I finally got to see them last night.

When I received the tickets I discovered they were being supported by Coldcut, someone else I like but have never seen in concert. However they had to pull out due to one of the members being in a car accident.

With no replacement support act, Kruder & Dorfmeister were on stage at 8pm and played for 3 hours. Normally when talking about a music act you can point out a tune they are best known for, but with Kruder & Dorfmeister it's a bit more difficult. They are probably better known for their remixes than their original compositions. In fact on their "K&D Sessions" album which is a double album and arguably their best known album, they only have two original compositions.

If I had to pick a favourite record of theirs I would say their remix of "Useless" by Depeche Mode. As 11pm approached the music stopped having been played continuously for 3 hours, it seemed the set was over but this was just a short pause before the final tune of the night, their remix of "Useless" by Depeche Mode. It would seem I'm not alone in my music preferences.

It was exactly what it said on the tin, a load of their tunes spanning the last 25 years. They went on the stage, played their music then gave the audience a wave and went back off again. Not that I'm saying musicians talking to the audience between tunes is a bad thing, but this kind of no nonsense just play the music approach can be really refreshing sometimes.

High Contrast @ Electric Ballroom

Those of you who heard me on Popmaster on Thursday will know that last night I went to see High Contrast at the Electric Ballroom last night. This was the second time I'd seen him live though I'd seen him DJ previously. It was actually just over a year ago when I saw him do his first live show in London, I misremembered it as being 2016 when I mentioned it on the radio.

One of the notable differences between seeing him live and seeing him DJ is that you don't have to stay up all night to see him which suits someone of my age. That said, there seemed to be plenty of schoolchildren there who were probably 25 in reality.

One thing I remember from last time was that he arrived on stage early, this time I looked at my watch when he arrived on stage, not as early as before but was 20:28 when his stage time was 20:30, if only all live performers could be like this.

He began with "Love On A 45" from his latest album which is one of my favourites from his new album and a good choice to start with. Then came the classics "Racing Green" and "Basement Track" from his excellent "High Society" album.

Next up came his Drum & Bass take on "Tobacco Road" by the Nashville Teens from his latest album. He then did one of the non-Drum & Bass tracks from his new album "I Get High".

Other tunes which followed included a Drum & Bass remix of "Shotgun Mouthwash" from the Trainspotting 2 film, "If We Ever" where he paid tribute to the late Diane Charlemagne who originally provided vocals, a new 2018 track and another non-Drum & Bass track from his new album, the appropriately titled "The Beat Don't Feel the Same" which evolved into a Drum & Bass remix.

We also had his remix of "Rez" by Underworld and then once again "The Road Goes On Forever" took the crowd up a gear. He then played "Twilight's Last Gleaming" which his said was one of his favourites which would explain why I don't think I've ever seen a High Contrast set where he hasn't played it.

He finished off with "Questions" from the new album, "How Love Begins" which was his collaboration with DJ Fresh and finally "Remind Me" from his latest album.

The gig was over by 21:45 and I was home just after 22:30 which is early for any gig let alone someone you could only previously see in the early hours.

It was a top performance and at just £12.50 a ticket it was a complete bargain considering the rip off prices some people charge these days.

Pete Tong @ The O2

Just over a year after going to see Pete Tong with an orchestra I was back at the O2 last night to see him again.

After a week of lots of drinking I decided to have a break from the alcohol last night, but thought I'd check the current price of beer in the O2. Depending on what beer you choose you're looking at either £6.50 or £6.80 which is absolutely ridiculous.

Pete Tong and the orchestra arrived on stage pretty much bang on 21:00 as scheduled and began with "Right Here Right Now" by Fatboy Slim. Great tune of course, but I was getting deja vu. Next up was "Pjanoo" by Eric Prydz and then out came a vocalist to sing "Lola's Theme" by Shapeshifters. These were the same 3 tunes that opened up last year. I feared we'd be getting exactly the same set as last year, as much as I enjoyed last year I didn't like the thought of spending over £50 to see the same thing again.

Fortunately it wasn't the same set. Around half the tunes were done last year and half were new. Another good thing is they didn't include Rudimental tunes and Ella Eyre was nowhere to be seen. We weren't exempt from rubbish vocalists though, amongst them was another Rudimental collaborator Becky Hill, whilst she wasn't as bad as Ella Eyre she was still pretty dreadful.

Amongst the new tracks for this year were "Killer" by Adamski, "Galvanize" by Chemical Brothers and "Unfinished Sympathy" by Massive Attack, something Massive Attack member 3D isn't too happy about. They were perhaps a bit more ambitious with the new tunes this year as they seemed more difficult to transform into orchestral music, but all in all they did a good job.

We also had a tune which charted this year featured, "You Don't Know Me" by Jax Jones. The actual singer Raye also appeared on stage to sing it. However, many dance music fans will know this tune is essential "Body Language" by M.A.N.D.Y vs Booka Shade with vocals so needless to say I'd rather that be the tune that featured.

We did however have "One" by Swedish House Mafia minus the vocals which was a big improvement on the original. There were no vocals to "Insomnia" by Faithless either, but if I had to pick one tune to preserve the vocals on then that one would probably be it.

Towards the end we had "Café Del Mar" by Energy 52 which was probably the most appropriate tune to keep in the set given it's named after a bar in Ibiza. It was the one that seemed to get the best reaction from the crowd too.

For me though the highlight was "Man With the Red Face" by Laurent Garnier. It was new for this year and it works so well being played by an orchestra.

The final track of the night was "Out of Space" by the Prodigy which was certainly a good choice to end the show with.

Overall it was a good gig, the orchestra does a very good job of playing these tunes and sometimes it sounds so similar to the original that you forget the orchestra is there. I would however love it if they could do a performance without any vocals.

Goldfrapp @ Brixton Academy

Only 8 months had passed since I last saw Goldfrapp, but the main difference between last nights gig at Brixton Academy and the one earlier on in the year at the Roundhouse was that the previous gig came before the new album and last nights gig came 8 months or so after the new album got released. Therefore I knew every tune they played last night rather than just the old ones.


It began with a couple of new tracks, the second being "Anymore" which I feel is becoming a future classic and won't be surprised to hear it in many Goldfrapp gigs in ten years time. With many acts I go and see these days they play an older more familiar track third and last night was no exception with them playing "Train".


We then had a mixture of tunes from the new album and from the "Supernature" album which lead onto the more familiar number in "Number 1", "Ride a White Horse" and "Ooh La La". Whilst the "Supernature" tracks inevitably got the better reactions, the tunes on the new album did blend in quite nicely. This is unlike their previous effort "Tales of Us" where you would have a gig of two halves, the new and the old.


The encore brought us "Black Cherry", new album track "Systemagic" and "Strict Machine". So despite having seven albums to pick from, only 3 albums actually featured.


There were fears this gig may not go ahead as the Birmingham gig earlier this week was cancelled for health reasons, but fortunately it did go ahead and they delivered as always. The only negative I have was the ridiculous £5.60 for a pint at Brixton Academy, nothing Goldfrapp could do about it I know, but it really annoys me that gig venues continue to rip us off like that.

LCD Soundsystem @ Alexandra Palace

For some reason I never saw LCD Soundsystem in concert the first time round. After they called it a day I went to my local cinema to watch "Shut Up and Play the Hits", the film centred around their final gig at Madison Square Garden I realised how good they were live and regretted not going to see them in concert.

However the beginning of last year saw the return of LCD Soundsystem and last night was their first gig in London aside from festivals since the comeback.

A few days prior to the gig I was sent the set times and saw Shit Robot was playing when the doors opened at 18:30 and again at 20:30, someone I'd quite like to see. It wasn't logistically possible for me to get there at 18:30 but I aimed to get there for around 20:00 so I could see him at 20:30.

Unfortunately Ally Pally is quite possibly the worst gig venue in London to get to. Alexandra Palace station isn't served by the tube, only trains and it's then a never ending walk up a long hill to get to the venue itself. On arrival we were greeted by a huge queue, the reason apparently because they were doing ID checks, but when I got to the door they didn't even properly look at my ID. Then came the huge queue for the toilet and huge queue for the bar, so not only did I miss Shit Robot but I also missed the start of LCD Soundsystem.

Needless to say I wasn't in the best of moods at this point, but LCD Soundsystem playing "I Can Change" soon changed that. It's almost inevitable that when a band of a certain age plays a gig the crowd will generally favour the old stuff over the new, particularly when the new album hasn't been out long enough for people to be too familiar with yet. This was evident when "Tribulations" from the first album was played.

Just like the album, next up came "Movement" and when that began I thought it would be the moment the crowd would erupt but surprisingly they didn't. They did gain some momentum though when "Yeah", also from the first album came was played.

Around an hour in James Murphy said they would play three songs, go for a pee, then play another three songs. It didn't sound a lot, but their songs are quite long so I could easily see it being another hour.

The first two came from the new album and then they played "Home" from the third album which I think is around 10 minutes long. After returning from their toilet break they did "Losing My Edge" and then James Murphy said they actually have time to fit another song in so they did one from the new album. Then came "Dance Yrself Clean" and they finished with "All My Friends".

As the only direct train from Alexandra Palace to Kings Cross between 23:00 - 0:00 was at 23:12 we left at 22:55 which was around half way through "All My Friends". They had blocked the station entrance nearest the venue so we had to go round the other side and only made the train because it was a minute late, that's how long it takes to get from the station to the venue alone. I dread to think how long it would have taken me to get home had I not ducked out early.

Overall, a great performance from LCD Soundsystem and I'm glad I finally got to see them play, but a terrible venue and the atmosphere was a bit flat, but you can't fault the band for that

ELO @ Wembley Stadium

It's been around a year since I bought tickets to this gig, but finally for the first time I've seen ELO and been to Wembley Stadium.

ELO are one of those bands that I've always known existed but for the majority of my life not really known too much about. It was when they started the reruns of Top of the Pops a few years ago that I started to pay attention. Basically there were several shows where I hated every record featured except the ELO one and therefore came to realise they were quite good.

In the past couple of years Jeff Lynne has gone from the Travelling Wilburys member the man on the street has never heard of to a household name popular enough to play Wembley Stadium. What's remarkable is that it's on the strength of music that's existed 40 odd years as opposed to the music he's making now. Several years ago I wrote a music quiz and one of the questions was "Who is the only Traveling Wilburys member not in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame?". That question is no longer valid, he is in there now.

Despite ELO having a new(ish) album out, only one track from this album "When I Was A Boy" was played at the gig, the rest were all songs from their heyday, though they also did "Handle With Care" by the Travelling Wilburys.

Where I was sitting up in the tiers, people sit down to the slow numbers such as "Telephone Line" and "Wild West Hero", and get up and dance to the more uplifting ones such as "Livin Thing" and "Shine A Little Love". They tended to alternate between the slow ones and the uplifting ones, and each time an uplifting one was played a few more people would be getting up.

The one which really got the crowd going the most was "Sweet Talkin Woman", but when it came to "Mr Blue Sky" there was hardly anybody sat down. This wasn't the end though, the encore was "Roll Over Beethoven".

What was quite impressive was just how similar the songs played live sounded to the recorded songs, particularly when you consider you have Cellos and Violins as well as guitars etc.

My only complaint was that they didn't play "Strange Magic", but they had plenty of other ones to compensate for that.

So a top gig and I would definitely recommend you go and see them live.

Goldfrapp @ The Roundhouse

Being on the Goldfrapp mailing list, I was given the opportunity to purchase pre sale tickets for last nights gig at the Roundhouse. When the presale tickets went on sale however, they were sold pretty much instantly so I had to go through the official sale where I managed to get tickets despite them selling out quickly too.

Whilst I always encounter ticket touts on my way to a gig venue, there seemed to be more of them than normal last time. Taking a look around the venue when Goldfrapp came on stage, whilst it wasn't exactly empty it clearly didn't look sold out, something really needs to be done about ticket touts but I'll save that rant for another time.

Goldfrapp have a new album coming out on Friday so inevitably there would be tunes I didn't know that would be played. I'll be honest, I wasn't a fan of their last album "Tales Of Us" but was such a fan of their previous five albums that I still went to see them back in 2013 when it came out.

The set began with "Utopia" followed by "Lovely Head" from their debut album "Felt Mountain". Then came the first of their new material "Anymore". Was definitely an improvement on their last offering having more of an electronic sound.

After hearing a few more old and new tracks I was quite surprised to hear them play "Dreaming" from their "Head First" album. I read somewhere that Goldfrapp themselves were not too keen on the "Head First" album so either they changed their mind or that article was a load of nonsense. Anyhow I am a fan of that album so all was good.

After a few more new tracks Alison seemed almost apologetic about playing the new material, saying she knows it can be difficult listening to something you've never heard before. There was a time when the likes of "Utopia" was new to me so definitely no bad thing there. What I can say is I think I'll enjoy the new album more than their last one and time will tell if it turns out better than the others.

Then came the anthems starting with "Number One" followed by "Ride A White Horse". At this point it wasn't even 10pm and they left the stage, but thought maybe it's an extended encore. They came back out and played "Black Cherry" then "Shiny and Warm", another track from the "Head First" album. Then came "Ooh La La" and I was thinking the only big number they were yet to do was "Strict Machine" which is what they did next and that was the end. Being a Monday though, the early finish perhaps wasn't such a bad thing.

So the new material sounds promising, the old tunes as good as ever and nothing from the "Tales of Us" album was played so the gig was as good as can be expected.

High Contrast @ Electric

As a dance music fan who works a 9 to 5 and isn't as young as I used to be, it's somewhat an inconvenience these days that the only way I can see many dance music acts is to spend all night at a club. That's precisely what I've done when I've seen High Contrast in the past.

I was therefore pleased to hear that High Contrast was to play his first live show last night, meaning not only getting to see something a little different from the norm but also being able to see High Contrast without having to struggle through next week at work because of a sleep deficit.

He actually appeared on stage earlier than the advertised time, the first time I can ever recall that happening at a gig I've been to. He was joined on stage with a guitarist and drummer and some rotating vocalists. The first tune he played was "Racing Green" from his excellent "High Society" album, quite possibly the best drum & bass album ever released.

Several of his tunes from over the years were played but the crowd stepped up a gear when he played "The Road Goes On Forever". Although it's been five years since his last album he's continued to make new music since me and has a new album coming out soon which looks quite promising.

A little over an hour later the set was over and I quite possibly left the venue earlier than I had arrived at the venue last time I saw him play.

Overall a top night, here's hoping this is the first of many live gigs that he does.

Fenech Soler @ Heaven

After missing out on their comeback London gig back in October, I finally got to see Fenech Soler last night at Heaven.

The first time I saw them in concert was in 2010 around the time their first album came out, so that gig was basically them playing their album. Last time I saw them in 2013 was after their second album came out where they played every track from that album, plus a few from their first. Now they've just released their third album, the burning question was how much of their new material would be played?

It was pretty much a 50/50 split between old and new. They began with "Night Time TV" and "On Top" from the new album. Then came the ever popular "Lies" with an extended intro and got the crowd moving once the beat kicked in. This was followed by their comeback single "Kaleidoscope".

I've found their latest album to be less catchy than the first two, but have always found their music sounds better live than recorded and could definitely say by this point that their new material follows suit. Now just the Duffy brothers in the group having been a four piece, they had a couple of touring musicians on the stage with them including their cousin on the drums. As such the loss of two members hasn't changed the live concept of their performances.

When they played "Stop and Stare" and confetti came out of the ceiling, I feared that the concert was coming to a close having been going less than an hour. Fortunately this wasn't the end of the gig, but the end wasn't too far off.

When they came on for the encore, they finished the gig with "In Our Blood", a great tune to round off the night with and is probably my favourite tune from their second album.

As I didn't expect the gig to finish so soon, I stuck around at the end to finish my beer. Then Ross from the band came down from the stage to chat with the fans, I had a quick chat with him myself and told him it was good to see they didn't call it a day like I thought they may have done prior to the comeback.

Overall a top gig, I recommend you go to see them live even if you're not sure of their recorded music, trust me they sound much better live. My only complaint is that the set was a bit short, but if you've ever seen them, you'll know they work really hard on stage going from instrument to instrument so no doubt they were knackered by the end of it. Hopefully I won't have to wait another four years till I next see them.

Divine Comedy @ The Palladium

The last time I went to see the Divine Comedy play was an open air concert in Greenwich back in 2011. I had a great night that night and would never have thought it would be another 6 years until I saw the Divine Comedy again, but it was.

Although not the first time I've been to a gig at The Palladium, it does seem somewhat a strange venue to go to a gig in with it being best known for its plays. It was all the way back in May last year when I bought tickets, and proved so popular that they added another two dates.

Arriving on stage dressed as Napoleon, one would expect him to open with "Napoleon Complex" the opening track on his latest album. But no, he begins with "Sweden" from the "Fin de siècle" album. He follows it up with the hilarious "How Can You Leave Me On My Own" from his new album and then came "Napoleon Complex". Next up was "Frog Princess" which he dedicated to the people who didn't buy a ticket.

After a few more tunes and a few more jokes, he played "Certainty Of Chance". During the quite lengthy outro, Neil Hannon left the stage. At the end of the song he reappeared dressed as a banker complete with hat and umbrella so naturally the next song was the excellent "The Complete Banker" which he said was still dedicated to the financial services workers. This was followed up by a track he said was what bankers get up to in their spare time, the title track of his last album "Bang Goes the Knighthood".

After this, his guitarist put his guitar down before Neil reminded him they needed to play "Generation Sex" before he was to do that. This was followed by a drinks break on stage which ended with two seats in front of the microphone and two drinks in Neil's hand. Out came Lisa O'Neil who was the support act to duet with new album track "Funny Peculiar".

The rest of the gig was filled with the better known songs, beginning with "Songs Of Love" (the Father Ted theme tune). Just before he played "Something For the Weekend" everybody had been seated up till that point, but the Neil said that if they know how to get up and party in Switzerland then surely we do in London.

There were still a few people sat down during the next few tunes, but once he started playing "National Express" everybody got up. This was the last song before the encore which began with "Assume the Perpendicular" and then "A Drinking Song" for which Neil observed a number of people weren't drinking so told them to hold an imaginary glass. The final song was "Tonight We Fly".

An excellent performance which I enjoyed every moment of. My only complaint was the he didn't play "Come Home Billy Bird" which is probably my favourite song of his, but being on his eleventh album now there is no shortage of good music to fill a gig. Lets hope the next time I see him play is sooner than 6 years away.

Fatboy Slim @ The O2

So I began the year going to Fatboy Slims smile high club without actually seeing Fatboy Slim. I end the year going to see the man himself at the O2.

To give you the best idea of how the gig was, at the time of writing you can still watch the set here

If you read my review on the Four Tops and Temptations gig at the O2 a couple of months back, you will see me saying how the price of beer at the O2 has gone up, and the quality has gone down, therefore the best thing to do when going to the O2 is to drink as much beer as you need beforehand. That is exactly what I did. On arrival at the O2 I was greeted by a huge queue waiting to get through the airport style security. Despite stepping off the tube some 30 minutes prior to Fatboy Slim being due on stage, the set had just began when I finally got in.

He was playing "Eat Sleep Rave Repeat" as I entered the arena, a tune that is very much one to hear out loud rather than at home. Instead of being on the usual stage, he was in the middle of the arena with the crowd surrounding him, which worked as despite being near the back I could properly see him.

Being stood not far from the bar I discovered that a pint of beer there has now gone up to £6 and if you want Stella it's a whopping £6.50.

A lot of his famous tune were played in some way or another, some of them just being the vocal sample being mixed with other tunes. The about 30 minutes in the sound went for around 5 minutes and the boos started ringing out, not that you can blame Fatboy Slim for that.

As with all Fatboy Slim sets I've ever seen, there was the inevitable sing a long to "Star 69" which is always good fun.

As always, he ended the set with "Praise You". I read a review from his Glasgow set who put that he mixed this tune up with "Crazy In Love" by Beyoncé. But those who know a thing or two about music will know it was actually "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by the Chi-Lites.

Pete Tong @ The O2

A number of rock music fans have always criticised dance music because its made on the computer instead of using real instruments, therefore it isn't proper music. My view has always been that as long as it sounds good, I don't really care how its made. Last week though, Pete Tong brought along an orchestra to the O2 to play many well known dance tunes from years gone by using actual instruments.

Having done the same thing at the proms last year, I had already seen footage of this to get an idea of what to expect. The set did not differ too much, but its all about hearing it out loud.

The set began with "Right Here Right Now" by Fatboy Slim, as soon as the beat kicked in I was out of my seat dancing and never sat down the rest of the night.

At times, you wouldn't know there was an orchestra there without looking at the stage, that show just how good they managed to replicate the tracks on their instruments.

Whilst they did get the instruments pretty much bang on, there was something they didn't do so well, the vocals. Obviously they can't get the original singers of every track played to come and perform, but they did highlight which vocalists would be present.

First up was Ella Eyre who came on to sing "Good Life" by Inner City. With a lot of dance music, the vocals are a bit of an after thought, but this was a track that originally had genuinely good vocals on it. To be honest, I had no idea who Ella Eyre was, but she did an absolutely dreadful job of singing "Good Life".

A bit later we did actually have the original vocalist for a track there on stage. Unfortunately that was Ella Eyre who sang a Rudimental track, can't say I'm a fan of Rudimental either, but was a good time to take a toilet break.

The set was rounded off with "Café Del Mar" with images of Ibiza being projected on the screen which seemed the perfect way to round off the set.

Then came the inevitable encore where Candi Staton came on to sing "You've Got The Love". At 76, her voice isn't what it was but was still a big improvement on the dreadful Ella Eyre.

Then the absolute final track was a Rudimental one, this time featuring vocalist John Newman who sounded like he was trying to be Mark Morrison. Not a great way to finish, but awful vocalists and Rudimental tracks aside it was an excellent night.

Deacon Blue @ Royal Festival Hall

This week I went to see Deacon Blue for the second time in my life. Having seen them before and knowing they have a new album out, I knew this wouldn't strictly be a novelty trip back to the 80s. However, I along with most others were there mainly for the 80s and early 90s hits.

Beginning the gig with a couple of newer songs, they got the crowd standing up on the third song "Your Town". The crowd really got going though when they played "Chocolate Girl" but with a bit of a difference, they incorporated the Human Leagues "Human" in the middle and it worked quite seamlessly.

The highlight came when they played "Real Gone Kid" which is my personal favourite which they did an extended version of, and quite frankly they could have carried it on even longer and I wouldn't tire of it. This was followed by their debut non charting single "Loaded" where the crowd was all singing along.

There was a bit of a lull after this, Ricky Ross started talking about the refugees, something which will always divide opinion. A few songs later he started telling a story about beggars in Glasgow which he did take some time to tell. Everyone was sat down at this point, but then he concluded the story by saying Glasgow is different on a Friday as its wages day. This inevitable got the whole crowd stood up as they started to play "Wages Day".

When encore time came, they played a new track followed by "When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)". Then they did "Dignity" but got the crowd to sing the bulk of it. This was then followed by a questionable medley of cover songs, some people were starting to leave at this point. the medley though led to "Twist and Shout" which is one of my favourites of theirs.

Encore number 2 followed where they finished with an acoustic version of Roy Orbison's "Dream Baby".

They now have more albums since they reformed in 1999 than they did prior to their split in 1994, but ultimately its the old ones which get the crowd going.

Four Tops & Temptations @ The O2

Several years ago, before I lived in London, I was living in a part of the country where you didn't get much in the way of gigs. I found out the Temptations were playing in town, but knowing that the only original member still alive was Otis Williams, the member known for not singing, I initially wasn't interested. However, as it wasn't very often I had bands playing just down the road I decided to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised, it was a very good gig, so much so that I went to see them again a few years later at the O2 with the Four Tops and last week was my third time going to the O2 to see the Four Tops and Temptations.

Support came from the Tavares. I arrived at the O2 around 19:40 to be greeted by airport style security to get in. Once inside, after buying a ludicrously price £5.50 pint of beer which tasted like socks and going some roundabout way to get into the arena itself, I got to my seat around 20:00, just in time to see the Tavares finishing their set. I don't think I can ever recall a support act finishing so early.

After what seemed quite a long wait, the Four Tops came on stage. Given the number of hits they've had, there was never going to be time to hear them all, but I was glad to hear them play "Loco in Acapulco" which was a song I remember coming out as a new song in 1988 and liking it. This was followed up by the excellent "Simple Game", this was definitely the highlight of the evening. They finished with a medley of hits starting with "Reach Out" and ending with "I Can't Help Myself". My only complaint was that the set seemed far too short, it couldn't have lasted any more than 45 minutes.

After another lengthy wait, on came the Temptations. The hit the ground running with "Get Ready" but then went to play some of their lesser known songs and gradually the crowd would start to sit down, clearly this wasn't going down very well. They never really recovered from that despite starting to play some of the hits everyone wanted to hear. What didn't help was that there was too much talking to the audience and not enough singing. We found out that new lead singer Larry Braggs had fell of the stage at a gig in Manchester a couple of days earlier and banged his head, so fair play to him for continuing. They did start to find their stride again, but it wasn't long before they played "My Girl" which you know marks the end of the gig. Again it probably lasted 45 minutes and I was on the tube by 22:30.

So Four Tops were excellent, Temptations a bit disappointing but overall it seemed to be over before you knew it. I'm sure the previous gigs lasted longer.

Saint Etienne @ Heaven

Several years ago I learnt that Saint Etienne had done a gig in London where they played their debut album Foxbase Alpha in full. Unfortunately the gig had already happened when I found out about it.

This year marks 25 years since its release so I had been hoping they would do another gig in London where they play the album in full. Upon returning from holiday earlier this year I found they had announced a date at Heaven, but this had already sold out. Fortunately they added another date which I bought tickets for.

Being a Tuesday, it was too early in the week to drink vast amounts of alcohol, so I decided to arrive early instead of preloading on beer at home (those who buy beer at these venues will know why this is necessary). It seemed the music being played before and in between sets was part of the experience, with all tunes except for one being from 1990-1992 therefore taking us back to the Foxbase Alpha era. Going off memory, from when I arrived to when the support act began, the tunes played where "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" - TLC, "Toms Diner" - DNA, "My Lovin" - En Vogue, "Anthem" - N-Joi, "What Can You Do For Me" - Utah Saints, "What Do I Have To Do" - Kylie Minogue, "Chime" - Orbital and "LFO" - LFO.

The support act where a female trio called Stealing Sheep. Its true to say they are rather different to anything I've heard before. All dressed in identical outfits and stood in line at the front consisting of a synth player, electronic drummer and the other member rotating between the guitar and bass, they all shared vocal duties.

After the support act, the tunes I remember being played where "I Love Your Smile" - Shanice, "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" - PM Dawn, "Confide In Me" - Kylie Minogue, "House of Love" - East 17, "Winter in July" - Bomb The Bass, "So Hard" - Pet Shop Boys and "Devotion" - Nomad.

Then onto the main piece, the band arrived on stage to the album intro along with one time collaborator Debsy Wykes doing backing vocals and playing various instruments throughout the night including the recorder.

During "Wilson" (the "would you like some sweets willy?" one), Sarah picked up a tub of Haribo and offered sweets to the audience, I was one of the lucky ones to get a sweet! Then during "Stoned To Say The Least" which is an instrumental track, Sarah and Debsy sat at a table and had a drink and game of cards.

Next up was "Nothing Can Stop Us Now", the first track Sarah sang for the band and she missed her cue to start singing, taking until the chorus to find her place, the beauty of live music I guess.

Once the album finished they took a 10 minute break, the music during this was in the background now and someone behind me kept shouting "Come On!" every 10 seconds during the break which was rather annoying.

Back on the stage they did "Join Our Club" followed by "Who Do You Think You Are", the song Debsy originally contributed vocals to. Then Q-Tee came on stage to perform "Filthy" which was the double A side to "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" that she did the vocals for. Then they did "Your In A Bad Way" before saying goodnight.

Of course there was an encore, and they appeared back on stage minus Pete and Bob to do an acoustic version of "Hobart Paving" which was very good. They rounded off the night with "Kiss and Make Up" which was a non album track from the Foxbase Alpha era. The ironic thing to me was that Sarah began and ended the gig singing songs she wasn't the original vocalist on.

All in all a top night and definitely worth the wait. On the way out they were giving out what looked to be goody bags, on closer inspection they were simply carrier bags with the bands logos on it. Still its a souvenir from a memorable night.

DJ Shadow @ Electric

On Wednesday night I went to Electric in Brixton for the first time to see DJ Shadow not for the first time.

Its now 20 years since his debut "Entroducing" was released, but the focus tonight was on his latest album "The Mountain Will Fall".

He arrived on stage and described his latest effort as being a fresh approach. As usual he had the visuals on in the background, the problem was the venue wasn't really suited to them as they weren't high enough to see properly.

Another issue with the venue was it was far too hot, it was like walking into an oven on arrival before most of the crowd got there. Fortunately because DJ Shadows music is generally quite slow you don't have to move quite as much when dancing to it. You could even tell DJ Shadow himself was feeling the heat on the stage by himself.

When playing tracks from "Entroducing" the crowd would get lifted like you would expect. For me though the highlight was when he played "Nobody Speak" from his latest album following a bit of a political rant he made prior to it. He then followed up with some material from Entroducing.

Overall a good performance, not too keen on the venue though.