Madness

Myself and Big Dan are big ska and two-tone fans, and so decided to go to Madness' annual Christmas tour at the London Arena. We were standing a little too-close-for-comfort to the skinheads at the front, and so moved back as the gig progressed, but it must be said that the show was excellent. I'm not normally a fan of stadium gigs, but this one was worth it.

Badly Drawn Boy

Cor, this was a show. A good 2 and a half hours of performance, presided over by the inimitable Boy. He was just so charismatic and, um, brilliant that the night itself was...brilliant. Typically, though, a girl passed out in front of us and it fell to us to cart her off to the side.

Doves

Doves are my favourite band. Ther's no question about that. And for them to be playing in Cambridge was fantastic. However, this was also part of a my uber-gig month, in which I went to see far too many bands in too short a space of time. As a result, I just wasn't in the mood for the gig and, while the band played reasonably well, they didn't exactly "move" me. A shame.

The Levellers

I can't remember this gig. I'd seen too many bands recently. I've regretted that over-indulgence ever since.