His Dark Materials

The first part of His Dark Materials, the whole of which we saw over the course of an afternoon and evening just after Christmas. It was an amazing production, and one which I serisously hope they revive. Go and see it if they do - I will again!

Part Two of His Dark Materials. I can't remember now which half was the best (in my opinion) but I can honestly say that I was scared by the Land of the Dead, and thought it was dead cool that they took down the scenery at the end so you could see the sets.

Elton John

Another lucky ticket purchase, for Elton's sold out shows at Hammersmith Apollo. It's probably the smallest venue he's played in years, and he was amazing. Support was from James Blunt - who initially I thought was quite good until his wimpy voice started to piss me off - and a girl who I can't remember but who was considerably better than Girly James.

Doves

This was Doves' pre-album-release mini-tour, and the one in which they stopped playing Space Face as their encore track. Oh! The horror! The set was amazing and worked incredibly well in the Palais. Support came from The Go! Team, who were fantastic and who we're actually favouring over Coldplay at Glastonbury this year. We may be daft for missing Chris Martin's monotone, but it's for a damn good reason...

All the Way From Memphis

Our second trip to see this show being recorded - we love it! Guests were Tony Wilson, creator of the Manchester music scene, and Richard Curtis, comedy writer supreme.

The Thrills

It had been a while since we'd seen The Thrills and bought these tickets AND the Hanson tickets from the profit made from selling a pair to see Maroon 5. This was the first time The Thills had headlined Brixton, and at the end invited audience members to get on stage and jam with the band. I didn't go, but loved it anyway. Aaaah, the sound of summer - in the middle of winter!

All the Way From Memphis

This was our first outing to the Drill Hall (which we've revisted a number of times) and we took my mum and Graham to this first recording of a new music quiz show. Guests were Stewart Lee (him from off the telly) and Martin Freeman (aka The Office and Hitchiker's Guide). I shook Stewart by the hand and said "I thought it was you", while Alice got Freeman to sign her appraisal for work. You can't beat that :)

Hanson

We went to this because of Alice's teenage crush on the band.  Their set was actually quite good for the first 20minutes but, as Hanson were playign acoustically, it all started to sound the same after that. I would also have quite happily thrown the screaming Fins, Dutch and Swedes to their death if they had carried on shouting out their undying love for Tyler or whatever the boys are called. Still, my justification is that we got this show and The Thrills for the price of one having made a bit of profit off sellign a pair of Maroon 5 tickets so it's not _too_ bad...

That Was Then This Is Now

We went to see this recording out of interest (mainly because I love Lee and Herring). We went along with Emily and Ben Board, and by strange coincidence also met up with John and Marie Campbell. It was a truly fantastic recording, and I really hope another series comes along soon so that I can go again! Sadly, Richard had already heard about King Alfred's piles, so my attempt at impressing him fell somewhat flat. But at this point, how were we to know that in less than a month we would "collect the set" by seeing Stewart Lee at a different radio recording..?

Never Mind the Buzzcocks

I always thought this was one of those shows that you never get tickets for, but was pleased to be proved wrong. We went with Norf (and one of Norf's mates from work) and giggled away for nearly 3 hours while Lamarr and the teams bumbled about and spoke about sucking yourself off using a hoover. Oh, and Norf almost got thrown out for heckling. Brilliant!

The Hives

I love this band when they play live. This particular gig, though, is up there in the top gigs of all time. The energy and atmosphere in the Academy was astounding and, for once, the sound was good. It was also my first step in convincing the kids at school that I do have a life, and that I also have a good taste in music. Ha haaaa!

BBC Proms in the Park

This was my mum's 50th birthday present from us and, fortunately, she really enoyed it! So did we, by the way, which is obviously a good thing. The flag-waving mallarcky at the end was as much fun as it looks on the telly, and The Corrs were great. Not so keen on Bjorn Again, but it was still a good night.

Bloodhound Gang

This was our first gig after moving to the new flat, and we went along with a visitor. I'm not convinced he was particularly enamoured with the idea but put up with the comedy of seeing such a trashy and cheesy group anyway, despite him also being rather ill!  Interestingly, the gig finished and then turned into the G.A.Y. club.    Surreal.

The Fleadh 2004

I'd never really heard of The Fleadh before Matt Stanford mentioned it to me. However, I'm glad he did. We had a really cool day sitting in waterproof clothes in the middle of a muddy field watching a bunch of folk musicians tout their wares, waiting for Bob Dylan. When he finally came on he was rubbish and sounded more like Tommy Cooper than a god of music. I guess this makes me sound like I didn't enjoy it but that'd be wrong - I loved every minute :)

Round The Horne...Revisited

For Alice's birthday, her parents bought us tickets to this stageshow. It was a funny old production as it was basically a staging of a radio recording - with the BBC sound effects guy in his brown overalls and everything. Still, the gags were timeless and the impersonations top class.