Tintin

I've never read Tintin, but Alice is an enormous fan. It was with a feeling of slight trepidation that I went her and her family to see the Young Vic's adaptation of Tintin in Tibet at the Barbican as part of their Christmas season for children. But there was no need for any self-consciousness. The show was fantastic. While it's hard not to compare any future Christmas show with the National's knock-out production of His Dark Materials, Tintin really held its own. Superb.

Lee Evans

I've never really watched Lee Evans, other than on compilation shows. He's always fascinated me, and having seen him in The Producers playing Leo Bloom I became a firm fan. Our good friend Roz had been given a pair of tickets to see Lee Evans' new show at Wembley, and I happily joined her. I must admit that I was rather surprised. His comedy wasn't as slapstick as I first thought, and some of the subject matter just wasn't my thing...but other bits were fantastic. All in all, it was a bit hit-and-miss, but certainly a great night out with brilliant company - Roz is awesome!

OFI Sunday

I had been a big fan of TFI Friday in the 90s and so was really excited to see Chris Evans' new show. Although considerably different (both in terms of content and, to be honest, entertainment value) OFI was still good fun and worth the trip. It was even more worthwhile when a few free beers were thrown into the mix along with everyoen in the audience winning a pair of "diet boots" in "Mine or Not Mine".

Jammin' New Year's Eve Special

Jammin' is a show we tune into now-and-again during Saturday lunchtimes and have always enjoyed. Therefore - despite it being on a school night - I thought a recording of the New Year's Eve special would be brilliant fun. And it was. Rowland Rivron and his band were excellent, and were complimented by Mark King of Level 42 on bass and Ade Edmonson. The great thing with radio recordings, as well, is that they're easy to mill around at the end...hence the autographs obscuring the ticket details.  Alice also managed to get Ade Edmonson to sign her Young Ones annual :)

Just a Minute

I'd been trying to get tickets to Just a Minute for ages, and so when a last-minute show was announced on BBC website I was quick to snap up tickets for Alice and her parents. The panellists were excellent and Nicholas Parsons was, as ever, on top form.

Khaled

When I worked at HMV I sound a lot of Khaled from our World Music section but hadn't listened to him much. It was thus with an air of quiet skepticism that I went with Alice and her family to see Khaled in his only UK concert at the Barbican. But wow. Just...wow. This music left me speechless, and ran tingles down my spine more than a couple of times in the show. Surrounded by an enormous multi-cultural crowd, I was addicted to this. Give it a go.

Fulham vs Manchester City

Our internet provider, Nildram, are part of the Pipex company who sponsor Fulham FC.  Apparently my name was picked out of a hat of subscribers to get an all-expenses trip to see Fulham play, with seats in Director's Box and a load of alcohol and food.  Yay!

Seth Lakeman

One night we were watching BBC4 for their coverage of the Brits, and were blown away by the performance one man - Seth Lakeman. His outrageously energetic fiddle-playing combined with his aggressively punk-folk vocals had me absolutely captivated. Thus, when tickets for the tour to support his new album, Kitty Jay, went on sale I jumped at the chance. As our first trip to the Borderline it was a brilliant night. A tiny venue with excellent sound, the place is both atmospheric and friendly. Bung on a couple of passable support acts and you've got the makings of a good night. Throw in Seth on top of that and it's dynamite. And on Halloween? Nothing beats it.

NME Rock n Roll Riot Tour (Kaiser Chiefs, Maximo Park, The Cribs)

We'd seen Kaiser Chiefs at Galstonbury and were blown away. Thus, when tickets for the NME Rock n Roll Riot tour went on sale I was adament I wanted some. Supporting were The Cribs (who were tolerable, if not particularly good) and the fantastic Maximo Park. Kaiser Chiefs themselves played superbly, but in the Academy had a light-show that verged on the ridiculous in terms of its size for such a small venue.

AFC Wimbledon vs Kings Lynn

Our first game of the season, and probably our last one for a while! The Dons came out 2-1 up after a particularly vicious match, during which one of Lynn's strikers dived headfirst into a metal bar. Not a pretty sight...

Downstairs at the King's Head

Egg visited. It was good. Great, in fact, as we met up with both him AND Sam and headed up to Crouch End to see one of his friends doing standup. All apart from he had cancelled without telling anyone, so we sat and watched a load of people we didn't know crack not-very-funny jokes. £5.

Reel Big Fish

Despite having listened to them for years, I'd never seen Reel Big Fish live. We'd also not seen Norf for ages either, so seeing the two together was a bit of a bonus! As well as spending a fun day round London, the gig itself was excellent. A full 1.5 hour show was incredibly energetic...and I'm ashamed to say that I was showing my age by needing to stand nearer the back to cool down and get my breath back! Still, at least that meant we avoided too much of the pools of sweat that accumulated on the lower floor, resulting in at least one person I saw slipping and bashing their funny bone on the way down. Not fun!

Goldie Lookin Chain

We'd last seen GLC at Glastonbury, and what we saw of their set of fantastic. It was, therefore, little surprise that we bought tickets for this one-off gig at the Scala to launch their new album. Support came from DJs and a band. The band were the only act I have ever seen "boo"d offstage before the end of their set. Then again, they deserved it. They were rubbish. GLC, though, were excellent. They played a decent number of the old tracks, but threw in loads from the new album, including the excellent "Adam's Chav School". Who said the Welsh weren't funny?

The Streets

Amazingly, this gig wasn't sold out...although I must admit that I wasn't keen on paying £25 to go anyway. It's just as well that we managed to get a pair from eBay for £25...a true bargain, especially considering how good the gig was. The Mitchell Brothers opened, but without the video they used on the Ten Rounds tour, their set was quite boring. However, the second support - The Ordinary Boys - absolutely blew me away. They were superb. Truly brilliant. I'd heard of them, but not heard them, and now I've got their albums on repeat. As for The Streets, Mike Skinner was on top form (even though this meant he was completely bizarre). I wasn't expectign singalongs of "I Predict A Riot" or country back-catalogues, but we got these in amongst 90s dance-esque versiosn of some of his tracks. It was all incredibly bizarre but a fantastic night.

What The Butler Saw

I'd never heard of Joe Orton, or indeed this play, but we went along for Jim's birthday and I must admit it was pretty good. A complete farce (but then again it's billed as a farce), and with an ending that I'd worked out after about 10mins into the first half, but funny nontheless.

Baaba Maal

This was my first Albert Hall experience, and one I'll probably not forget. I was aware of Baaba Maal's stuff from my time at HMV but had never really listened to it at any length. More fool me. Astounding rhythmic and melodic African music...and probably the first band I've seen in years that were truly, TRULY enjoying themselves on stage. Excellent.

Wargrave & Shiplake Regatta

While we were walking the Thames Path, we had scheduled a "rest day" at Henley. We took a stroll along the river that day, and went to the Wargrave and Shiplake Regatta. It's a local regatta run by the two villages, and was basically an opportunity for people to mess about in boats. A lovely, relaxing, afternoon - and we saw Paul Daniels!

The Improvisers

After seeing the All Star Improvs at Glastonbury, we were very keen to see Steven Frost and his gang in action again - they didn't disappoint! Another hilarious evening, and all the better for being a whole night's show, rather than just a part of a bigger thing.

Crosby, Stills and Nash

I don't win many competitions, but it was nice to win this one: a front row pair of tickets to see Crosby, Stills and Nash at the Hammersmith Apollo. I only knew a couple of their songs (whereas Alice knew a big fat zero), but what better way to explore a band's music than sitting a matter of feet away from them? We rarely go right to the front at gigs, and most we do go to are standing, so this was a new experience on numerous counts. And they played "Teach Your Children Well", which is a great song.

Glastonbury Festival 2005

Lucky to get tickets? Possibly. Pleased to get tickets? Ecstatic! This was my second time at Glastonbury (my first was with Egg in 2003) and it didn't disappoint. Despite the site being like a quagmire for the Friday and Saturday, and me not arriving until 6pm on Friday due to work, we had a fantastic weekend. I arrived in time to see Doves on the Pyramid, and then spent the rest of the weekend popping in and out of various sets and comedy things. Key highlights were Brian Wilson and the Kaiser Chiefs, while for sheer random Glastonbury-ness it was fantastic to see Paul Merton, Phill Jupitus and Richard Vranch taking part in the Steven Frost Improv All-Stars. It was also the first time in about 3 years that I'd seen Rory, and a good few months since I saw Egg, so all in all it was an excellent weekend.

U2

I was surprised by getting tickets to this gig - I thought my chance had passed. I'm not what you'd call a "U2 fan", but I do really like a lot of their stuff. Their performance didn't fail to impress, and with support from Ash it was all rather cool (although I was disappointed to fidn out that if we'd come the previous night Doves were supporting). Bono, as always, was a bit of a knob, but the rest of the band just amazed me at the sheer quantity of sound they were able to produce from a three-piece. I guess if you ever want a sellign point for delay units, listen to The Edge...

Later with Jools Holland

After waiting three years to get to the top of the waiting list, we finally got to see Jools again. This was an interesting show: the audience was much smaller, and so we were lucky enough to get right to the front of the podium behind Acoustic Ladyland. Other acts included New Order, The Coral, Rufus Wainwright, Faith Evans, James Blunt and Son of Dave. The latter was a fantastic blues harmonica player who used a range of effects pedals to create a backing track for himself with short loops and samples. Astounding.

Dave Spikey

We first saw Dave Spikey as part of an audience of less than 100 people in Cambridge. This was his first time playing in the West End (on the Phantom of the Opera stage no less!) and the show was a hoot. We took Alice's mum and dad as part of her mum's birthday present: I think she enjoyed it as much as we did.

Roehampton Summer Ball (Razorlight)

Alice works at Roehampton and managed to get discounted tickets to their summer ball through the staff association. Although we didn't stay for the whole night - and spent the majority of our time in the staff room with a jazz band and free wine - we at least ventured out to see Razorlight play. They weren't anything special, though, to be honest...

Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive

Alice's family are huge fans of Armando's stuff, and so we decided to go along to this first recording of his new series. Guests were Clive Anderson, Phil Jupitus and someone I'd never heard of. Still, it was a truly great show and well worth the no money we paid for yet another BBC audience ticket. These really are the best secrets in London.

The Jim Davidson Guide to Equality

No, not Jim Davidson, but rather Laurence Clark - a wheelchair user whose hilarious show was aimed at basically taking the piss out of Jim for being a fascist. Long overdue, and a great show.

Surrey CFA Saturday Senior Cup Final

You might call us glory supporters, but once the new season begins we'll endeavour to prove you wrong. Our local team, AFC Wimbledon won this cup final in extra time at an incredibly tense (and capacity filled) Woking Stadium. Only the best for us!

The Broken Family Band

I used to work with Mick from the Broken Family Band at HMV, but must hold my hands up and admit that the only reason I wanted ot go to this gig was to see their 3rd support act: The Morning People. Also hailing from Cambridge, the Morning People are sheer genius. This was a gig we'd booked tickets for before my dad arranged his first trip down to London, but we were lucky enough to also get him a ticket (the show sold out soon after that). I think he enjoyed it too, especially as he was chatting to the producer of the Broken Family Band's debut album for most of the evening...

The Thrills

We've never been ones to celebrate St Patrick's night (well, apart from a notorious bender in Boston) so we decided it'd be fun to see a truly Irish The Thrills to see the evening through. Yet another fantastic performance from The Thrills, hampered only by some stupid bitch at the side of me who kept shouting "I WANT YOUR BABIES!" at the frontman. I did, however, manage to "accidently" stamp on her toes a few times in the hope of her shutting up, or at least leaving. Sadly, this wasn't the girl I added to my collapsed-at-the-gig-so-Scott-carried-her-to-the-side collection.

The Streets

The Mitchell Brothers started this show in great style with some excellent and funny tunes (although the bloody "Routine Check" got on my nerves a bit). The Streets, though, were excellent in a truly chav-ed up way. Indeed, we felt like we were like the Europeans trying to live with African tribes in the 19th century: that's the equivalent of me and Alice to the rest of the crowd there. 

Comic Aid

Although this show sold out within 3 minutes, I was fortunate enough to give 8Purple something to get on with while I frantically refreshed TicketMaster to get tickets. The show itself was great (and is now available on DVD) and, while we appeared to be the only ones who knew who the hell Dave Spikey was, didn't let the side down. Lee Evans made an appearance having already played in the Producers, and Graham Norton filmed a link from about 10feet away from us. Oh! The fame!

The Producers

This was our Valentine's preesent to ourselves...although I must admit it was more me convincing Alice that it'd be good to go to. We were lucky enough to see the show while Lee Evans was still playing Leo Bloom, and he didn't disappoint.

The History Boys

I loved this play. I left feeling confused about my job. I loved this play. Starring the fat guy from Pie in the Sky, it's Alan Bennett's new play about a bunch of boys trying to get into Oxbridge to study history. So, kidn of what I did and what I now try to get others to do. Sheer brilliance.

Turandot

£15! FIFTEEN POUNDS! Only £15 to see a "real" opera at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. We went with Alice's parents, and I was personally blown away by the sheer class of the production, even if my neck was stiff for a week afterwards from the awkward view.

Eddie Izzard's Late Night Cabaret

This was a bit of a weird one: weird to get tickets for and weird to see. Although it was a BBC radio recording, tickets were got through Ticketweb for the price of just under £6. The show itself was a cabaret (as the name would suggest), hosted by Eddie Izzard (as the name would suggest), adn featuring a load of fantastic acts. The ones that stand out for no other reason than they're Dead Famous were Pete Townsend and that blonde Texan who used to be married to Mick Jagger. I got Pete's autogaph and plectrum, and we also got Eddie's. Cool!

Jerry Springer the Opera