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.