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.

Travis (supported by Kings of Leon)

I'm not exactly what you'd call a "fan" of Travis, but we went along to this gig out of interest more than anythign else as it was the first time Alexandra Palace had staged a gig. I was, I admit, more excited about seeing Kings of Leon in support, but was pleasantly surprised to chat with Rick Wakeman in the crowd as his son, Adam, is a session keyboard player with Travis.

Varsity Rugby Match (Cambridge vs. Oxford)

The first and, sadly, probably the last time I'll get to see the Varsity Match as it's always played when I'm at work. I went with Simon, Stuart and Matt and stood drinking Tetley's surrounded by huge crowds of Rugger Buggers from Cambridge. Gosh! What a bawdy lot! At the end of the day, we drew...but as we'd won the previous year we got to keep the trophy. Oh, and at half time they paraded the World Cup. Cool!