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Rest In Piece Jake Marsay. Bark Bark.

Enjoy roaming the highlands in the sky "Jake the rake".





 

Latitude 2010 - Mini Reviews!

I just got back from a week in Suffolk, and a weekend at Latitude festival. All in all it was a pretty cool festo. It was much more chilled than any other music festo I've been too. More family orientated, with less mental drunk / drugged up people.

Organisation left a bit to be desired with half of the stewards not knowing what they were doing, but that did have it's benefits with us regularly slipping through the "Guest area" for a slightly more civilized beer, and a shorter walk in to the Arena!

Anyway, artists in order, with mini reviews!

Friday

Kassidy: Errr, poppy folk stuff. Not entirely sure, can't remember much about them, but they were OK. 2/5

Villagers : Indie guitar band. Again, nothing spectacular, but OK. 2/5

Laura Marling : Quaint, and chilled folk music. Perhaps the main stage was a little too much for her, but still good. 3/5

Empire Of The Sun: Upstaged themselves with the bizarre array of dancers and costumes which someone distracted from the music, but I enjoyed it! 3/5

Florence and the Machine : An hour of padding at the start. The last half hour was good. Perhaps not enough material to headline, just yet. 3/5

Saturday

Corinne Bailey Rae : Perfect start for a nice sunny afternoon. 3/5

Frank Turner : No idea who he was, but really got the crowd going, and some cool tunes. 4/5

James : a reliable performer. Played all the hits brilliantly. Crazy dancing. 4/5

Paul Heaton : Only caught about 10 minutes, but that 10 minuted was better than any of the many years of material from Beautiful South that I may have heard. 3/5

The Maccabees: First time I've seen them live. Very good. 4/5

Crystal Castles : Heard 30 seconds at the start of their set, and that 30 seconds too much. Apparently she started throwing up on, and attacking the crowd. Odd choice in the line up. 0/5

The Horrors: Horrible. 1 hour of noise. 1/5.

The XX: Brilliant. The chilled out and dark nature of their music suited the darkness of the Word Tent perfectly. It sounded epic. My band of the weekend. 5/5

Sunday

Tom Jones : Playing on the midday slot after thousands of fans were unable to see him open the festival on the tiny forest stage. Only played songs from the new Praise and Blame album despite the crowd's despairing plees for Sex Bomb. Still a great performance, and whilst the nature of the new album is a bit too gospel for my preference, the blues and rock-n-roll tunes behind them were great. And, after all, it was Tom Jones.

Mumford and Sons : Really enjoyable dance and sing-along stuff. 4/5

The Coral : Bit of a forgotten band, but a good performance. Some of the new stuff sounded good, and the couple of hits they had have aged well. 3/5

Vampire Weekend : Really surprised me. I wasn't much of a fan before seeing this performance. It's uncanny how many songs of theirs I recognised. Really good fun. 5/5

The highlights from elsewhere came mostly from the Poetry tent with Anna Freeman, Tim Turnbull, and some dude with a guitar who's name eludes me being particularly memorable.

All in all, a fab weekend. For more info on the artists, check out the latitude site: http://latitudefestival.co.uk/  

England Vs Slovenia...

3-5-2... Anyone of the 3 in keeps.. Upson, Dawson, Terry at the back (in the absence of any better centre backs), Milner or Johnson right wing-back, Ashley Cole left wing back, Barry holding midfield, Joe Cole and Stevey G to maraud in midfield, Defoe and Crouch up top..... An exciting team with everyone playing in position and with Lamps and Shrek on the bench- 2 game changing substitutes..... Now seriously, how hard was that?!   

In Memory Of Stuart Cable

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/showbiz/2010/06/12/phonics-kelly-jones-recalls-his-great-friend-91466-26636698/

http://www.nme.com/news/stereophonics/51396

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=121&p=8570&more=1&c=1  

Stereophonics - Summer in the City - June 2010 - Photos

 

Stereophonics - Summer in the City - Cardiff City Stadium - June 2010

Stereophonics played a triumphant home coming gig and became the first act to headline the new Cardiff City Stadium last Saturday. A set list packed full of hits old and new entertained a raucous sell out Cardiff crowd of over 30,0000 (which of course included me!).

Kelly and co were clearly loving playing in front of such a large gathering of their home fans and were on fine form. It was a truly brilliant gig to have been at for number 12! :-)

Set List:

1. Trouble
2. A Thousand Trees
3. More Life in a Tramp's Vest
4. I Got Your Number
5. Superman
6. Pick a Part That's New
7. Have a Nice Day
8. Uppercut
9. Stuck in a Rut
10. I Wouldn't Believe Your Radio
11. Could You Be The One?
12. Maybe Tomorrow
13. Innocent
14. Beerbottle
15. Vegas Two Times
16. Mr. Writer
17. Devil
18. Bright Red Star
19. Traffic
20. Same Size Feet
21. Caravan Holiday
22. Just Looking
23. Local Boy in the Photograph
24. Encore:
24. Billy Davey's Daughter
25. She's Alright
26. The Bartender And The Thief
27. Dakota

Another review:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/music-in-wales/2010/06/05/review-stereophonics-at-cardiff-city-stadium-91466-26596936/  

West Highlands Way: It's on...

I've never been one to shirk a challenge. In fact, I pretty much thrive on them. The next one is lined up for September. 96miles of rugged hilly Scottish terrain to be cycled by me and my brother.

4 Wheels, 2 Marsays, 1 challenge.

http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk/theroute.asp

I'd best get some training done.... Bring it on!  

My Space Gig Challenge: The Bands Lists

 

My Space Gig Challenge

It fills me with immense nostalgia to see the return of this site :)

http://andybellonline.co.uk/msgc

Cheers Andy :)  

You want free ringdings?

This made me chuckle in a Fone/Facejacker styleee:

"Best of all, Web Site Downloader is FREE!

All you pay is a one-time fee of $16.95 (approximately £10.95 or 12.95 Euros) to cover distribution and support."

http://www.web-site-downloader.com/entire/?pu=false  

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