Archive for May, 2007

Travis @ Hammersmith Apollo

Another really fun gig from Fran and the boys, playing songs old and new. The sound mixing was really poor though, and I especially noticed it at the start. However, the sheer enthusiasm of their performance annulled these problems, the guitarist even managed a crowd surf-whilst playing the guitar, Fran was all over the stage (and even fell over the drum stage), and for the last song, ‘Why does it always rain on me?’, Fran got everyone to pogo under threat of death by sniper from the celebrity box. Great stuff.

****

Roma

Rome, the eternal city. A weekend really isn’t enough as there’s so much to see, but it gives you a great taster of the good life. Everything was really fantastic, the only gripes were that the room+bed were Lilliputian in dimension, and there was some night bird from hell that kept making ghoulish whooping sounds all night long that echoed around the inner courtyard of the pensione.

Wilco, Shepherds Bush Empire

Wilco have to be one of the best bands around that I know of. Years of experience, beautiful mature songwriting, endless sonic experimentation to add texture to the songs (and they do it live really well), blistering solos, mellow moments, rocking moments, Jeff was in a good mood too so fun banter with the crowd…these guys really are a class act.

*****