17 June 2005: Mark Chadwick + Rev Hammer - Big Session Festival, De Montfort Hall, Leicester, England, UK

It was a glorious summers evening when I arrived at De Montfort Hall to be greeted by the sounds of Eliza Carthy and the Ratcatchers emerging from the indoor main stage at about 8:00.

I collected my armband and headed off to explore the outside area with a drink in one hand and a programme in the other. There were loads of stalls in the outside area, selling food and the usual festival clothes, plus one…

Fri 17 Jun – Big Session…

30 June 2005: Ginger - Civic Centre, Wolverhampton, England, UK

Despite being in Wolverhampton the Civic Centre appears to be a decent venue. The main hall is a good size with a balcony over-head and the smaller hall where this gig took place, the Civic Bar, is just about the perfect size for a Ginger gig. This room also has a bar running the length of it but for some reason it wasn’t open so everyone had to traipse outside to the chronically under-staffed bar in the corridor instead.

The support band, Jackdaw-4, consisted of one-time Wildheart, Willie Dowling, and…

10 July 2005: Da Riddim Squad + The Bazookas - Newham Festival Music Stage, London, England, UK

A sun-soaked crowd in Central Park, East Ham, was treated to a day of free live music, as a selection of East London’s finest musicians and bands took to the open-air stage.

Kicking off around 2am slightly risqué hosts, Break FM’s Matt and Spencer introduced us to an eclectic series of acts, before the afternoon really warmed up, as Ella and Dreadkey captured the sunny mood with beautiful rnb tinged acoustic…

Sun 10 Jul – Newham Festival
Da Riddim Squad
The Bazookas

15 July 2005: Queen + Razorlight + Peter Kay - Hyde Park, London, England, UK

Cheese and Cheese and Crackers.

OK, it was a moment of weakness when my mate called up and asked if I wanted to see Queen in Hyde Park. Flashing premonitions of synchronised handclaps and broken down choruses with the vocals left out, so the sun burnt masses can sing together fooled me into parting with 50 quid and…

Fri 15 Jul – Queen + Paul Rodgers
Queen
Razorlight
Peter Kay

20 July 2005: The Nudes + Husky - Bar Rumba, London, England, UK

Thanks to ongoing jitteriness on the Underground I’m fabulously late – although thankfully, it’s just a false alarm today. At the moment everyone’s a little nervous, but the show must go on and has gone on.

Can’t believe they didn’t wait for me! Husky are already well and truly into their stride and it’s a big Kelly Holmes of a stride. They’ve pulled a big and frankly, quite lairy crowd and they’re storming it. The guitarist has sliced his…

Wed 20 Jul – The Nudes, Husky
The…

27 July 2005: Waster + Afterglow + The Bazookas - Oh Bar, London, England, UK

Any regular on the live circuit in London – well anywhere for that matter – will know that there are continually new venues cropping up and then disappearing almost as quickly. Some landlord walks past a venue, sees a band playing to a crowd and thinks ‘that big space by the toilets isn’t doing anything in my pub’ and more sinisterly hears the ringing of his cash register and ‘hey presto’ you’ve got a live venue.

Or have you?

I mean, it’s really not as…

10 September 2005: The Mission - Rock City, Nottingham, England, UK

It’s been many years since I went to a Mission gig and so I was quite looking forward to seeing Wayne and company performing once again at Rock City and I had no problem whatsoever tearing myself away from the wannabe sound-a-likes on X-Factor to listen to some real live music.

The last time The Mission played Rock City the gig was moved to the smaller venue of the Rescue Rooms at the last minute and prior to that Wayne had been touring the smaller venues of Europe and…

08 November 2008: Eastfield + Obnoxious UK + Addictive Philosophy - Victoria Inn, Derby, England, UK

The train to Derby had us all packed in like cattle, which didn’t amuse any of the passengers who’d failed to get a seat. Just one more carriage would’ve made all the difference…

From the relief that was Derby station it was just a quick run across the road to the Victoria Inn, where I arrived in time to catch the first band, who…

Sat 8 Nov – Eastfield, Contempt, Addictive Philosophy, Obnoxious UK
Contempt
Eastfield
Obnoxious UK
Addictive Philosophy

14 September 2005: Fun Lovin' Criminals - Rock City, Nottingham, England, UK

Before this gig I wouldn’t have said that The FLC were right at the top of my list of bands that I wanted to see live. Nevertheless, variety is the spice of life so off I went.

First up was the support band, Cantaloop (not Antelope as I first thought they’d said). They sounded like an English mob and were probably a suitable warm-up for The FLC. They had a very similar sound, although…

Wed 14 Sep – Fun Lovin' Criminals
Fun Lovin' Criminals
Cantaloop

12 November 2005: The New School Of Rock Tour - Rock City, Nottingham, England, UK

After planning our meeting point at the Tap and Tumbler for 20:00, our plans were thrown into initial disarray by finding out that the first band were to appear at that time. This meant bringing the meet forward by half an hour to give us time for…

Sat 12 Nov – The New School Of Rock Tour
Tokyo Dragons
The Sound Explosion
LostAlone