Having noticed how disparate my last four gigs were I thought I'd do a quick sum-up, I guess trying for myself to reconcile drunken indie bands with a capella folk….

24/02/2010: The NME Shockwaves Awards Show, Brixton Academy
I went along because the wonderful Bethling won tickets, and hey, how often do you get to go to an awards show? Flicking through a recent copy of the NME on the train it was clear I didn't know any of the bands the cool kids are into these days.

It's a bit hazy now because the bands I didn't know I…

10) No more George Lamb on 6Music! Fuck yes.
Not much more to say, really. I still don't find time to listen to it much, but the other afternoon I tuned in and heard Steve Lamacq playing Hefner. Hefner. On the radio. It was brilliant. Though I'll not manage to be a regular again until they put Phil Jupitus back on the breakfast slot, followed by Gideon Coe.

9) Finding that Patrick Wolf's still got it, live.
See my review of him at the Junction on 10th March 2009. The album was a bit pants, and I only…

Sat 14 Mar – Jim Moray

I'll write something here later. Suffice to say it was amazing.

Setlist:

Leaving Australia
Rufford Park Poachers
Early One Morning
Sweet England
Lucy Wan
Three Black Feathers
Billy Don't You Weep for Me
Spencer the Rover
Gypsies
__________________
The Flying Cloud
Adam Ant Alone in His Padded Cell
The Kingston Girls/The ? Hornpipe
Henry's Downfall
Barbara Allen
I'll Go 'List for a Sailor
The Wild Boar
All You Pretty Girls
_________
Lord Bateman
Valentine

Tue 10 Mar – Patrick Wolf, Craig Template, Micachu And The Shapes

Seeing as the last time I bothered to write a review of a gig was the last time that I saw Patrick Wolf, I thought it'd be interesting to do it again. Unfortunately, I have become old and grumpy since then and the crowds have become younger and drunker, so this will probably be reflected in what I write. It's nothing personal, of course.

Arriving outside the Junction for a quick Nando's before the gig, it was already clear how much Patrick's audience had changed since The…

Fucking NME and its predictable, boring, Oasis-filled list of 'indie anthems.' If you've not seen it, this is it in its full glory:

http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?id=400316

It's dull, dull, DULL - why does no one try to be original with lists any more? Eventually they'll get their staple 50 and the list will never change, and they'll never have to think about it ever again.

Fair enough, if it WAS the best 50. Personally I prefer my rather more biased (I'm not partial to Stone Roses, Strokes, Oasis, White Stripes &c.), rather less obvious list. I compiled it before looking at the…

My top 10 artists:
Maxïmo Park
Manic Street Preachers
Kate bush
Patrick Wolf
The Dresden Dolls
Jeff Buckley
Hefner
Seth Lakeman
Bloc Party
The Long Blondes

In all their artist connexions 6 out of 80 are repeated. Apparently this makes my music taste wild and eclectic. Woop de doo.

Breakdown, if anyone's interested:

futureheads
rakes
editors
kaiser chiefs
we are scientists
libertines
art brut

suede
pulp
blur
ash
supergrass
rem
stone roses
oasis

tori amos
david bowie
bjork
blondie
smiths
pj harvey
the cure
cocteau twins

final fantasy
arcade fire
xiu xiu
antony and the johnsons
cocorosie
architecture in helsinki…

Sun 11 Feb – Patrick Wolf

This was the first gig in a while I was really, truly looking forwards to, and as far as Patrick Wolf went there was no disappointment. The gig as a whole, however…

Opened with the act No Bra who I hate to slate as it enjoys posting clips of bad reviews on its Myspace, but it really was painfully embarrassing. I don't know whether it was trying to 'challenge conventions' or stereotypes, or just be shocking, but it succeeded in none of these things. 6ft of topless shemale on testosterone pills mumbling over a…

1. Name one new band/artist (with a debut album released within the last three years) who you enjoy a lot.
Ha, tough choice. Maxïmo Park with A Certain Trigger.

2. How do you discover new music?
By tripping over it because I'm running about with my eyes closed. 6Music is a good chum of mine, occasionally MySpace delivers the goods, sometimes a support band stands out and sometimes it's sounded good from a magazine review.

3. Name a band or artist who you'd love to experience for the first time back when they first made a name for themselves.…

1.Maxïmo Park
First track heard: The Night I Lost My Head
Track that made me get into them: Apply Some Pressure
Favourite track (all-time): The Coast Is Always Changing
Current favourite track: Waste Land

2. Manic Street Preachers
First track heard: er, probably A Design For Life or Everything Must Go.
Track that made me get into them: Ocean Spray/You Stole The Sun From My Heart/La Tristesse Durera
Favourite track (all-time): The Girl Who Wanted to Be God
Current favourite track: Charles Windsor

3. Kate Bush
First track heard: Wuthering Heights
Track that made me get into them: Cloudbusting…

>What was the last concert you attended?
Kubichek! and The Motorettes at Hull Welly.

>How many people were there?
It wasn't packed, and it's not very big anyway…I don't know, 50 ish?

>What bands have you seen in concert the most, and how many times?
Maxïmo Park six times - Leeds festival '05, Sheffield Leadmill, Newcastle HMV, Newcastle Academy, York Fibbers, London Vinyl Factory.
Already booked: Leeds Festival '06, Belfast Mandela Hall, Sheffield Octagon and Brixton Academy.

>Do you have any set lists? From what bands?

Maxïmo Park (x2), The Rogers Sisters, ¡Forward, Russia! (it's just numbers!), Little Man…