Fields @ 93 Feet East, London, Oct 2006

I apologise now for my gushing but this band truly are spectacular.

The sound was a little dodgy in the venue but once that seemed to get sorted (or my ears adjusted), they knocked me sideways again. An unbelievably powerful wall of sound just hit me from every angle with every tune, and the melodies and harmonies swirled around on top like a snow flurry. It's phenomenal, the sounds that they manage to make and I can't see how I'll ever get bored with watching or listening to them play. Bring on the album - it can't come soon enough ;0)

Think of Ride and My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins all in a room together and you come somewhere near to their sound - but in actual fact, I think they're pretty unique. There's no-one out there doing what they're doing right now. And judging by the amount of press photographers at the gig, they're creating quite a buzz in the music world and, for once, it's deservedly so.

CORD @ The Portland Arms, Cambridge, Oct 2006

I've been hearing "Sea of Trouble" on Radio 6 for a weeks now and every now and again, I still think it's Echo and the Bunnymen. That's why I wanted to go see this gig. I wasn't heartened by the horrendous review the album received in the Observer this weekend but I still gave it a go. And I'm glad I did. A huge amount of energy, excitement and sweat went into the gig and it drew me in to the stuff I probably wouldn't normally appreciate. Lots of influences seemed to be there from Radiohead, Muse, Echo....., Glam rock (!) - and even though I'm not running out to buy the album, I still enjoyed being entertained by a band who put their heart and soul into their whole set.

The Lemonheads @ Cambridge Junction, Oct 2006

At this gig, they played a lot of semi old stuff - Ride with me, Bit part, Drug buddy, Rudderless, It's a shame about Ray, Into your arms, The great big no, Alison's starting to happen. That's all I can remember off the top of my head. The new stuff seemed to sit really nicely in amongst it all and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I guess it's good in that they're still doing what they do best or, is that bad because they haven't moved on........ Hmmm, I'll sit on the fence with that. It was all very frantic with barely any gap in-between songs and no banter. One hit after another - bang bang bang. That may have been because the set list ran to 2 sheets of A4 mind and they had to get through it!

I was amused to see that Evan's hair was still shoulder length and that he looked exactly the same. But, the best thing of all was that there was a lot of love on the stage - lots of interaction between the three musicians, which is always nice to see, and, essentially, they rocked. There was also a lovely acoustic set by Evan for about 15 minutes. It all made me smile :0)

Public Enemy @ Cambridge Junction, October 2006

This was the best of gigs, this was the worst of gigs. The best bits were when Chuck D and the whole gang were on the stage making an almighty racket together. The worst bits were when Flavor Flav was left on his own to play drums, play far too many sh*te tracks from his solo album and generally talk twaddle at the end of the set. Shame......

The Big Ask @ Cambridge Junction, Sept 2006, Rotating Leslie and The Dogs

"The Big Ask" is a Friends of the Earth Campaign to take the government to task over the issue of Climate Change - if you want to find out more check out the website at : http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/big_ask/

This gig was one in a series to raise money and awareness for the campaign, but I think that most people were there to see the bands - both of whom had a hefty fan base present. I knew very little about both bands but found the whole night "interesting".

Rotating Leslie really got me going. There was a lot of energy and passion in their set and the vocalist had a hugely powerful voice. I'm writing this retrospectively and I'm finding it difficult to describe what they sounded like but I seem to remember that there were lots of tight guitars and thumping drums to get your heart racing. The Dogs were a very different kind of band. At first I thought "It's the Jam fronted by Rhys Ifans", then I thought "They're telling stories like the Streets". But halfway through their set, the tempo was upped and the kids were in pogo and mosh pit heaven. All very strange to watch from a sober sideline and it completely distracted me from the music. I just remember a lot of aggression - not such a bad thing in music. I can't really say I enjoyed the gig, but like I said, it was "interesting".

The Pipettes @ Cambridge Junction, September 2006

For those of you who don't know the Pipettes are a girl group of the old school. Think "Leader of the Pack" stylee with a modern twist. With their impeccable style and perfectly choreographed dance routines - these sexy, sweaty ladies were everything I hoped they would be. There was lots of singin' along, dancin' around and generally smiling all over. Great entertainment and a pretty much faultless show. My only gripe would be that one of the mics was a bit low in the mix.