Last night Mrs E and I went to see current Free-CD-for-new-Word-subscribers-stars Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan at Manchester Academy.

It was a very good gig. It didn't ever quite reach "great" status, mainly because the sound wasn't 100% (too much bass) and also because Isobel & Mark haven't really mastered the art of stage craft, but we enjoyed it.

Before entering the venue I was dreading the usual crowd chatter throughout the set as the music on offer last night doesn't lend itself to a background of inane gossip about last night's telly or Croatia's victory over Germany. However, the crowd was actually pretty quiet throughout. There was also a distinct lack of mobile phones being held aloft to record procedings (maybe the entire audience were Word readers / listeners?).

BUT, but, but... Mrs E is petite - 5'3" in her stripy-socked feet - so we stood well to one side of the venue so that she would have a reasonable view. (When you're that height there's no point standing anywhere near the middle of the audience, unless you've got a particular fascination with looking at the lights just above the performers' heads.)

What we didn't realise was that by doing so we put ourselves right in the path of a constant stream of bloody irritating people who spent the entire 75 minutes that IC & ML were on stage walking in and out of the venue. We, therefore, found ourselves variously: turning sideways, squeezing up against the wall, stepping into our neighbours, being pushed out of the way (with varying degrees of politeness and force) and generally being made to feel that we were the ones being awkward. Despite this, we didn't want to move for reasons outlined above.

What's with these people? Why pay £12.50 for a ticket to a show to spend the entire evening walking in and out of the room where it's being held? Can they really not last 75 minutes without alcohol? Can they not micturate before and after the band are on? Can they not just remain in one part of the hall and appreciate what's on offer?

Mrs E has vowed never to go to another standing-only gig as a consequence of last night's experience, though I suspect that the problem would be even worse at a seated show, where, presumably, these same fidgets would be making you stand up and down throughout the set as they wandered off to buy popcorn, beer and hot-dogs...

I know we've discussed Later Live before, but if you set aside the fact that Jules is just rubbish, last night's show was a corker.

Two tracks from the excellent Last Shadow Puppets, and one track each from Portishead, Devotchka, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Toumani Diabate and Phil Campbell. All fabulous, with the exception of the dull Mr Campbell, and surely well-worth catching in the extended version of the show on Friday night.

(There was also an (ahem) interview with Eric Burdon and Lonnie Jordan but we'll skate over that...)

Sweet baby Jesus! How terrifying does this sound?

"The Best Of British Variety Tour 2008 brings six familiar names to[gether]... for an evening of entertainment harking back to the good old days. The bill is bursting with talent: comedians Cannon and Ball, Frank Carson, Jimmy Cricket and The Krankies, plus magician Paul Daniels and Seventies chart sensations Brotherhood Of Man."

Source: http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=196936&command=di...

How many words and phrases in those two short sentences are misleading: "entertainment", "bursting with talent", "comedians", "chart sensations"...?

Can you think of a worse line-up of 'talent'?

I see Radio 6 have had a good idea on their website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mb6music/F8477006?thread=5227628

To be fair, this originated as a posting in their message board and the original poster did say "With apologies to Word Magazine"; but they've lifted it and put a link to it from their home page making it look like something they've come up with...

This post on the thread made me laugh: "I'm technically backward, but I asked my 6 yr old to pull an LP from the vinyl rack, and I got Nashville Skyline." It's by someone called 'Fist of Onan' - doesn't he post here from time-to-time?

Just out of interest, how many tracks have you got on your iPod / MP3 player that have a play count of a big fat zero? Rather sadly there are 274 on mine...

I'm trying to rectify that as I've set up a smart playlist containing all the unplayed tracks and am working through them randomly. Current choon: The Tale of Dusty & Pistol Pete by Smashing Pumpkins off Mellon Collie. 1 more down; 273 to go...!

Browsing through the Guardian's Film & Music section last Friday, I came across this unheralded little article:

"In the month when the BBC's website began carrying adverts to bring in revenue from its non-UK readership, the Beeb's American equivalent, NPR (National Public Radio), has just bestowed a fantastic free gift upon music fans worldwide. The station's All Songs Considered programme recently posted 52 podcasts featuring their recordings of full concerts from some of today's best live acts (go to npr.org/allsongsconsidered or search "npr live songs" at iTunes). You can download a thrilling Arctic Monkeys gig from the beginning of last year, a weird and wonderful recent set from artpop mavericks Animal Collective, and almost two hours of bouncing Gypsy-punk madness from Gogol Bordello. The archive also includes complete shows from Arcade Fire, Björk, Mogwai, Low, Femi Kuti and Cat Power. And because the podcasts are in MP3 format, you can even burn them on to CD. You won't get many better presents than this at Christmas."

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2215262,00.html

Go and give it a try! It's an amazing resource. So far I have downloaded and listened to complete gigs by Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Bjork, Konono No.1 & Mogwai and, incredibly, they're all completely free. Others are waiting on the iPod for another spare hour or so: Low, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Broken Social Scene... The list goes on.

Thank you Chris Salmon and the Guardian.