Saw them in Birmingham and Manchester last week. Bloomin' brilliant!

Great news, fellow members (I believe there were 4/5 of us at the last count) as Joe has a new album coming out in August. Detail:

http://www.joehenrylovesyoumadly.com/blood-from-stars/

It's only a couple of years since Civilians! Can't remember the last time he put a new record out so quickly (possibly the gap between Short Mans Room & Kindness Of The World?)

Like Stimpy I was thinking about David Lee Roth this weekend, but I was considering the fact that at the time of his initial split from Van Halen all the smart money (well, the overriding view in Kerrang!, anyway) was that he would go onto mega-stardom and the brothers and their bass player would sink from view. Wrongity wrong! (Actually, I've no idea why anyone would assume that Eddie Van Halen, in particular, would fade away, but there you have it)

So who else has upset the odds after a band has split?

I'll start the ball rolling with another example. I reckon that most Uncle Tupelo fans would have backed the intense, slightly mysterious Jay Farrar to still be going 15 years later, but Jeff Tweedy? Probably not. Nowadays Tweedy leads the ever-evolving, acclaimed, and pretty succesful (Top 10 US albums, sold out shows, TV appearances, etc) Wilco, and Farrar is playing small clubs with a version of Son Volt that is really just him + 4 others, puts out soundalike albums every once in awhile (no bad thing IMO) and appears to have a bald patch developing to boot. I still think both are great but I know who would hold the upper hand in any re-union discussion.

The new Andrew Bird album arrived yesterday. It's the version with the extra CD of instrumentals, and sounds very good on first, partial listen. It reminded me that I first encountered Mr Bird, solo (with violin, guitar, whistles & loops), supporting Midlake a couple of years ago, having never previously heard of him, and was impressed enough that I now consider myself a bit of a fan. I realised that I can't think of many other artists who have so impressed me as 'unknown' support acts - there have been times when I've been lucky enough to go to a gig where I already like both the support and headliner - the very first one I went to was a Queen stadium show where the second-on-the-bill Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (who's album I was playing to death at the time) played the most exciting 'rock 'n' roll' show I've seen (I was 13, if you need me to defend that statement). There's even been the odd occasion where I've gone to see the support specifically, but mostly they inspire me to investigate no further at all.

So, who have you gone onto love having first seen live, unknown, and for no longer than 40 minutes?