six from '06

part the second: gigs

about half-way through the year i had a strange and unpleasant feeling that i had gone off gig-going. this, i thought, was the beginning of my decline. pretty soon i'd stop buying records and start thinking about dull things. but fortunately it was a blip, and it didn't take long to realise that i'd actually just been to a couple of duff shows (death cab at the astoria and the wireless festival). that said, i didn't make it to a lot of great gigs this year, here are the ones i enjoyed the most. and weirdly, several of these were at venues i'd never been to before, and venues that were slightly unusual. i suppose that's what keeps it fresh.

• death cab for cutie at brixton academy, 28-6-06 - having not massively enjoyed the astoria show in february, a few of us decided to book for brixton anyway, and i'm so glad we did. it was a much better gig, and completely re-kindled my interest in live music.


• the hidden cameras at the union chapel, 29-10-06 - hidden cameras are one of the best live bands i've seen, and they were supported by my latest novel, and it was in a church. fantastic stuff.


• jarvis at koko, 15-11-06 - even though a really tall bloke stood in front of me about half-way through (damn the tall, they should be forced to wait until all the shortarses have got to the front before they're allowed in the venue), this was still a great set. and included, rather spectacularly, a cover of space oddity, prefaced with this: jarvis: "do you want to hear an old song?", crowd: "yessss", jarvis: "alright. i didn't say it would be one of mine though." great.


• all tomorrow's parties at pontins camber sands, 19 to 21-5-06 - just brilliant. the shins day was the one i was particularly looking forward to and it really didn't disappoint. for me the highlight of the three days was definitely the decemberists, who are amazing, but it was great to see the gossip, joanna newsom (a bit anyway), the shins themselves and sleater-kinney (who were on the verge of breaking up).


• fort rox at newhaven fort, 12-8-06 - not the greatest gig i've ever been to, but one of the best venues - a former napoleonic fort in sussex that i used to go to as a kid, it hosted its own mini-festival curated by locals british sea power. the duke spirit were great, but as ever, my latest novel were let down by the sound. and it was a bit cold and rainy!


• tilly and the wall at the buffalo bar, 25-8-06 - i had somehow avoided t&tw, which meant that the tapdancing was a complete surprise. and bloody brilliant too. i mean how awesome is it to have a tapdancer as percussion! and the support act the grave architects were great fun too.

(and some shows i enjoyed at bh: euros childs 11-3, the boy least likely to 28-2, my latest novel 28-3, yo la tengo 5-9, isobel campbell 21-2, and for emo reasons be your own pet 1-2 and panic! at the disco 23-8)