Musicial Musings!

This past week has been pretty busy music wise. Last Tuesday we went to York to see The Holloways at Fibbers. We went early in the day so spent time wandering aimlessly around York. At one point a tramp came up to us and asked for 24p. Since when have tramps got so specific with begging! We then headed to The Terrace to watch Leeds United with the band. After the match we headed across to Fibbers ready for The Holloways to take to the stage. The band played songs albums off both of their albums including new single 'Jukebox Sunshine' and their first album hit, 'Generator'. The crowd were really up for the gig and the temperature kept rising throughout the gig both on and off the stage. The band interacted with the audience well and this created a great gig and a band I'd definitely recommend seeing.

Friday night was the turn of The Paddingtons at Hull's Adelphi Club. The night was in aid of Cancer Research UK with three bands performing. The Hubbards, The Notebook and The Paddingtons. The Hubbards opened the night, a young band from Hull showed potential yet their songs all seemed to merge into one with only a couple that seemed to stand out. One being a cover of The Beatles' Come Together. Next up were The Notebook. I couldn't help thinking this was a case of style over substance with each member having an overly original dress sense with the lead singer dressed like Jarvis Cocker with a suit and large retro glasses. The similarities to Pulp didn't end there. The Notebook's songs sounded heavily influenced by the britpop band and for this matter failed to win me over as a fan. Finally The Paddingtons took to the stage playing Punk RIP, the opening track from new album 'No Mundane Options'. Playing tracks from their newest album and also their debut, 'First Comes First' they also included new tracks set to be released on a new EP in early 2010. Despite amp troubles for guitarist Josh Hubbard, The Paddingtons ploughed through their set with the crowd singing along and at times out singing lead singer Tom Atkin. Highlights of the set included new single 'Shame About Elle', 'Stand Down' and 'Sorry'. At one point in the set Atkin invited a crowd member onto the stage to sing with them, which resulted in bassist Lloyd Dobbs playing the song blindfolded! The Paddingtons showed that they've still got what it takes to keep producing good quality music and also energetic live performances. A great advert for the city of Hull and a great night in aid of Cancer Research UK.

Saturday night and a trip to Sheffield Arena to see Arctic Monkeys on their 10 date arena tour. Opening the night at the 13,500 capacity arena were the Eagles Of Death Metal. Although a similarly different genre to the 'Monkeys', they got the crowd going and warmed them up for the headliners. Lead singer Jesse Hughes interacted with the crowd well in his typical American style! After Eagles Of Death Metal, Arctic Monkeys took to the stage opening with 'Dance Little Liar' from their latest album, 'Humbug'. After the opener, they went straight into second album opener, 'Brianstorm'. Rattling out such hits as 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor', 'Crying Lightning' and 'When The Sun Goes Down' they finished the first part of their set with 'Secret Door' which climaxed in large explosions of white and gold ticker tape which created a great finish to their main set. Returning to the stage they played 'Florescent Adolescent' which they broke down half way through with Turner playing solo and going into 'Mardy Bum'. Finishing off their homecoming gig the band wound up on '505'. A great end to a great gig showing Arctic Monkeys can pull off large arena gigs without being lost in the occasion. After the gig we went in search of Sheffield's finest pizzeria, unfortunately the only place we stumbled across was the aptly named 'Perfect Pizza'! The offers on the menu offered "Buy one get one free on all pizza's all sizes", but the offer that really made us chuckle was offer 2. "Free Turkish Kebab with ANY Pizza (special pizza only)". Needless to say the pizza wasn't perfect but the whole event made us laugh, especially when we hid under the counter then jumped up, much to the amusement of the 'chef'!