MarkBRFC71

Girl From Mars - Ash

New Order - We All Stand

So Peter Hook was very good, better than I thought he'd be actually. Did a full set of New Order, had a 10 minute break then came back for a full set of Joy Division. Pretty much both Substance albums. And to top it off he was staying in the same hotel as us - we bumped into him when checking out and had a chat with him. He's what you'd expect - a friendly, slightly dour Manc! As for Mozza - it's been cancelled due to illness, and it's not him this time! His keyboard player collapsed just before a gig in Boulder on Monday and has been told to rest for a week so that's wiped out his 3 Texas shows sadly. Gutted!

Peter Hook And The Light this Friday, and Morrissey next Wednesday - both in Dallas. Been a while since I got to a gig, let alone two Manchester legends in the space of a week!

They need to just strip Fury of the belts and let others get on with it. He's taking the p***. Is it too soon for AJ to take on Klitschko?

Loving the new Roses song - it really is a Beautiful Thing! Much better than All For One. Gutted that I can't get to the Etihad gigs next week - hope they make it further west in the USA than New York but I'm not hopeful. Will have to live on the memories of Spike Island and Heaton Park .... unless I can convince the mrs that a trip to NYC is justified ....

Agreed. I'm a massive JD/NO fan but can't bring myself to go and see Hooky lamely covering songs sung by someone else. I've watched some Youtube vids to have a go at convincing myself but they just made it worse - his singing is unbelievably bad - and I've seen Ian Brown at his least tuneful. Now Barney was never the greatest singer but at least when watching New Order minus Hooky (which I shall be again in Liverpool in a couple of months) it sounds like New Order. Goes back to the old argument that a band can get over the loss of any other member except the singer - the only exception to that rule being AC/DC ....

"Cough Cough" - Everything Everything

Had a great day on Sunday at Jodrell Bank seeing Johnny Marr and New Order. Fab venue for a gig, great atmosphere and really well organised - of course helped by the superb weather! Johnny Marr's solo stuff really isn't doing it for me although the Smiths songs he played went down a storm. New Order were as ever excellent, and the light show and projections onto the Lovell telescope were amazingly good. Will definitely look to see who's on there next year - think they've had Elbow, Weller and The Flaming Lips in the past?

Last night's Game Of Thrones. Wow .... just wow. Having not (yet) read the books I never saw THAT coming - took me a good 30 mins to digest it properly afterwards! Outstanding stuff - easily the best thing on TV by a country mile for me.

Am on it (Jodrell Bank)! Also off to see The Gaslight Anthem in March 28th, got tickets for Jake Bugg at the Empress Ballroom way off in November as I missed the 53 Degrees one due to work. Saw Everything Everything a couple of weeks ago - fantastic gig by a great band. Don't think they'll be playing venues as small as Academy 2 for much longer!

Yep, me too. Off to Band Of Skulls tonight, then Orbital on Friday too....

Saw Jack White at the Empress Ballroom last night - fantastic. All female band (The Peacocks) who were superb, and he played stuff right through his back catalogue from The White Stripes, through the Raconteurs and Dead Weather to his solo stuff. Great venue too, looked to have been done up since last time I went. Great night all round!

Went to see The Civil Wars at the Apollo last night - breathtakingly good. Did a fantastic version of 'Sour Times' by Portishead too. Great stuff.

Got tickets to see Jack White at the Empress Ballroom, The Civil Wars at the Apollo and Orbital at 53 Degrees - looking forward to them all! Great new album by The XX out now too, just a shame that they've not yet announced any gigs in the North-West yet.

The Look Of Love - ABC

I though Avatar was poor when it came out - great effects but it's just a complete rip-off of Dances With Wolves set in space. The Dark Knight Rises is excellent though.

Grinderman - No Pussy Blues

Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

Catch The Sun - Doves

Oh hell yeah - cannot f*#king wait!

Morrissey - Irish Blood, English Heart

Cast - Free Me

Another plus vote for Prometheus. As mentioned before there are some big plot holes but overall it's a good film. The 2 hours flew by, and on IMAX and 3D it looks incredible. If you're thinking it's going to be a horror film like Alien, or an all out action film like Aliens you might be disappointed - it tries to be a bit more cerebral than that and on the whole succeeds for me. 8/10

Nice one, enjoy! Seen them about 4 times over 20-odd years and they've always been good. Was tempted but I've cleared June's schedule in anticipation of the 3rd coming on the 29th ....