May 2008

Esser braves the Saturday afternoon rain at Jubilee Square, but I miss it. I’m girding my loins for a struggle to see Santogold and a possible 2am gig if we miss her at Digital earlier in the evening. But all bets are off when she cancels both gigs. So we head for the nearest venue:

We go in search of afternoon entertainment. Soweto Kinch and Mr Hudson play an impromptu pretty fun mini-set on the Theatre Royal Balcony. Energetic and entertaining, it gets the juices flowing. And I see another band (I don’t catch the name) at the Water Margin. It’s probably just as well that I don’t know the

I’m down at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton and, so far, not an auspicious start. Team attempt to see the majestic Vampire Weekend fell at the first hurdle with the impossibly huge queue snaking out of Concorde 2 and although some of our merry band persisted and watched ’em though a side door. A

Ever since Rose Tyler left Doctor Who at the end of Series 2, Saturday night’s highlight show had lost a bit of its sheen. Freema was pretty good. Blink was superb. Paul Cornell’s episodes were a tour de force. But The Shakespeare Code was terrible, the Daleks in Manhatten disappointed and 42 was formulaic. Even