Mon 26 Feb – The Shins

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Despite looking more like he's ready for a day's work at Dunder Mifflin, James Mercer is ready to rock, or at least indiepop.

And so are the crowd, after support act Findlay Brown's brand of Nick Drake-esque folkery. According to The Guardian, he's the "interesting James Blunt, but at least he was nice about the venue.

The Shins open with the first three tracks of their latest album Wincing the Night Away, before moving on to some older stuff including New Slang, Kissing The Lipless and Girl Inform…

i've been a bit slack about posting, but that doesn't mean i haven't been to quite a few gigs - i'm lumping these three together because they were all at the same venue, and i saw them all with stu and louise.

isobel campbell - 21-02-06 (***)
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since the last time i saw isobel, playing with belle and sebastian, she's grown her hair, and i guess grown up a bit. but to tell the truth, i've ever been mad keen on her voice, which hasn't changed a bit. i'm just not convinced she can hold her own in…

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let's get this straight. i really, really, really love belle and sebastian. for a long time, i thought every time i saw them, 'well, that'll be the last time', but i never think that anymore. now whenever i see them, i'm thinking 'when can i see them again', because they just get better and better live.

tonight's gig at the hammersmith apollo was amazing.

i'm not going to post a full setlist, because i wasn't taking notes, and i'm sure someone else will manage it. but my highlights included:

* they opened with the state i am in…

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i saw Malcolm Middleton last night at bush hall. he's best known as being a member of Arab Strap, and as lauren laverne's ex (he apparently inspired the lyrics to Don't Falter).

i confess i hadn't really heard any of his stuff before, but when one of the support acts said "welcome to a mini-festival of self-deprecation", i knew i was in good company (except for the bit where the support acts were pretty pants).

it was a very low-key show, malcolm took the stage alone except for his acoustic guitar, and was lit only by…

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having seen rufus wainwright earlier this year, i had some idea of what to expect. he's a proper, old-fashioned showman, who doesn't seem to care about ocassionally seeming cheesy. last time i saw him, his costume changes included a thong and a pair of ruby slippers. so this time i was armed with my camera!

he played a good, classic set; predominantly songs from want one and want two, but with a few surprises thrown in. these included a new song, between my legs, his christmas single, spotlight on christmas, and two leonard cohen covers: chelsea…

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john darnielle's mountain goats is a band that never fails to make me happy, so a gig by them is a definite treat. even better when it's at a venue that's just minutes from my house!

this was their last gig of 2005, so there was jubilation and silliness all round, so when it was requested, they actually played the monkey song, and - hail satan - when it came to it, they finished with the best ever death metal band in denton, which made me very happy.

after the third song, john darnielle had broken a…

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i went to see my all-time favourite band belle and sebastian last night, performing as part of the don't look back festival (http://www.atpfestival.com/events/index.php?event=18), they performed if you're feeling sinister in its entirety. plus a few other surprises, including electronic renaissance and the boy with the arab strap.

the band seemed to be enjoying themselves, although stevie didn't seem to be able to hear everything and stuart forgot the words to a couple of songs (particularly the opener slow grafitti).

it was a bit strange to see them at the barbican, where i'd only been to christmas carol…

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went to see the very fabulous Kimya Dawson (from the Moldy Peaches playing a special breakfast gig this morning. there were four support acts, of which one (Grip Right Swing Right) i had seen before, and i thought they were pretty good. (one of) strand of oaks also played, and he was great, although he did play a smashing pumpkins song!

kimya herself was fantastic, even though she had a cold, she sounded ace with just her guitar.

the gig loses two stars because i had to get up stupidly early to get to elephant and castle…

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went to see alice's new band arthur and martha at the water rats last night. alice used to be in the seven inches before she moved down to the big smoke. i think that "arthur" was also in another indiepop band, but i'm not sure which one. edit - it turns out to have been saloon

the band was really good, quite electronic, with some kraftwerk moments - including some hard-core vocoder and even some stylophone (move over rolf harris!). i was disappointed that they didn't play for longer.

didn't see any of the other bands, including…

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i just got back from the scissor sisters show at bush hall (http://bushhallmusic.co.uk). it was their v-festival warm-up so they played a good hits-heavy set, with a couple of new songs.

the band was incredibly together, and even managed to make the really well-known songs sound different to the recorded versions. Take your mama in particular was really good.

somehow they managed to fit eight people onto the tiny stage there, and jake and ana still managed to do a lot of moving around. he was wearing a pair of silver trousers and took his top off fairly early…