Well, I had forgotten how noisy Belfast audiences were until last night at the Menagerie when Jeffrey Lewis and Jacob Golden battled against some quite appaling audience chatter. Most people had paid a fiver in, in fact most people seemed to enjoy them, but at the slightest hint of a drop in level from the stage, up went the chatter. I've seen Jacob play against noisy crowds before (though London noise is a much tamer beast than Belfast noise), and he can handle them very well, but Jeffrey's more subtle solo stuff got a bit lost. Thankfully his band managed to make everyone sit up and take notice. The crowd didn't actually spoil the show for me, but I now understand why the Smog show I went to late last year in the Empire (before I lived here) had 'please be quiet' notices on the tables.
Unfortunately, as I legged it just before the end due to having a seriously early start this morning, I missed the PA falling to bits and Jeffrey Lewis leading the audience outside to finsih the gig in the car park! I'd thought that by staying until he'd played 'The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song' I had seen all the best bits, but apparently not!
By the way, an interview with Mr Golden will be on this site very soon.

You may want to hit me (or at least avoid me!) because I have seen the last episode of 24 which was shown on RTE last night. I promise not to breathe a word of it on this site though!

Meanwhile just a reminder about Jeffrey Lewis and Jacob Golden at the Menagerie in Belfast tonight. Special guests and various DJs are also involved and there are special goodie bags which include stickers,badges, sweets and a special and totally amazing 21 track Rough Trade compilation CD (featuring David Kitt, Desert Hearts, Hope Sandoval, Beechwood Sparks and loads more) to the first 40 people through the door. Only £5 in, doors open at 9pm.

Yesterday was the day that the consortium judging the bids for European City of Culture 2008 visited Belfast, and although the shortlist has yet to be drawn up, it seems that Belfast is the bookies favourite.
I wasn't really expecting much to happen here music-wise over the summer months, but I've been proved wrong. Some events happening in August...


Event list - August
7th Rough Trade night: Jeffrey Lewis and Jacob Golden, the Menagerie, 9pm £5
9th My Electric Life, new club night at the Edge featuring Jean Jacques Smoothie and residents Jupiter Ace and Mark Gordon, 9pm - late, £5/£4
10th The Streets, Limelight, £11, 9pm
11th Chris Brokaw, Panda Kopanda (acoustic), Robyn G Sheils, Katy Dalys, £4/£3
13th Kidd Dynamo + Drat, Auntie Annies - apparently it's only £2 in!
20th Royksopp + support, Shine at QUB Mandela Hall, £10
26th The Dangerfields+ Rikmandu + Abase + Star Residue, the Front Page, 9pm-late £3
27th Guided By Voices, Limelight, £10.50