meetings to be held in camera

I went to see my favourite Scottish band since Big Country on Sunday evening in The Village on Wexford St. The band in question were of course Camera Obscura.

First things first, but not necessarily in that order, was that these guys lack the stage presence of Stuart Adamson (RIP) & Co. There was not one lumberjack shirt worn by any of the band members. In fact the lead singer Tracy Anne Campbell looked like a librarian and dresses like one of the extras in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Very understated altogether. I didn't know what to think.

I had spoken to my sister-in-law who had seen them in Róisín Dubh in Galway the night previous and she'd recounted that there were only sixty or seventy heads at that gig. Thankfully the troops turned out en masse for the gig in The Village. Standing room only folks. The band merrily played their way through the new album 'Let's get out of this country' and amongst the new tunes were the title track from the new album as well as 'I need all the friends I can get' and 'Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken'. They even played an old favourite of mine 'Suspended from class' from their previous album 'Underachievers please try harder'. The crowd nodded their heads in appreciation, they clapped respectfully at the end of each tune and even chanted for one more tune which then turned into three more tunes. Amongst these were a cover of Amy Winehouse's 'Rehab' and ABBA's 'Super Trouper' which had featured as a b-side on their last 7". All in all it was a very pleasant experience so cursory commendations are due to my Caledonian comrades, Camera Obscura.

Note:
If you were the pregnant lady who kept rubbing her belly for the entire gig as if to point out that you were indeed pregnant, why didn't you just take the seat that I offered you instead of standing in the way of everyone going to the toilet and giving death stares to anyone who moved within five feet of you? It is obviously your first child as you're being a bit precious about the whole deal. I think you should chill out before you do what most parents do and foist your own inadequacies onto your child. Just a thought!

watch the birdy

It's Sunday evening after another pretty nice weekend here in Dublin's Heaven. I'm not really going to get into this weekends events but they were somewhat similar to this. I'd rather concentrate on what's on for the week ahead.

One gig I've been looking forward to for a while is Camera Obscura who I'm going to see next Sunday evening in The Village. I got hooked on their 'Underachievers please try harder' album a couple of years back. They've got a good pop feel to them and they look like a bunch of buzzers. They'd better be good. Or else! Or else what? Or else they won't be! Here's hoping they're good so.

Another event of note on my calendar is a paintballing session next Saturday. It's this kind of thing that brings out the innate child and innate soldier in me. It's not like I turn into a freaky child soldier like those Htoo twins who led God's Army in the Burmese jungle. Actually it's not far off it. Sweating buckets, steamy mask and deep breaths might sound like just another Friday night in to some folk. However to Matt Vinyl this means running aroung a forest in Wicklow getting shot at by friends and acquantinces. The last time we did it I ended up on a team that would have been beaten by the cast of 'Dad's Army' and funnily enough we were beaten. It was still great