i'm a goonie, you're a goonie, we're all the goonies

like picking a fight with the specials in a glaswegian pub:

i like going to gigs. they aren't all good, sometimes the band misfires, i can't seem to get to grips with the atmosphere in the london astoria. i've stood through punk bands with the flu, drum 'n bass with a headache,
bands can warm your cockles on a cd recorded in a studio and shock your nervous system with waves of disappointment when you go to see them live...
but there is a more common event than all of these:
i like live music. music played there and then will only ever happen like that there and then. (unless you go and see girls aloud where it's more likely a carbon copy of itself repeated night after night. my recommendation is to literally go and see girls aloud, but take an ipod with proper music on it.)

the crowd will only be like that for those few hours.
that exact atmosphere will only exist for a short finite time.

i saw the fratellis on sunday, at brixton academy; my favourite of the london venues. a brilliant gig, an excellant band, energetic audience. the sound was great, the lighting too, all topped off with my personal favourite - a cover of a song in a completely different style. this time: a ska-rock version of goldfrapp's ooh la-la.
(incidentally, if you've never heard reel big fish's version of ah-ha's take on me or ben fold's bitches ain't shit originally by 50cent, i thoroughly recommend them.)

i mention the crowd specifically in regards to the 4 teenaged girls stood in front of me who had an infectious joy about being at the gig. completely caught up in themselves they danced silly dances and giggled while a - reasonably hard glam-rock - band kick-drummed the ear-drums of 3000 people. i couldn't help but smile as these stupid dances made their way outwards amongst the people.

oh, to be young again.

sadly, another teenager spent most of the gig next to me getting so drunk he couldn't stand up properly, doing that weird thing where you face away from the band, one finger pointing upward, beer in the other hand, singing off-key to his friends in order to prove he knew all the words.

justice was served when trying to applaud with hands above his head, he doused himself in warm semi-regurgitated beer.

he'll be a heartbreaker when he grows up...

good gig though
"mon the fratellis!"