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A last minute competition win meant 2 free tickets to see Kasabian at The ICA last night. It was part of the iTunes Festival where different acts have been appearing every day in July. The concert was a very intimate affair with only 350 or so people in the theatre. The band were really excellent and played most of their hits in a set that lasted just over an hour. The crowd were enthusiatic, as was leadman Tom who seemed to enjoy the small venue. A great night and many many thanks to Caris for inviting me!

A review can be found on the ICA iTunes Festival blog.

Deckchairs on the beach at Brighton and The Royal Pavillion.

100 life-sized figures made from moulds of the artist’s own body spread out along 3 kilometres of Crosby Beach, Liverpool. They are secured on 3-metre high foundation piles and stretch almost 1 kilometre out to sea.

There were almost 500,000 applications for tickets for Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Preston last weekend. There were only 8875 pairs available for each day which meant just 1.8% who applied were lucky. And guess who got tickets for the Sunday? In fact I was even luckier than the 1.8% suggests because most of the tickets (5781 pairs) were given to people in the Preston and other local areas. Anyhow, let’s just say that I was extremely fortunate to get the free tickets and it was a great day.

We arrived to the sound of Bobby Friction and Nihal on the Outdoor Arena Stage and they were really pumping it up! We then saw Calvin ‘Acceptable In The 80s’ Harris on the main stage and he had a really good set. After that we went back outside to bask in the sun and to the Outdoor Stage to see Zane Lowe and Mark Ronson for a little while. They were also really good.

Just Jack was next on the main stage and he seemed to be enjoying himself loads. Pete Tong and Vernon Kay had a joint set on the Outdoor Arena. Vernon was crap. He’s not a proper DJ and should stick to the TV. Mark Ronson also had a set on the main stage and was good.

Mika on the main stage was surprisingly good. His performance was excellent, even if he is a bit nuts. The View were initially disappointing. I think there was something wrong with the sound for the first 2 songs but they seemed to get better after that, even if I couldn’t understand what the hell they were saying. I’ve listened to their set online and when they talk inbetween songs I still don’t get them.

The headliners on the main stage were the Stereophonics and the Kaiser Chiefs both of whom were excellent, as expected. Ricky was as energetic as ever, running around the stage like a madman. That was in contrast to Kelly, who just stood there playing his guitar in his big shades looking cool.

It was a good day out and the sun was shining for most of the day which made it even more pleasant. I hope I will be lucky again next year.