End To a Great Year - The Black Keys

This concert was important for a couple of reasons firstly it was the last concert of the year for me so I wanted it to end on a high having already seen so many great bands and artists this year. More importantly it was to be my 10 yr old daughters first music concert and I wanted it to be as exciting and memorable for her as my first concert had been for me. We've both been enjoying listening to El Camino all year (We can't help dancing whenever we hear Lonely Boy) so The Black Keys seemed the obvious choice when she asked can she go to a gig with me.

She found an even stronger affinity to The Black Keys when she found out their first album release date as shown on the website was within a couple of days of her birthday, like they were born within the same week(amazing what kids pick up on). As you can imagine this all just fuelled her anticipation of a great time plus she was super stoked it meant she could stay up late on a school night ;)

We were seeing them in my home town of Manchester so we got there early so we could get food and I could show her some of the places I used to hang out at weekends. She cracked me up when I told her I used to come to an import record shop near the Corn Exchange and she asked what a record was. When I tried to explain it was the big vinyl discs that I've still got tucked away in the cupboard she just replied 'Oh you mean the big CD's'. Feelin old after that conversation.

We got to our seats early so we could both take in the setting and she could get used to the numbers of people. I realised as I tried to sit on my seat that it was broken so in a very typically British way explained to the nearest steward that my seat was broken but I'm not too fussed as I'm pretty sure we'll be standing for the whole gig but they should know so when it's all over they can get it fixed. Five minutes later a maintenance guy appeared and was saying that he'd organised better seats for us, after a few attempts at saying 'No really we'll be alright she likes it here' we gave in and were directed to our new seats which to be fair to the MCR Arena were great so big thanks to them. By the time this was all over we'd missed most of The Maccabees so we settled in and waited for The Black Keys.....

As the lights went dark she grabbed my hand and then the unmistakable pounding of the drums started and we were dancin to Howlin' For You as Dan Auerbach moved around the stage in his unconventional way almost looking like he was moonwalking as he shuffled backwards. I looked across to see my daughter she was beaming and dancing trying to take everything in. Seeing her jaw drop as some of the light effects reached out into the audience was priceless. Seeing the drum kit of Patrick Carney at the front of the stage was something else that made this concert great to watch it always strikes me that the drummer is normally one of the most mesmerising members of a band because you can see them like a living heartbeat their whole body working to punch holes of sound through you which is infinitely more interesting than watching a bloke stood bobbing his head hardly moving while plucking away at a bass. The non movers were tucked away at the back while the attention grabbers were out there for all to see which is great because at the end of the day a gig isn't just about the ears, the best gigs are always great to listen to but either engross you or make you dance as well. This concert did it all it was as if when they plugged the amps in they were hard wired to the audiences arms and legs because everyone around us was dancing , young , old, drunk, sober it didn't matter we were all in it together The Black Keys and us. Just to add the icing on the cake they finished the main set with Lonely Boy which just blew us away singing & dancing broke out like an unstoppable virus. After a short respite they were back on stage hitting us with riff after riff finishing on 'I Got Mine'.

The lights went up and we were spent what a great night! I have to say this was out of all the great music I've seen this year my favourite gig to date and for one simple reason I've never seen my 10yr old look happier and that is priceless!!!!

Go check out the bluesy riffs of The Black Keys here you won't regret it.....
http://www.theblackkeys.com/frontpage

Is it a Man? Is it a Band? No It's Bon Iver

Well it's been a great couple of music filled weeks, great concerts, new music to listen to on twitter and more great people to talk to all topped off with a wonderful night watching The Staves and Bon Iver.

This was going to be an interesting night because I've always found I need to be in the right mood for Bon Iver recorded music but I've always been blown away when watching live vids or shows which have always been acoustic or stripped down. With this in mind I had a preconceived idea of what lay before me - a mellow evening of ambient pleasure.........

The Staves started the evening off with a wonderful blend of harmonies and acoustic guitar. I'd not heard any of their music before so was happy to have my eyes(well ears really) opened to their beautifully melodic folk. Sometimes it's nice to go into something blissfully unaware that you're in for a treat. I was transfixed throughout and will definitely be checking out more of their music and the Jools Holland show on Iplayer because apparently by way of some strange magic they were on the show while they were playing live for us ;]

Checkout The Staves here..
http://www.thestaves.com/

Anyway we were right obviously, the night had started on a pleasurable acoustic note and would continue that way surely. But hold on isn't that two drumsets and that seems like a pretty complicated setup with lots of lights are we sure we're at the right gig? On came the biggest band I've seen and there at the front was Justin Vernon so yep we were definitely at the right show. With lights swirling and the kick drums punching holes through our chests we were off lifted into a wonderful musicscape. I dont know about anybody else but I was mesmerized watching the drummers hammering away in unison as the other band members added layer after layer of sound. It was amazing to feel those songs that sound so beautifully simple through a set of headphones on a totally different scale and seeing how complex they are to recreate live.

Crowd interactions were few and far between but it was funny to see Justin repsonding to someone shouting out Bon like it was his first name. He introduced the rest of the band as the Ivers with a wry smile on his face. To be fare to the outburst I remember seeing him for the first time on Jools Holland being introduced as Bon Iver and then on videos with an ensemble but nothing really prepared me for the Behemoth that was set out before us. It would have been pretty funny if they would have all shouted back What!(maybe the picture in my head is funnier than the reality would have been ;]).

My preconceived ideas were blown out of the water any way because this was like seeing a Prog Rock extravaganza. It was all encompassing to the senses and a truly great experience. I said in a tweet that 'Gig' was too crass a word for this and it is. Bon Iver put on a 'Concert' and I recommend you go see them if it's still possible.

You can go find everything for Bon Iver here
http://boniver.org/

The Four Horsewomen of The Apocalypse - Katzenjammer

It was foretold they were coming to rid the world of crap stereotyped music.

They sent their Herald Ben Caplan to pave the way and by the time they arrived there was nothing we could do but embrace the music...........

Talking bollocks aside I was really looking forward to this concert. I first heard Anne Marit Bergheim
,Marianne Sveen, Solveig Heilo and Turid Jørgensen or Katzenjammer on an Internet radio show hosted by Brian Player a few months back. The song playing was Rock-Paper-Scissors I found myself humming it for the next week. From there I checked out live performances on youtube and by this time my 10 year old daughter was singing their songs around the house. So we decided this would be her first concert but unfortunately it turned out it was over 14's only so it ended being a night out for me and my much better half with a very sulky 10 year old left with the family(Not to worry we bought her a T-Shirt and she's going to see The Black Keys in December - Phew!!! I'm off the hook).

Anyway back to the evening Katzenjammer's Herald had done a fine job it was time for them to deliver the crushing blow and finally deliver us into musical Nirvana. They took the audience by the balls looked them in the eye and said you are paying attention aren't you. Once they got their resounding reply they proceeded to keep the place buzzing with energy. Every song they changed position taking a different instrument each time and changing lead vocals showing the amazing depth of their talent. Each time someone different came to the fore to lead the band they asserted their control over the ever attentive audience, it was truly wonderful to see. It wasn't just their abilities to play everything on the stage that was amazing (i reckon they could have played the mic stand if they wanted to) the songs covered a wide range of genres from Folk - Pop - Blues - Rock n Roll amongst others.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better they stripped it all back with the A cappella Gods Great Dust Storm a beautifully powerful blend of their harmonies. The tempo went back up for the last song leaving everyone in a jumping, singing, dancing mood. Woo Hoo!

Their conquest was complete Manchester has been delivered from crap music and they continue leaving a trail of good times in their wake........

So go forth and find tickets so that you feel the awesome power of The Four Horsewomen Of The Apocalypse.
If there's none left go check out the wonderful 'A Kiss Before You Go' album

http://www.katzenjammer.no/

It just leaves me to say Please Thankyou Very Much (Just being polite! :] )

Canadian Thunder - Ben Caplan

Now I normally post the blog entry for support and headline together but I enjoyed this gig so much from start to end that I thought I should just do two entries so here goes...

We positioned ourselves near the sound control board in what was the smallest venue we've been too in a while wondering what was in store. We hadn't heard any of Ben Caplan's music because we'd booked the tickets on the strength of Katzenjammers live reputation and albums. The club was dark with just a rainbow of lights to point our eyes to, the Canadian mist rolled in and a shape appeared on the stage. I was trying to make it out but when I heard the deep rumbling roar I realised it was a Lion with bad eyes, it must have been I could see the outline of its mane and glasses.

If there was any doubt in anyones mind as to whether they were going to enjoy Ben Caplan it was soon dispelled maybe it's his deep tones that start involuntary spasms but everyone was moving and whooping straight away. It was obvious he was pulling out all the stops to get the crowd on his side straight away as he had already discovered Manchester's super power of Projectile Vomiting and no one wants to invoke the wrath of The Spew ;]

As he growled and wailed the crowd responded by stomping, nodding, singing and chanting along and I've not seen the first act of the night get people that involved for a long time. Safe to say I was hooked enjoying every strum and rumble, joining in as we all became backing singers or the bass or the drum.
Basically it felt like Ben Caplan kicked down the saloon door stood as a silhouette in the doorway and shouted come on fuckers I dare you not to like me..... we all knew when were beaten.

I'm listening to his album as I write this and I can almost feel the sweaty, close, foot stomping atmosphere from last night all over again and anything that triggers memories like that has got to be great.

So firstly if there's any tickets left for any show he's doing get them quick and then use his album as an audio memoir of the night Ben Caplan revealed your super power and then stomped you into submission.

You can get your fix of Ben Caplan here
http://bencaplan.ca/

Still on the tip of my tongue. The Civil Wars Part Deux

Well if you've managed to read the first installment way back in March you will already know I have been to see The Civil Wars earlier this year and was mightily impressed with their haunting melodies but this was going to be a wonderful opportunity to see them in a more suitable setting The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. So the bar had been set pretty high by that first encounter would they be able to match it or even surpass it???

On entering the Hall it had the feel of an old picture house(Or cinema to anyone not old enough to remember when GR8 was spelt Great ;] ). We quickly found our seats just before The Lumineers strolled onto the stage. It almost seemed accidental as they wandered to their positions while Fleetwood Macs greatest hits continued to blare out. They lined up as a 5 piece as the hall went quiet. Cello, Kick drum , Acoustic Guitar, Bass and Keyboards at the ready they started the nights musical journey. You could almost feel the relief as everyone realised they were going to be great or GR8. It's always going to be a thankless task getting a British audience to participate when they're sat in the comfort of a chair staring at the stage with a face that says go on then impress me. That said The Lumineers rose to the challenge and the audience went from stony faced to clapping to chanting. They were engaging and energetic in their performance and commanded your attention from beginning to end. I always like seeing an artist doing the stamping on ants dance and I reckon from the wriggling that was going on some of them must of got up the singers trouser leg, he was feeling every beat of the bar and so was the stage ;] You need to check these guys and gal out and you can go here to chant along to the same song we were chanting on the night..... Ho........Hey.......

http://thelumineers.com/


Everyone nicely warmed up it was the time of reckoning were The Civil Wars going to be as good as last time?
From the first pluck of John Paul White's guitar string I knew it was going to be so much better. Joy Williams voice called out to us like a mermaid and we were shipwrecked with them for the next couple of hours powerless against their all enveloping harmonies. The venue definitely helped because not having to fight to keep my feet and glance over weaving heads meant all my attention was focused on their performance and I could allow my ears to be caressed feeling every rise and fall in the voices. It was wonderful to watch as John Paul's mouth made short staccato movements as he added vibrato to his vocal notes and Joy Willams arms fluidly painting their musical picture. I knew others around me were enjoying the performance just as much when the notes of 20 years rang out and there was an audible sigh of pleasure from people around me as if they were taking the first bite out of their favourite dessert.

Having watched them again I feel going to see The Civil Wars is like going to see a great work of art in a gallery. Some things should be observed and appreciated and hopefully applause at the end of each song is interaction enough. Don't get me wrong I like the visceral energy of a rock concert ala Pearl Jam earlier this year but The Civil Wars music just doesn't need any outside influence it stands alone in it's simplistic beauty.

And if you're not sure after that whether I enjoyed The Civil Wars at The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall just ask my wife who was not impressed when I tried to wake her up at 1am to tell her how wonderful it was.

So go and buy Barton Hollow the album, download the free Live at Eddie's Attic and then if you can find tickets for them playing Live you should treat yourself. Go on you know you deserve it........

http://thecivilwars.com

Seattle Sounds Part 2

If you've read part 1 you'll know the stars must of aligned in the right way and my lucky socks must have worked along with me finding a four leaf clover for me to end up with some Pearl Jam tickets gratis. Ok so my mate won the tickets in a staff incentive draw at work but it felt like the luckiest day on earth when he asked me to go with him.

21st June MCR Arena Pearl Jam
So on the day I headed over to Widnes to pick up Steve on the way to my home city Manchester we wanted to get over there nice and early so we didnt get stuck in any rush hour traffic. We had our afternoon/evening planned first watch Prometheus on the Imax screen at The Printworks, go get some food and then into the concert. As this is supposed to be about my experience at the gig I wont tell you the Film was visually impressive on the Imax but ultimately a disappointment(oops). I must admit when we headed over to The MCR Arena I was still feeling a bit queasy from the experience of the Imax so when we headed for our seats to watch the support and found we were way up in the gods I decided to steady my head with a drink before Pearl Jam emerged. So sorry I can't comment on the support because I was getting my head and stomach back together while they were playing.
Soon though there was a fervour from inside the arena it was time to get ourselves in there. I'd spent most of the day telling Steve how cool the Chris Cornell concert was earlier in the week and that I didn't think the immense size of this one would be able to match the connected feeling you had in such an intimate gig. Well as twenty thousand people roared Pearl Jam onto stage I got the feeling I may be eating my words, I was buzzing right there and they'd not started playing yet. They launched into Go and just left the Stratosphere behind. From our birds eye veiw of the standing area you could just see a sea of people rippling in time to the music they were bouncing man but it just looked like someone had grabbed one end and flicked them from one end like straightening a duvet and you could see the wave of heads rise and fall from the front of the arena to the back and then all the way to the front again. Absolutely amazing! and all controlled by the tiny figures up on the stage. As wave after wave of sound hit me and one song rolled into another I was heading into a musical frenzy and so was everyone else by the looks of it. The whole band had an excitement and intensity that connected you to them even in this huge auditorium. I'll be honest I only recognised some of the songs but I explained my history with Pearl Jam in part 1 the main thing is I didn't care, there wasn't one point during the concert where I felt like I was dipping. I would have been left high as a kite(metaphorically) after better man which is one of may favourites but they proceeded to do two encores the second with the lights fully up with people streaming out as if it was over but me and Steve and a whole host of others still bouncing along as they did Alive and ending onYellow Leadbetter.
It only dawned on me as we headed down the motorway that they hadn't played Jeremy but you know what it just showed the strength in depth of their material and that just gives me a reason to want to go see them again. I spent the first half hour in the car just saying Fuck Yeah! Which as I am now just into my forties would say gives a pretty good indication that that was one of the best concerts I have ever been to.
My suggestion to you my friend it to get your arse to one of their shows! I am presently buying the back catalogue to find out what I've been missing all this time. I genuinely believe my musical life has been poorer up until this point because I didn't indulge in Pearl Jam earlier.

Go listen people........
Thankyou to Steve for inviting me and thankyou to Pearl Jam for one of my most memorable nights out ever!

What a week in music :)))))))

Seattle Sounds Part 1

Well this has been a pretty amazing music filled week for me but the seeds for this week were planted at the end of 2011. I was searching around for music to buy with my Christmas vouchers. I had created a shortlist of albums and right at the top of the list was Chris Cornells acoustic album 'Songbook' as I'd heard a couple of songs off it. So I bought most of the shortlist and then had a few quid left over and so I started trawling the albums to find something I could buy with the money left on the account. Finally I settled on a Pearl Jam compilation album 'Rearviewmirror'. I've always liked Pearl Jam music but for some reason never bought an album up until then. Both these albums quickly became high on my frequently played music, so much so that I started looking to see who was touring. To my surprise both Chris Cornell and Pearl Jam were in the UK during the summer but I could only really afford to go to one of them so I chose to go see Chris Cornell as I've always been really into the sounds of Soundgarden and Audioslave and the clincher was that I could get tickets to see him at The Birmingham Symphony Hall, a wonderful acoustic treat. At this point I was chuffed to be going to see Chris Cornell but at the same time a bit gutted as I'd be missing Pearl Jam as the classic Pearl Jam songs were starting to be indelibly marked on my psyche. Jump forward a few weeks and my hunger to see Pearl Jam was fuelled further by the showing of the documentary Twenty on BBC 4. As I was trying to formulate a plan to convince my missus that it would be a good idea for me to go and see another concert just a couple of days after Chris Cornell and the ticket would be just shy of 50 quid I was gifted a wonderful opportunity. My concert going buddy emailed me asking would I fancy going to see Pearl Jam on the 21st of June at the MCR Arena and it wouldn't cost me a bean. Turns out he had won an employee incentive prize at work which was two tickets to see Pearl Jam, Get In! I bit his hand off. Strange how things seemed to come together. Basically this made that week in mid June my most eagerly anticpated week for a long time(I think the expected birth of my daughter the only thing that comes to mind at the moment:) ).

Fast Forward to this week
19th June The Birmingham Symphony Hall Chris Cornell
We made sure we got into Birmingham nice and early so we could go find the venue and grab some food before the concert and it has to be said there are plenty of great places to eat and drink close to The Symphony Hall. We were pleasantly surprised by the waterfront in Birmingham, it had been quite a while since we'd been to the 2nd City. Once fuelled we found our seats in the very impressive Symhpony Hall we had a great view from the center of the first tier things were set for a wonderful evening of audible pleasure. The evening was kicked off with a great performance by Paul Freeman who did a fine job in the support slot and I will definitely be checking more of his music out but the anticipation was all for the wonderful tones of Chris Cornell.
He walked on stage to rapturous applause as you would expect moving around to acknowledge each section of the eager crowd and then proceeded to acknowledge the England game playing that evening. Once his honourary induction into the England supporters club had been concluded he strapped on his acoustic....As soon as I heard those first few strums I knew we were in for a great night. The place had wonderful acoustics which just enhanced his stripped back performance. Every high note as clear as glass and the searing sound as he let loose giving away his rock credentials. But this was no rock concert the stage setup gave that away. Guitars placed across the back almost like a viewing gallery, the mic and a stool in the middle of a red rug and on the left what turned out to be a record player. It was like being invited into Chris Cornells front room for the evening, his relaxed conversations with the audience just helping you believe you'd all been specially invited for the evenings performance. I even had a flashback when he actually went over to the record player and played a vinyl backing track, it was like being back at my parents in the seventies and eighties the visual effect was to remind me of my dad singing along to his favourite Frankie Lane album (Thankfully there was no audible comparison to make, sorry dad).
As the night progressed I slipped into musical nirvana each song wonderfully delivered with personal high points as 'Fell On Black Days' caressed my ears and 'I am the highway', finally I was blown away by the Beatles cover 'A day in the life'. So I started out the night believing that Chris Cornell has the best vocal I've heard on a recording and that's not changed but now he's hit the top of vocals I've heard live. Basically I would listen to this guy sing the phone book and if he's playing near you in any of his bands go listen to him and if he's not go buy his albums. If your feeling flush go do both. In case your not sure I enjoyed the night :)


I think as this is starting to look like quite a long blog entry I'll put the Pearl Jam gig in it's own blog so that will be up very soon......

Always on the tip of my tongue - The Civil Wars

The title of this post is aptly taken from a song on The Civil Wars free downloadable album 'Live At Eddie's Attic' because this is exactly what they have been ever since I saw them do a cover of Billie Jean and then play their own song Barton Hollow on Later with Jools Holland.

Having been listening to the Live album and the Barton Hollow studio album continuously since I loaded them on to my iphone I can safely say I was really looking forward to this concert. So after proudly listening to my daughter do her grade 1 clarinet exam I headed over to Liverpool from Sandbach to pickup my partner in crime for the evening and we both headed over to Manchester in rush hour on a Friday. Somethings are worth it, we were certainly hoping so anyway. A few wrong turns in Manchester and we were safely parked up in the Academy car park. Ok time to get this party started, so we went for a coffee and a cake over the road(we're not as young as we used to be). As we chatted it was obvious we both had very high expectations for this gig, we'd both been watching different live performances on the web and all of them looked great. Could they live up to it? The more we talked the better it had to be.

So pumped full of coffee we headed out, we got to what only a month or so ago had been the entrance to The Academy 2 and it was boarded up. What to do? the signs only showed the way to the student union bar. There was a big queue heading into The Academy so we assumed there was some interlinking passageway that would get us back to where we wanted to be, we joined the queue. Looking around us we were surrounded by halflings or some sort of other youthful race that we didn't recognise(we've since been informed these were teenagers). A ticket tout seeing we were out of sorts kindly directed us to where we should be, which was not going to see Nero.

We made it in, first impressions of the venue were it's the school gym with the walls painted black... oh well. We arrived just in time to see the support band come on Matthew and The Atlas. Three unassuming people stood center stage and started playing. That's when the magic started, we were surrounded by people chatting and walking/pushing past to get to the bar but none of it mattered the periphery was hazing out. I was transfixed on the stage a lovely haunting sound created by a violin, guitar and banjo. Listening to them reminded me of the soundtrack to 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' (I wish it would've reminded of a film with a shorter title like Tron or something but it didn't). They just drew me in with a really beautiful Americana feel which left me pretty surprised when I heard the fella speak and he was a Brit(Or certainly sounded like one from where I was stood, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).
All too soon they were finished and we had a few minutes to say to each other 'They were pretty amazing' and the hum drum of people chatting and bar expeditions started to rematerialise.

Then it was time surely they wouldn't be as good as we'd built them up to be? They drifted on from behind a curtain and started. If Matthew and The Atlas started the spell The Civil Wars sublime sounds completed it, the surrounding noise and bar shuffling hazed out for a second time and I was mesmerised by the playful charisma of the two people center stage. Even in this venue you felt like you'd been invited into The Civil Wars front room so they can play their songs for you and have a light hearted chat. It seemed like they had an intimate connected to the audience vibe. I'm not sure how this would feel in some of the much bigger venues but I would love to see them somewhere like The Lowry in Manchester. At times they had people singing, dancing, swaying(that could have been drink though) and then as the last tones of Dance Me Too The End of Love died away reality snapped back into focus but I felt warmer and happier than I had when I first walked into that dark cold looking hall.

So was it as good as I had imagined......well I have a pretty good imagination but nothing could have prepared me for how good they were.

Luckily we're going back to see them in Liverpool on 1st November just to prove it wasn't a fluke on their part ;-)

Don't take my word for it check out their free downloadable live album 'Live at Eddie's Attic'
http://www.thecivilwars.com/

Intro

So before I start on this blogging journey I thought I better explain a bit about why I've decided to do this.
The catalyst was a concert, The Civil Wars at The Manchester Academy 2 to be precise. Now when I'd come out of that gig I wanted to share how great it was with people so I tweeted and put a few words on facebook but I just felt like it wasn't enough.
It wasn't enough because for me there weren't enough words and there wasn't enough time. The first part of that statement is self explanatory but what do I mean by wasn't enough time'. I mean these communications were fleeting, you put them out on the crest of a wave and then minutes later they're carried to the shore and lost. It does take a bit longer to get to shore on facebook admittedly but still I wanted almost a diary of my emotions that I could go back to easily even if nobody else does.
Another reason for this blog is that I was finding that words and emotions were coming in waves(back to the sea again, must have been a sailor in a previous life or something) sometimes in the middle of the night with nobody to blurt them out to because the family were asleep.Now I think they'd be pretty miffed if I woke them up banging on about how good I thought something was so it's a lot safer for my marriage if I just make a note in my iphone and then publish all of them together here when the fervour is starting to ebb.

That's why I'm doing this but what's going to be in it? Well as you can probably tell it's going to be about how I'm feeling about certain music in my life whether that's concerts I go to, my own dodgy recordings or just something I'm listening to at that time that's making me feel good. You'll notice I said making me feel good there. I've no interest in slating people and if I don't like something it doesn't normally inspire me to say anything anyway, plus music is very subjective. A bit like when I was a lot younger I listened to a lot of heavy metal and rock and now it's not really high on my playlists because I don't really have that angst inside anymore but it was perfect at the time.

Finally who am I to be so presumptuous that people might want to read this? The short answer to that is nobody really. As I'm getting older I just find I'm doing things I want to because I've lost the worry of embarrassment. I think it's the first stage of the slippery slope to the OAP that gets away with anything 'because they're old'. First thing to go is embarrassment when your middle aged and then when you find that's gone and your features become less and less threatening to people you can pretty much do anything. It starts with a music blog............then 25 years later I'll be farting as I pay at the checkout of Sainsburys and people will just say 'it's alright he's old'.........