Some gigs, evaluated with respect to a number of conditions

The first one is the most temporally distant gig I can actually remember enough about to write about:

The Orb, Utah Saints, Too Dee Deep - New Trinity Centre, Easton, Bristol

Too Dee Deep are a local funk/dance band with some good musical talent and some pretty decent songs - 6/10

The Utah Saints were by far the best band of the evening, although due to the pernicious influence of Radio One (the gigs were broadcast to a schedule) they only played for a little over half an hour. During that time they saw to it that the crowd moved like mad. I never really liked them before this gig (I had a misconception of them as a clean techno band) but since then I can add them to my list of likes - live at least - 9/10

The Orb, to me at least, were something of a disappointment, possiby due to high expectations I had of them, having last seen them at Glastonbury in 1993. They played nothing I knew, and it all got a bit hardcore for me (yeah call me a lightweight, I don't care!) and I couldn't get into it. Maybe if I had been as illegally intoxicated as the rest of them it would have been good. One can only wonder... - 6/10

New Trinity Centre is a fine venue for this sort of small gig - it is fairly intimate, with good parking and a novelty of a bar, in which you can see all the pipes, which are all perspex. Sadly, the alcohol served is fairly poor, with a Smiles Best coming deep chilled instead of cool. I wonder if the Orb would't have been suited better somewhere bigger to suit their sound. Big Plus: there is a bouncy castle upstairs - 7/10

Portishead - Southampton Guildhall

The support band, whose name I can't remember (if they gave it to us) were funny, but not musically impressive. The DJ before hand (Andy Smith) was blatantly showing off, as opposed to providing a beat for the audience, but the band themselves were good. Portishead played with style and panache, which served them well. They were quite quiet (the PA was actually strained for the break at the end of Glory Box) and nowhere near as bassy as I had suspected. They played like a cocktail lounge band, which occasionally didn't work on a stage as large as the Guildhall's, but the overall show was impressive. The final encore (Sour Times) was excellent and almost unrecognisable. - 8.5/10

Southampton Guildhall is my ideal venue, apart from the recurring frozen pints scenario - when I went to Leeds the Tetleys didn't give my lip frost bite! The hall was huge, and nicely decorated, carpeted and free of seats, apart from a nice balcony at the back, where we would have been if they had kept the plan to have the gig seated. The satge was a fair size, the sound kept its integrity and the overall feel was one of relaxed comfort. The bars (one on either side of the hall) were reasonably priced for a captive market, but too cold. - 8.5/10

Glastonbury Festival

Oh, about 9.5/10. Might write more later, having seen if Steve Rogers sticks up anything about it.