Ulf ist Gut

Ha, if only. I really need to add a spell checker to my browser...

I did the date at the O2 last Saturday and would agree on the Weezer front. It's been a while since i'd really listen to them and i'd forgotten how many good songs they have. Their cover of Celebrity Skin was also excellent and i've had Pink Triange, which i'd never heard before, as an earworm ever since. They even inspired me to get my guitar out for the first time in ages to have a go at playing some (which I can, just about - i'm not good...) Pumpkins weren't great in my opinion and set started to feel a bit attritional after a while. I'd set 1979 as my leaving point to avoid getting stuck in big lines for the tube after seeing the setlist for the Brum show and managed to hold on until then despite not really feeling it and things starting to get a bit messy but my mate who went to the Mancheter date bailed after four songs of the Pumpkins (he also said the venue stopped serving at 10, which seems insane). Wasn't keen on the O2 as a venue - aside from not being wonderful for transport, drink prices in London aren't exacetly cheap at the best of times but £9 for a fucking Budweiser and single spirits and a mixer were like £13, which is criminal. As i'm on O2, I could at least get into the O2 customer bar and get a nicer Pale Ale but even with 20% off it was still about £7.50. I'd agree with Panhead about preferring smaller - mid range venues nowadays - lower ceilings, often better beer choice at slightly less gougey prices and, as snobby as this sounds, usually full of people who are there to actually see the band rather than not seeming overly fussed and just shouting loudly to their mates. Also there's usually more places to lean for those of us who aren't ready to embrace seating but who's legs need a little help after an hour or so of standing in the same place.

Having finally caught up on the show, alongside neverending Jericho, I really don't want the return of the 15 minute MJF promo. The live crowds clearly love it and him but i've never warmed to him and the promos (and much of his presentation, especially the leather jacket and weirdly rich thing) themselves reek of a 14 year old's "cool" efed character. He jumps around so much from making weed jokes to listing achievements to being threatening to the lame nicknames to toe curling jibes at someone never getting women wet before suddenly claiming he respects someone and listing their accomplishments. It's like he's got a tick list of stuff good promos have and has to try and cram it all in to make sure he's covered all the bases. And then to top it off, he's then going toe to toe with poor Rush, who's been built as a savage nutcase but has just been thrown out there with a mic rather than just rushing the ring to stamp his face in and is now getting fed to MJF as his return win, and ends in the standard pull apart brawl where they each take turns to jump over the security out there to separate them. It's back to where he was before the Adam Cole best buddy stuff, which made sense with the character and made him much more bearable. I forget who said it on here in the past but his promos are that horrible modern "promo battle" style ones that more often then not are just out to bury his opponent and wave his own willy rather than actually put them over or advance a storyline. I know it's only his 2nd proper promo since he's come back so I might be being a bit harsh (I'm also sad at what they've done to Rush) but, given what he's done in the past, I don't really have any interest in watching that every week. He also didn't mention Adam Cole or Undisputed Kingdon once - surely he'd want to go after them or they'd want to finish the job or revenge for him decking Cole at the PPV the other week? Roddy was in the main event challenging for the title he was screwed out of, why isn't he getting involved in that to ruin his shot? On the plus side, I was relieved that Willow’s back already cutting another great promo. Looking forward to her feud with Stat and the team with Orange Cassidy. The Mariah Mays/Saraya match was pretty decent as well with that stalling DDT Saraya uses looking properly brutal. And of course, commentary japes were a highlight as always.

On a festival related note, albeit one considerably less muddy, I did both days of the excellent Portals at EarTH in Dalston over the weekend. Although the lineup didn't feel as diverse style wise as last year with a lot of the acts feeling quite samey (I know that's always going to be the case to some degree at a festival like this where it's designed around a specifc sub-genre but it missed someone like Human Pyramid to change things up a bit), and there were issues with the food queue getting out of hand at busier points (which, to their credit, they accepted and looked to improve on the second day with noticably more staff in the kitchen), it was still a really enjoyable two days in a decent venue with decent beer and a really good atmosphere. Best bands of the weekend for me were Year Of No Light and MØL (who, despite being stuck on in an amphitheatre at 23:00 on Saturday after This WIll Destroy You, absolutely killed it) with Standards, Din of Celestial Birds and Arabat also being very good. Well worth the money and shall be looking at going again next year when my knees will hopefully have recovered from all the stairs and standing. The weekened was also a really good test of the new hi-fidelity earplugs I bought, which worked like a dream over the whole weekend and left me without any more than the usual level of ringing in my ears at bedtime despite being in for about 8/9 hours each day (Sennheiser SoundProtex Plus if anyone is interested - no, i'm not getting commision). Sound quality was really good and much better than the cheap Vibes ones I bought before that turned everything into an annoying buzz once it got above a certain volume.