Magic Numbers

I've been waiting a while for this gig to turn up, and I have to say, I wasnt disappointed at all. I'd asked Nomes, Palin, Bellis and Headworth if they fancied coming up with me, the latter deciding it wasnt his scene, so at 18 quid a ticket, you cant grumble much. We'd arranged to gather in Brum before the doors opened (7pm) to grab some grub and we done just that, where we ordered the smallest pizzas in pizza hut. When someone says individual, it really suggests that and after sniffing mine, it was gone - oh well.

We got to the Carling Acadamy where Nomes was checked for her tissues, looking rather suspect, we gathered around the bar ordered pints (at £3.30 each) and looked at the official tshirts and thingymebobs. I bought a nice navy blue tshirt with Magic Numbers written over it. I also purchased a set of "action" figures - because I could - and technically they do look vr funky.

Soon after, the first support act came on, they looked rather young and the lead singer looked like Max from Hollyoaks - although we all denied knowing what Max from Hollyoaks looks like - being pretty old and not wishing to embarress ourselves. They were called the Good Books, they were young, funky tho, myself and Bellis decided they were a little like The Cure / Paul Weller. Thanks to the magic of MySpace, you can actually listen to a couple of their tracks - they only had a 30 minute track, but you get the feeling they actually enjoyed it, rather than a band being asked to tour and being in the background - if you see what I mean ..? At one point, the drummer was shaking a Lemon and an Orange - all very strange.

The last support act was Dave Kitt, he started the set off good, and sounded a little like old REM with a mixture of the Cranberries (you must not let it linger). Again, magic of MySpace, you can click on there and listen to a couple of his tracks.

After the 4th pint and a visit to the loo, The Magic Numbers came on, with a nice funky track to open with and get the crowd going. As mentioned earlier, they looked like they enjoyed doing the gig, rather than being forced to do it by fat cats with cigars. One of the songs, merged into "rulling up the hill" by kate bush, which kind of blew my mind but made me chuckle at the same time. At the end, it was announced that this was the Good Books lastnight with the Magic Numbers, and had some kind of on stage party with all support acts and the magic numbers doing some kinda barn dance fest.

Has to be THE best gig I've ever been too, dont know if its because of the mix of music & song, or the fact it wasnt that packed and you could actually breathe (and maybe its because we werent the oldest people there for a change). All that was left now was the last train back to Leam, via all the stations in the world. Still smiling - will update with photos once I get my sham together.