Saturday in Coventry

Another rail strike day so had to get up super early and get a coach up to Coventry. At least it was a lovely sunny day. I was going to have lunch, and then onto the football, with my friend Stephen, a now retired partner at my firm. Had a little time to spare so I wandered around some remnants of medieval Coventry, still there in the City Centre if you know where to look.

Spon Street

We had agreed to meet at the Telegraph Hotel, once the home of the Coventry Evening Telegraph newspaper, now a hotel in what is now fashionable mid century style (1950s post war as was)

Then onto lunch by the canal, and walking distance of the football ground. 

And then to the Coventry Building Society Arena. All lovely apart from the result; Coventry 0 Burnley 1. Nothing in it, but irritatingly one blip amidst an excellent run of results for the Sky Blues. 

 

Sigur Ros at Brixton Academy

 Despite a tube strike (which did for my friend who was coming to this gig and indeed without whom I probably wouldn't have bought tickets) I made it to Brixton to see Sigur Ros. They are comfortably Iceland's most popular band but I don't think they have much competition there. This is very much arthouse stuff.

It is not easy to describe the Sigur Ros sound. Imagine two mating Humpback whales getting it off to a background of some electronic keyboards. It is pretty ethereal stuff. And there isn't anything quite like it. But as unlikely as it may seem, they sold out Brixton. No mosh pit here. A reverent silence more in order with the crowd, and several attempts to applaud at the "end" of pieces were premature as it was just a quiet bit of the song.

So, astounding weird vocal and terrific light show. Worth the travel headache.

Not really my thing, but then again totally different to what I normally listen to, or what any other band sound like really, so it is good to be taken out of one's comfort zone. And while I would have much preferred being at the front for the actual performance (I was in the balcony because my absent friend doesn't like standing at the front), a nice seat while waiting was very much appreciated. And allowed me to chat to a couple from Worcester who were next to me. 

Took two buses to get home (one for 16 stops, one for 41!) but made it back half past midnight. 

Cut/Copy at Fabric

Did feel weird going to this gig, especially when I met the uber cool arty son of one of our partners at Kings Cross. He was just on the way home, while I, 60 year old pension lawyer, was just on my way out for a night at the renowned night club, Fabric.

And because this place is a nightclub rather than a standard venue, not only did they want tickets but they also wanted to see ID. "ID?" ie asked the doorman quizzically. He quickly looked me up and down and just said "You can go in." Obviously I didn't look troublesome!

Also because this is really a club, there is no gap between stage and audience. As I went to the front I could easily have just reached out in front of me and untied the trainers of any member of the band in front of me. But it did mean I spent the night looking up at the acts. Crick in the neck time.

Openers were a group called Goose. Very decent dance band. Liked them.

Cut/Copy are an Australian electronic dance act. They have been around for a while and clearly have a bit of a cult following. The crowd was an interesting demographic, very even gender split and wide age range from about 20-50 I would have said. In short, no particular "type". 

Enjoyable, although not knock out. And also, being a club, very late finish. Gone 11pm. We old folk have beds to get to....

 

Hieroglyphs

An ideal exhibition has lots of interesting and beautiful exhibits along with an interesting story to tell.

The problem with this exhibition is that it is largely an interesting story - how hieroglyphs cane to be deciphered, and why it was such a difficult language to crack. But the upshot is that largely this would have made a good article to read. But there isn't all that much to see, and these photos are not really representative as I took them of the most interesting exhibits rather than a representative set, most of which were manuscripts.

That is not to suggest that it wasn't worthwhile coming to see, but probably not worth the hefty price tag.

I did enjoy the blurb for this which said that this was the first time these four canopic jars had been seen together since the eighteenth century, as they are now scattered amongst various museums.

The Great Court is endlessly photogenic.