Coventry 3 - Exeter 1 PROMOTION AT LAST!

What a fabulous day.

After a mere half century. Coventry City got a promotion. Ok it was from the basement in League 2 and we had to do it via the play-offs, but it all came good in the end.

My oldest friend Simon, with whom I used to be a season ticket holder in our teens, came down to London for this with his partner, and got me the tickets. We went for the Club Wembley seats, so the middle tier with comfy cushioned seats and nicer bars.

 As you can see, a good view. We got there with an hour to spare. Well it was Wembley and our first chance for promotion since 1967.

Nice trophy at stake but we thought a little large for Michael Doyle to raise aloft.

 Anyway, as you can see, a great following from Coventry. Us fair weather fans (and yes that very much means me these days) turned out in force, about 35,000 of the 50,000 attendance. City half looked quite full; Exeter didn't even use the upper tier at all.

It turned out to be game of two halves. The first, for all the anticipation, was a huge anti-climax. Utterly uneventful. The first half highlights on the big screen consisted of a few wayward shots and a tackle. It was that dull.

The second was the exact opposite. The game came to life when Jordan Willis, our centre back who had been up for a set piece received the ball with his back to goal at the corner of the penalty area, turned and hit a perfect shot into the top corner of the goal. Delirium amongst the Cit y faithful. A few minutes later and Jordan Shipley added a second. Put through by McNulty he went for a shot on target, but the attempted block from an Exeter defender only deflected it over the keeper.

From then on we felt in control and were certainly the better looking side. Grimmer then added a third, maybe the pick of the bunch. You know its your day when your right back scores cutting into the box with a perfect finish on his weaker foot. Exeter also cracked in a decent consolation goal near the end, but City never looked in danger.

Final whistle and cue much celebration. Well we haven't had much to celebrate.But there has to be hope. Even if we had to come up the hard way, we actually look like we can play proper football. If we can hang on to the players we have and add a few, we could be looking at a successful campaign in League 1. But then again if we stick to our usual tactic of letting any decent players go, then it will be a season of struggle. We don't want one of those.

Burton and Fleetwood here we come.

And then I went from Wembley straight to Dalston to have dinner with two of my gig going mates. Both of whom also happy to be quite happy with their lives at the moment, which happens to please me. A very decent curry with excellent company. And on top of that there was a real thunderstorm which we were able to watch come and go in the dry through the restaurant's big glass windows.

Dalston has become cool. And I have cool young friends. Really. Yes amazes me too. Happy day. Happy days.

All Points East - LCD Soundsystem

First festival of the season for me - opening day of All Points East festival at Victoria Park.

Now let me explain one thing about this entry from a pictorial viewpoint. It is disproportionately skewed to the beginning of the day, when I arrived on my own and could go where I liked and had nothing better to do than snap some shots. As it developed I met one friend my own age, and then the mates I was expecting to meet up with turned up in two batches. From which point we never got anywhere close to a stage.

So let me begin this unrepresentative whirl in the Western Arena, opening with a dance act - Confidence Man. This was actually rather good fun. Beat driven dance music, keyboards and drummer at the back dressed in black beekeeper outfits, with a  front male/female duo in white. 

I didn't think you could buy shorts that short any more

Drummer in black bee-keeper costume

And after a couple of costume changes the bloke returns and strips to the waist . I have to say all a bit gay, but an enjoyable set to open a festival, all very watchable (about more later).

So that over I left the rather humid tent for the fresh air and a look around. At this stage not many people about, well it was about 3pm on a Friday.

Note on the right a rather cool idea - the bar is mocked up as two-storey street. The shop fronts don't have shops - just youngsters in t-shirts selling vastly overpriced drinks. My can of cider was £5.50, or £11 a pint!. The horrible wine the lads bought later was £24 a bottle.

Main stage before the acts began

 So now back to the Western Arena to meet up with my first friend, another lawyer my own age, to see Superorganism. A large and very art-house collective - an art project that got out of hand. Weird images behind. In the humid tent the last thing you want to wear is an anorak, but that was their opening choice. They soon disrobed, after ringing their little bells for a while.

They actually had one or two, (well three to be accurate) good songs. Lead singer was this American girl.

I stayed in the tent because my friend recommended Hercules and the Love Affair. Indeed as I stayed I got the spot dead centre at the front. In the theatre these would be premium seats. So was looking forward to what I might see. I could not have been more disappointed. It was nothing. Another dance act, but in contrast to Confidence Man which opened, nothing to look at. Just two middle aged guys twiddling behind a sound deck. Frankly, there is just no point to an act like this. Yes you might say, but the Chemical Brothers are the same. But no, apart from their music being far more exciting, with them you have a whole illuminated art show. This had just some dull projections behind, well behind Superorganism in interest.

I didn't even wait to the end, but headed off to meet up with David and his friend from Germany who were lurking towards the back of the main stage area awaiting Glass Animals with a restorative beer.

Frankly I can't give any real review of Glass Animals. We were way back and mostly just chatted over their set. A pity as I might have liked them if had given more attention. Particularly liked their geeky lack of pretension.

 But we had to wait at the back for our last two gang members, who were only ever going to catch the last two acts, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and LCD Soundsystem.

Again being at the back and with two new chums to chat to I didn't give Yeah Yeah Yeahs the attention they deserved either, an American indie band with a female rock lead singer who didn't need the shrill hard vocals that I find many women employ in such groups. Her voice just worked very well over the music, and she came across as a nice person too.

 And finally to LCD Soundsystem. Worthy headliners. Although I knew they had been about a long time, I had never seen them and was surprised at how mature (yes, euphemism for old) they looked. But they were very tight, a band who just sound ever so good. Loved the whole set. They also eschewed an encore but just played straight the way through. A lot of their songs are quite long anyway, so wouldn't suit standard encore. They finished with "All My Friends", justly their most popular song. I would say their defining feature is an insistent dance beat with unconnected vocals over the top. That isn't a criticism; it works really well. But if you think about it afterwards the songs don't really relate to the music, they are superimposed.

And yes, this is how far back we were. And it was very tightly packed in front and behind.