Pieces of a Man

25,000 optimistic fans packed into a sunny Carrow Road, full of expectation and new season bonhomie. And then...



Writing this three days later I still don't know where to begin.

£50 tickets. £10 parking. 2 hour trip home. Oscar finally seeing United win - priceless!!!

Hi all

Wanted to share this with all y'all. Picture the scene: Jo, me, Yani, Oscar and Louis on a rainy afternoon in Platt Fields park enjoying the offerings of Manchester's Megamela festival. We are making our way out of the park when we make a detour via the funfair as Yani somehow persuades me and Oscar to go on the waltzer with her. Despite fears of projectile vomiting, I agree and we all step forward to our little car and the bar comes down (Oscar almost legged it before this point but decided to stay).

The music starts.... the waltzer car starts to move.... we spin mildly and do a bit of light screaming. The waltzer gets quicker... we (me?) grip the bar tighter... the screaming continues with slightly more feeling. The waltzer appears to alternate between twirling at a reasonable pace and warp speed. I am caught between a laugh and a scream with Yani on one side laughing her head off, eyes gleaming with joy and Oscar getting into it on the other side in a similar manner.

And then, just as we start a fast spin and my head feels like it's gonna fly off... Oscar leans over me and shouts to Yani, "Yani, you should put this on your blog"! 21st century kids.. bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And from there, the only thing left to do was eat a bag of candyfloss and try to regain some inner ear equilibrium. Hilarious!

Here's the new tent we've just bought;



Key things were the bedrooms for everyone - including Louis - and the big living space. Both should be handy if we suffer a week like St Ives last year, where we ended up huddled together in a gale trying not to touch the dripping walls or umbrella that we hung upside down above our heads as an improvised, emergency water butt.

So, we're all set for Wales, Norfolk, Brighton and the New Forest. Now we just need the pesky soleil to damn well brille.

Result - got two tickets to see the Flaming Lips in November at the Academy;

"They are acclaimed for their elaborate live shows, which feature costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections, complex stage light configurations, giant hands, large amounts of confetti, and frontman Wayne Coyne's signature man-sized plastic bubble, in which he traverses the audience. In 2002, Q magazine named The Flaming Lips one of the '50 Bands to See Before You Die'." (Wikipedia)

Nina and me had an excellent gig last night from Michael Franti and Spearhead in the intimate surroundings of Academy 3 above the Students' Union on Oxford Road.

For a bit of a wildcard night-out chosen only on the strength of the name recognition from his Disposable Heroes days, it turned out to be brilliant (not least because the big presentation I had the next morning was cancelled, instantly removing all thoughts of sobriety).

Judging from the reaction of the crowd he covered all his big tunes and we had the inevitable MJ tributes, too; 'Billie Jean' early on in the set and a very moving 'I'll be there' late on that brought a tear to my eye. Also pulled a couple of air guitarists up on stage from the audience to cover a bit of 'Back in Black'. Is there anything this man can't do?

Nina and I positioned ourself 2/3rds of the way back, just out of reach of the need to dance too energetically with the young people, and close enough to the bar to minimise the Red Stripe 'down time'. Still, the distance from the stage mattered not a bit; Franti was so gorgeous and charismatic that Nina was melting even at sixty paces(and stayed up late in the night watching YouTube after the gig, methinks).

He's a good six foot something, but his stage presence is all the more imposing because his band seem to be so short. The lead guitarist reminded me of Tattoo from the Love Boat in both features and stature. Franti hardly needs help looking awesome, but I suppose a little midget-hiring doesn't hurt!

The local artist-in-residence drawing a family of moorhens by the canal on our walk down to the Marple Aqueduct;

Went searching for a new tent at Camperlands today. It absolutely hammered down while we were there, making for a wonderful racket in the outdoor showroom. Here are Oscar and Louis staking out their rooms in the Licata 800;

Fathers' Day at the Africe Oye Festival in Toxteth, Liverpool;

Ready to roll at Chill Factor, where we all went to play in the snow on Oscar's Birthday, including Louis;

Visting Nick, Martha and Felix over the amazingly, gorgeously sunny bank holiday weekend;

Oscar & I at Urbis, Manchester;

The star turns at Darwin's Big Birthday Bash in the Manchester Museum, regaling us with evolutionary songs and stories.