Saw Noel Gallagher's HFB in Houston in March - luckily over here he's not that well known so it was at the House Of Blues which is a pretty small venue, certainly way smaller than the arenas he's probably doing back home. Great gig, but definitely a more restrained audience than for his brother .... and yes, the French woman playing the scissors was there Also recently went to see Jean-Michel Jarre here in Dallas, who - even though I wouldn't call myself a fan - was excellent. It was in a smallish theatre (prob about 2000 capacity) and even then was less than half full - I guess he's just not that well known over here. The light/laser show was unreal, and for a guy of 69 so was his energy! A couple of weeks later he was at Coachella, probably playing to a small crowd of hipsters A few days later, also in Dallas, we saw Foo Fighters who were - as usual - brilliant. I've seen them 6 times now and you can pretty much guarantee that it's gonna be a good gig every time. Dave Grohl strikes me as someone who is exactly the same on as off stage - would be a top guy to go for a few beers with no doubt. Last Thursday, was in San Francisco and saw Liam Gallagher & Richard Ashcroft in a double headline performance. LG was great - the usual bluster, anger, attitude and a great mix of the best of his solo album and classic Oasis tracks (Rock 'n' Roll Star, Morning Glory, Supersonic, Slide Away, Cigarettes & Alcohol). Ashcroft did an acoustic set and it was incredible - what a voice - proper 'hairs on the back of your neck' stuff. Good mix of The Verve classics/solo tracks, plus a cover of Little Red Corvette thrown in for good measure. The venue (The Masonic) was also top notch - a great night! Got Hooky doing both JD and NO substance albums in Dallas next week, then Royal Blood (also in Dallas) early June. Oh and got tickets for Arctic Monkeys in October - love their previous stuff but listened to their new album and I'm still unsure about it .....

The White Stripes - Apple Blossom

Not seen the new one yet but the original is a classic. If you can, get the Final Cut which best represents Ridley Scott's vision for the film and was supervised entirely by him - the Theatrical Cut was overseen by studio suits (and has the terrible voiceover plus the 'happy' ending), while the Director's Cut was actually done by someone else using some notes the studio had from Scott but with very little involvement from him.

Saw Depeche Mode supported by Warpaint in Dallas last Friday - never seen either before. Liked DM in the 80's, and dipped in and out of their stuff from Violator onwards but have never seen them live. Have to say they were excellent, Dave Gahan is a way better frontman than I ever thought he would be. Warpaint were also very good. Off to Cal Jam a week on Saturday - basically Foo Fighters have set up their own one-day festival in San Bernadino, California. Pretty decent line-up with the Foos, QOTSA, Liam Gallagher, Royal Blood, The Kills and a few others. Also just booked tickets for Noel Gallagher's HFBs in Houston next March - they're playing the House Of Blues so it's a small venue (no more than 1000 capacity) - no way I'd ever get to see him in anything smaller than the MEN in the UK so it should be a good one!

Anyone else's sound about 10 seconds behind the picture?

Won't work with airplay mirroring if you're using the app so you're stuck with iPad or iPhone (other platforms are available )

The last couple of weeks I've been to see U2 do the Joshua Tree in it's entirety for the 30th anniversary at the AT&T stadium in Dallas - great gig, but the venue (as amazing as Jerry World is) was just too big. The sound got lost and went a little echo-y at times. On Saturday was in Austin at the F1 circuit to see Muse for the 4th time - and they never disappoint. Bit of a stripped down show (by their standards!) but they were still superb - one of the few bands that actually sound better live than on record.

Saw The XX on Monday night here in Dallas - first time seeing them after never quite being able to catch them before. They were tremendous, as was the support act, Sampha, who'd I'd heard of but never heard much from. Also saw Kings Of Leon last Thursday, who were good too although I'm not a fan of much of their stuff after their 3rd or 4th albums (the first two are crackers though). I think because the US didn't really get them until their later stuff, their set focussed mainly round those songs - not a single track from album one! Next up - U2 and The Joshua Tree at the AT&T Stadium (home of the Dallas Cowboys) which should be a spectacle and a half .... then it's Muse at the F1 circuit in Austin, and Depeche Mode back in Dallas in September, and Future Islands (hopefully) around the same time!

Good to hear, am going to see them in Dallas at the beginning of May. Been wanting to see them live for years but have never managed to align everything - weird that it took moving from Lancashire to Texas to do it!

Factory - Band Of Horses

The Rolling Stones - Midnight Rambler

I Walk The Line - Johnny Cash

Made Of Stone - The Stone Roses

Girl From Mars - Ash

New Order - We All Stand

So Peter Hook was very good, better than I thought he'd be actually. Did a full set of New Order, had a 10 minute break then came back for a full set of Joy Division. Pretty much both Substance albums. And to top it off he was staying in the same hotel as us - we bumped into him when checking out and had a chat with him. He's what you'd expect - a friendly, slightly dour Manc! As for Mozza - it's been cancelled due to illness, and it's not him this time! His keyboard player collapsed just before a gig in Boulder on Monday and has been told to rest for a week so that's wiped out his 3 Texas shows sadly. Gutted!

Peter Hook And The Light this Friday, and Morrissey next Wednesday - both in Dallas. Been a while since I got to a gig, let alone two Manchester legends in the space of a week!

They need to just strip Fury of the belts and let others get on with it. He's taking the p***. Is it too soon for AJ to take on Klitschko?

Loving the new Roses song - it really is a Beautiful Thing! Much better than All For One. Gutted that I can't get to the Etihad gigs next week - hope they make it further west in the USA than New York but I'm not hopeful. Will have to live on the memories of Spike Island and Heaton Park .... unless I can convince the mrs that a trip to NYC is justified ....

Agreed. I'm a massive JD/NO fan but can't bring myself to go and see Hooky lamely covering songs sung by someone else. I've watched some Youtube vids to have a go at convincing myself but they just made it worse - his singing is unbelievably bad - and I've seen Ian Brown at his least tuneful. Now Barney was never the greatest singer but at least when watching New Order minus Hooky (which I shall be again in Liverpool in a couple of months) it sounds like New Order. Goes back to the old argument that a band can get over the loss of any other member except the singer - the only exception to that rule being AC/DC ....

"Cough Cough" - Everything Everything

Had a great day on Sunday at Jodrell Bank seeing Johnny Marr and New Order. Fab venue for a gig, great atmosphere and really well organised - of course helped by the superb weather! Johnny Marr's solo stuff really isn't doing it for me although the Smiths songs he played went down a storm. New Order were as ever excellent, and the light show and projections onto the Lovell telescope were amazingly good. Will definitely look to see who's on there next year - think they've had Elbow, Weller and The Flaming Lips in the past?

Last night's Game Of Thrones. Wow .... just wow. Having not (yet) read the books I never saw THAT coming - took me a good 30 mins to digest it properly afterwards! Outstanding stuff - easily the best thing on TV by a country mile for me.

Am on it (Jodrell Bank)! Also off to see The Gaslight Anthem in March 28th, got tickets for Jake Bugg at the Empress Ballroom way off in November as I missed the 53 Degrees one due to work. Saw Everything Everything a couple of weeks ago - fantastic gig by a great band. Don't think they'll be playing venues as small as Academy 2 for much longer!

Yep, me too. Off to Band Of Skulls tonight, then Orbital on Friday too....