Slow Thrills

Ember-tainment... and an announcement from REM
I went to see the Embers and Patiosounds (alloneword? Ithinkso) in Katy Daly's last night, and despite the dwindling crowd and general lack of atmosphere I really enjoyed it. It was my first time seeing Patiosounds and I would definitely pay them another visit, but I was really there to see how the Embers are getting on. I thought it was one of the best shows that I had seen them play, they focussed mostly on material from their forthcoming 3rd EP and it was pretty impressive. The new songs are available as mp3s on their website here.

Secondly, the news broke yesterday that REM were set to play Belfast in February 2005. It is being billed as their first ever show in Northern Ireland, although I'd love to check out their early dates as someone once told me they played here in 1984-85 around the time of 'Fables of the Reconstruction'. I don't know if they did or not, all I know is that I saw them in Dublin 1989 (boy, do I ever feel old sometimes!) and they were absolutely fantastic. I have never seen them since and the last album I have is 'Automatic for the People' which I'm not a huge fan of. Anyway, yesterday I checked out the ticket prices and was shocked to find that they are £38 and £40. When Gillian got home I told her about the gig and asked her how much she would pay to see REM. She said £40, I said Ok then, and a few minutes later I'm on the promoter's pre-sale website £80 poorer and 2 REM tickets better off. I have never paid more than £30 to see anyone ever so they better be good!

Finally, I am aware that some of you people with Internet Explorer and Windows (apparently it's catching on!) are having trouble with the gig review windows. I am looking at this and hope to sort it later today. Cheers.