Three days, three different towns, three very different gigs - Ted Leo, Pixie Saytar and Basement Jaxx!

I've been so busy lately I hadn't realised how long it had been since I last posted here. Since then I've driven through Ireland, Wales and England in all sorts of weather, and over the last few days I've had three very different gig experiences in three different towns.
GIG 1: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Dublin Crawdaddy 26th June.
I was annoyed that I would be missing Ted's show in Belfast and could not believe my luck when I got the ferrry to Dun Laoghaire and, in need of a driving break, I checked out what was on in Dublin. Ted Leo! Only €14 and not sold out!! Unfortunately Ted and co's ferry journey wasn't as hassle free as mine and they ended up having to play a slightly shortened set. As I hadn't seen him before I didn't mind what he played, I was just there for the experience. Funnily enough he didn't play a lot of material that I knew, so I guess the new album featured heavily. In fact the only songs I could identify were 'Where Have all the Rude Boys Gone' which was pretty great, and a rousing cover of Chumbawamba's 'Rappaport's Testament - i Never Gave up' which closed the set in fine style. A lot of people grumbled about the shorter set, but they actually snuck in a couple of songs near the end and they weren't far off playing for an hour so I was happy enough. However long he plays for Ted is still an inspiring performer with bags of energy. From a straight forward pop/ punk background he manages to take inspiration from other music as well - he quotes Daft Punk's 'One More TIme' over the coda of one of his own songs, and I already mentioned his take on Chumbawamba! Just go and see him, he puts on a great show. He'll be back early next year, so I hope the ferries are behaving themselves.
GIG 2: Pixie Saytar/ Ghost Mice/ Robyn G Shiels, Belfast Laverys Bunker 27th June
I expected this to be a quiet affair and although Robyn starts by treating us to his bleaker, melancholic tunes, the second half of his set sees the return of the power trio!! Rocking in a early-90s sludge fest kinda way and a lot of fun too.
Ghost Mice are hard work though. They play without amplification and get lost in the crowd chatter. What I heard sounded a bit like trad folk complete with fiddle and I'm not a great fan of that anyway.
Tonight is all about Pixie. It should have been her album launch but it's not back from the factory yet, but no-one really minds. I've never seen her play before but she has such a strong voice that I could imagine her holding on to an audience even without a band. The band do help though, especially in a noisy venue like this, and it's certainly convinced me to get hold of the album when it arrives.
GIG 3: Basement Jaxx/ Datarock/ Happy Mondays/ Alloy Mental, Portrush Beach Party 29th June

A bit of cheat to include this as I was working at it, but I had the luxury of seeing all of the acts too.
It was the first time I had seen Alloy Mental, they had some interesting sounds but I felt a bit bludgeoned by the end of it all. It was good to see the crowd reacting to them as they were on so early, and lots of people knew the words too, so a pretty positive experience for the band I would have thought.
Happy Mondays could have been a car crash waiting to happen, and while the new songs are turkeys, the older material just about saves them. This isn't Happy Mondays though, just Shaun and Bez and some very good session musicians, and nothing earlier than 'Lazyitis' is included. Still I wasn't expecting anything worthwhile at all, and they still managed to be at least worth a look.
After Pete Tong had whipped the audience up Datarock appear and bemuse a lot of the (by now) very large crowd who don't know who they are. I really enjoyed them though. Live they are a 5-piece band, not a duo, and although the set starts with just beats and vocals they end up blasting through the excellent 'FaFaFa' like a full on rock band.
Basement jaxx are just pure entertainment from start to finish. Different costumes every song, loads of energy and some great tunes of course. A perfect headliner really.