On the Rise

As the days get shorter and the nights get longer, I can curl up on the sofa and cross stitch. It's not the worst life. 

We popped down to The Basement to see Hugh Cornwell. He is touring to promote his new album Monster, which sounds excellent from the material we heard, and I downloaded it to my fruit-based device (still not funny) as soon as I got home. He has a quiet dignity on stage and he talks to the audience between songs in a chummy fashion. It's not very punk, but it's extremely appealing and it made me remember why I loved The Stranglers so much. 

There was no support act as he played two sets, accompanied by another two chaps on guitars - the first was his new stuff and the second was 'the hits' for all those folk who just wanted to hear Golden Brown. It's still a great song, but it's not the best of the night; that's no disrespect to the classic, but a ringing endorsement of the current talent, who managed to provide fresh, raw, string-focused approaches to tunes better known for the keyboards. 

These are not my photos, but this was the most incredible come-back; Liverpool FC powered through one of the most miraculous European second-leg semi-final matches I've ever seen to beat Barcelona 4-0 and make it through to the final in Madrid. Anfield erupts and the dreams that they dared to dream really did come true. 

 

General Philosopher had a birthday and Emma Cake made him a birthday cake, because she's very good at that sort of thing. The cake and the company were all top-notch.