Stereophonics - Cardiff International Arena 20.11.07

I've somehow managed to see Stereophonics play live four times. Not bad for a band I'm not that bothered about. It's quite sad really when you consider there are probably fanatical Stereophonic fans out there who haven't seen them as many times as me. I'm not sure where my indifference stems from. It's not that I dislike them, I've just never felt like buying one of their albums. When they first arrived on the scene I was pretty interested in them. I saw them at V97 in Leeds, bottom of the bill but newly signed to the V2 record label. Off the back of the performance I bought 'More Life in a Tramps Vest' and then 'Traffic' on CD single. I didn't go on to buy anything else, I think the reason purely being because there was so much else going on in music at the time. Heavyweight releases like 'Urban Hymns', 'The Fat of the Land' and 'OK Computer' all came out within a couple of months of their debut album 'Word Gets Around'. You also need to remember they released it the week after the monstrously over hyped but lovably flawed Oasis album 'Be Here Now'. Anyone who can remember the coverage of that album release will understand how the Stereophonics could have been overlooked by myself during the summer of 97. It was crazy, everyone bought a copy of 'Be Here Now'. Had Princess Di died a week earlier it would have been the second story on the news after the release of 'Be Here Now'. It was HUGE!!!

Anyway I'm wandering off the subject. I think they're a far better band since getting rid of drummer Stuart Cable. It was a cruel thing to do to the guy but a shrewd move nonetheless. I'm sure Cable is a good guy, I'm positive he is, but when he started doing the presenting on BBC 2W the band undeniably lost credibility. You could imagine lead singer Kelly Jones sat at home watching Stuart Cable interviewing Max Boyce and thinking "He's got to go". Replacement Javier Weyler has done a good job since coming in. He seems a better drummer and he gives the band a different sexed up image. During the gig last night he whipped off his top much to the approval of the female members of the audience. Compare that to the curly mop hair do and googly eyes combo of Cable.

The gig was really enjoyable. The didn't shy away from playing their singles like some more pretentious act do. There isn't really anything pretentious about them at all and this accessibility attracts a wide audience. There were people of all ages, shapes and sizes in the crowd last night. Noticeably a lot of children which is great for them. This is one of the perks of living in a city. Growing up in North Wales meant we'd have to go off to Manchester or Liverpool if we wanted to see a gig and then we'd have to sleep in Manchester Piccadilly or Lime Street after missing the last train home. It was the third night in a row at the CIA so I was impressed to see the amount of effort the band put into the gig. Highlight of the night for me was 'Roll Up and Shine', my favourite track from 'Performance and Cocktails'. In fact I was quite surprised at how many albums tracks I recognised. With CDs being so cheap at the moment maybe it's time I bought their albums.

The only downside of last night was the £3.70 fee for a can of Carlsberg and the fact I missed the Under 21s game between Wales and France at Ninian Park. A magnificent 4-2 victory puts Wales on course for qualifying for the tournament in Sweden in 2009. Fair play lads, keep it up and I might be heading to Scandinavia in the summer of 2009!

Luck of the Irish - Wales v Republic of Ireland 17.11.07

As the final Euro 2008 qualifier in Cardiff came to an end on Saturday evening the sense of relief provided by Jason Koumas and his dramatic late penalty obscured the usual feeling of disappointment that comes at the end of a campaign. The Irish fans, who were fantastic throughout, were finally silenced and for around five minutes the Millennium Stadium held the sort of atmosphere I would love to see at all of our home games. I sat in the North Stand for a change and it was miles better than where I usually buy tickets for. It was mostly made up of adults who were up for a sing song but all very good natured. And best of all it's the cheapest seating area! Had a great night in Cardiff afterwards. Got talking to some top Irish fans about the match in Hard Rock Cafe, I went round each one asking who they wanted as their next manager and why like I was interviewing them for Football Focus!!!

Under circumstances I don't think Wales could have done much better on Saturday. The loss of Bellamy and Bale were hard enough to cover but to lose Earnshaw and Nyatanga so close to kick off would have given Toshack a headache. Starting with both Earley and Gunter could have blown up in his face but they pulled it off. I thought tactically things went well enough and we took the forced substitution of Carl Robinson in our stride. In fact one of the main plus points for me was the introduction of Dave Edwards. He made a few mistakes, which is to be expect on his first cap, but he looked hungry. I know I'm getting well ahead of myself here but after ten minutes I was thinking we have to start with him against Germany! We're amazingly short on midfielders and with the promising batch in the Under 21s far off maturity you have to at least consider giving Edwards a chance in the friendly against Norway in February. Chris Gunter also looked confident in both the left and right back positions and wasn't scared of going forward when needed. You could perhaps criticise Toshack for bringing on Easter before Cotterill. I couldn't really understand that one, Easter obviously had a great season last year but he's hardly kicked a ball this one. Problem is as well he's never really looked like scoring in the games he's played for Wales. Hopefully he can prove himself at a higher level while on loan at Plymouth and keep his place as the fourth choice striker.

Jason Koumas showed why he will always be in the starting eleven for Wales. He can at times seem so disinterested during a game but then pop up just when you need him. His header of Saturday was a peach and it showed his versatility when it comes to goal scoring. He was a constant threat against Ireland forcing a couple of good saves from long distance. As many Welsh fans predicted he picked up another yellow card which stops him from playing in Germany. Koumas has a poor attendance record for Wales away games and this has led to rumours beginning to circulate about him having a Dennis Bergkamp style fear of flying. This would explain a lot about his international career but I believe if he came out and admitted to having a phobia most Welsh fans would be sympathetic and get off his back. Best working something out with him than losing him completely. That said it could be a load of rubbish and Koumas just might prefer spending the odd international break at home with his missus.

Anyway onto to Germany for the last one minus most of our first choice team. You would have to say a thrashing is on the cards but don't worry Welsh fans check out this conspiracy about Wednesdays match put forward on the Sporting Life website-

Germany, it has been suggested, might not want to win the group now because it would make them one of the four top seeds. That would see them alongside hosts Austria, Switzerland and holders Greece.
If Germany contrive to finish second on Wednesday, they would then give themselves the chance of meeting one of those three decidedly weak sides in next summer's finals, rather than being forced to avoid them by the seeding.

First the JFK assassination and now this! I just don't know who to trust anymore!

Pea Green Boat

Just wanting to post that the both of us are going to see a bonefide comedy genius (and anti-hero) tomorrow night in Cardiffs Millennium Centre, which sounds grand, but he's playing something of a side-bar at the venue as i understand it. He is of course, many times mentioned here, stand-up comedian, stage and screen writer, satirist, sage, free-thinker; Stewart Lee.

Looking forward to this, he's recently had to re-adjust his stand-up routine; Something to do with his routine revolving around the BBC who had not granted him his pilot TV show this year, but mid-way through his current tour, have changed their mind, and filming begins mid-November, intreaguing - the pilot/series is described by him as "Hopefully, it’ll be a stand-up show with some sketches in it. I want to do something like the old Dave Allen shows. I’d love to get the series because I’d love to see if you could make proper stand-up work on telly, and also because I’ve just had a baby and it’d be really nice to get paid and then we could get an bigger flat with an extra room for him to sleep in". Lee is also said to be writing a sit-com about the Norse God Thor!

For those unfamiliar with Lee, take time-out to view the following YouTube clips and envy me and my mates going to see the man himself tomorrow night:



This next clip is a great coming together as Stewart Lee appeared on Charlie Brookers "Screenwipe" earlier this year, speaking his mind about "Skins":



A recent 2 minute audio clip here of Lee's outburst at the studio audience on a Radio 4 programme, putting politial correctness into context:



He has promised to continue this tour after filming is complete for his TV show, and will tour extensively again in 2008! If you've watched the above and still reading, book to see the man. In the meantime go find more Stewart Lee clips on YouTube here.

Pea Green Boat is also a great listen written by Stewart Lee, i've got the limited edition 10" vinyl, but it has recently been released as a CD by those wonderful Cardiffians at Go Faster Stripe, of whom i'm sure will be in attendance tomorrow night.

Wales v Czech Republic - Millennium Stadium - 02.06.07

Giggs is gone. To be fair I think most Welsh fans had been expecting this decision for a while. I know I had, it's crossed my mind before every game I've been to in the past two years. He could have gone after the play off loss against Russia or joined the exodus of players after Mark Hughes last game against Poland. He didn’t, he stayed around became captain and put in some of his best displays for Wales. Notably the double header against Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan where he pretty much single handedly dragged us to our first competitive wins under John Toshack. He clearly embraced his role as captain of his country, I’m sure it meant more when Gary Neville got the nod ahead of him for his club when Roy Keane left in 2005. It’s hard for me to imagine Wales without Giggs, I was eleven when he made his debut against West Germany in 1991. His commitment has been questioned over the years and his displays criticised at times. Let’s be honest, he really should have clocked up more than 64 caps in that amount of time but I think it’s crazy to suggest he somehow saved his best performances for Manchester United. I’m not sure what some people expected from the guy given the players around him and the level of opposition.

All opinions aside Saturday was a great occasion for all Welsh fans. It would have been nice to have had more than 30,000 in the Millennium Stadium for his send off. Had there been more than three days notice of his retirement I’m sure more could have made it here. I’ve read on a couple of message boards that the atmosphere in the stadium was once again dire. I have to disagree with that, ok it wasn’t amazing but it was miles better than the San Marino game. The Czech supporters were great, the “Thank you Ryan too” banner they unfurled at the start of the match was much appreciated by us Wales fans. Call me soppy but I like this mutual respect between fans. There’s a nice trend of Welsh crowd not booing the National Anthem of the opposition. You can understand some of the lads getting carried away against England and Northern Ireland but what’s the logic of jeering an anthem just to be offensive. I’ve always felt that if you boo the anthem the team will often react and play with more fire in their bellies. It’s the first step on a rocky road and before long we’ll be throwing patio chairs at foreign police officers. Anyway kudos to us for not doing it.

The game itself was great, it proved that there is such a thing as an exciting goalless draw. I’d say it was the best I’ve seen us play in ages. Beaumaris born goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was excellent on his first start for Wales. (Re: My Blog 06.03.07 for more info) Naturally his shot stopping on the day caught the eye but what I liked was the confidence he had when collecting some of the Czech crosses. The defence looked strong. Jan Koller wasn’t given a sniff. Gabbidon thankfully had blown away the cob webs the week before against New Zealand and along with James Collins and Nyatanga they looked untroubled for most of the match. Ledley was brilliant down the left, it was a benchmark performance for him and he couldn’t have timed it better with Giggs going. Simon Davies looks like he’s growing in confidence since moving to Fulham, he had a great opportunity to score in the first half but didn’t hit it immediately as was required. His head dropped for a bit but he did alright in the second half. Apart from rattling the cross bar Koumas was quiet by his standards but did everything efficiently. It looked like he was clipped by one of the Czechs early on and struggled after that. Bellamy ran and ran like he always does for us, with Giggs gone he’s now our ‘main man’ and I’m sure he’s up to it. Ricketts and Robinson did their best and arguably put in their best performances for Wales but I can’t help but feel they were the weak links. If you swapped them for Bale and ideally David Jones of Derby we would look alright.

And Giggs? Well Giggs was Giggs. Giggs took the ‘Man of the Match’ award. Giggs gave a performance that pointed out how much we’d miss him. Giggs split the Czech defence and for a brief moment looked like he was going to score his greatest goal for Wales. Oh I can’t tell you how much we willed him to put that past Petr Cech, the noise would have been immense! I’ve got to admit I found it quite emotional when he passed the armband onto Craig Bellamy. I thought it was a great touch and a very symbolic gesture. I hadn’t realised until seeing the interviews on telly that he’d cried. I think that was final proof of how much playing for Wales meant to him. On a lighter note I found it quite funny when he was being subbed because he took his time walking off the field as he was enjoying his standing ovation. Any other situation he’d have been booked for time wasting. The Czech Republic who needed all three points clearly wanted him to hurry the hell up and get off the pitch.

He described the game as a ‘benchmark performance’ for Wales. It could have been a case of the team raising their game for the occasion, them wanting to give Ryan Giggs a decent send off. Although I’d like to think we’ve turned a corner, I’d like to think it was an indication that something clicked together. Perhaps now we know we’re not going through we may find ourselves playing without pressure and pick up a few unexpected points. I as a realist understand we’re not going through to Euro 2008 but I’d just like to say Wales have still got 18 points to play for and......oh come on let me dream!!!

Decisions, decisions

In case you haven’t heard Ukraine and Poland have been announced as hosts of Euro 2012 beating off rival bids from Italy and a joint venture from Croatia and Hungary. The decision was revealed today at Cardiff City Hall, which is right on my doorstep so it would have been rude of me not to show my face. Now I know the cynics will say it’s the nearest us Welsh will get to the tournament but we’ll see. I arrived to find a fairly modest crowd in attendance made up mostly by Poles and a few Italians dotted about. The verdict had just been given so you can imagine how the Polish were reacting. Flags waving, songs being sung along with general displays of joy. To them this is huge, it’s as big as the 2010 Olympics is to the British. I’ve got to admit I was very jealous of them. It was quite humbling for the Italians but it seems the events of the past year or so has caught up with them.

A gutted Marcello Lippi was one of the first to leave City Hall following the announcement. As he emerged from the main entrance the Poles burst into song, I don’t speak Polish but you could tell from the tone they were taunting him. The Italian contingent launched themselves onto the safety barriers trying to get his autograph. He stopped for a quick TV interview before making his way onto the Italian FA team bus without fully acknowledging the fans. Fair play though, despite obviously being hugely disappointed he then got off the coach and went over to the crowd to sign a few autographs. I thought that was a real class act thing to do under circumstances and given his status in World football you could see how much it meant to the fans. He got back on the bus and then it made its short journey to the Cardiff Hilton.

Various journalists from around Europe were interviewing members of the crowd. Some of the interviews I overheard were hilarious. As Italians don’t speak Polish and the Polish don’t speak Magyar and the Hungarians don’t speak Italian, all interviews were being conducted in English. Problem was their limited English was restricting the points they were trying to convey. One went like this:

Polish Interviewer: Are you upset?

Italian fan: Yes very.

Polish Interviewer: Did you cry?

Italian fan: No I did not.

Polish Interviewer: Did the ladies cry?

Italian fan: No they did not.

Fair play to them though for giving it a go. Could you imagine some British football journalists speaking a foreign language? Some of the ones Sky employ can hardly speak English and don’t get me started on Garth Crooks.

Next person I recognised was former Croatia and AC Milan midfielder Zvonimir Boban. Instead of waiting for transport he decided to jump past the safety barrier into the crowd and then make the short walk from the City Hall to the Cardiff Hilton. As you can imagine he was surrounded by fans eager for his signature, especially the Italians. For someone who once fly kicked a policeman on the football field he has the patience of a saint. He signed over ten autographs for just one clueless old bloke, the guy was saying to Boban “I don’t know what these are, my Grandson has told me to get them signed”. Boban was oblivious, just signing whatever was being put in front of him no questions asked. At one point he signed a picture of Zidane cut from a copy of Match magazine. He posed for photos and even gave mini interviews to fans with an old camcorder, he didn’t leave until he’d done everyone. In Croatia the man is a national hero, a living legend, so it was probably a walk in the park for him. A top bloke, I have a lot of respect for his efforts both on and off the pitch. It must have been so unbelievably hard for all concerned that part of the world during the late eighties/early nineties. If you don’t know about why he kicked the policeman read the entry on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinamo_Zagreb-Red_Star_Belgrade_riot

I love the quote he gave on why he did it. "Here I was, a public face prepared to risk his life, career, and everything that fame could have brought, all because of one ideal, one cause; the Croatian cause.” Powerful stuff.

Scotland Substitute

Now and again as part of my job I meet people who are interested in Wales as a film location. It’s very rare this happens and most of the time it’s guaranteed to be someone making a programme for a terrestrial channel. A couple of weeks ago I was asked to meet with a film director who was looking at the Cardiff area as a possible location for some scenes in his next production. Upon meeting him he immediately seemed familiar, he introduced himself as Robin Hardy. Despite learning his name I found myself not being able to place him, he went on to say he needed locations that could be passed off as Scotland. You can appreciate the lack of etiquette of coming out and asking him “Hey mate what are you famous for?” It took about ten minutes of talking to him and gathering information before it all clicked into place. Robin Hardy directed the 1973 classic ‘The Wicker Man’, one of my favourite films. The reason I’d recognised his voice was because I’d listened to the audio commentary on the DVD of ‘The Wicker Man’ the week before. Upon realising who he was I managed to keep my composure and was just about able not to launch into an embarrassing “I love that film, it is brilliant!” rant. I only got round to watching ‘The Wicker Man’ recently but it made an immediate impact on me, if you haven’t seen it please do. A variety of film and television work owes a debt to it, ranging from ‘Hot Fuzz’ to ‘The League of Gentlemen’. The iconic last few shots of the film are reason enough to watch it. I’m glad to say he’s an extremely nice man. He was not at all stuck up and listened to any opinions I expressed. Unfortunately I didn’t have an opportunity to talk to him about ‘The Wicker Man’, mind you he’s had over thirty years of geeks like me pestering him about it.

It turns out Hardy is in the process of putting together his next film ‘Cowboys for Christ’, which has been billed a re-imagining of his original horror. It’s about a young Christian couple from Texas who go to Scotland to preach door to door about Jesus. Slowly they are drawn into a frightening new world, so very different to the one they know. It sounds like they’ll be plenty of parallels between this and ‘The Wicker Man’. It’s all very exciting but best of all living legend Christopher Lee is taking on the role of Sir Lachlan Morrison. Lee of course played the sinister Lord Summerisle in ‘The Wicker Man’, the prospect of these two working together again is absolutely fantastic. The prospect of possibly meeting Christopher Lee is even better.

I don’t know if anything will come of it, most of these visits don’t. About a year back Roger Christian was looking for places to film a big budget horror movie about vampires. I’m a big Star Wars fan so I was made up to meet him, he was part of the team that won an Oscar for set and art direction for ‘A New Hope’ and was 2nd unit director on ‘The Phantom Menace’. Nothing came from that visit, possibly a good thing seeing as he did also direct the awful ‘Battlefield Earth’. The last I heard plans for the film have been put of hold and it’s no longer in pre-production. So I wont be holding my breathe over the chances of this new film being made in Wales. After all if they are looking for somewhere to look like Scotland they might want to try Scotland.

Wales v San Marino - Millennium Stadium - 28.03.07

The night didn’t have the best of starts. At the eleventh hour my mate pulled out of attending the game so I went to the match on my own. I arrived at the Millennium Stadium about an hour before kick off to soak up the atmosphere. An error of judgement really, seeing that the only people in the ground were me, the stewards and the San Marino goalkeepers warming up. No not a great attendance again tonight by Euro 2004 standards. A combination of the quality of opposition and it being a Wednesday night fixture probably explains why it wasn’t any higher. I read a message on the Wrexham F.C. fansite ‘Red Passion’ that questioned where all the fans have gone since those hazy days back in 2002-2003. As someone who was unable to get hold of a ticket for the Russia play off I could understand his frustration as last night I sat with a whole row to myself. I do understand it’s hard to get motivated to spend the sort of money needed to buy a ticket and travel from Caernarfon or Milford Haven when there’s so little to shout about. Naturally the lack of people leads to a lack of noise. The atmosphere was perhaps the flattest I’ve seen at the stadium. Hopefully the draw of seeing Koller, Cech and Rosicky will attract the masses for the next home match.

It was a strange game really. San Marino were never going to beat us so even if we’d have knocked ten past them it wouldn’t have given any indication of our position in the group. I hate to be disrespectful to another national side but bloody hell San Marino were awful. Because of the geographic location of the country, San Marino display all the mannerisms and characteristics of the Italians but none of the skill. They’re like Italy’s evil step brother. I’ve never seen a team give away so many needless free kicks. That’s not just fouls, they managed to concede one for a back pass and three for handball. Three for handball?! You wouldn’t see that on a primary school playground in this country. But let’s be fair, it’s a country with a population that couldn’t fill the Millennium Stadium…a bit like Wales then really. As a result of this lack of discipline the referee began to stand out…well he was about twenty two fucking stone! I was up in the heavens of level six of the Millennium Stadium and even at that height I was thinking “I bet he has more than an hour for his lunch break”. It was cruelly funny that the ball kept on hitting him throughout the game because the poor guy was struggling getting out the way in time!

It reflects badly on Wales that we didn’t score more than three. We really lacked a cutting edge tonight. If we’d have finished the way Slovakia did against us we’d have vastly improved our goal difference. We need to be more clinical when it comes to finishing. Against the big two of the group we may only have a couple of chances on goal. You can look back at two pivotal moments of the campaign where if Bellamy would’ve been more lethal things may have been different. His one on one with Petr Cech back in September and the only clear cut chance we had on Saturday. I’m not having a go at Bellamy it’s just an observation. At times our play bordered on arrogance, our showboating and general cuteness in front of goal was not appreciated by the Welsh fans. It’s great to see it when it’s pulled off but when it doesn’t, like every occasion last night, it’s just embarrassing. We should be showing San Marino the same respect that we show the bigger nations. The corners were really bad (All fifty two of them) For a team of short arses it’d be nice to think we’d work out some tidy set pieces but we never looked like scoring. James Collins looked our best hope at these times but he understandably looked rusty (No hair pun intended). I worry that some of these balls will be food and drink to the defences of Germany and the Czech Republic and we'll be hit on the counter attack. Free kicks weren’t too great either, though it was good to see the responsibility shared out between Giggs, Koumas and Bale.

Bale once again looked good going forward. At times he left gaps behind him but it’d be wrong to try to stifle that sort of creativity by criticizing him. As his talent grows it might be a case of him being pushed into a left midfield role, I for one wouldn’t be against that. Koumas had a great time ghosting past the San Marino players, whether he’ll be given the space to do that against the Czechs I don’t know. He picked up yet another yellow card leaving him with his record dangerously close to missing the Germany game. Easter didn’t really have a chance to get stuck in, I don’t know where it leaves his international career after being taken off at half time. Good to see David Cotterill get involved. There’s definitely something about him, if he can break into the Wigan team we will reap the benefits. I still don’t think Toshack knows who his best eleven are. I think the right back position is a problem. I feel Ricketts is struggling out of position and Duffy has all of a sudden fallen out of contention. With Delaney a long way of full fitness I’d have liked to have seen Rob Edwards brought in for the role, his omission from the squad was baffling.

In conclusion, it was a game that didn’t tell us much. Basically to qualify for Euro 2008 we need to go on the greatest run in the history of Welsh football. It would have been nice to see a few more goals. But as Toshack said in the post match interview “A win’s a win”.

Ricky Gervais - Cardiff International Arena - 09.02.07

For most of Friday I didn’t think the performance would be going ahead. Like the majority of the country Cardiff had seen a surprise second covering of heavy snow bringing the city to a stand still. After the amount of effort I’d put in to getting hold of the tickets I was pleased to eventually find out the show was still on.

Support was superbly provided by Will Smith. No not the star of ‘Men In Black’ but the very funny British stand up comedian of the same name. Naturally his name led to enough material to fill the opening few minutes of his set. He quickly won over what generally seemed to be a new crowd and got his fair share of belly laughs early on. When discussing the state of the youth of today and then later Tony Blair he had a real star quality about him and despite the fact he’s an incredibly posh Englishmen he had a tiny hint of Bill Hicks in him. It didn’t surprise me when I read this week that he was one of the main writers of Armando Iannucci’s Time Trumpet. Being part of a record breaking tour will no doubt further his career in some way.

The opening moments of the main event were hilariously self indulgent. The lights went out and the theme tune to ‘Stars In Their Eyes’ began to play. A pre-recorded audio message from Matthew Kelly ran through the many awards and achievements Ricky Gervais has claimed his own before Kelly asked the famous question.

Matthew Kelly: “So then Ricky, who you going to be?”

Ricky Gervais: “Tonight Matthew I’m going to be Ricky Gervais!”

The spotlight flicked on centre stage and the dry ice switched on. As Gervais stepped through the curtains, complete with crown and royal gown, ‘One Vision’ by Queen blasted out of the arena sound system. He started to strut around the stage, high kicks and air guitar aplenty. And when you thought the audience couldn’t get any louder the huge theatre curtains were pulled back to reveal ‘RICKY’ in ten foot neon letters.

Anyone who’s seen the other live shows would recognise the routine. Once he’d thanked us all for being there he made his way to his notes on the podium and opened his can of Carling. He immediately launched into a set about the teenage cancer trust doing that thing he does so well, making you feel extremely guilty for laughing about some cruel subjects. This he does all night, almost systematically ticking the boxes going through the illnesses. There are no taboos as he discusses a vast array of topics never to be heard on national T.V. These include ‘queer holes in men’s toilets’ and then later in the set, ‘fucking monkeys up the arse’. He had a big rant about obesity being considered a disease, an idea he found ridiculous. He pictured Jesus telling a gang of lepers “Sorry lads you’ll have to wait, I’m off to heal that fat bird over there”. It was a fantastic show.

I’m just glad I got to see him perform live as I’m unsure whether he’ll do another tour. He seems to be getting increasingly famous by the day and with the movie roles coming in I imagine he’ll have bigger fish to fry come next year. His reputation took a bit of a knock with the weak reviews of the second series of ‘Extras’ but it’s fair to say Ricky Gervais has the Midas touch. From sitcom to podcast he's been the best in the field so it’s probably only a matter of time before he begins to play the lead roles in film. The momentum of his career doesn't look like it's going to stop. No wonder the title of his show is 'Fame'.