RickStar

The first time I'd seen Damien Rice was playing a slightly bad-tempered gig at the Brixton Academy in 2004.

I think I've been listening to New order (and Joy Division before them) for something like 24 years. This makes me a) old and b) a bit of a gig agnostic since I hadn't seen them before.

Since being a finalist at the Young Jazz Musician of the year, back in 1996, Johnny Lippiett has played with some of the world's jazz greats - from Mornington Locket, to Bobby Wellins and Courtney Pin

The music business is a hard grind.

Jazz is a load of nonsense. No seriously it is. Sometimes wonderful melodic, surprsing, uplifting, transcendental nonsense ... and other times just plain nonsense

I have to admit that I didn't catch all of this gig but by the time I entered the underground caverns at the Borderline the confines were packed to the gills with fellow punters who were all

Kenny Clayton plays Soho's last non-corporate-expense-account jazz venue ... with verve, humour, talent and a death-rattling cough of a life well lived.

What happens to those that have lived full-lives in the Jazz lounges and smoky dens of iniquity once they pass 60 years on this planet?

OK I admit it, I really went along to see Tom Mckean and the other two bands were a bonus ...

So ... Tom Mckean had invited me along to their Xmas bash, and based on the two previous gigs, I knew we were going to be in for a treat.

Let's face it Leeds has had it rough for the last couple of years - premier league relegation and just general "grim up North-ness!"

William D Drake, operatic, even hymnal, former keyboard player of cult-band the Cardiacs played the headline at the Borderline.

The Long Insiders played a rawer, raucous loud set at Turnmills.

Following some Blink182-Greenday clones from South West England, Tom Mckean and his fellow potentates took to the stage with their usual self-assured, laid back composure.

Unlike the tabloid furore surrounding current governmental financial mismanagement, the Jones's brand of northern rock is something to get excited about.

The classic 12-Bar Venue - a positively grungy, Bohemian bear-pit of a venue - played host to an explosive performance by one of Oxford's most exciting new bands.

Koko is a really impressive venue - from the Dante's Inferno-like deep hues of red splashed over the baroque friezes of the former Edwardian Theatre, to the truly immense glitter-ball that hangs, lik

The only thing that was really missing from my last review of the Long Insiders when they played at Denmark Street's 12-Bar Club was a five star rating.

Nambucca is fast developing a reputation as a North London mecca for unsigned and lesser known bands.

Promising over 100 live acts in a number of Shoreditch-centric venues, the Stag and Dagger (or "Shoreditch Stagger") is a booze-sodden annual homage to all things live music related.

Fields of the Nephilim had planned a two-nighter in Shepherds Bush Empire, courtesy of Metalhammer magazine.

Things have certainly been busy for Mr McKean and his Empirical allies.