I have run out of superlatives

Really. All four bands were good (Mystery Jets, We Are Scientists, Arctic Monkeys, Maximo Park). We got to be right at the front. I bought a tshirt and two badges. We met lots of lovely complete strangers. A lass from Liverpool took our photo. A gorgeous 19 year old told me I was cool. The music at the Soul Tree was pretty good. Someone got me to take a pic of him with all of Maximo Park, and we said hello and they seemed nice and the bass player hugged and *kissed* me goodnight. And on top of that we met the Scientists, Chris signed my sticker of him, and ernie got his Arctic Monkeys setlist signed by all three.

When do my feet hit the floor again?

Me and Ernie At the Soul Tree for the NME awards tour after-party

Weekly weigh in

This week I gained 1½lb

( details )

More on last night

Ernie writes it up much better here, but I wrote a bit on the NME's message boards this afternoon, and may as well reproduce it here:

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I was there. Met lots of lovely people. Enjoyed MJ from a bit back in the crowd. I don't really know their stuff, but realise that actually they have three tracks I enjoy from the radio and they played them well as well as having a nice sense of humour.

Was really looking forward to the Scientists having seen them do a small set supporting Editors last year and they didn't disappoint - their wit comes across in the banter as well as in the songs - loved the way they did them all in pairs to pack as much in as possible.

The Monkeys were obviously a huge draw, since there's so much hype about them. They were pretty good really, but either they're just not used to the size of the crowds or they find the adulation a bit intimidating or something, because they just don't have the knack of being very engaging with the audience to me. Good throw with that trainer back into the audience mind. My mate Ernie blagged a copy of their setlist through knowing one of the sound guys.

And Maximo Park were just brilliant, and we were even closer to the front and less squashed for that since some of the crowd filled out. Loved the lighting. Love the way he slicks his hair and leaps about the stage. Real showman there, and some great tunes. Look forward to the new album. Would love to know what the crowd was like for that further back - did it really empty out?

And as if that wasn't enough we got straight over the road to the Soul Tree for the after-party and got to meet the guys from WAS and Maximo Park - and they were all lovely. We were complete fanboys. Ernie got his setlist signed by the wrong band and I even got a kiss goodnight from Maximo's bassist.

I'm hungover as hell at work today, and it cost a fortune for the tickets, but it was worth it a million times over.