Sexy People & Superstars

...okay, so if you've never seen Macy Gray in concert then that will mean NOTHING to you!

Had a good night out last night. Dinner, cocktails, river boat ride up to Greenwich then saw MACY GRAY at the IndigO2. First time at the venue. Not bad. We were in the upper balcony (King's Row) which was a little plush and not well laid out at all. I know they had to fit the auditorium into a weird shape, but c'mon, the folks in the seats at the back probably couldn't even see the stage! No matter. We were not at the back, thank you very much.

Macy kicked off the show with one of my favourite songs from her most recent album, Big, entitled "Get Out". Definitely one of the better collaborations with Justin Trousersnake. She then pulled out a string of fab songs, spanning all her albums, adding in a few covers here and there for spice. She didn't play a few tunes that I wished she had, but let's face it, Macy's a good time and the girl can do whatever she likes, it'll all be fine.

Seriously, even if you're not a Macy fan, you'd still have a great time at one of her shows as she knows how to work an audience. Her backing band was very tight and groovy. For those axe-heads out there, her sidekick guitarist was playing a tobacco-burst Fender Strat. Lots of wah. Quite Hendrix meets Prince at times. Top notch performance. I googled who it was and I'm not 100% sure, but I think he's ex-chilli-pepper, Arik Marshall. Dude, apologies if I got that wrong. Whoever you are, you rocked.

The one slight downer on the evening was actually the boat ride to and from the O2. Although we were told that there would be an express service, there was not. It seems that the express only runs on nights where there's a concert on at the arena, so we were stuck on a boat which stopped at every pier along the way... and there are a lot of piers, let me tell you!

Anywho... that pales into insignificance in the grand scheme of things because... WE LOVE MACY!!!!!

I wouldn't have said it was our best experience of her, but it was damn fine. The best show of hers we've been to was still at a small dive nightclub called Numbers, in Houston. It was about 110 degrees, Macy was sweating, the crowd was sweating, the music was grinding and she totally rocked the place into Oblivion. A truly unforgettable night.

Three Week Look Ahead

As regulars around here will have noticed, there's not really been much actual progress on The Project lately. I won't rehash all the stuff that's been going on, but suffice to say that the planets are starting to align and soon I should be ready for another big push.

July 1 is a major project milestone, so I think it's worth looking forward to that date to see what's on the horizon. As June passes into July, not only will the UK be celebrating the half-way mark of the annual Wimbledon tennis tournament (and moaning about how all our players were knocked out in the first round) but I'll be celebrating the mid-point of The Project. Exciting times! It's all downhill from here!

The in-laws will be with us for a couple more weeks. After we've had our farewell hugs and dried our tears they'll board the big shiny bird headed west and I'll start my new 'commuter-friendly' job, creating shedloads of free time. As soon as possible I'm hoping to hook up with some folks who messaged me recently via the Partysounds website. The plan is that we'll drink some beer, shake the tree and see what falls out.

On the concert front, having started off the Summer 2008 run with Rufus Wainwright, we've got Robert Randolph lined up at the end of June, then Dolly Parton, Jason Mraz and Macy Gray in July. Still unconfirmed, but possible depending on other commitments are Little Feat (IndigO2, July 11) and Drive By Truckers (Electric Ballroom, August 4). Oh, and while I think about it, I've been getting a lot of hits lately from people looking for Oli Brown information and my review of his band's debut album "Open Road". I won't be able to make the show, but for those of you in London who can, Oli is supporting The Blue Oyster Cult at the Kentish Town Forum TOMORROW NIGHT (June 11). Go along and check him out!

So, for the next few weeks you, The Reader, can expect general banter, the occasional iPod DJ entry and general project water-treading. After that, though, watch out! It's full speed ahead!