Allo'

Keen to repeat my, ahem, 'success' with the Haxan Cloak on Wednesday, I took my camera off to the Maze, where I went to catch Allo' Darlin' headlining the Nottingham POP! All-dayer. Unfortunately, conditions in the venue were tropical and my camera fogged up alarmingly as soon as it was out of the bag, causing me to retreat in fear with a lens cloth and get it stowed back away asap! Instead you've got Tom texting in the sun a little earlier on but, if you look closely, you can see shadowy figures in the background setting up their gear. It's odd but I kind of like it, a bit blurry but it seems to sum up the day quite well...

Allo' Darlin' were predictably brilliant. It was definitely a bit more of a 'Saturday night' show than when I've seen them before. A bit more chatty, raucous and bouncy, but refreshing for it, with a couple of new songs getting an outing, a few oldies and a even a couple of Wedding Present style extended outros. Certainly the collected indie-kids of Nottingham seemed to lap it all up. I did manage to demonstrate how long it's been since I've attended the Maze, though, by walking up North Sherwood Street and trying to get into a no longer existing back entrance (The Maze used to back onto a pub called the Forest Tavern which is now it's own front entrance out onto the main road) - a bouncer at the Loft (where the 'Rugcutta Sound System' were apparently, er, cutting a rug) had to put me straight...!