Well, that was a blast.
Thanks to the 70+ people who came to the party, did nice things, boogied, nattered, helped with the shopping and clean-up, commandeered the music (grrr…), conked out on horizontal surfaces, wore gorgeous frocks, didn’t freak out the neighbours (much), gave their tributes to Farrah & MJ (see above), engaged in witty banter, were welcoming to people they didn’t know, stayed up all night, travelled from different countries, modelled their Slankets and Lycra, made tea, didn’t require ambulances, were devilishly handsome, crushed ice, helped themselves, and generally were a very fricking groovy bunch of lovely people.
A&E
xxxx
It was ace.
I know they are a bit tetchy about people making recordings at gigs, but these lo-fi, wobbly moments really shouldn’t be anything to be concerned about. It’ll help me remember what was a fantastic night from an act who are still managing to surprise and innovate 25 years on.
Well done, guys!
Best bit: Neil’s cube head when he came on stage. Kerazy!
It’s gig time and tomorrow night I see the Pets for the fourth time live in concert.
The first time was in 1999 in The Point in Dublin (now reborn as the O2 incidentally) avec the Mexican Ex (henceforth known as t’ExMex). It wasn’t a sellout and they barely filled half the venue. Oopsies! They were pretty good though.
The second time was in London at the Astoria (RIP) for their Release tour. Again with t’ExMex. Amazingly that was my first ever visit to London, where I now live! ‘Acoustic’ and great atmosphere.

Fast forward to 2007 and a Hallowe’en gig back in Dublin. Are we not jolly. Gig was great but a slight bit lifeless at times. Still, we looked utterly deranged in our outfits, no?
And now it’s time to see them in the monster venue of the o2. 16,000 sellout it appears. Who would have thought, eh?
I’ve heard no reports of the gigs so far, but the vids on YouTube at least look impressive. The Boys themselves are a bit grouchy about people making shaky video recordings on phones and Flips (hee hee), but we shall forgive them as they are getting on and no doubt a bit precious. (They have embraced Twitter though, which is pretty impressive.)
So, just to annoy them, here’s The Way It Used To Be and Jealousy from Moscow.
And it’s gorgeous video no. 3 from the deranged Empire Of The Sun. As We Are The People (shot in Mexico) gets into the UK Top 20 finally, Australia get the third single. This time the video is shot in Oz and has a lot of Luke doing the usual shape-throwing and being ridiculous. (And as frequent readers will know, this is precisely how Daddy or Chips likes his pop stars).
Question: Nick Littlemore doesn’t seem to be in the vid much (at all?). He’s also not going to be part of the Empire of the Sun tour in autumn. Has Luke got rid of him (as he did with pretty much everyone in The Sleepy Jackson)?
Question 2: How can they afford these amazing videos?
And here (finally) is part one of us in Natal, Brazil. The joys of being flung off a hillside into a lake….
The chap at the end is a friend of ours who very generously opened his home to us as well as introduce us to his friends in Natal, and the cute little kid is their son.

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Um, it’s been a while…
I had only two criteria:
- Can this be danced to?
- Can it just be listened to?
Over to you…
Tracklist
- Intro: Pure Imagination * Gene Wilder
- Lullaby * We Plants Are Happy Plants
- M.A.G.I.C. * The Sound Of Arrows
- Method of Modern Love (Richard X “Join Our Clique” Remix) * Saint Etienne
- The Way It Used To Be (Daddy or Chips Extended Version) * Pet Shop Boys
- Easy * Trick & Kubic feat. Valeska
- Love Kills (Buffetlibre vs Sidechains remix) * Little Boots
- The Girl And The Robot * Röyksopp with Robyn
- The No. 1 Song in Heaven * Sparks
- Miracle * Sally Shapiro
- Erase/Rewind (Kleerup Remix) * The Cardigans
- If I Can’t Hold You * Desire
- Lisztomania (Classixx Remix) * Phoenix
- Two Weeks (Fred Falke Extended Mix) * Grizzly Bear
- Bonny (Leo Zero Edit) * Prefab Sprout
- Walking On A Dream (Treasure Fingers Remix) * Empire Of The Sun
- There’s a Better Place! (edit) * Crazy Penis
Catchy as fuck. Even if it does sound like ‘Jennifer Rush was jammin’ with Def Leppard and Mister Mister [sic] in an eighties rock nightmare.’
And here’s the other ‘new Abba song’ as sung by the staff of B&B’s hotel (yes, really).
In his radio diary this week, Joseph O’Connor recalls a trip to Disneyland in the company of a group of Irish football fans…








