grumpyf1

Rock!  Loud, vibrant, visceral, finger-on-the-pulse stuff, performed by angry young people with several chip shops on their shoulder. Yeah! Apparently not... You know you’re no longer riding the wave of popular culture when you realise that some of your favourite new-fangled CDs are significantly older than family members attending university. That, and time spent styling what’s left of your hair before a night out takes less time than shaving your ears. Just me then? Oh. Moving swiftly on, I seem to remember that pop music was pretty slick, syncopated, brilliant stuff, performed by beautiful young people who were so achingly cool they probably slept in fridges (but don’t try that at home, kids.) For me, rock royalty and perfect pop bestrode the late 70s and early 80s in a heady blur of big hair, glossy MTV videos, enormous gigs and record sales that today’s acts can only dream about - when they aren’t autotuning themselves or trying to out-shock each other for another in...

I had the good fortune to be in London last Friday night to see a-ha at the Royal Albert Hall. As you may know, after a 25 year career and 9 albums, they've finally decide to call it a day. Most people probably think of them as that band that did "Take On Me" in the 80s with the animated video. Those guys with big hair. Whatever happened to them? All this time later, they've reached the end of the road and are out on a final tour. The Royal Albert Hall gig was a bit different though, as they were playing a one off - their entire first album "Hunting High And Low". I love the Albert Hall - such a great venue, good sound, easy to get in and out of, and a great deal nicer inside than most venues. Anyway, doing their album in order meant the song they might well save until the encores on the rest of the tour was first up - and bloody good it was too. Don't believe me? Well, someone videoed it (of course)... As you can see, the crowd were quite ple...