Intelligent Dance Music

A brief phone call to C last evening, holidaying with his crew in beautiful Whitby. A fine weekend may be taking shape: Friday night will be Sale against Gloucester and hopefully our lads will remember to turn up and play for the shirt; Saturday night might be Autechre live in concert at Manchester's The Zoo. An Autechre gig will be an uneasy experience but one I quite fancy. I wouldn't expect many laughs. I notice that Durutti Column are also playing Manchester on the Saturday, another band I'd love to see. I have the first four DC albums including their beautifully named debut, The Return of the Durutti Column; all are fragile objets d'art held together by the singular guitar playing of Vini Reilly.

Tomorrow I shall be heading to Cardiff for the Wales vs. Ireland match and, potentially, history as the Welsh chase an elusive Grand Slam. I'm just happy to be gatecrashing that particular party. I enjoy the fact that real fans attend internationals at Cardiff. Twickenham could never hope to replicate that level of passion. I'm excited.