The Astoria in London is one of the capital's most loved music venues, and unfortunately it's being pulled down next week in order to build a new Crossrail train system. Whilst being a bit of a dump (it's the kind of place you can't stand still in for too long without becoming stuck to the floor) it's a really great, dirty rock 'n' roll venue, and there aren't enough venues like it left these days - mainly thanks to the increasing corporate sponsorship/stranglehold of venues.

I've been to several stand-out gigs at the Astoria, gigs that have really stuck in mind as being some of my favourites ever. These gigs were usually to see bands that can fill much bigger venues play small, low-key shows. I remember seeing the Foo Fighters (supported by Ash) playing 24 hours after seeing them headlining the Leeds Festival - I travelled over half the length of the country to see them at the Astoria - one night they were playing to 60,000 people, the next 2,000! I was lucky enough to see the Foos play there again a couple of years later and will never forget them playing  'Aurora' - it was awe-inspiring.

I also saw Audioslave's first UK gig which was at the Astoria - they were never the band they could have been on record, but live they were something else - the energy of Rage Against The Machine, with the vocal power of Chris Cornell was outstanding! Then again a few years later I saw Chris Cornell perform solo - another great gig with many highlights from his career, including several Soundgarden numbers.

And in 2006 I attended what was (and still is) the best gig I've ever been to. After not touring the UK for 6 years (and me never having seen them) I saw Pearl Jam perform the first show of their 'self-titled' album world tour at the Astoria, and by a bizarre twist of fate met all of the band afterwards. That gig has to be one of the loudest I've been to - maybe it was just my emotions running away with me, but you could feel the balcony swaying up and down that night as they played 'Alive' in the encore. This one stands out as my most vivid Astoria memory and I'd like to think that dark, dank, old building brought me a little bit of luck that night. So long, Astoria! Gone, but never forgotten!

We went on a little trip to London last weekend to do some of the touristy stuff we never get around to when visiting for gigs. I'll post more photos soon, but for now check out Steph, The Blonde Kid and the in-laws surveying the Dome from East India Docks in Canary Wharf. UPDATE: More photos can be seen here.

Tomorrow we head off to Hesfes 2008 for the week. We went to Hesfest last year and had a great time, for a while it looked like we weren't going to be able to go this year, but lady luck was on our side and Steph got a new job which meant she could book the time off, and we could all go!

Hesfes is great family orientated event, short for the 'Home Educators Seaside Festival' it involves hundreds of Home Educators camping on a huge campsite, with lots of workshops and activities, along with live music and seminars on all aspects of home ed. As someone who was home educated along with both of my brothers (the younger of whom is also coming), it's a great oppurunity to catch up with some like-minded people, many of whom have a similar outlook on life. Our clans constsits of my parents, my younger brother Al, Steph, The Blonde Kid, and Me - there'll also be lots of other people we know on site.

Despite going to school The Blonde Kid had a brilliant time last year and made lots of friends, so much so that he was already talking about coming this year during the car journey home! We also came to an arrangement with the new school he started at last September that they will mark him as 'educated off site' (as opposed to an 'unauthorised absence') when we chose to take him out of school during term time for Home Ed events, which is great.

Steph and I will be blogging in varous forms whilst we're away (after all geeks take their techology on holiday with them!), so should you want to, you can track our activities below...

- See out photos on the joint Hesfes Moblog here (includes some of last year's photos).

- Follow our Twitter updates tagged '#hesfes08' here.

Check back for updates and 1000s of photos from Steph on our return!

(If you're twittering from Hesfes, follow the user @hashtags and include #hesfes08 in your tweets and they'll appear here.)

#hesfes08

Monday night was the long overdue return of The Deciphers to the London toilet circuit - I went down with Stat to see the boys and we arrived nice and early, in time to grab a drink and chat with a few friends before the show. Despite being on stage at the very early time of 8pm there was a really good turn out and the reception the band got was great. The last two shows they've played have without a doubt be their best so far and I'm pleased to report that Monday's show continued that trend. Everything went swimmingly well - the sound was great (good work Gareth!), the boys played really well, they looked great and the whole thing came together perfectly. BBC Radio One DJ Edith Bowman was in attendance, along with Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows, and there were a few industry types skulking at the back, so hopefully they were impressed! Edith certainly enjoyed the gig and she gave the band a plug during her Radio One show the following day, calling them "a brilliant band...with really great pop songs" - not a bad bit of publicity for an unsigned band! Check out the audio clip below... [audio:edithbowman_deciphers.mp3] [tags]The Deciphers, The Barfly, Camden, London, BBC, Radio One, Radio 1, Edith Bowman, Andy Burrows, Razorlight[/tags]

(This image was originally posted to moblog.co.uk by Steph) A couple of weeks ago we spent an afternoon at Silverstone, the home of British Motor Racing. By pure chance we 'won' a pair of tickets, so we headed down there (Steph, Jordan and I) along with my folks to see what was going on. Someone we knew loosely through Jordan's old school had made the tickets available in a competition and when the original winners were unable to attend, we were offered them. We spent the day sitting on the grass in the sunshine around various parts of the circuit. The place was pretty deserted (I get the feeling it's only ever packed out for the Formula One Grand Prix), so there was plenty of space for Jord to run about and enjoy himself, and plenty of angles for Steph to take photos. We visited the circuit cafe next to the paddock, ate ice cream and generally had a very pleasant day. After watching numerous types of cars racing, from mini coopers, to classic 60's cars to jedis (which resembled mini F1 cars) the final race of the day was upon us. Tony (the chap who had donated the tickets) was lined up on the grid in his distinctive blue and white striped car - we should have seen the writing on the wall when we noticed he was 13th on the starting grid. Before long the warm up lap began, and a couple of minutes later the cars filed past us one by one (we were in one of the grandstands at this point) with Jordan going nuts shouting 'come on Tony!' perched upon my shoulders. As the lights on the grid turned to green, the roar of engines intensified and they were off! We saw them disappear out of sight and awaited our next glimpse of the pack - before long we spotted the first car appearing around a corner, then the second, the third and so on. Jordan was on tenderhooks looking for Tony, Steph's camera was aimed and ready, I was looking for the distinctive blue and white stripes...but something was not quite right. Within a few seconds the entire pack had come past us, but there was no sign of Tony! Seconds later red flags were being waved by the track marshals and the commentator announced "Red flag! We have a car in a dangerous position on the track!". Tony! The race was stopped and everyone lined up on the grid again. Everyone that was, except for Tony. Poor, poor, Tony. He had waited all day for his chance to race - we'd waited half the day (although we enjoyed ourselves while waiting) and what happened? Someone rammed him from behind on the first lap of the race! The remaining cars finished the race, but it was stopped again before the end, so it wasn't much of a race in the end - just a few laps around half of the circuit. We bumped into Tony on our way back to the car and commiserated with him. He seemed a little put out, but philosophical - the important point being that he was ok and his car was ok, which is what we were concerned about! All in all we had a great day and I think we'll be going back to Silverstone at some point! [tags]Silverstone, Racing, Motor Sport[/tags]

On Friday I visited Brighton for the first time. Steph, Stat and I went down primarily to see The Deciphers play, but also to catch up with Chloe & Antony and to check out the city. Unfortunately due to over sleeping (the alarm didn't go off), we didn't get there until nearly 3pm (it's a 4 hour drive), but we still had enough time to have a look around - and we liked what we saw. After meeting up with Chloe & Antony and depositing our luggage at their flat we headed off to 'The Lanes' - Brighton's historic quarter, which is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways filled with dozens of shops, boutiques, bars, cafes and galleries, selling everything you can possibly imagine. Many of these are brightly painted and adorned with graffiti or sculptures - it really is one of the most interesting and 'vibey' places I've been, Steph and I both loved it and vowed to return so we could explore some more. Before long I was daydreaming about what it must have been like in the swinging 60's - the place is bohemian enough now, it would have been amazing in the 60s and 70s! We wandered around aimlessly for a couple of hours soaking up the atmosphere, dipping in and out of shops - Steph bought a cowboy hat and some new sunglasses (she really looked like she belonged there!) and I searched in vain for some slip-on vans trainers, but as usual nowhere stocked my freakishly large shoe size. Before long Steph, Stat and I (along with Chloe's friend Shona who's visiting from Australia) made our way to the sea front. Living where we do, home is about as far away from the sea as you can get in the UK, so there was no chance of us going all the way to Brighton and not making it to the beach! We headed straight for the Pier to soak up some classic British seaside culture - along the way we introduced Shona to 'chavs'. Unsurprisingly the whole Pier experience was a little tacky - as is British seaside resort fashion, but it was fun to walk along the Pier taking photos and seeing what was going on. Shona headed back to the flat and the three of us enjoyed fish and chips on the Pier for tea - how very English! After a little more wandering, we decided to make our way to The Barfly where the boys were playing at. We arrived to find no one there, but after a phone call and some slightly over-complicated directions (thanks Michael!) we found everyone at a a nearby bar - they were all eating what looked like the most amazing Thai food, it was completely out of place in the type of bar it was and I secretly wished I'd had their food instead of Fish & Chips on the Pier. A couple of ice cold beers later (it was a hot day and we'd done a lot or walking!) everyone made their way to the venue for the gig. I'm not sure whether it was the sea air, or maybe the Thai food - but the boys were on fire! I wasn't sure they'd make it to the end of the set due to the amount of energy dispensed during the first 3 songs - but they did, and the whole gig was brilliant. It was definitely their best performance together so far - and definitely a glimpse into what is hopefully the not too disant future when they're playing in a different town every night to a room full of adoring fans. I was really proud of them that night, and proud to be able to witness it happening. Post-gig we chatted to friends, caught up with some people we hadn't seen for a while, and generally had a good time drinking and talking. Not long before the witching hour we headed back to the flat - what followed was a hot and sticky sleepless night - not exactly what the doctor ordered the night before a 4 hour drive home! By 8:15am the next day we were sat in a cafe imaginatively named 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' eating sausage and egg sandwiches. By 9am we had hit the road and were heading north back to the Midlands, in serious need of some sleep. Thank you Brighton, we'll be back! Update: My photos can be found here and Steph's are here. [tags]Brighton,The Deciphers,Brighton Pier,Brighton Lanes [/tags]