Chris Sheehan and Alistair Griffin at the Cobden Club (Again) – 27 January 2009

I went to this gig to see what Chris Sheehan was like having missed him at the Cobden Club in December when he’d been due to appear but was ill apparently. And Alistair Griffin was on again too! So once again I climbed the million stairs to the Cobden’s Grand Hall to listen to Brooke Parrott, Abi Barnett, Chris Sheehan and Alistair Griffin. Each played two sets of about three songs each, doggedly accompanied by the cocktail shaker at the bar, which was a bit out of time at one point.

Alistair Griffin at the Cobden Club, London – 14 December 2008

Sunday saw my first visit to the Cobden Club in London to listen to Alistair Griffin. I’d not been before being rather a little put off by the venue and their guest list policy, but really I shouldn’t have been as anyone can get themselves on the list and it was a nice, friendly, ordinary music venue, not like it sounded.

I trekked from the tube station, map in hand and eventually stumbled across the club languishing in

Alistair Griffin at The Bedford, plus Aaron Short, Jacob Brass – 21 October 2008

I’d not been to the Bedford before and wasn’t sure whether to go to this gig so tossed a coin, and would you believe it, it landed right smack bang on the edge…  As I’d heard my favourite interpretation of a Griffin song called Something’s Going On over their webcam stream once, I thought I’d give it a go. Would it be band or acoustic though, as

Is it a bird? Is it The Kaiser Chiefs? No, it’s Alistair Griffin!

Live at the Bull and Gate, London – 20 October 2008

Seeing as how I’d wished for another Alistair Griffin gig I could get to in London it seemed churlish not to go to it, so off I went to the slightly chancy Monday night slot at the Bull and Gate in London’s Kentish Town, or Camden if you’re trying to sound upmarket.

Alistair Griffin and band live at Storm, London – 21 August 2008

On Thursday I went with a feeling of slight trepidation to listen to Alistair Griffin again, this time at Storm’s weekly Chu-Bu evening in London. Why trepidatious? Some of Alistair Griffin’s music is special, but last time at the Clapham Grand it just wasn’t as good as I was expecting.

Alistair Griffin, Junkstar, Ivyrise at The Clapham Grand, London – 29 May 2008

Last Thursday, I ventured to The Clapham Grand to buy £4 drinks and listen to Alistair Griffin. He’d been squeezed in by the looks of his 10-15 minute session, but this was the only chance to see him play a London venue on his mini-support tour, so three songs were better than no songs. As it turned out, he got some extra time like the footballers and sang very fast, managing to get through five songs in 20 minutes, including two brand new ones.

The first song was a great song and I hope I get a chance to hear it again someday – it was new and I don’t know its name so I’ll refer to it as No Way To Touch. It had a good melody, lyric and a simple, energetically-edgy guitar track and Alistair sounded sublime singing about turning the sky blue for you, including his trademark enunciation of ‘hearr(t)’ which makes me feel like a bar Cadbury’s Dairy Milk on a warm day.