Musical....Wednesday?

I realise I have been neglecting Musical Monday just recently -- my trouble is that during the week I think of lots of ideas for MM posts. I'll be on the train and I'll think how I should do a post about Har Mar Superstar, or I'll be marching up escalators in time with the mp3s on my phone, or smiling to myself on a hot, packed tube train because I love a particular song or am listening to something very silly. And I'll think of doing a themed entry about songs I love listening to while I'm out (Rebellion by Arcade Fire is a great song to walk to) but do I remember to post, or feel like writing when I get to a computer? Do I bollocks. I have taken to writing blog posts in emails to pick up and save later, I also try and stash them away as saved drafts so I can just hit publish later.

Anyway, Musical Monday has been sadly neglected. If you miss my own too much, you can always check out Mez at the start of the week -- her Musical Monday posts are always an interesting read, I've found.

However, this past week has been an extraordinary week for music and I can't justify not posting about it all some time. On Friday night, Calvin and I went to a jazz club at the restaurant where I sort-of work and saw the sublime Ms Claire Martin perform. Strangely, I'm not often a fan of "vocal" jazz. I like to keep it instrumental, with the likes of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. I make an occasional exception for Chet Baker, who had a voice that could make a wolverine purr. I have a feeling Claire Martin might actually be very famous in the right circles, she made some offhand reference to preferring the club to Ronnie Scott's, and mentioned forthcoming dates at the Oak Room in New York.

Ms Martin was not just a talented performer, with a voice like warm honey, but she also seemed very warm and genuine. She laughed with the crowd and made small jokes and little comments, and generally just seemed like an incredibly nice person. If you like jazz, and you get the chance to see her perform, do it -- you won't regret it.

Musical Monday was missed this week because I had other musical commitments -- namely, Pearl Jam's only show in Britain this year; one sold-out night at Wembley Arena. The entire standing capacity of the gig was sold exclusively to members of the fan club, who were limited to two tickets each. I heard that anyone who then tried to sell the tickets on ebay had their tickets cancelled and memberships revoked. I am not a member of Pearl Jam's "Ten Club", but I know a man who is. There was little question that Jon would move heaven and earth to secure his pair of tickets, and the boy done good. For the price of them, however, we expected a full Temple of the Dog reunion with a guest appearance from Chris Cornell. Just so you don't get your hopes up like we did; he didn't show; he was probably at home in Paris, busily tending to his Japanese peace lily.

Support for Pearl Jam came from Scottish alt-rockers, Idlewild -- a band I haven't listened to in almost ten years. They were big in the 90's, popular among people not unlike ourselves who were fans of Pearl Jam -- I can remember that Fiona liked them, back when we were dating. If they had supported Pearl Jam at Wembley Arena when I took Fi back in 2000, that would have been about right. I have no idea what the band have done in the meantime, but apparently they have enjoyed a modest success that I have been completely oblivious to. They aren't bad, and I smiled when I recognised some old songs, but they didn't do a lot for me.

Pearl Jam took to the stage after quite a brief set from Idlewild, and although I still uphold they are a legendary band, on Monday they didn't do a lot for me. I commented to a friend the next day that perhaps I should stop going to fan club gigs -- I saw a very exclusive Pearl Jam gig at the Astoria last year, and once saw REM at quite an exclusive concert in Brixton. All three times while I have enjoyed the music, I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't felt like I'd wandered into the wrong room. I'm a fan...I'm just not a fan club type fan. I'm not the kind of person who claims to be a fan, but only knows Ten -- but I'm also not the kind of person who knows their b-sides and rarities.

I had hoped for various songs during the evening -- Light Years, Thin Air, Push Me Pull Me, Loveboat Captain, Rearviewmirror (in fact, pretty much everything from Vs)...and they didn't play any of it. They did play Given To Fly, which I appreciated, and they did play their cover of Rockin' In The Free World. And it was a good gig, it really was....but I was disappointed.

So it was just as well that Tuesday night we had tickets to see Smashing Pumpkins play Shepherd's Bush Empire. A three-hour set with no support at the small 2,000 capacity venue marked their first show in seven years, ahead of their anticipated headline slot at this summer's Reading festival.

And what a show it was -- even if D'Arcy and James Iha have been replaced. Jimmy Chamberlain was on top form, playing for all he was worth, and Billy Corgan was as good as he has ever been. I'm not a Pumpkins purist, Billy Corgan has been the only consistent member of the Smashing Pumpkins since they were formed, and is reportedly such a perfectionist that he went back and rerecorded Siamese Dream, playing all of the parts on his own. It would have been good to see the "definitive" line up, but you don't turn your nose up at Smashing Pumpkins.

With a back catalogue as big as theirs, there was no way they could have played absolutely everything I wanted to hear -- that would have involved playing at least Siamese Dream and Pisces Iscariot back-to-back, and large parts of Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Just the same, they didn't shy from playing the hits -- Today, Cherub Rock, Disarm, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Tonight Tonight, Zero, Thirty-Three, Stand Inside Your Love, along with the powerhouse of a single Tarantula, and several songs from their new album.

It was just amazing, and I know that Sunday night at Reading this year might just be that much better than Pearl Jam's performance last year...