Tom Vek plays Whelen's. Fee suggested this fellow some time ago. He's played Dublin a couple of times. I missed him when it was Vek v Beck. I chose Beck. Sorry Vek.

Went along on my own again. I wasn't familiar with his stuff, but gave the album a true listening on the day of the gig (wandering depressed stores with the tiny white box). The record felt good by the time it looped to the start.

It's almost a week now. I barely remember how I crawled into Whelan's. It was later than I thought, but not crazy late. I stood around and watched all the people. Interesting crowd. Someone even made small-talk with me.

Neosupervital was the suport. He was alright. I might have liked him more five years ago, more again if it was ten years. I've certainly seen worse supports. Someone should buy him some crazier synths. Then I'd be his friend. He could borrow my vocoder...

Tom came on. Started out with two bass guitars. They sounded great. The whole gig was great. He was lively and happy, sang out loud, played around with his hands, floated them up and down. There was good rhythm. The band was tight. The sound was good. Sometimes it felt talking heads, but never enought for me to compare it to talking heads. I'm just mentioning that as a thought, not a comparison.

People were quite happy with the gig. He finished without an encore. Fine by me - there was no need for an artificial encore. It's nice when bands know when and how to end.

Ran into Carol on the way out. Then Andy. He'd been in the US playing some shows. We talked until the conversation crept towards the terrible feeling of Dublin. Off I went to the Wrong Market Bar. Popped into Carnival on the way out of town.