After years and years of wanting to go, I have found myself with a 4 day pass for the 2011 San Diego Comic Con! Unfortunately I don’t know if I can go yet, as a quick scan for flight prices came back with £700 for a return from London. Plus I imagine hotels will be pricey and I will need some spending money. I’ll have to budget over the next few months and see if maybe the prices go down a bit. It will be quite easy to sell the ticket if I can’t go. But it’s a possibility which is still exciting! Maybe when the panels and booths start getting confirmed I can decide if it’s worth it or not.

There was a gig this week, and it was Metronomy at Heaven for the NME Awards. I first discovered Metronomy when they supported CSS at Bristol Academy in 2007. They were a kooky band with interesting electronic music and poundland nightlights stuck to their chests, and I was instantly intrigued. It wasn’t until late 2008 when their second album was released (‘Nights Out’, much easier to find than their limited first release) that I started to listen to them properly, and since then I have made the effort to see them whenever they are at one of my festivals.

The support acts were by far the worst I have seen in a long time and seemed so ill-fitted to Metronomy’s music (I blame the NME). There was the Cocknbullkid, who made music that sounded a bit like Florence and the Machine crossed with a soul singer, and then there was Giggs who was a bland rapper with some dj beats in the background. Yawn yawn yawn. Luckily the venue packed out by the time Metronomy hit the stage and they showed us a good time. There was quite a lot of material from their upcoming album ‘The English Riviera’ and it seemed quite mature in comparison to their earlier work. Still very nice and danceable, but I think they have lost some of their quirkiness from before. I did enjoy the new single though ‘She Wants’ and they blasted out some favourites in the form of ‘Heartbreaker’ and ‘Radio Ladio’. All in all it was a very enjoyable night, if I block out everything that happened before Metronomy, and I even managed to convert my friend to their awesomeness.