Albert Hall

If I have mixed feelings about the Albert Hall, I think it's because I don't like the management, or, perhaps more specifically, the way that I feel treated as a customer.

That aside, though, it's a cracking venue. It was built over a hundred years ago as a Methodist Central Hall, and in the last ten years, the upstairs - the chapel hall - has been converted to a music venue.

I tend to avoid the downstairs - the stalls, in effect - and go and sit upstairs. In order to get a good seat, though, you need to arrive early, so after a couple of post studio beers with Yoss, I met Simon at the venue at a quarter to seven, resulting us in getting a lovely spot up the back, looking directly at the stage.

Much like the Minx, Simon's not particularly au fait with the music of Joy Division and New Order, so he too was in at the deep end when he accompanied me, this evening, to see Peter Hook And The Light play Joy Division's second album, 'Closer', and New Order's sophomore, 'Power, Corruption, and Lies', the latter of which is my favourite.

It was another excellent gig, with Hooky and his band operating somewhere between the studio and live versions of the Joy Division material, and managing to do something similar for the New Order tracks.

One of the things I like about gigs with Simon is that, unlike me, he is so happily uninhibited, and he was up on his feet dancing to some of the songs, which is not really my style. But further to that, when the gig closed with an enormous and very powerful rendition of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', Simon was totally caught up in the moment - and it was a very Manchester moment - to the point of being in tears.

Hook has done a great job with these gigs.