The first thing I would like to do is thank Red Bull and Double Decker for their continued support this weekend. Had it not been for these two items, this post would most certainly not have been written tonight.

On Friday lunchtime I drove down to Banbury (my first ‘real’ outing in the new car - it’s like driving a eiderdown when compared to the old beast) and met Dan and Dave at Wembley in mid-afternoon. Rumour had it there would be some ‘special guests’ (I thought the support act, Supergrass, would be good enough) but most people were thinking Paul McCartney. Dave suggested he’d heard Led Zeppelin might appear, but it was hard to believe, although I did mention as we passed through Gate M that the Foos do specify on their rider that there are only three bands they would ever be prepared to share a dressing room with, one of those bands is the aforementioned Supergrass, secondly Oasis and finally Led Zep. I didn’t really expect it to happen.

Anyway, the gig was superb. Currin had never been to a proper rock gig before, and neither me or Dave had ever been to one in Wembley Stadium, so there was something new for all of us. It was insanely packed in front of the stage and as the two and a half hour set drew on, we all ended up closer and closer to the front. Eventually we all got separated. Dave told me after he got right on the barrier, whereas I was four rows back where the only way to keep upright was to jump as high as everyone else and the sweat was so thick it was like glue. Yes a lovely image, but it’s hard to express how god damn brilliant it was. And then they announced Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were coming on and the crowd went even more wild. Of course, the presence of Robert Plant might have been nice too, but I’m not complaining; that’s two for the price of one as far as I’m concerned.

I caught a train back to Banbury, then drove the remainder of the way, arriving in Lower Brailes at about half one. A long day. I stayed with relatives, then woke at seven to get back on the road and over to Silverstone for the Renault World Series.

It took me a little while to figure out that the Renault World Series is not just one super race, it’s the name of the event, and all the various classes of Renault motorsport compete on the same day. Will managed to acquire the team buggy for long parts of the day and we spent a lot of time dishing out promotional material (well, our ‘pitbabes’ did, but it’s hard work watching, taking photos for the website and then restocking the girls with more flyers).

Being as Adam’s Formula Renault races were at opposite ends of the day, there was a lot of time to kill between 9am and 5pm, but after qualifying third in both rounds, he snatched second place in both the morning and afternoon session keeping him firmly at the top of the championship.

I managed to acquire my first sunburn of the year, and was quite relieved to make it home at 8pm - a long, long day. Not much relaxing at all this weekend, but really extra special for all of the above. All I need now is roughly 16 hours of sleep.

You might have noticed of recent my per week quota is thinning out. This isn’t due to lack of things going on (on the contrary) however, in an attempt to bump up my weekly posting figures, I thought I’d supply the world with a service – the ten ‘must have’ tracks for drive time.

I’m pretty picky about the music have on in my car – more so than when I am working or relaxing. This list is therefore pretty refined, and although not all of it will be to everyone’s taste. I do like to rock out a bit. I think it’s got to be better than the 2007 album, Top Gear Seriously Cool Driving Music.

1. Whole Lot of Love – Led Zep
2. Voodoo Child – Hendrix
3. Baker Street – Foo Fighters (cover of Jerry Rafferty)
4. What’s My Age Again? – Blink
5. Sure Shot – Beastie Boys
6. Dakota – Stereophonics (summertime only)
7. I See You Baby – Groove Armada
8. The Middle – Jimmy Eat World
9. Worst Comes To Worst – Dilated Peoples
10. Forever Young – Youth Group (summertime only)

Guilty Pleasure – there is one more track not listed here because I am so embarrassed about it, but for me it is an essential. It’s a summer track and it reminds me of 1997. I am not going to tell anyone what it is.

Since the whole Led Zeppelin back catalogue is now available on iTunes, there is no reason why anyone can’t go out and buy the entire playlist…

Yesterday was a fantastic day, but probably not a very productive one.

After being woken by UPS with the delivery of my iMac (woo yay for technology and unpacking stuff) I spent most of the day in the tedium of transferring everything over from the Windows machine.

Anyway, work aside, I finally saw the Foo Fighters last night at the NEC Arena in Birmingham. I can well and truly say that was the best gig I’ve been to, and my high expectations were all met.

My sister and her friend came down from Aber to watch, and we arrived in plenty of time to see the support act, Serj Tankian and lead vocals of System of a Down do some solo material. He was good and the music more appealing than I had maybe guessed at, but of course I was far too preoccupied with the idea of the main event.

I was surprised and very happy by the variety of stuff they played, especially from the back catalogue. I’ve been to gigs before where you only hear the new album, but all the classics came out and they mixed up both the best of their rock and acoustic.

I managed to get about one to two rows back from the front of the stage by the end of the night (by accident rather than intentionally) and so had the whole four song encore up-close.

So much energy, so much great music. I had a fantastic time.

Photos here.

So probably the most anticipated music of the year for me arrived a couple of weeks back in the form of the Foo Fighter’s first studio album in two years.

If you know I’m a big fan, you probably won’t be surprised to learn I pre-ordered and played the thing on repeat for a couple of days and on a couple of longish train journeys.

For me, The Foos are at their best when on their ‘rock’ setting – I didn’t buy the Skin and Bones album which was released last year – not that I wouldn’t want it to make a complete set, but I wasn’t overly impressed with the second (acoustic) CD from their In Your Honour album.

Maybe they overdid it, providing too much material to digest, but thankfully their newest (one CD album) really impresses, including the slower stuff.

Knowing that I love their stuff anyway, writing an unbiased review is not straight forward, although I can be pragmatic comparing it their back catalogue, and overall I think it falls perfectly.

I won’t individually dissect all the tracks on the album, but here are my pick:

• The Pretender – The first track released, the first on the album. A piece that crescendos to a great punchy and scream-along chorus.
• Statues – The slowest pace I like from the Foos, this is one of the more relaxed pieces, and very easy listening.
• Long Road To Ruin – Starts with some fantastic opening lyrics, soon launching into a memorable chorus and although I didn’t warm to it immediately, now my second favourite track.
• Summer’s End – Ok, so other’s have called this country and western but I think that’s unfair. A late-summer feel good track (like Stereophonics – Daktota) that seems to be keeping it’s appeal now the nights are drawing in.
• Erase/Replace – Rock again, feels like something from One By One and really enjoyable. Only problem is the title – Erase/Replace reminds me of Erase and Rewind by The Cardigans, a song I mysteriously find hard to tolerate for no good reason.
• Cheer Up Boys (Your Make Up Is Running) – Poking fun at the Emo crowd apparently, I just like the chorus…

So that’s my recommendation, and in terms of the album as a whole, a big thumbs up and most certainly some of their best stuff ever. It’s one of the main reasons I love this band – they can’t stop (at least partially) improving on their prior work.

Tomorrow marks the 30th year since Elvis died, and so I’d just like to pay my respects and say long live the King…

An interesting favourite musician of mine, and not really in the same boat as the others – Foo Fighters, Groove Armada, Blink 182, Oasis, Jeff Buckley.

Most people I speak to born after his death tell me he didn’t write his own material and he spent most of his years making appalling movies. For me though, that doesn’t matter.

Elvis became an intrinsic part of my childhood listening (Father only kept two cassettes in the car; Captain Beaky and Elvis – so I know both inside out) and the first song I ever remember listening to was Hound Dog. Dad is a big fan – he has a large vinyl collection and has been known to drag the whole family to ‘reunion gigs’ where the original band plays around a giant video screen with the original vocals (I’ve been to two).

In honour of this anniversary I present my top ten Elvis tracks:

10. Viva Las Vegas
9. You’ll Never Walk Alone
8. Heartbreak Hotel
7. A Little Less Conversation (Elvis vs. JXL)
6. I Just Can’t Help Believing
5. His Latest Flame
4. See See Rider (Hawaii Concert version)
3. Suspicious Minds
2. In The Ghetto
1. Burning Love