Belle and Sebastian

Last night I had the opportunity to see one of my favourite bands in concert - Belle and Sebastian.  They are a Scottish indie rock group, and take their name from a French telly series for children about a boy (Sebastien), and his dog Belle.  I heard about this band many years ago from Stuart when we were still living in Italy.  In fact I owe a lot of my love of indie bands to him.  I first saw (and heard) The Bravery  before they were famous, play at the Montreux festival in Switzerland, as a fringe act!  


Anyway, last night was pretty special. We were lucky to get these tickets, and had grand seats!  One of their best concerts was live at the Barbican in London in 2005, but the tickets were all sold within 2 minutes of going online, so we missed that (which sucked big time).  There they played the entire album of what is probably my number 2 desert island disc, If you are feeling sinister.  



The opening act last night featured Dean Wareham Plays Galaxie 500.  They were fabulous, and the next album on my wish list is their 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhols Screen Tests.  

Finally Belle and Sebastian took to the stage, and by song 2 the entire theatre was on their feet.  I always find that a bit odd here - sitting down to a concert!  They were absolutely magnificent, and the lead singer Stuart Murdoch, also runs marathons (so you see, this is not just an arbitrary post).  Alas, the time flew by much too quickly, and soon it was time to go home.  But not without a tshirt. 


Well, all in all, it's been a pretty good week - not so much on the running side, as I am trying to work out a few things that are giving me a severe headache! However, we saw a good movie from South Africa, White Wedding, and it was great to see something positive and funny about SA - and the feeling of, I know exactly what that is like!
See, I did my anthropology fieldwork in the Eastern Cape, and I do remember driving for miles and miles without seeing any road signs, or eventually coming upon ones with arrows pointing in both directions (this was before the time of garmins or tom-toms). But I loved driving through the Eastern Cape, it is breathtakingly beautiful, and this movie does a pretty good job of showing some of that.  So I guess I should get ready for that half tomorrow.  I had hoped that this week would be a bit better, but it is what it is.  Main goal for tomorrow: enjoy the race.