Last night was the Graham Coxon gig at Cardiff Coal Exchange. Bizarre venue, like an enlarged Cardiff Barfly but more steeped in history with pillars, an old fashioned clock and an oversized bar. What was also bizarre is that going to the loo just before the support band Switches were on and getting to pass them in the corridor and say good luck to them as they waited to go on stage. We saw Switches back in January support The Rakes, and boy have they grown in stature since then. The NME reckons that they'll be the first massive "britpop band" of 2007 and I can't say I'd argue with them right now. A stirling set played at the time to a half empty venue because of the rain, including personal favourites Lay Down The Law, Message From Yuz and Every Second Counts. And then Graham Coxon. It was 1997 when he was still in Blur when I last saw him live. 9 years later and 5 solo albums behind him, boy did he put the effort in. An 18 song set followed by a NINE song encore! It included all the hits of course...Freakin' Out, Spectacular, Standing On My Own Again and You And I. He concentrated mostly on the last 2 albums obviously, the material is so damn punk-poppy it's infectious. And he played See A Better Day ....... *Steve doth loveth the last song off Love Travels At Illegal Speeds as it be very ballady and This Is A Low-ish* Someone really should tell his drummer that thin horrizontal stripes don't make your man-boobs look good though. After he played the first track of the set with a drumstick in the left hand, maracas in the right hand and drumstick in the mouth with hair and facial expressions reminiscent of a monkey...that rather kept me amused and distracted through the set! Coxon has turned into somewhat of a sharp-witted if still very shy frontman. He said hello and asked if the crowd didn't fancy The Automatic tonight (as they were playing at the much larger Cardiff Uni venue). He accidentally played the start riff of Meat Loaf's Paradise By The Dashboard Light when checking the guitar tuning and then briefly took requests for other Meat Loaf songs. He told people not to heckle him when he took a breather between tracks for a quick drink of beer, as if they let him have the time to drink, then the set would last longer and they'd get more value for money! And he rubbished calls to play Beetlebum in the offhand way you'd expect. In any case, I digress. At ??14 a ticket for three quality hours of music including 27 songs and 2 hours from the main act...it is easily the best value gig I've ever been to. He might not be in Blur any more, but Graham Coxon still rules!