Lily Allen LIVE

So for the second Saturday in a row I found myself in the salubrious surroundings of the Manchester Academy. Although it must be said that I was more excited this week than I was last week.

First things first, I've a memo for Lauren Laverne..."FUCK RIGHT OFF." As you might remember I had a little dig at Laverne for her comments about Miss Allen around the time of the Mercury Music Awards nominations earlier this year. Something along the lines of "Lily Allen doesn't really care about the music" or some other nonsense.

Well I hope Laverne catches this tour at some point and issues an apology. I've been to a lot of concerts in my time, but I swear I have never seen such a noisy reception for an artist as the one that the people of Manchester afforded Lily Allen. It was that loud and it was that raptuous.

If anything it got louder as Lily treated us to the bulk of her Alright Still album (only Take What You Take was missing...which is not a bad thing if you ask me) with the addition of some choice B-sides, the wonderful Nan You're A Window Shopper and an "acoustic medley" of Keane's Everything Changes and The Kooks' Naive.

Quite simply there wasn't a duff note all night. What's forgotten is that Lily can actually sing. And backed up by a tight band it was something really special indeed. Indeed, there's not enough live horns in touring bands these days.

As great as the album is, you've always got slight doubts about how it will transfer to the live arena, but I needn't have had any worries at all. There is no dobut that Lily Allen has "it" in abundance.

The only downside of the night was the appearance of Keith Allen, complete with the usual "moronic football dance" he always does, but even that was worth it in the end as Lily told him to "fuck off". I mean come on, who hasn't at some time or another wanted to tell Keith Allen to fuck off?