21 Sept - Charlotte Hatherley @ King Tuts

For those who don't know, Charlotte Hatherley is the guitarist from Ash. Now I'm not the biggest Ash fan, they do have some excellent songs (eg Shining Light, Envy) but on the whole I could live without them. However, as one of my best mates is from Northern Ireland I agreed to go along to King Tuts to see what turned out to be her debut solo gig.

We got tickets from the local support band Wake The President, which made us feel duty bound to turn up early to check them out and what a treat they were! Good gentle tunes and a plesant surprise for all of us. I will definately try and see them at a later date.

On to the main reason we were there. I was hoping that Charlotte's solo material wouldn't be a carbon copy of Ash but it has to be said that much of it was very similar, she is an exceptional musician and it is refreshing to see a powerful front women who can really rock.

But on the whole the set was a unbalanced as there were so many styles on show and its clear that Charlotte hasn't quite decided what she wants to be or where she should be going. Lets hope she decides soon or the solo career might be shorty lived.

Al