It’s October 2005, and there’s just one question: What the hell am I doing at an Alabama 3 gig?

If this season of blogging about Gigs I Have No Diary Entries For is difficult, at least for most of the them I have my overarching love and interest for the band in question to help me come up with at least a vaguely interesting account of the night. When it comes to Alabama 3, however, I have next to nothing. In some ways, this gig is entirely unlike any that came before it, with the possible exception of my Gig Zero – the one I went to before I knew or cared about what gigging actually means. This is the first gig since then that I went to purely as a social event. I had no great interest in the band, but my Glam Best Friend had tickets, and so I went along.

Strangely, as with my previous gig – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at Alexandra Palace – the only actual memory I have is of what happened after the gig. Once the band had departed the stage, the catchy twang of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” rang through the venue, and we all had a little dance and sing. If I’m being honest, that was probably the most enjoyable moment of the night for me, as it takes only a cursory glance at my gigging history to see that Alabama 3 are not exactly my usual cup of tea.

More notably for me is the fact that this was my second-last gig at the Astoria, which was second only to Brixton Academy as my favourite gig venue. Obviously, I wish now that I’d taken the opportunity to attend many more gigs at this most legendary venue before it was stomped out of existence in 2009 at the hands of Crossrail. So, while my main take-away from this blog post may be ‘what on earth was I doing at this gig?’, I am glad that at least it gave me one extra chance to dance and sing within the glorious walls of the Astoria before it was gone forever.