Chimpomatic

In a new departure, we asked intrepid reporter, (and noted scholar of the Edge effect pedal board), Dr Chimp to file a review of the U2 crowd outside the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday 22 Aug, 2009... It should be noted that U2 have the most unstylish fans in the world. There were some truly horrendous mullets (non-ironic mode) on d ....read more

I'm not quite sure why you would, if playing just two UK dates in 2006, choose Cardiff and Bournemouth, but there's little point in trying to figure out how Bob Dylan's mind works. Last night's Cardiff show was a competent, solid, but slightly predictable affair that left me longing for the spontaneous magic of the 2003 Hammersmith show to which Ch ....read more

It's not every day that a band containing Miles Davis' former guitarist treats you to the first ever public performance of a piece that was written that very afternoon. But this is exactly what happened at the stunning Shakti concert in Bristol's Colston Hall on Saturday night. The first half of the show consisted of several old favourites, all exe ....read more

Could failing to get the part of Woody on Cheers really drive a man to turn his back on being human? This is one of the more bizarre questions that Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man poses in its troubled margins. The documentary tells the tale of a failed actor, Timothy Treadwell, who spent many summers living among grizzly bears in the Alaskan wildernes ....read more

What's up, doc? I have just raced through all of season 1 of Twin Peaks in a couple of days. This is the first time that I've revisited it since it aired on TV in 1990. It's still great, and Cooper is still one of the greatest characters ever to appear upon our screens, but it was *very* odd to watch it in such a condensed time period. What I remem ....read more

We’re all under constant surveillance, so why not add another level to the panopticon by watching Cache/Hidden..? In the grand tradition of Rear Window, The Conversation, Blow-Up, and Lost Highway, Michael Haneke’s latest film gleefully undermines the viewer’s understanding of what s/he is looking at (and why), and its opening sho ....read more

Dr and Mrs Chimp were served a feast of tasty treats at the Matthew Herbert Plat du Jour gig in Bristol's Victoria Rooms last night. Loud and manic sounds, great visuals, intriguing smells, white wellies, fishy balloons, and crunchy Worcester apples were all cooked up into a real assault on the senses. Serving suggestions will never quite be the sa ....read more

Dr Chimp's ears are still ringing after the U2 rockfest at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium last night. Very odd to be in a space that big, but with a roof overhead - a bit like being indoors and outdoors at the same time. U2 gave us two very loud hours of their greatest hits, plus about three-quarters of the latest album. Oddly, the songs from their ....read more