Art Bar, Dundee, 16 Nov 2003.

I did 3 songs at this one.

Glasgow, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, 21 Dec 2003

James, me, Johnny, Kenny, with music stands for lyrics. Xmas hats for 3 kings allusions.

King Tut's was the first proper unpoc gig. I remember the start really clearly. They knock the door - "5 minutes!" - then they come back with the torch and you jump in behind them and you're hustled through the crowd, single file, pretty fast, right up to the steps, up onto the stage, and then you're up there, and you're plugging in and then you'd better be ready because it's all happening.

We did another King Tut's 6 months later.

Popaganda Festival, Stockholm, 28th May 2004.

I think this says unpoc topped critics' annual Best-of-Year lists, and that this would be our first Nordic show.

It's such a beautiful language. There we are in the programme, on the Stora Scenen, The Big Stage, 8pm on the Fredag. It was a really good slot. We had only been in the country 5 hours at that point. We came straight from the airport.

I had never been to a festival, or Sweden, I'd only done two gigs, and now they wanted me to do Stockholm's Popaganda, main stage, 8pm! Big crowd. Nervous.

I did see perplexed faces in the audience as we walked on. A weird, vacuum silence, was how James described it. They were probably wondering who we were. We figured to get through the set, maybe win over a few people.

But as soon as we started, there was a sort of shift in the crowd, like they realised it was us. They began to join in, started singing along. Singing along! And it really built up. It turned out they knew all the songs, and they sang them all with us. And, between songs, the volume even went up. Shouts of "Yeeaah", and whooping. I saw people hi-fiving.

At the end, we were asked to do an encore. I had not anticipated that. We had used all the songs. So we did the first one again, like a lap of honour. What a nice day. What a great place.

Rundgang Festival, Karlskrona, 29th May, 2004.

The day after Popaganda, we flew down to Karlskrona, right in the south of Sweden, for a little festival called Rundgang. It means feedback.

For such a small festival, they'd organised a great line up. Can't be easy, making the numbers work, they did really well.

The tiny audience squeezed themselves in at the stage front. One person looked a bit squashed so we had him join us onstage, doing the tambourine. It was that kind of show, perfect compliment to the day before.

Here's my wristband and hotel instructions. It would be a nice place to live, Karlskrona.

Rundgang had a great poster.

At the airport with Kenny, Johnny, James (percussion, percussion, guitar), all still looking a bit shocked.

Accelerator, Sweden, 6-8 July 2004.

Accelerator was a terrific, big 3-city touring festival. In Gothenburg, we were sound-checking as the audience was let in. They were running towards the stage, maybe thinking they'd missed us. We were playing Here On My Own.

I liked being part of the big troupe of bands travelling together; it's a nice feeling, being part of the circus.

Getting ready in Malmo.

Goteborgskalaset, Aug 8th, 2004.

It means Gothenburg's party. The cutting here says we had become Sverigefavoriter, which has to be a good thing.

James (guitar) was away, so Theo (more a drummer), stepped in. Goteborgs Posten gave us 4 lighthouses out of 5, I think. I met singer-songwriter Nicolai Dunger backstage too, nice fellow.

Linkoping & Lund, Sweden, 28/29 Oct 2004.

I did these two headline shows as a trio with Alan bass and Theo drums. We rehearsed for 6 weeks solid. It was Linköping (Club John Doe at Herrgår'n) and then Lund (Blekingska Nationen). Turns out, headlining is like having a great tailwind.

Alexandra Palace, London. 3rd Dec 2005.

This was my biggest indoor show, playing to 8,000 Franz Ferdinand fans. It was the last of four nights they were doing at Alexandra Palace, to round off their UK tour.

What a big hall. There I am, having a pre-gig wander while some of the Franz crew are kicking a football around.

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