Wow, it seems like I keep being surprised at the moment, and not in a good way. First off, The White Stripes on Conan O Brien’s final Tonight show last Thursday. I saw a video of their performance of the incomparable We’re Going To Be Friends and have been left feeling confused. Why is Meg singing too?? Is it a farewell message (for us, as well as Conan)? Is Meg pregnant? Are they ever gonna play live or tour again? One thing’s for sure -- there’s typical raw emotion in the final verse/chorus from Jack. Moving.

Secondly, the UK government has launched a new website for ticket touts, which is practically legitimising it in my eyes. Their argument is that they’re protecting fans from fake ticket scams by forcing ticket touts to key in genuine ticket numbers etc. Hmmm, nothing at all to do with the rich financial slice of cherry pie that eBay get every time tickets are re-sold on their site then eh? And at a whopping 12.5% booking fee that fans are gonna have to pay on top of overblown ticket prices, it looks like eBay may well still be the most affordable (even if slightly risky) option to gig-goers at the moment. Bloody buggers! The government are supposed to stamp out illegal activities, not take advantage themselves!!

For those of you who are interested in the great censorship/music piracy/file sharing debate, I just logged into my blog and found a spam comment I’d received from someone patrolling the internet on behalf of The Prodigy:

Hi michelle, On behalf of Cooking Vinyl Records, Take Me To The Hospital and The Prodigy, we would kindly ask you not to post copies of the “Invaders Must Die” album on your site (or any non-preview tracks from the artist’s new album -- street date 23rd February). We do appreciate that you are fans of / are promoting The Prodigy, but the label and artist would greatly appreciate your co-operation in removing your links to the pirate files in question. Thank you for respecting the artist’s and label’s wishes and, if you / your readers want good quality, non-pirated, preview tracks, “Invaders Must Die” (the title track) is available for hosting / posting / sharing etc … .. AND “Omen” -- release date 16th Feb -- is currently available to stream / hyperlink (ONLY PLEASE) off the band’s MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/theprodigy … .. you can also view Prodigy videos at http://www.youtube.com/prodigychannel and, for info on “Invaders Must Die” and the band’s 2009 shows, check-out http://www.theprodigy.com … .. also, keep an eye on these official sources for details of further preview material and pre-release promotions. As you will appreciate, this e-mail is written on a without prejudice basis and, as such, all of our clients’ accumulated, worldwide rights and remedies remain strictly reserved : please excuse this required formality. With Thanks & Regards, WEB SHERIFF

I didn’t realise I wasn’t allowed to let you lot listen to tracks that have been sent to me for review. All I’m doing is allowing you lot to hear some material before it’s out, thereby promoting the actual release! The Prodigy had better be careful -- they may just alienate me from their fanbase! And they’ve made one thing clear -- they’re certainly in it for the money and are in no danger of doing a Radiohead and coming up with more innovative ways of distributing/selling music/making it more affordable for their fans in the current climate. How depressing

By the way WEB SHERIFF - you may want to invest in an email address that isn’t automatically classed as spam by Wordpress? Just a thought..