- The Observer, Sunday 19 February 2006
7 February
01.25am. Just back from the Folk Awards. Quite drunk. No one can pretend that high-profile bashes like the Brits don't encourage debauchery, and yet the Folk Awards are always a more welcoming, convivial occasion. They're not filmed for TV, so there weren't constant interruptions, and members of the fourth estate aren't kept at arms length from the 'talent'. And actually, it's only at, say, the Brits, that you might put that word in inverted commas; tonight, there was little doubt that all the winners were richly deserving, masters of their craft.
However: among the people this writer talked to, there was furious debate about what constitutes 'folk' these days. Given the recent 'Folk Britannia' gigs at the Barbican, and an upsurge in interest in artists as varied as King Creosote and Seth Lakeman, you might have thought that this year's Folk Awards would have seen a move towards embracing younger acts who don't necessarily know every Fairport Convention album backwards. Not so.
But here's the most troubling point about the evening: the best speech all night came from ... Frank Skinner.
8 February
4:36pm. OMM 'represented' at the Arctic Monkeys' homecoming gig in Sheffield last night. This writer last visited the same venue - the Octagon - to see Blur back in 1994. This was just before Parklife came out and the world tilted on its axis. So some comparisons are probably in order. It's more than stating the bleedin' obvious to suggest that Alex Turner and co have a bright future - and yes, the gig was brilliant - but whereas Blur sought approval and relished the sight of teeny-bopping girls, the Monkeys already seem wary of blinkered adoration.
Perhaps they're just too cool. Perhaps one of the reasons they are so successful is that in this world of myspace.com and MP3s and musical saturation, it's more important than ever to make demands of us, the lazy listeners.
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