Musical memory lane

I love live music and there's nothing like the rush of adrenaline when buying your tickets to see your favourite band the morning they are released, or queuing to get the best possible view on the night. For me, you can enjoy listening to music at home or in the car but it's only when you see the artists live that the music itself comes alive.

Over the past month, I've been fortunate to see Travis, one of my favourtite bands since my college days, and then Five, on their Greatest Hits tour following the Big Reunion wave of teen nostalgia. My sister-in-law and I had a fab time on Friday with the fab four and sang at the top of our lungs as they sang such classics as 'If Ya Gettin' Down' and 'Closer To Me' (I love a bit of pop cheese!).

Then, on Sunday, we went to see the Barenaked Ladies, my all-time favourite band, who come from Canada and you're most likely to know for the catchy, fun 1998 single 'One Week' (you know, the one with the 'chikity china the Chinese chicken' bit in?).

We had bought VIP tickets as both hubs and I are big fans and we were really keen to meet the band this time around, being our third Barenaked Ladies gig in a decade. We attended the sound check at 4pm, had our photos with the band and chatted to them about their 25 years in the music business and how their song, 'Falling for the First Time', was played at our wedding and is the last song on our wedding DVD. It was really weird but very cool to meet them and by the time the gig itself started, it felt like we'd spent the day hanging out with the band.

We managed to get to the front row and from there, we enjoyed all the fun you can expect of this band, whose tracks range from the beautifully crafted tales of love to the hilariously insane.

If you've never heard of the Barenaked Ladies before, I really can't recommend them enough. They are hugely talented musically and lyrically and whether you want some easy listening music or like a bit of fun when it comes to music, they've got something to suit as they must have a collection of 1,000 songs at least by now. They even have an album for children called 'Snacktime'!

My personal song recommendations to look up would be as follows...

• THE BIG HIT - One Week
• THE ONE YOU'LL KNOW AS SOON AS YOU HEAR IT - Big Bang
• THE SING-ALONG ONE - If I Had A Million Dollars
• THE SILLY ONE - Another Postcards
• THE MAD AS A BOX OF FROGS ONE - Be My Yoko Ono
• THE BALLAD - Call and Answer
• THE TEAR-JERKER - Break Your Heart
• THE ONE ABOUT BEING DRUNK - Alcohol 
• THE CATCHY ONE - Angry People
• THE RELATIONSHIP ONE - Falling for the First Time
• THE ONE ABOUT EXPECTATIONS - What A Good Boy
• THE NEW ONE - Boomerang

These are some of my favourites but this top ten is also a great place to start if you want to try Barenaked Ladies on for size. You won't be disappointed.