Right. Let's get this straight - I'm gong to go off piste with this entry. It's true I went to see King Creosote in Islington tonight. I'll even go so far as to say I enjoyed myself. But I'm not going to stick to the point. So bail out now while you still can.

Having just deleted the word 'So' as the start of a paragraph, on the grounds I feel I start too many sentences with this word, I feel I now I owe it to you to make it worth your while to keep reading. So I'll start at the beginning (and for the observant amongst you I did use the word 'So' there once more - I only promise to not use it at the start of a paragraph (and trust me that's hard enough). I only found out about this gig about 3 or 4 days ago. Little did I know that the tickets had been on sale for 2 or 3 months. So like a fool I asked if anyone wanted to go. Lucky enough one of my friends wanted to go, but as it turned out they couldn't make it. So I had a ticket if I wanted it. Which was cool.

I'm not good at getting up in the morning. I don't think that's ever going to change. On Tuesday I'd overslept a little so I turned up at work at 1pm. A little embarrasing even for me. But today I had to be in for a 9 o'clock meeting. So it was I turned up at 8.30. Not so early for most. But early enough for me. I took in a change of clothes just in case I went to the gig tonight, although I kind of suspected that I wouldn't go. I managed to stay at work till 7. By then I was so tired that I'd had enough. I phoned my friend to tell him I couldn't be bothered going on my own (he couldn't make it apparently). But it turned out he could make it after all. Which was a surprise.

We arrived at the venue at about 9pm. It turned out neither of us had been there before. Which was pretty amazing as we both go to a lot of gigs. As venues go it's just the right size and the sound was pretty good. We'd stationed ourselves in what he called the "'Gay Zone". This was in close proximity to the bar with the weird looking fan boys. Not sure they were gay, but it was close to the bar. So we stayed there. I'd not had a drink for a little while so it was good to have a few with a good mate. It was made all the more fun as he's from Fife as is King Creosote. Apparently, he plays on his Scottishness. But from my point of view don't they all?

I should say a few words about King Creosote. The band was good. He was good. His songs are good. He's good. It was good. But for some reason I didn't think the whole thing was good. Maybe I expected it was going to be better than the last time I saw him. But that's an unrealistic expactation. I think perhaps reflecting on it my original decision to go home tonight was what I really wanted to do and no matter what he did on stage tonight it wouldn't be good enough. That was probably it - as he was good. Very very good. But I still didn't feel the same about it all as I did the other times I'd seen him. Perhaps I want him to do another album? The truth of the matter is I don't know.

But as I left the venue tonight, what was apparent was that sometimes it's not the music but the company that you're with. I'd not seen my mate for a couple of months. I'm sure if he reads his he's say I was gay for saying it, but tonight was much more about friends than the music. Don't get me wrong - Kenny plays a pretty decent soundtrack to that - but it has to be said I was on my way home until he said he could make it. It's not that I don't go to gigs on my own, but tonight wasn't that night.

And then having had a really good night, I listenend to Handel's Solomon (or at least a third of it) on the way home. And it struck me how much I love this music. I'd love to sing again. It doesn't mean you have to believe any of the religious content. Far from it. As I walked home listening to the sheer magic of this music I remembered the men in the choir I was so proud to sing in in Ramsgate. I knew they weren't religious. But I couldn't understand why they wanted to come along. But tonight as I listened to the drama and excitement of this work, I finally undestood why they came. They loved the music. Quite why it's taken me this long to understand that I don't know. But tonight I had one of those Road to Damascus moments. It really doesn't matter if you believe in any of the religious content, but enjoy the music for what it is. I've no doubt that the vast majority of religious art (either audio or visual) was created by non believers - it simply was the practice at the time to find a rich patron who would write the expenditure off "to the glory of God" in the hope of saving his (and let's face it girls it was always a chap) rich arse. But that meant that that the Handels Mozarts and the Michelangelos of the world could express themselves.

And thank God for that.