Havana ball

The start of 2001 offered conclusive proof that God’s a bastard. I like to think I’m a happy go lucky sort of a guy, but when, in the space of a week, your girlfriend leaves you, your auntie dies and Everton get beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa, you have to ask yourself, “What’s the bleeding point?” There was consolation to be had from the Clarkian record collection, which was enhanced this year by new offerings from Hardcore Superstar, Andrew WK, The Strokes, Billy Bob Thornton, Leonard Cohen, Spiritualized, Jurassics, Motorhead, The Charlatans, American Hi-Fi, Ash and The Hives. But not Radiohead who plumbed new depths of pseudo-intellectual prog noodling with their excrable Amnesiac album (I wasn’t too keen on it).

The highlight of the year – and probably the decade – was scamming a trip to Havana to see the Manic Street Preachers do their live thing in front of Fidel Castro. Shameless photo opportunity or not, the exuberance of the 5,000 kids who’d never witnessed a rock ‘n’ roll gig before was enough to make a grown man weep. Which I did when the Manics launched into a gobsmacking version of ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’. This isn’t the time or the place for an indictment of American foreign policy, but when you see how the trade embargo has impacted on Cuba, you can’t help but be incensed.

Other live highlights included Joe Strummer at the Olympia, the Super Furries at the Ambassador (what a venue!), U2 in Madison Square Gardens, Grandaddy at the Olympia and Snow Patrol’s tearing up of King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow.

It’s been said that 2001 was a vintage year for new Irish bands but with the exception of Go Commando and Jetplane Landing, I can’t say I noticed. In fact, the whole scene needs a collective enema to remove the twin impurities of alt. country and post-rock. Which, as we all know, are euphemisms for not having any songs, humour or stagecraft.

It hardly needs mentioning that September 11th was a disgusting crime, as were Israel’s continued forays into Palestinian territory and the way Bush and Blair didn’t give a fuck about civilian casualties in Afghanistan. By the way, if it’s really a global war against terrorism, when are the troops going into Dundalk to take out the Real IRA?

At the end of it all, there can be but one Moment of 2001, which was England’s 5-1 annihilation of Germany. I never thought I’d say this about a Liverpool player, but Michael Owen, I love you.