FAIRPLAY : Coldplay, Ms Dynamite, Noel Gallagher, Idlewild, Lamb - London Astoria 28 October 2002

So charity gigs? Well, as Jules Winnfield says in Pulp Fiction, Intentions don�t mean a goddamn thing, before unleashing his barrels and letting God pluck the bullets out of the air.

But at least this isn�t some crass attempt at throwing money. It�s about freedom - it�s about education. And it�s about us, the consumers, using our purchasing power to change the world for the better.

Whilst people starve in foreign countries, multinationals throw them crumbs and charge us the earth for the fruit of their labours. Starbucks charge �1.75 for their average coffee. And pay about 3p for the beans that go in there.

So, tonight the music is almost irrelevant. Though personally I find the thought of calling music irrelevant insulting, all we need really is a little perspective. Music, for all it�s beauty, all its greatness, all those heart-in-mouth, breathtaking moments, is just another distraction. A way of diverting our attention from the fact that we are all slaves, and all of us are taught to live as dumb, mute animals that buy what we�re told.

There is another way, with our eyes wide open to the world around us. With the bullshit stripped bare, living in a place of all that you can�t leave behind, we get an evening of acoustic music from some of the big, and not-so-big names of 2002.

Shorn from the bluster and pomp, stripped of bullshit and artifice, we get a string of bands cranking out their gems as if they were in their living room. Lamb do whatever it is they do, and whatever it is they do fails to stick with me.

Idlewild, everybodys favourite band of the moment (despite having jettisoned their bassist in strangely tightlipped circumstances), rumble forth several songs, but to be honest, they seem no different from a million other bands I�ve seen and forgotten.

Despite what everyone else says about them, to me, Idlewild are nothing I didn�t see in dingy pubs ten years ago, sinking without trace.

Next up comes the best thing about Oasis (by several thousand miles). Noel Gallagher. This man should quit the rest of the band and go solo immediately if he�s got any sense, because - despite some shockingly Welleresque moments - he writes the type of songs that are destined to go down as classics.

Songs that sound like they�ve been plucked right out of your head, expressed the thoughts you didn�t even know you had, and connect with not just you, but everyone else here. Musically, he�s a babelfish. Everyone speaks the same language during the brief, half hour set that sees Noel give us Beatles covers, the swooning �Talk Tonight�, and the caustic �Married With Children�. And �Wonderwall�. But no one song he�s written in the past eight years. And that�s a shame, because there�s a lot more to Noel than being a human jukebox cranking out history lessons.

The next act is introduced by the Channel 4�s Spaced team, who provide the most succinct debate of the evening :

Ms Dynamite makes her first appearance on British soil to duet a song with Chris, and a cover of a Bob Marley classic, before they back her in her own theme song which, stripped of its traditional backing and rendered on nothing more than two acoustic guitars, and despite the chronically insecure name-dropping of far too many of today�s artists, bumps and grinds like a stripper.

Next part of the evening sees Noel Gallagher team up with Coldplay. And there�s joy everywhere for everyone it seems. Quite how songs of such intrinsic glumness can make people beam with joy. �Yellow�, a woefully under-rehearsed but sweet cover of The Smiths �Stop Me�, and a celebratory �Live Forever� later, and it�s over.

Despite all this, you go out into the cold. And nothings changed. Yes, you may be holding someone�s hand in the cold of October winds. You may feel that the glory and power of love can change the world irrevocably for the better. You may feel as if the world is about to change, but it hasn�t.

Every journey starts with a step. Every life starts with a kiss. Every marriage starts with a shy glance. Everyone can make the world a better place. Even you.

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