Oh my God, I can't believe it

Check out the link below.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/5193126.stm

Predictions of a riot following the game proved unfounded...

In other football news, Arctic Monkeys beat Arsenal 2-1 in a friendly.

Review - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ricoh Arena

The last time I heard a crowd chanting 'give it away!' at the Ricoh Arena, it was from Coventry City fans willing their team to regain possession from Reading. The visitors on this occasion was funk-rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers, on tour promoting their new double album, 'Stadium Arcadium'.

Support came from Chili's favourites !!! (pronounced 'Chk chk chk') and Dirty Pretty Things. !!! were quite impressive; their sound difficult to pin down. Think LCD Soundsystem and the Rapture. They were energetic enough, with singer Nic Offer bouncing around the stage, strutting his stuff. The response from the crowd was mixed; their blend of electro-come-punk-funk perhaps not commercial enough for this festival crowd.

Not so Dirty Pretty Things, led by former Libertine Carl Barat. Their punk-pop was much more suited to the festival surroundings, although their songs did become harder to distinguish between, with many of them relying on that 'You Can't Hurry Love' / 'Lust for Life' / 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' rhythm. They left their single, 'Bang Bang You're Dead' 'til last, which proved the highlight of their set. Still, they're better than Babyshambles.

After forty minutes of waiting from an impatient crowd ("we want Chili Willi!") the Red Hot Chili Peppers finally appeared. Kicking off with an impressive 'Can't Stop', their set focused on half a dozen from 'Stadium Arcadium' and the rest from 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' onwards (except the Frusciante-free 'One Hot Minute'). As you'd expect from a band who've been around for over 20 years, their playing was fluid and intuitive. Flea's playing was as a tight as the lurid pink catsuit he wore, while Chad Smith proved himself as funky a drummer as Clyde Stubberfield or Jaki Leibezeit.

Despite a tight set, the band still used the live arena as a playground. They paid homage to their formative influences with snippets from Public Enemy's 'You're Gonna Get Yours' and 'London Calling' by the Clash between songs, while 'Californication' was preceeded by an overlong guitar jam. Unfortunately, this was around the time I had a blackout due to heat exhaustion and I saw the rest of the gig from the first aid area. Thankfully, I had recovered quickly enough to hear the encore: the superb 'Soul to Squeeze', then the crowd filling in for an absent Anthony Kiedis on 'Give It Away'.

A fantastic gig overall, and all on my own doorstep!