Vinyl Diaries XXVIII: the hermit awakens

A small milestone passed quietly this week.... three months since attending my last gig.

Now by gig, I should clarify by pointing out that I did not consider the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, any performances at the Sydney Conservatorium (where I saw an inspiring rendition of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time last Sunday), various jazz and improvisational shows and their ilk to count as gigs. By gigs I meant bands playing songs that the ordinary man or woman in the street would say was a band playing a song at a gig.

One of the main reasons for the three months was to see if I could do it, the other was a slight case of simply going out too much and not having much time left to do my own things. In a ridiculous six or so weeks from late January into March, I seemed to end up at gigs by fourplay, tunng, low, mice parade, joanna newsom, sufjan stevens, arcade fire and bjork (all in less than a fortnight), iron & wine, broken social scene, okkervill river, feist, beirut, pj harvey, sonic youth... and more. After the joy that was Múm I decided to take a bit of a break, and here we are three months on.

It's possibly a coincidence, but during the break I've enjoyed the orchestral concerts more than I have in a long time. But I think that might be more interesting programing and better seats than in the past few years - the ACO's show last week with guest director John Storgards on lead violin was outstanding, particularly Lutoslawski's vivacious Preludes and Fugue for 13 Solo Strings.

Certain wags may argue (have argued, continue to argue) that my three month moratorium was made simpler by the paucity of touring acts through the period and my tendency to talk my way out of most of the performances I actually went to as being gigs as such.

All I know is I made it. I've now got a Sigur Ros ticket for their August show, but that's far too far away - I think I might have to go see Grand Salvo next Friday, but even that seems a long time away.