Thursday 14th October

Tonight I'm off to see MF Doom (or 'DOOM' these days) at Brixton Academy. I spend most of the day excited - Born Like This was easily my favourite album of 2009 and, from what I've heard from my little brother who went to see Doom in Manchester last night, he's going to be putting on a cool show.

After work I pop home for a quick bite to eat, snaffling last night's leftovers, before jumping on the tube to Brixton. While Brixton always seems like a long way away, into deepest South London, it's easy to forget how quick the Victoria line is - and I'm there by 7pm. I meet up with Tim, who has my ticket, and we head into a nearby Wetherspoon's for a couple of pre-gig drinks. I had planned to meet up with Jess before heading in, but she is round the corner with a few of her friends so in the end we decide to stay put and meet up inside. Doom's not due on stage until 10pm, so we take it easy and take advantage of the vast difference in drink prices between the gig venue and this dubiously-populated Brixton pub.

We eventually wander over to the Academy at around 9 - a place I haven't been to for a long long time but the scene of one of my favourite gig memories, when I saw Deftones play here in June 2000 at the tender age of 15 - where some guy from The XX is warming up with a pleasant-enough DJ set. We get a drink and wander around looking for Jess, whom we eventually find and take the piss out of The Herbalizer with before Doom is finally due on stage.

The big screen behind the stage shows a 1-hour timer on the screen of an iPhone (so at least we know how long the show's going to be) and Doom takes the stage in his trademark metal mask. Instantly, though, something is wrong. The vocal is far too loud - to the point where Doom's words (that which set him apart from probably every other rapper out there) are completely unintelligible. The music is way too low, meaning that all I can hear is bass and it takes a good minute to even work out I'm hearing a song I know. I'm not the only person who is annoyed by this - hardly anyone around us can quite believe how awful the whole thing sounds. It's like listening to a Doom album through someone's bedroom wall. I try putting my fingers in my ears for a while, which helps a bit, but in the end Tim and I decide to leave early. It's crushingly disappointing (and we're not alone), and for the really rather expensive ticket it's nothing short of scandalous work by the venue. I'm sure Doom would have been great tonight - but Brixton let him down. I won't be going there again any time soon.