The Old Fire Station / Angélique Kidjo

It's been a loooong time coming, but today The Old Fire Station Café, Bar, and Bakery opened its doors on Albert Bentley Place.

With her usual enthusiasm, the Minx was the first person to cross the threshold when she and our neighbour, Linda, went for coffee, this morning.

I arrived a little later in the day, meeting Simon for a drink there, and over the next hour or so we were joined by Yoss, Hannah, and the Minx.

In the evening, Simon, Yoss, and I met up with Charlie to go and see Angélique Kidjo playing at the new Aviva Studios. By a curious coincidence, Charlie had come across Kidjo's cover of Talking Heads' 'Remain In Light'* album at the weekend and then looked to see if she was touring anytime soon. And she was: tonight, in Manchester!

The venue was good, and the gig was excellent. She played a few of the Talking Heads tracks plus a load of her own original material. Her band was superb, and she was simply mesmerising.

*One of my all-time favourite albums, and a ridiculously ambitious album to attempt to cover. And yet she totally pulls it off.