Gig: The Life And Times Of A Rock-Star Fantasist * * * * *
by Simon Armitage (Viking, £16.99)
by TINA JACKSON - Wednesday, April 2, 2008Ten years is a long time to wait for a follow-up but Gig, the successor to Simon Armitage's last prose collection All Points North, is worth it.

Its premise is the Yorkshire poet's obsession with music, which has fuelled his imagination throughout his life, and it includes pieces of prose and poetry, memories of his favourite gigs, family anecdotes, a running gag about his live poetry appearances and snippets of dialogues that are dry, deadpan and pantwettingly funny.

All of this is woven into an ongoing love letter to the dissenting, entertaining, bloody-minded glory of northern life.

Armitage is incapable of writing anything that is not wry, warm, witty and layered with meaning and, unsurprisingly, the musicians this consummate wordsmith is most interested in are the clever post-punk lyricists such as Morrissey and Mark E Smith.

Yet, ever-generous, his great gift is to transform the lives and words of people who might at first glance not appear to have the gift of the gab into something poignant and extraordinary.