We turned up at the venue but there was no one on the door, so we went up the stairs to see what was going on. When we got up there I realised we were quite early because there were only about 3 other people standing and watching the first band, Frankie & The Heartstrings, soundchecking. After about a minute I realised that all the other people in the room apart from us, were the bands friends/family/management, etc. So we were the only 'normies' in the room.
We decided to go wait outside for a bit and take in the surroundings of Camden so the bands could get everything ready. I'm pretty sure that they didn't want us to stand about there anyway. So we were standing outside the Barfly and then we realised that Jarvis Cocker was walking across the road towards us. He went into the pub side of the Barfly as well.
Later we went into the venue and I stood at the front while we watched Frankie & The Heartstrings. This was quite entertaining as at one point I was joined by Steve Lamacq, at my left, and Jarvis Cocker, at my right.
Frankie & The Heartstrings were very good. Hailing from the ship builing and coal mining city of Sunderland. They had some dancy, moody pop songs. They seemed like a great group of lads. They had some great stage presence. Lead singer Frankie walked into the crowd which I think scared Jarvis off, though.
Lion Club were up next and they tried to bust everyones ears à la My Bloody Valentine. My sisters friend Guy was playing violin, but what he was doing was drowned out by the drums and guitars of the rest of the Lion Club. What a very big, atmospheric sound they have.
The Drums were on last and they were great, except for the fact that they were using their iPod as a backing track, and the fact that Jacob was flailing around the stage like a fish out of water, almost hitting me with his tambourine or guitar. Pierce was brilliant again. I think he is a great frontman. If the buzz for this band keeps up they will be feautured in NME "hype" tours very soon.
As we left the venue I saw Jamie Hodgson who has a great blog on NME.com so check that out as well if you want - Jamie's blog.
Gary Moore tonight and Muse in nearly two weeks. I'm still 'gigging it up', if that is an actual saying. Let's just pretend it is.
xx
