CityLife

Brad's Camden Crawl Day 2

The Whip

WELL, I think it's safe to say that we should all be pretty pleased with our boys The Whip last night. They literally annihilated KoKo. But more about that later.

Morning all from day two of the Camden Crawl and a moderately sunny London-town.

Let me fill you in from where we left off.

After an hour or so of frantic planning, beer-supping, and general lounging yesterday, a game plan was hammered out and true to my word, The Jim Jones Revue heralded my official opening to the Camden Crawl 09.

Waxwork Gary Glitter

Visually, think of any tragic fifties style tribute act; all black and red, tight trousers and big quiffs, and a front man who strutted and snarled like Jagger, but bore too much of a passing resemblance to a waxwork Gary Glitter for me to be truly comfortable about the whole situation, albeit free of any glitter.

Audibly though, The Jim Jones Revue are fierce, frenzied and unrelenting Rock n' Roll.

The kind of wall-of-noise sound that lingers flirtatiously around the pleasure-pain threshold and makes the prospect of tinnitus seem almost appealing.

There's no rest for the wicked though and Dinosaur Pile Up to check out on the other side of the Camden strip.

Sea of pork pie hats

As we pass, Suggs and Madness are playing on the top of a double-decker bus for BBC Radio 6 Music, only distinguishable by a sea of pork pie hats.

That should give you a basic idea of exactly how bizarre the Crawl can get.

Dinosaur Pile Up play the Electric Ballroom, which is pretty much the venue that I've dreamed of owning since I was a mite. And although the Leeds trio might have been better suited to something a little smaller, their performance is by no means lost in the huge expanse of space.

Pulled Apart By Horses played Night and Day cafe a few months back, and although I knew they were good on record, I had no idea of how intensely awesome they, or indeed any band, could be on stage.

Little bit sweatier

Last night was no different. The Leeds boys clamber all over Camden's Purple Turtle, split the crowd, wrestle the crowd and everyone exits just that little bit sweatier. It's hardcore, but not as we know it.

Now what I was I saying earlier about The Whip?
 

Oh yeah, that's right. They were immense.

KoKo is packed our to the rafters, a much bigger crowd than I would have ever conceived would be there. And there's a bonus. These people are dancing. All of them. 
 

Fuzzy head

Throw It In The Fire, Sister Siam and Divebomb are veritable wonders of electro dancebility but none cause a stir like Trash; which I'm pretty sure has now been around for over half my Earthly years.

It's carnage on the dancefloor, and I mean as literal as carnage can be without the spilling of any guts.

Utterly, utterly amazing, and a tough act for a band of any size or stature to follow on from. 
 Lucky then, that there are multiple takeaways, one considerably fuzzy head and some seriously less than adequate sleep hours before Saturday's line-up gets underway.

And it's set to be an oestrogen-stravaganza indeed with The Joy Formidable, Chew Lips and Little Boots all on the itinerary, but before that, there's approximately 5,000 tonnes of vintage threads that I need to sift through.

Until tomorrow then, it's goodbye from Camden. Enjoy. 

For Day One, see link right.