Camden Crawl 2007

United Kingdom | by Thilini Gunaratna | 25 April 2007

After plotting and planned our best schedule we set off to divide and conquer as much of the Crawl as we could...

Thursday's Crawl kicks off to a terrifyingly impressive start by young whippersnappers Cajun Dance Party, the accomplishments of this youthful quartet putting most post-Libertine outfits to shame.  Filling out the Electric Ballroom at 6pm is no mean feat but it's one the band seem to handle with ease as they jostle about like some kind of petulant pep rally.

Then it's a quick stroll across to the Underworld to bask in the acoustic rays of the aptly named Emmy the Great, an acoustic singer-songwriter with plenty of sublime songs, tidily packed with  biting cynicism Taking note of the last minute cancellation from The Cooper Temple Clause, who were replaced by the darkly thrilling and eerie punk delicate The Violets, we reshuffle plans and run across to try and catch Late Of The Pier.

Good thing too. Synth-soaked tunes in a seismic dancefloor shifting vein, lying somewhere between the happy haze of Q And Not U and a sinister edgier version of The Faint, Late Of The Pier pack the venue to the rafters and within minutes we're already making notes to catch them at a live venue in the not so distant future.

We remain in the same venue to catch a glimpse of the band who are the latest contenders to CSS' hyper-energetic live performances, Brazillian trio Bonde Do Role. Under the guidance of beatsmith Diplo, the legendary beats provider for M.I.A, we are expecting big things and big is exactly what we get, with loud, colourful brash in yer face, roof raising, bass thumping freaky dance anthems. Trashy europop punk suddenly seems cool again as they sample and rap over everything from Europe's 'The Final Countdown' to Daft Punk's 'Robot Rock'.  Still vaguely arrested by the dance-rap assault from Bonde Do Role, we make our way back down to the heart of the Crawl, stopping briefly to giggle at Jack Penate surrounded by a gaggle of indie girls, all dressed in black.

Painfully worried about being subject to an episode of last chord syndrome, where you dash across to a venue only to hear the final chords as the band leaves the stage, we decide on queuing to see Foals.  To pass the time we overhear debates on the lyrics to current Foals single 'Hummer' (Is it Pokemon?  No you idiot, it's Oh, Come on!) and perhaps more amusingly observe countless Hadouken mimicries, for the infectious 'That Boy, That Girl'. We breathe a sigh of relief as we make it in to see Foals in the miniscule NW1. Anticipation weighs heavy in the air, and within two songs, there's already an uncontrollable stage invasion. Math rock has never been so thrilling and raucous and, fittingly, 'Mathletics' closes a set that began with an impromptu cover of Gwen Stefani's 'Hollerback Girl'.

Leaving NW1 takes some time. Everyone is slightly dazed, bewildered and quite possibly injured but it felt like the only place to be tonight. The crowd for the Crawl has been morphing, from a masse of Horror-hair driven legging clad masses to a more respectable older generation. After battling back out of NW1, we first fall victim to massive queues for Ash and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and with not a snowball in hell's chance of sneaking in to New Young Pony Club, we decide to go and investigate Black Ghosts who are playing up the road.  Seems like everyone's had a similar idea, as it's already one in one out. Calvin Harris departs the building, leaving the Adventures Close To Home DJs to showcase their finest skills. Black Ghosts arrive but not long after we decide to leave. Hearing Hard-Fi with their P45s 20 years down the line isn't not an ideal way to close the Crawl but really there was nothing left to do but escape.

Day two of the Crawl and we can't help but draw ourselves back to the fold of Foals, who to our relief are even better than we remembered them to be. 'Hummer' and 'Balloons' particularly stand out from the tight jerky syncopated set. It's already much busier than yesterday night.  The streets are busy, touts have pitched up at every corner asking for tickets and the queues for the bar are at least five deep. Deciding to investigate the new Mike Skinner signing Example, we head off to the Dublin Castle to be politely informed by the bouncer that queuing is a lost cause.  The stalwart Travis fans had quite rightly pitched up early and tenaciously held their spots throughout the night. We head off to get the party started with the keytar spectacle of Shy Child, only to find out they have cancelled. 

Somewhat disheartened by this, we trapse back down to the Electric Ballroom. On our way we see queues trailing out of every venue and so decide to stick to the Ballroom to ensure we get a chance to see the headliners.  Back just in time for the Kissaway Trail, a Danish quintet that would be just as comfortable in an episode of The O.C. as they would on a cavernous stage, they come across as a charming mix of the harmonies of Mercury Rev, the grandeur of Arcade Fire with the pop voice of the Polyphonic Spree.

Billy Bragg fills the gap between The Kissaway Trail and Black Rebel Motorcycle Political musings and covers of The Carpenters and Johnny Cash exceed all expectations - there's no one else you'd like to listen to up on that soapbox than Mr. Bragg.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club begin their headline set in the crammed smoky darkened hall. Playing a few songs from their new album, seamlessly segueing from one song into the next, they play all their hits with minimal banter, lots of smoke and loud crunching guitars and drums. Ending with 'Whatever Happened To Your Rock'n'Roll' simply reminds us of what this trio are capable of, hoping that the new record is a nod to their first.

After some patchy DJing and terrible mixing from resident Frog DJs, not to mention a hilarious back and forth battle over noise levels with the soundmen, we decide to pay our dancefloor dues to the Accelerted Youth DJs at Koko instead. There we were surprised, caught off guard, by Chrome Hoof, a collective on tour supporting the Klaxons.  They describe themselves as electro doom space ritual.  Clothed in silver as if they robbed every last scrap of Tin Foil from Sainsburys, they play loud metallic riffs, to some occasional singing amidst much confusion, baton twirling and combining of all things death metal with electro. A spectacle you'd expect to stumble on late at night in the Lost Vagueness fields at Glastonbury.

Chrome Hoof round off our Camden Crawl experience in extraordinary style, bringing  a spectacular end to a diverse musical line-up over these last two days. A successful Crawl all in all, new bands unearthed and old favourites revisited. The only downfall was the queues and also not knowing the line-up until the evening. The array of bands across the  two days were quite similar, which may have left some two day pass holders feeling slightly short-changed and those lucky enough to live in London may also have been quite familiar with the best parts of the line-up already.