Strange how, although both days were sold out, this one just looked busier. Or maybe it’s just that the R13 taste buds were more in line with the masses.
The stars of day 2 were unquestionably Cage The Elephant. By all accounts their first day set was something to be seen, and The Earl of Camden can be a bit of a squeeze when somebody good and popular is doing their thing. The Underworld was the venue for Saturday’s CTE show and it was rammed!
The refreshing thing about this lot is that, where others fit in to a current scene, or go all out to be different, once in a while it’s best just to get down to basics and rock! Think a heavier Kings of Leon or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and you’re on the right lines.
Another pleasing sight was the queue for Reuben round the corner at Bar Monsta. We shouldn’t be in the least bit surprised however, since they’ve the Main Stage at Download, and headlining the Rock Sound Cave at Guilfest on their extensive live CV. The one in, one out policy was in full swing here.
In other, very rammed headliner news, The Wombats packed out the Electric Ballroom, again not unexpected given that they’re arguably the biggest name act to play day 2.
Someone likely to be a big star in months to come is Australian disco man Sam Sparrow. With current single ‘Black and Gold’ high in the singles chart right now, it was a given that the Earl of Camden would have a rather large queue forming for his set. For those looking for something to divert attention from Mika, Sparrow seems to be the ideal candidate. His two Camden Crawl gigs were also his first in the UK, so clearly a cause for great excitement if you like that kind of thing and are eagerly awaiting his debut album later this month.
We instead went to see Damn Shames at the Black Cap, and can announce to anyone having withdrawal symptoms waiting for new Franz Ferdinand material, this might be the band for you. Nothing groundbreaking, but a sizable turn out left happy.
After that it was onto Bullet for the hugely entertaining whirlwind punk of Lovvers, before we headed up to Enterprise with the intention of catching Screaming Tea Party, but got sidetracked downstairs by an intriguing form of Caroche, which involved the usual murdering of classics like ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘I Will Survive’ and ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’, accompanied by three blokes with ukuleles. When we did venture upstairs, we found the Japanese/Italian, London-based Screaming Tea Party to be very entertaining, as they delivered a mixture of quaint guitar pop with a full on hardcore assault on the eardrums: the other stars of day 2 alongside Cage The Elephant!
Not making it to the start line today were Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, but there was plenty for those in search of media hype driven buzz bands to get their teeth into. Crystal Castles appear to have come out of Camden Crawl with the world as their oyster.
The most noticeable difference between this and last year’s Crawl, the first to be a two-dayer, was the absence of already household names. 2007 included Ash, The Charlatans, Travis, Amy Winehouse, Biffy Clyro and The damned. Although 2008 saw Fratellis, One Night Only and Sham 69 on the line up, this had a more emerging talent look to it: no bad thing.
The schedule didn’t allow for the same amount of venue hopping as previous years. Most bands were put into time slots of 6.45, 8, 9.15 and 10.30, meaning by the time you’d decided you’d had enough of one thing, there wasn’t much point in walking to the opposite end of Camden for the other band you’d been tempted by.
So with Camden Crawl done for 2008, attention turns to the festival season and we wait to see who goes on to be the stars of the summer. Stay with R13 for reviews from many festivals in the coming months.
More immediately, check back here later for more reviews from Camden Crawl.