I got to cross a band off of The List this week. The Front Bottoms in Camden. Their self titled album was probably my favourite new thing I heard last year so there was a lot of pressure on them. From me anyway. I'm sure they didn't care. It felt like it might actually be summer for the first time of the year and having a leisurely pre-gig pint in The Worlds End with the sun pouring in, the faint noise of a didgeridoo in the background, pondering the queue for The Underworld (something called Moonspell apparently - the people going to see whatever that is all looked like they know the Dungeonmaster's Guide inside out) was lovely. Until AC/DC came on the jukebox at a volume that I'd have believed they were actually playing in the corner of the pub. It was still pretty good even with the rawk to be honest. We got to the venue too late to see Stephen from Tellison playing support because the waiter at the sushi place we had dinner at was new and when he couldn't understand our request for green tea ice cream, rather than finding someone who could understand just went away and pretended that nothing had happened. Twice. Still, we got there just as The Front Bottoms started and almost immediately I was grinning from ear to ear. They were even better than I'd dared hope. Louder, faster, tighter, more dynamic than the album. Really, really tight actually. An excellent line in banter too. And the brilliant songs just kept coming. Here's the video for a new one.
A non-musical highlight was during Mountain when someone invaded the stage with a double per band member, they stopped the song, downed them in complete unison, and started up again. Really, really tight. I did feel pretty old, but better that than the alternative. I'd not been to The Barfly before. It's exactly how venues should be. There were a few "that guy could only possibly be a massive tool" moustaches around, but that's London I suppose.
That leaves The List as: The Gin Blossoms, Bruce Springsteen, Frightened Rabbit, The Retrospective Soundtrack Players, Swans, Brand New, Say Anything, Bad Books, King Creosote and Jon Hopkins, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, The Wrens. Some of those are going to be easier than others.