Camden Rocks, Camden, London

Shit line-up this year, I doubt I’ll go next year, more so now it is 2 days and even more expensive. There will need to be a really good line up for me to go again. it’s odd that they are changing it to 2 days as this year was way less busy than the previous 3 or 4 years I’ve attended, we had no problem getting into any venue.

As I wasn’t keen on the line up I decided to turn up around 4pm and instead opted for a morning visit to Kew Gardens with Kristina.

I grabbed my ticket and sent Jim a text to see where he was. He was in The Camden Assembly (Camden Barfly). I’d not been in here since it changed to a wanky wine bar, it seems like they have changed it back with the upstairs having had a face lift, or I assume so. Like everyone who walks in there its now so dark you can’t see a meter in front of you. it took a good 5 minutes for my eyes to adjust from the light outside.

Jim wanted to see Massive Wagons, as we got in there early we also caught Reverted. Both were solid enough to be an opening act, Reverted had already played in Dingwalls and may have had a few new fans from that set. Massive Wagons came with a large crowd, them seem more established and I guess have played much larger shows than this venue can hold. They had a good set and presence on stage.

I only wanted to really catch Raveneye and Beatsteaks, unfortunately they both clashed! We left the “Barfly” and headed to Dingwalls.

Raveneye had already started their set and were in fine form, we stayed for 3 or 4 songs and caught the better part of the set with their main tunes. As with most festivals and lineups which clash you have to dip in and out of shows. I’d like to see a full headline show of theirs in the next few months. I spotted a couple of Virginmary fans down the front but never said hello.

As I also wanted to catch Beatsteaks I said to Jim we should head over to Electric Ballroom before it gets busy, I was expecting it to be rammed for Public Image Ltd who were playing after them. There was no need to worry, we headed upstairs where it was pretty empty, grabbed a pint then went down to the main floor for a good spot.

Beatsteaks once again had a solid set, even though I still don’t know much from them it was good enough.

A quick bite to eat then we headed to The Underworld to catch SIKTH. It wasn’t great so we left after the 3rd or 4th song before grabbing a pint and heading home.