Camden Crawler [Seatwave blogs]

Camden Crawler

Fasten your wrist bands and head behind the scenes at the Camden Crawl

Camden Crawl 2008: Friday

Posted on April 21, 2008 10:59 AM
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The Vertically-Challenged Editor's View
Friday 18th April

By Katie Spain

3:00pm
The line-up snaking its way up Kentish Town Road is already mammoth... we started earlier last year but the delay hasn't improved. More than one punter debates "Popping into the pub for forty-five minutes" to wait for the queue to die down. They do. It doesn’t. A man paints a table, oblivious to the madness around him.

Meanwhile, we brave the cold and watch as a photographer snaps girls and their fashion choices. One poor girl is so disinterested; the photographer has to manually spin her around to get a good shot of her gigantic, buckle-endowed clompers. The snapper doesn’t approach us; I guess bright multi-coloured dresses don’t fit the ‘Camden look’. Luckily, this isn’t a fashion parade, it’s the Camden Crawl and that means rushing between venues, packed crowds, sweat laced beer baths and toilets with no loo paper. Did you bring your wet wipes?

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Camden Crawl 2008: Friday

Posted on April 21, 2008 10:37 AM
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CAMDEN CRAWL 2008
Were You There?

By Peter Coulston

I certainly hope that the answer to the question in the title is “yes” in lots of cases, because it was quite a party, on Friday anyway. Despite the bitterly cold weather, hoards of live music lovers made their presence felt from midday onwards, and the party continued until the early hours of Saturday. A few politicians, hoping for our votes in the forthcoming London elections, showed their faces but received a reception that was even colder than the weather. I have no intention of giving any of them any free publicity, so let’s move on to the real issues of the day; music, music, music.

Coming a close second to that, of course, is beer as supplied in generous quantities by the event sponsors, Red Stripe Jamaican Lager. With that brilliant combination, a good day was guaranteed from wherever you started, which for me turned out to be The World’s End. This venue always has some great rock bands on during the day and was veritably heaving for that reason. I took in The Bad Robots, a local pop/punk/indie band with great vocals and songs. For some reason, they were not included in the little book in the reception pack that claims to list “every bloody last one of them”. Never mind, they did a good set, the lead singer has a great beard and you should listen to “4 Reasons” on www.myspace.co/thebadrobots to see what I mean.

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Camden Crawl 2008: Saturday

Posted on April 19, 2008 6:52 PM
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Camden Crawl 2008
Saturday 19th April

By Zarina Raja

It was another dreary and over-cast day in London as I tumbled out of Camden Tube station following the reams of people trudging towards various venues in Camden, all tagged by a glittery red wrist band and a stupid hair cut. Day two of the Camden Crawl and I was itching to see a good band. Friday was - although a lot of fun - disappointing in terms of gigs.

The choice of bands for Friday was well varied. Most venues had a couple of bands that were definately worth a look. Lykke Li, Make Model, Lady Hawke, Slow Club, Operator Please, Crystal Castles, Ipso Facto, Ida Maria and Does it Offend You, Yeah? would have made for great viewing, but this is easier said than done.

It was the astounding queue for Crystal Castles an hour before they were even due to play at the Purple Turtle that has etched a bitter tone to my thoughts on the Camden Crawl. If you brave it and ‘crawl’ Camden, then you are in for a lot of queuing, and if you stay at the same venue all night, which is the sensible thing to do, then you have to put up with the likes of Sam Isaac and The Fratellis.

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CRAWLER DIARY: It's here

Posted on April 18, 2008 1:38 PM
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So, the event is sold out, the sky is overcast and we're running late - as uaual.
Camden Crawl is about to launch its delightful fury over North London's venues. Last year we came out of the experience with beer stained trainers, lopsided grins and music in our ears. Our Editor waited hours on end to get a front row view of Miss Winehouse at The Dublin Castle and came out of the episode with a permanently stretched bladder. She's now like a camel... only smaller.

So, hitch up your skirts, adjust your skinny jeans and get ready to scramble your way into some of the best venues in London, for a sneak peek at some of the best bands of today (and tomorrow). If you missed out on a wrist band, tough luck suckers. Report back here for pics, reviews and quotes from the fans.

Operator Please, Chik Budo, Youthmovies, Ida Maria and Natty are on our 'must see' list. The lads from Simple Plan recommended we catch Cage The Elephant too - they've taken a couple of days out of their support slot to take part.

Righto, we're off to get those shiny bands and down a few chocolate salty guarana balls at the Spiral Cafe. God's gift to fatigued Entertainment Editors and their cronies.

Here's the Friday line-up.

Agaskodo Teliverek / The Bad Robots / Blackhole / Bombay Bicycle Club / Chik Budo / Cutting Pink with Knives / Eastern Conference Champions / Esser / Eugene McGuinness / The Fratellis / The Ghost Frequency / Hadouken! / Hatcham Social / In Case Of Fire / JME / The King Blues / Ladyhawke / Lightspeed Champion / Lowline / Lucy and the Caterpillar / Pete Molinari / Natty / The Noisettes / Post War Years / Robyn / Rolo Tomassi / The Rushes / S.C.U.M / Sergeant / Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames / Simone White / SixNationState / Soko / Toddla T / Tronik Youth / Vinny Vinny / Jeremy Warmsley / William / Yoav / Youthmovies

See you down there!

CAMDEN CRAWL: Amy Winehouse

Posted on April 24, 2007 10:35 AM
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Amy Winehouse, The Dublin Castle - 19th April 2007
By Katie Spain

It's well past the scheduled time for Amy Winehouse to hit the stage. The crowd's chanting bounces off the walls - "Where's the wino, where's the wino?" The Dublin Castle is full to the gills with Camden Crawl revellers; all keen and a little apprehensive about whether she'll even show up. There's nothing like an evening of suspense in a little North London pub.

Earlier, as I lined up to get in, I'd read a report about a gig she'd done today in Bristol. Unsurprisingly, it focussed on her backstage beverage requests. That's the thing about Amy; she's the modern-day jazz chick with enough raw edge and public troubles to make her media's most interesting darling. Why follow pop princesses around when you can hound a semi-slaughtered, dishevelled, loud-mouthed waif with an attitude? Add her even gobbier rock-star mates into the equation and you've got yourself a journo's dream date. That's exactly why we all love her... but let's not forget - the woman has a gut-wrenchingly amazing voice. And tonight, that's what we're here for.

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CAMDEN CRAWL : The Electric Ballroom

Posted on April 24, 2007 10:08 AM
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THE CAMDEN CRAWL : The Electric Ballroom Thursday 19 April
By Peter Coulston

So here I am, on part two of the music marathon that is the Camden Crawl. Having parted company with my colleague, Katie Spain, who was heading for the Dublin Castle for a heavy session (in more ways than one no doubt) with Amy Winehouse, I prepared myself for the more sober company of Ash. This was one of the earlier starts (6:15pm), which meant that my craving for a burger caused me to miss half the set by Cajun Dance Party, due to there being no food at the venue. What I heard of the band I enjoyed very much, so I must try to catch them again.

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CAMDEN CRAWL : The Spread Eagle

Posted on April 24, 2007 9:43 AM
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The Spread Eagle Thursday 19 April
By Peter Coulston

Hi everyone, welcome to the Camden Crawl. You read about it on the website; this is the real thing.

Despite something of a hassle picking up the tickets, the atmosphere was amazing. I arrived just before midday, and everyone was looking forward to the festivities. By 2:30pm the daytime venues had started their live sets and we opted to begin at the Spread Eagle on Parkway. A big, old fashioned pub opposite the Dublin Castle, it was a nice place to be listening to some acoustic, even if the room it was being played in was a little small and inaccessible. Kat Flint was on stage when we arrived and I heard quite a lot of her songs. She moved from gentle to hard very easily and had a strong voice that carried into the bar area with no problem. No complaints there.

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CAMDEN CRAWL: Dublin Castle line-up

Posted on April 20, 2007 2:48 PM
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Dublin%20castle.jpg 7.30pm

After much deliberation, I decide to head to the Dublin Castle for a night of music in the intimacy of a pub soaked in history. It’s my first Camden Crawl and this is where the event kicked off some ten years ago. It’s a bit of a gamble… I’m not particularly familiar with the first three bands and there’s always a chance that headliner Amy Winehouse won’t turn up. If the tabloids are anything to go by (which they’re not), she’s doing a gig in Birmingham beforehand… and has requested a shed-load of booze. Her crew, however, have been asked to stay sober. This could be very interesting.

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CAMDEN CRAWL: The Priscillas

Posted on April 20, 2007 12:32 PM
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By Katie Spain

As we enter the World's End we catch the last song by Mower… the crowd is thick so I struggle to see the guys on stage. There’s no mistaking however, the wall of sound that hits us. Fast, furious and annoyingly addictive… annoying only because we’ve arrived on the tail of what has all the signs of a great set. “I want to sleep with you” rings in my ears and I vow to make an effort to check out their MySpace… any Alt-Rock that gets my feet moving and makes me want to dance rather than tear my hair out is a good thing.

Above us, in the ‘band section’ (aka indoor balcony), I catch a glimpse of high heels and the tell-tale movements associated with mascara application. The Priscillas are preparing to hit the stage… it’s time for that first glass of wine - I have a feeling the joints need loosening.

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Posted on April 20, 2007 12:21 PM
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One of the most difficult things about the Camden Crawl is deciding who to see. The line-up this year is a stonker… so much so, there’s too much talent to choose from. Luckily, we’ve got most of the afternoon to mull it over. Local venues have provided us with enough daytime entertainment to set the mood for the big acts later on. The choices are: