Friday 20/04/07 Day Two @ The Camden Crawl, London

Before tonight’s shenanigans get underway, Fallout Recordings are hosting a pre-event party at The Crescent. It’s only 3.30pm but this unassuming pub is absolutely packed and the punters keep on piling through the door. First up are Illustrated Youth a fresh faced four piece with a look straight out of a Persil advert, but with a powerful stage presence and dirty riotous riffs, their sound is anything but whiter than white and belies their age. Kicking off with ‘Bathroom Floor’ it’s a successful twenty-five minute set full of youthful exuberance, stop start guitars and a spirit akin to early Libertines. ‘A Good Circumstance’ and ‘Comfort Eating’ are instantly well received and although they’ve lots to learn it’s certainly a worthy performance beyond their years.

But the main draw here today are The Rumble Strips. Taking to the stage with just as much energy as facial hair there’s an instant rapport with the crowd and it doesn’t take long for these multi-instrumentalists to warm up and maintain a good humoured interaction with the crowd throughout. Big red faced vocals, trumpet, piano, saxophone, battered broken guitars and more drums than you can shake a drumstick at, the songs come thick and fast through a storming sweaty set and there isn’t a dud in sight. ‘Alarm Clock’, ‘No Soul’ and ‘Oh Creole’ all go down a storm but the best is saved until last with ‘Motorcycle’ a sneaky preview of “A new song about London” complete with Summer Lovin-esque falsetto. It doesn’t disappoint and as the band beat a hasty retreat out the back door the crowd are leaving the pub via the front to crack on with the crawl.

Underground at Underworld are Foals. And even before they show their faces, there’s no doubt that this is going to be a performance to remember. Dancing on stage with a swagger, cigarette and beer in hand, singer Yannis Philippakis addresses the crowd: “I bet you’re not as drunk as we are…well I hope you are, then you’ll think we’re better!” Opening with a take on Gwen Stefani’s ‘Shit (Bananas)’ the mosh-pit immediately comes alive. But thanks to a broken amp, it’s short lived. Ever the showman and not one to let dead air breathe, Yannis breaks into some impromptu Ferris Beulah’s Day Off quotes before explaining away the faulty equipment on last nights performance which was “Punk!”

Things are soon up and running again and its well worth the wait. An orgy of electro art party tinged rock mayhem is what these guys do best and today they’re on top form. Steaming through ‘Swing Beat’, ‘Balloons’ ‘Two Steps Twice’ and the explosive ‘Hummer’ if Foals weren’t taking out their aggression on their instruments they’d surely be smashing windows on a council estate near you. You’d be forgiven for thinking that this set couldn’t get any better…but you’d be wrong. Humbled by the size of the audience and comparing them to “Bricks filling the Grand Canyon”, Foals finish with ‘Mathletics’ and a seemingly well rehearsed yet spontaneous stage invasion takes place by no less than ten fashionista wannabes. And if that wasn’t enough it ends with a textbook stage-dive of epic and enviable proportions. Good job, well done.

Over at Stables Market’s Cuban Bar, Canada’s Born Ruffians are just finishing up. The open expanse of bare brick walls are barely visible through the thick smoke; courtesy of women with cigars and lone figures with hash pipes. In fact, apart from the free flowing Mohito’s, at first appearances you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in an Amsterdam coffee shop as opposed to a Cuban bar. But that’s besides the point. Back to the music and in spite of a great look and matching sound, including ‘Mr Agnostic’ and ‘This Sentence’ it’s a rather subdued atmosphere and unfortunately not engaging enough to hold your attention for a prolonged period of time.