Thursday 15/05/08 Stag & Dagger Festival @ Various Venues, Shoreditch

Armed to the teeth with pointy shoes, neckerchiefs and other such affectations, Gigwise took the northern line to the heart of London’s fashion capital Shoreditch, for the Stag and Dagger festival. Tonight the trendy borough played host to over a hundred acts playing in fifteen venues ranging from the intimate setting of the Old Blue Last to the vast playgrounds of Cargo and 93 feet East. Not to feel intimidated by the avant-garde crowd, we threw ourselves straight in to the festivities, and headed in search of some dirty electro. After a quick scan of the little Stag and dagger map, we thought we’d try the Electric Showrooms. Within five minutes we found ourselves on an illuminated dance floor, in the basement of an east end boozer, dancing to French electro courtesy of SebastiAn,. Having realised what we was doing we decided it would be best to leave the Showrooms, before we got too into the Shoreditch vibe and go check out some live bands.

So we headed over to Brick lane, repressing all urges for a curry we made our way into the Ben Sherman Big British Sound Stage at 93 Feet East. We work our way through the crowds outside and into the back room where Kid Harpoon was about to take the stage. He opened up his set with ‘Colours’ - a very fast paced modern folk tune with psychedelic tendencies. It didn’t takes us long to realise that Kid Harpoon, was not accompanied by his band, his reason for this was that he didn’t believe the room could hold their sound. This did not detract from the performance, and he assured the crowd that he would be playing some of the more mellow and understated treats of the first album. The excellent set finished on ‘Late For The Devil’ a beautiful folk pop classic in the making, which had most of the crowd singing along in unison. Despite the acoustic only show, he still performed with real zeal; the only way to describe the performance is that it’s like watching a frenzied folk pirate singing sea shanties.

Next on the bill was the Archie Bronson Outfit. Three men who look like they had just down their shovels and left the farm back in Arizona, stood silently at the front of the stage. All of a sudden a screaming horn sounds off and a driving bass line kicks in and the room is jumping. Their massive folk rock sound is relentless; each song continuously drives on, until the set climaxes with ‘Dart For My Sweetheart’. Just before we leave there is just enough time to catch the Metros.  The Cockney lads deliver a raucous set of Ska influenced, rockabilly punk pop tunes. Highlights include ‘Education Part 2’ and ‘Last of the Lookers’ which engage the crowd and instigate some serious skanking action down the front. They are definitely ones to watch over next year, with influences including The Blockheads and The Specials with a healthy dose of the Libertines thrown in for good measure, chart success beckons.