4 posts tagged “camden crawl”

I know I should have learnt my lesson last year. But optimism over experience, I succumbed once again to the

With hindsight, I could of stayed home and burnt £50. That way I'd only be wasting my cash, not my time.

Camden Crawl is the biggest rip off of any festival I've attended. It's basically "we've had your money, now fuck off!". First band is on at 6.45, last at 10.30. If you're not in a venue by 9, you're not getting in. I defy anyone to see more than 5 bands a night.

This year they adopted the text alert system used to such good effect at (the infinitely better) Great Escape; so you can get advance warning of which venues are over capacity. Which offered some consultation of a little schadenfreude on Friday; as you could be watching the excellent (and empty) Sham 69 set, whilst checking the length of the queue for some shite like Boy Kill Boy.

But by Saturday, with anything worth watching completely full, the constant text messaging was like having the cocksucker of a promoter standing right in front of me; rolling up my £50, and snorting a line off the ass of some teenage wannabee.

 

 

So, I stood outside the Sam Sparro gig for a while, that sounded quite good

I queue for a bit for Does it Offend You

I waited outside the Electric Ballroom, while the Wombats played

Truly Camden Crawl is The Man sticking it to The Kids. Their are dozens of great festivals out there. Avoid this one like herpes.

18042008262

If there's two tube stops between the venues, I think 'Camden Commute' might be a more apt description than 'Camden Crawl'. Or in fact 'Camden Queue'.

In total, I saw 10 bands over 2 days which is utterly ludicrous (even if they did include Blood Red Shoes and Hot Club de Paris). And when I say 'saw', I include standing 20 minutes outside a bar, before squeezing myself inside for the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the bassist's ear between the crowds......

When you're a mile away from the centre and you can't even get in to see a band like Xerox Teens, then it's quite clear they've got some capacity issues. Or some significant greed issues in their ticket sales.

So, no, I won't be attending the Crawl again. Dot to Dot or Across the Tracks offered the same range of bands on the bill, with the added bonus that you might actually be able to see any of them.

Since I've got to go back and do day 2 of the Crawl

Cajun Dance Party: they are currently Dogs Die in Hot Cars, they will, in the near future, choose the dark side and become Razorlight - shame

Hadouken: if you have a young nephew who's world's just gone day-glo, and is wandering around in a stripey hoodie listening to the Klaxons - he's really, really going to like Hadouken

Killa Kella: a little human beatbox goes a long way......

Friendly Fires: interesting, but heavily indebted to Bloc Party

BRMC: closing band at the Underworld, giving an 'I was there' performance - nice

Never one to let the grass grow, I have purchased my tickets for

Camden Crawl - 19th April

Dot to Dot - 27th May

Summer Sundae - 10th Aug

Leeds Carling - 24th Aug