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We Crawled Camden

Last weekend Camden was home to even more music than normal as the Camden Crawl returned for yet another year.

With about 10 venues all showcasing bands and new artists it's always quite hard to see everyone you want to. And it doesn't help when you arrive to see a queue stretching 4 roads long that you need to stand in before you can even go see anyone!! Fun was had though and here's some of our highlights.

Ladyhawke (Lucio's pick)

One word - Amazing! It was like going back in time to the 1980s for a Stevie Nick's gig. There was an argument going on in front of me about whether she was Australian or from New Zealand - she's from Stevie Nicks*! Her hair was amazing and the sound had 300 people bouncing and singing in unison. Having never heard any of her stuff before I am now her biggest fan and even found myself singing the lyrics by the end of each song. My favourite 'Paris Is Burning' deserves to be massive! *Ok she's actually from New Zealand. Check out the amazing video for 'Back of The Van' here .

InnerpartySystem

As well as all the official venues lots of smaller pubs in Camden host fringe events and we started at The Good Mixer which was home to new Pennsylvania rockers Innerpartysystem. Hyped up thanks to a epic light show and performance at SXSW, this tiny venue was rammed to the rafters and our slightly late arrival meant we were right at the front and in the heart of the mosh pit!

Imagine Linkin Park without the rapping, with added vocoder and seriously good hair and you're not far wrong. We were so close to the the lead singer that our amusement at their hilarious use of vocoder was a bit embarrassing at first but once we'd got over it we enjoyed one of the most entertaining performances we've seen in ages.

Sam Sparro

The queue outside the Electric Ballroom left no doubt as to who was playing inside. Why it was current top ten star Sam Sparro of course! We hung by the bar at the back of the room for most of this, but Sam wasn't hard to spot clad in a big turquoise kaftan! Lucio reckons he looked a bit like Fred Flintstone.

It was Sam's first London gig so we'll give him a break, but if you're into the funky grooves of Jamiroquai then you could be in for a treat when his album drops next Monday. 'Black & Gold' was of course the highlight and we're pleased to report it sounds as good live as it does on the radio.

Boy Kill Boy

When Boy Kill Boy's first album came out we fell totally and utterly in love with them - mainly because we once went to a gig with the lead singer Chris and decided he was the hottest thing ever. We have since recovered from that crush, but now thanks to a cracking show at the Earl of Camden our love of their music has returned!

Joined on stage by fellow London band Apartment's lead singer David Caggiari, anyone who loves catchy, dark sounding indie would have had a field day and the punters in the venue loved it! Within about 30 seconds of saying hello the entire crowd went off into mental dancing and it never stopped. Highlights included the should have been world-conquering 'Suzie' and latest single 'Promises'.

Lykke Li

We'd love to tell you that quirky Swedish pop star Lykke Li was amazing. Unfortunately we stood in a queue outside the Proud Gallery for 50 minutes waiting to get in and never saw her. We did however meet some people from Wales... which was nice.