10 March 2011 (gig)
17 March 2011
After having a lovely meal in a noodle bar in Camden and spotting Simon Amstell at a table near me I make my way to the Barfly.
Tonight’s gig is hosted by Xfm DJ, John Kennedy for the station’s Exposure show. Apparently the gig is being recorded for posterity. Woo Hoo!
I was very excited to see the support comes from Manchester band Plank! who Marc Riley from 6 music has been championing for quite a while now.
Plank!’s sound is a heady mix of Math Rock and Krautrock with oodles of modern day Prog. These guys can really play and by the time they take to the stage the mainly 30 something crowd are waiting with baited breath, which is quite a feat for the first support band.
They noodle their way through fantastic tunes such as La Luna, Arse Kick and the wonderful new epic Pig Sick. Even though all the music they play is instrumental they have the crowd spellbound and baying for more. Watch this space, it will only be a short time until they are headlining shows like this themselves.
Next up is a Band Called Nedry who I must admit I know very little about. They consist of two boys and a crazy girl! Textured electronic ambient soundscapes are their thing reminiscent of Portishead with vocals sounding at times like Bjork. It is quite difficult listening at first but judging by the audience reaction these guys are going to be huge.
After a short break the headline band iLiKETRAiNS take to the stage dressed in vintage Britsh Railway Jackets keeping all the train spotters and off duty guards in the audience happy.
The last two bands have really set the scene and the crowd is in the mood for some doom laden atmospheric rock which is what they get in large amounts. The band have been around 5 or 6 years and their debut album is quite different from the latest offering “He who saw the deep” which finds them finding comfort in the future rather than dragging up the past, allowing themselves to write stories that aren’t necessarily connected with history.
Tonight we are treated to both new and old songs but it is the classic Terra Nova that makes the hairs on a hundred necks stand on end. This song sums up all the emotion that is iLiKETRAiNS.
Unfortunately they are not allowed an encore as they have played past the 11:00pm curfew but they line up at the exit to apologise to the crowd and say thanks. It just shows what a nice bunch these boys are.
