Frankie & the Heartstrings / Summer Camp / The Neat - Clwb Ifor Bach

I went to a gig on Monday. It costs ten pounds. I have no money and don't get paid for weeks, but I'm crazy and punk like that. It was well worth it, too.

The Neat opened. They're a young band from Hull. They sound a bit like The Fall, The Horrors, Art Brut, and Xx Teens combined. They were pretty fun, and the bassist/lead singer played the bass impressively quickly. See a video below for them playing live to see a similar performance to the one I experienced (link stolen shamelessly from Auditor Records). You can also hear a track from The Neat on a radio show about In The City here (which also features words from The Pigeon Post, which is a good thing, obviously).

The Neat - In Youth Is Pleasure from Auditor Records on Vimeo.

Summer Camp were incredible. So, so good. You probably already know about them, so I won't go into a lot of detail. They were much more electro and disco than I was expecting which worked very well, and Jeremy Warmsley's and Elizabeth Sankle's vocals work together wonderfully. They really, really impressed me live. I was already a fan of them before catching them live, but this has cemented them in my mind as one of the top bands in Britain right now. The vintage photographs projected onto the wall behind them were cool, too. See a video of them below, also (again stolen, this time from indiescreet.com).

Summer Camp - Ghost Train (viral) from Paddy Power on Vimeo.

Frankie & the Heartstrings were up last. They were really fun, and lead-singer Frankie was as energetic as ever. They were heavier and more in-your-face live than I had expected, but still a definite 'indie pop' Last Fm tag is deserved. My favourtie track of that night, and my overall favourtie track of their's overall probably, is Hunger. See it below. This time I feel a little less bad for stealing it from a big company like Last FM. They don't even need a hyperlink.



Summer Camp definitely stole the show though. They continue to tour with Frankie & the Heartstrings for a few more days. Newcastle folk, catch them at The Cluny tomorrow (Saturday), and those from Nottingham, head to Stealth on Sunday.

Oh, and you can read a wordier review online at Buzz Magazine here, if you want.