Carling Live 24

Carling Live 24 Reviewed 01.05.04 London , UK

On Saturday 1 st May Carling showed us exactly why London is the world's capital of rock & roll with Carling Live 24 a complete day and night of adrenaline-fuelled music with live sets dotted around the capitals many Carling venues - spanning over 24 hours, featuring the hottest bands around.

A red eyed bunch of finely dressed young men take to the stage. "We are all knackered, we went to see the Von Bondies at 7am this morning" say Franz Ferdinand. The Carling Islington Academy is an excellent venue and packed to the rafters at 11am on a Saturday morning. The band are peaking out right now, their singles are sing-a-long classics fuesed with an intelligence you cann't find enough of at the moment and their album has received many rave reviews.

The entrance of Franz Ferdinand instigates mass excitement; Tell Her Tonight' featured early on and everyone seemed to be having fun. Therefore, is their much point in my denunciating the bandwagon jumping shallow nature of their tunes that is seeing them hailed as this years the Darkness in terms of hype. If the kids are having fun then that is all that matters eh? Whether this brand of Art pop will grate away at the tolerance of many music lovers and will be rendered as another embarrassing fad, is yet to be seen? The quirky sound is reminiscent of very early Simple Minds (reel to reel) the gregarious Glaswegians fronted by Alex Kopranos work their way through their self titled album, building up to crowd favorites 40', Michael' as well as the simplistic and catchy Darts Of Pleasure'. The gig was indeed a success if the number of sweaty and smiling faces making their way towards the exit is anything to go by.

Once the Franz Ferdinand show is over, we hot toe to the nearest tube station and speedily head to Shepards Bush where Starsailor are picking up the baton with their show at Bush Hall. Bush Hall is a lovely little venue used by many huge bands over the years for those secret shows you never get an invite to. On the lobby wall hang photos of REM, INXS and The Cowboy Junkies entertaining crowds in this venue.

Another groggy band, Starsailor are quick to point out that their tiredness is more to do with drinking too much Lager and Gin & Tonics at a wedding the day before than rising early today.

Music - Carling Live 24 Reviewed 01.05.04 London , UK
Music - Carling Live 24 Reviewed 01.05.04 London , UK
Music - Carling Live 24 Reviewed 01.05.04 London , UK
Music - Carling Live 24 Reviewed 01.05.04 London , UK
Music - Carling Live 24 Reviewed 01.05.04 London , UK

Although Starsailor claim to be a bit worse for ware this certainly doesn't reflect in their performance. James Walsh is one of the sweetest sounding front men of his generation and the stadium-size baritone is almost too big for Bush Hall, which only holds 300 people. The band rolls through the latest album and a compendium of their previous soul-rock hits, to the pleasure of everyone in the audience.

As night falls and the neon glow lights up the sleazier side of London . The Carling Academy , Brixton, opens its doors to hordes of excitable fans ready for a night of great music fuelled by The Scissor Sisters NY disco beats. Support is provided by Indie Disco duo The Queens of Noise who get the crowd warmed up nicley. Then it is time for the Scissor sisters. This is their second show of the evening having provided support for Duran Duran at Wembley arena earlier on in the evening. The buzz that has grown around this band has the ferocity of an Australian forest fire, within six months they have captured the imagination of the masses and seem to be thoroughly enjoying the attention.

They run through their album tracks opening the set with take your mother out, other singles Laura & funked up Pink Floyd cover Comfortably Numb also feature and the audience are going wild. The mood is calmed somewhat by the presence of Lamb who create a more wistful atmosphere. Playing through the majority of their new work Lamb demand attention, the sound is subtle and the nuances fine. The evening draws to a close and anybody who has covered the entire day is starting to feel tiered but fulfilled. The after show party rocks on at the Bug Bar, Brixton, until 7am . This completes the 24 Hr cycle. The whole event was a resounding success and we wait & hope to see if the good people at Carling are to repeat the process with a whole new set of bands.

www.carlinglive.com
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