Kaiser Chiefs, The Rakes, 10,000 Things - Carling Live 24 - Islington Academy, London - Saturday 30th April 2005

Since seeing them on the NME awards tour in February, Kaiser Chiefs have spent much of the last 2 months annoying me, with Oh My God being on constant MTV, and the annoying look of the singer in every weeks NME. Add in a hangover from last night's Babyshambles gig, an 11am door opening time, and the need to pace oneself for a hard day of gigging ahead; and it is safe to say that I was distinctly underwhelmed about this one.

Carling LIve 24's programme of 24 hours of gigs had started at 7am in Camden, so Islington was the second stop on the crawl. Islington Academy is a new, purpose built (dare I say "Multiplex"?) venue. with air conditioning, good acoustics, and an efficient bar that can serve people quickly. Hooray!! It seemed that guestlist access was awarded at Carling Live 24 for the whole day, and being a relatively small venue, the vast majority of the audience were guestlisted and therefore standing around nonchalantly - very few actual ticket holders in there at all.

First up at this gig were 10,000 Things, a band from Leeds, who came up with 2 or 3 songs that sounded promising, in an otherwise fairly low key set. Very soon after they departed, we were surprised to see Kaiser Chiefs take the stage, despite the presence of The Rakes on the bill as well. But, with another gig starting at 2:30pm, I guess they had to get the headliner done to avoid a clash.

Kaiser Chiefs came on to Na Na Na Na, which got the entire crowd going immediately, then launched immediately into Modern Way. By the time they had 4 songs down, they had completely won the audience, me included, over. At the NME tour, they were nowhere near as mad and energetic as they were at this gig, with the singer jumping around al over the place. Very good showmanship indeed! The 2 singles were saved until near the end, and by that point, a complete Kaiser triumph had been guaranteed.

Strange that after the energy of a great headliner, The Rakes still had to play. But, play they did, and very well, with some obvious highlights of their set too, to bring this leg of the gig crawl to a happy close. We legged it out of the venue, towards ULU for the next gig.