Jack Penate, Friendly Fires, The Dykeenies, Kate Nash - Camden Crawl Day Two, Various Camden Venues, London - Friday 20th April 2007

After stumbling out of the Rumble Strips gig, into the Camden sunshine, there was time for just one quick beer before the second day of the Crawl started properly. First up for me this time was a trip to the Electric Ballroom to see Kate Nash - a female singer/songwriter about whom some good things have been written lately. She has also been compared to her mate Lily Allen (which is not a good thing for me), but I decided to give her a go.

Like Jack Penate the previous evening (and indeed later the same evening!), Kate Nash played with a band, having 2 other musicians on stage with her most of the time. Although I can see where the Lily Allen comparisons came from, I thought she was exactly like a female Jamie T, in all the good ways. Very London-centric, but very funny and clever lyrics, about going out and having a good time, fancying members of the opposite sex, and generally singing about real life for many young people.

Kate was musically very talented as well as lyrically talented, dividing her time between sitting behind a piano, and standing up with a guitar. Her set was fantastic, some really catchy and charming songs, and I would say that she was the find of the Camden Crawl for me - I will definitely be looking out for her next London gig (which unfortunately isn't for ages).

After Kate Nash, I headed off to Dingwalls to see a band called The Dykeenies. I had heard one of their singles, Waiting For Go, and been quite impressed, so decided to check out some more. Despite the venue being quite empty, there was a queue outside, which was quite annoying - presumably they did that to make people think that it was really popular. Unfortunately, The Dykeenies didn't really justify the queue, I thought they were OK, but really pretty average all in all. Waiting For Go was an absolute highlight, along with one other song - maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but I was utterly underwhelmed.

After the Dykeenie experience, we headed to the Cuban Bar nearby, to get in position early for Jack Penate, who was due to be headlining later on. We arrived and encountered an absolutely massive queue, which thankfully did seem to move fairly quickly. Once inside, we just about had time to get a drink (given the amazingly slow bar service), before the Friendly Fires came on. The venue went mad for them, as obviously the majority were there to see them. They sounded very dance-like, but kind of a dance-indie mix. Not sure if that qualifies as "indie rave", but they reminded me more of a band like The Music, or Sunshine Underground. They were not bad at all.

Amazingly, most of the venue emptied out after the Friendly Fires, and more people did not really flood in to replace those that left. I was really surprised by this, so by the time Jack Penate came on stage, the venue was far from full. It was even more surprising given that his set was again fantastic - his band really keep the set ticking along well, and they are a real good-time band for a good night out. All of this was far too much excitement for one day, so rather than brave another huge queue to watch Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, I got the tube home - a shockingly tame end to the Camden Crawl!