Cajun Dance Party, The Video Nasties - Bloomsbury Ballroom, London - Tuesday 15th July 2008

My first chance to see the excellent Cajun Dance Party live, after having liked everything they have released so far. They don't seem to play many gigs at all, due until recently to the fact that they were all still at school. So, a rare gig, and it made the choice of venue even stranger - Bloomsbury Ballroom is not a venue that is very well cut out for a rock gig. As well as a massive queue to get in - because they insisted on a full search of everybody, then didn't hire enough security to allow the queue to move - the venue is a weird place to get around, with thick carpets in parts, and a main room that is very long and thin.

Not surprisingly given the band's ages, and the fact that this was a 14+ show, the audience was generally VERY young. At the bar, lots of people were ordering cans of Coke, a bargain at £2 a throw! The people in the audience that weren't under 18 seemed to be industry types, and there were lots of people stood at the back looking thoughtful during the headline set.

The support band for the evening were the Video Nasties - also pretty young, and like Cajun Dance Party, also from North London. I had seen them a couple of years ago and been quite impressed with the noise they made. This time I was a little less impressed - the music sounded very good, but I thought that the vocals were pretty awful. When the singer was singing, it wasn't great, but during the instrumental bits, they sounded excellent. Their set ended with a long instrumental that sounded brilliant, and definitely grabbed attention whilst you were listening to it.

By the time Cajun Dance Party came on stage, it was very nearly 10.20pm, probably as a result of the venue being a bit rubbish as opposed to anything else. Their set was of course drawn mostly from their album, and it sounded very good indeed. The band were very tight, with an excellent lead guitarist. In fact, they were so tight that they sounded almost exactly as they do on their album - very polished indeed, but maybe lacking something different in the live show. Having said that, I really enjoyed their set (especially the amazing Amylase), so it is perhaps slightly unfair to find fault with what was an excellent set from an excellent band.

Cajun Dance Party, like fellow North London band Bombay Bicycle Club, are one of those bands where it is mystifying how everybody hasn't heard of them. Their songs are catchy, poppy indie tunes, with good guitar hooks and lyrics - really classic indie in the early 90s mould. Amazing that they aren't selling out venues all over the country, but I suspect that in the case of this band, they soon might be.