Suspended Daylight

Yesterday, Jack, Rob and I headed down to London to see Sex Vid, The Shitty Limits and Sex Dungeon at the Grosvenor in Stockwell. Turned out to be a really fun day/night out and a really good show.

We left mid-afternoon and picked up Rob from Cambridge. The rest of the drive was surprisingly stress free, which was a nice change and mine and Smalls' nightmare journey down to Kent on Sunday.

Anyway we parked and got the tube to Angel so we could get Thai Buffet as we had a fair bit of time to spare. I'd only been to this Thai Buffet once before after the Ceremony show last December, but I remember it being infinitely better than the other outlets in London. It didn't prove me wrong. Annoyingly though when we left the restaurant we saw that three doors down was a really nice looking Mexican restaurant that had a sign outside which proclaimed it to possess, "the best burrito in the capital!" as voted by one of the London papers. Epic fail that we didn't see this before we got food, especially as I've been craving a good burrito since we returned from America. I'm back in that area of London at the beginning of December though for the Set Your Goals/Broadway Calls/Fireworks show at the Islington Academy so I'll be hitting it up for sure.

After food we headed down to Stockwell and got to the venue about half an hour before doors. This was the first time I'd been to this venue and I was really impressed. A nice atmosphere and the back room where the show was held was pretty much perfect size wise for this type of show. We hung out in the pub and Jack managed to sell a couple of zines which was cool. If you haven't checked out the latest issue of WWHRD? then do so here.

Eventually the first band, Sex Dungeon, played and they were pretty good. A pretty straight up power-violence type band, they reminded me of bands such as Iron Lung and Infest and got a good reaction from the people gathered. Their set was pretty short (they played for what seemed to be about five minutes, although it was probably nearer 10 in actuality) but I enjoyed it and picked up one of their demo tapes afterwards.

Next up were The Shitty Limits, a band I was really excited to see live again. I'd previously caught them in Norwich well over a year ago at the now defunct (show wise anyway) Cricketers Rest and was really impressed. I don't think they'd been around long at that point and the hype surrounding them was gradually beginning to build. Since then I've picked up most of their 7"s and loved each one and so I was eager to see these songs in a live environment. When we were getting food before the show, I'd mentioned to Jack that I'd yet to hear/buy their new LP ad he'd remarked that he didn't really like it as much as their 7"s. After seeing them live I can kind of see what he means. Although I enjoyed their set, the new songs (I assume they were new songs as I didn't recognise them from any of the 7"s I have) seem to lack a lot of the energy and urgency of their predecessors and seemed to get lose their way in parts. I still thought they were catchy songs don't get me wrong, but when played next to their earlier opus', there was just something lacking for me. I'm still going to pick up their LP as I'm interested to see whether this is the case on record as well, or whether the band were just having an off night, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when their set concluded last night.

Finally Sex Vid took to the stage and the majority of the room went suitably crazy. I'll admit that I've only properly got in to Sex Vid in the last six months or so after getting their back catalogue from Apryl's itunes and I was really excited to get the chance to see if they could transport the frantic, breathless energy of their records in to their live show. They certainly didn't disappoint last night.

Launching in to their set at a frenzied pace, they didn't let up for entire 25 minutes that they played for and put in a truly captivating performance that the assembled crowd repaid with a truly rapturous reception; bodies flying everywhere for the duration of the band's set. I didn't know how popular or well known the band were before yesterday evening, but it was great to see such a good turnout (the room was pretty much full) with everyone enjoying themselves. No shitty attitudes or certain people being dicks and ruining it for others; just a really fun show and a good time for all those present.

I picked up their LP on vinyl afterwards and then the three of us headed back north to where my car was parked. The tube journey seemed to take forever, but we eventually made it back and the drive home was thankfully uneventful, except for our discussion as to who's better: Nirvana or The Foo Fighters, accompanied by Jack's air-drumming to the former. We all agreed to disagree in the end - a sentence Jack never likes to hear - and just listened to The Smiths for the remainder of the journey. A pretty relaxing end to what had been a much needed evening out of Norwich.

xo