Portable Mosh Pit

Having contrived to miss Fucked Up, again, at Field Day on Saturday and had a tantalising glimpse of Metz (caught their last song) I can't resist a night of hard core with Titus A thrown in as a bonus. Easily persuading Pete to join me we meet at the Elephants Head in Camden for a quick pre gig pint and then join what must be the longest queue I've seen at the Electric Ballroom along with a couple of hundred youngsters. Having a printed list of everyone collecting tickets is why it's taking so long to get in. Once inside we buy expensive nasty lager and Pete leads us to the front left to watch the highly energetic and thrashy trio that are METZ. Within spitting distance of the speaker the noise is ear splittingly loud which is going some for tired old ears like ours. The beautifully sprung wooden dance floor of the Ballroom is positively bouncing up and down when the drum and bass loom large and has an odd vibratory buzzing when the guitar is being thrashed about next to the speakers so much so that I can't tell where my feet end and the floor starts. The lead singer doesn't look like the sort of boy you'd cross the street to avoid but boy does he look scary in full flight. Great hard garage sound too with real throat ripping vocals. The Canadian bastard son of the UK Subs and America's Big Black. And generate the first mosh pit of the night. Go see.

METZ going for it

Reeling from the onslaught Pete and I take refuge upstairs in the gallery and nurse pints shouting at each other about how going to gigs the day after 5-a-side is an effort. I love the Electric Ballroom's gallery with comfy sofas but shamefully the chill out room, which used to play harder edged dance during the disco funk nights that the venue put on back in the day when it was decidedly unfashionable to groove, is closed and so are the secret mens toilet. After an impressively quick change over and a filling up of the dance floor TITUS ANDRONICUS take the stage. I'm not immediately impressed as they seem a little loose and meandering but maybe that's due to the tightness of METZ and that we're trying to find a decent place to watch them but not upstairs or at the back. They grow on me a lot and by the end I'm really appreciating the four guitar sound including solos and the front man's shambling antics. Don't get me wrong, these guys are out and out old style punk with a playful edge both musically and the way they come over. There are distinct tones of proper rock and roll though with some songs nearing pub rock especially when the lead uses his harmonica and then introduces all the band members who give a little cameo performance each. As the Shakespearian play is about Titus A fighting the goth queen maybe they are deliberately playful and not taking themselves seriously. Pete's right in that their anthemic sound reminds us of his compatriots The Alarm but the anthem theme goes a bit far when for their last song they launch into Neil Young's Rockin' In The Free World.

Titus Andronicus get introverted

Titus Andronicus play to the crowd

After chatting to an ageing ex army scots bloke who claims his first outdoors gig was in 2005 another quick change around and then the main attraction are imminent so we go back downstairs... FUCKED UP take the stage and half way through the first song the singer disappears into the crowd and doesn't make it back on stage until half way through the last song an hour later. Meanwhile they launch into Queen of Hearts which is great but the beautifully indie woman's voice doesn't quite come through in this cavernous venue as it does on vinyl, or rather spotify. The guy's gruffness comes through ten times stronger live though. The set veers between the two first bands from extreme hard core with that throaty roar and white noise from all the guitars thrashing around then leaning toward indie rock especially when the submerged bald shouter goes MIA and either the girl or the other male singer takes over. The big figure thrashes around in the mosh pit occasionally popping up above the crowd. As he marauds around the dance floor the mosh pit follows and we get to see him as at one point the heaving mass gets within spitting distance of me and Pete, but I think better of it. He climbs back on stage during the last song before exiting stage left. We get our first encore of the night (they aren't as popular as they used to be are they) and they come on for a thrash with our second taste of the harp which isn't bad for a night of hard core punk. As well as being very shouty the singer has a few rants and stories at one time telling us that Metz are awesome, Titus A are awesome, Americans are awesome (Fucked Up are Canadians), we are all awesome, the UK is awesome and the gig is awesome in fact the 3rd best gig ever. Given that we are all loving it I'm not sure whether being his 3rd best gig is good or an insult. Anyways we've got our encore which sends us all out into the mild north London air with a spring in our steps and a ringing in our ears. All in all a great night that more than satisfied my high expectations. Quite possibly the 33rd best gig of my life.

My camera is Fucked Up by white noise and white light