I went along to the Wolfgang Bopp night in New Cross last night. The club is situated in the Montague Arms, a pub I used to frequent many years ago in search of the best Sunday lunch in south London!
With two local bands playing, Roland Shanks and Larrikin Love, the venue was packed with students which made me feel very old indeed and was much busier than a couple of weeks ago when I caught the excellent Envelopes. The shame of it was that most of them had arrived after the Bridge Gang had played another excellent set although when I grabbed a quick chat with two of the band members afterwards they didn't seem to be too happy with their performance. This seemed down to monitor problems which we didn't notice until they changed kit!
Personally if I was in the Bridge Gang I would be wondering why they were playing first instead of the very dull Roland Skanks, whose lead singer looked embarrassed to be on the stage, and the entertaining but ultimately musically boring Larrikin Love who were just replicating the post Libertines "let's get drunk and play whilst falling all over the stage" style. Surely there are better bands out there or as we were commenting last night there is a severe shortage of decent London bands these days on the local gig circuit.
That said the night seemed to be a success and the Bopp DJ's know a good tune or two and it is now firmly entrenched on the calendar. It's worth going too especially if you live in South East London or if, like me, you are prepared to make the trek over the Thames.
Sounds XP's review of the gig.
The Bridge Gang will be playing the Deptford Albany Theatre on Saturday 22nd October.
Stream The Bridge Gang On My Space
Stream Larrikin Love on My Space
With two local bands playing, Roland Shanks and Larrikin Love, the venue was packed with students which made me feel very old indeed and was much busier than a couple of weeks ago when I caught the excellent Envelopes. The shame of it was that most of them had arrived after the Bridge Gang had played another excellent set although when I grabbed a quick chat with two of the band members afterwards they didn't seem to be too happy with their performance. This seemed down to monitor problems which we didn't notice until they changed kit!
Personally if I was in the Bridge Gang I would be wondering why they were playing first instead of the very dull Roland Skanks, whose lead singer looked embarrassed to be on the stage, and the entertaining but ultimately musically boring Larrikin Love who were just replicating the post Libertines "let's get drunk and play whilst falling all over the stage" style. Surely there are better bands out there or as we were commenting last night there is a severe shortage of decent London bands these days on the local gig circuit.
That said the night seemed to be a success and the Bopp DJ's know a good tune or two and it is now firmly entrenched on the calendar. It's worth going too especially if you live in South East London or if, like me, you are prepared to make the trek over the Thames.
Sounds XP's review of the gig.
The Bridge Gang will be playing the Deptford Albany Theatre on Saturday 22nd October.
Stream The Bridge Gang On My Space
Stream Larrikin Love on My Space
Damn - I am destined to forever miss the Bridgegang, I missed them at 93 Street East recently, didn't know this one was on and can't do 22nd - arghhh! They are seriously good.