October 15, 2003

I travelled stupidly far into West London for this birthday party in one of the poshest clubs I've ever been in (they actually had a £175 bottle of champagne on the menu), so it's a good thing the bands were fantastic to make up for it all! Fiery Furnaces started off the evening with their Janis Joplin-channeling singer and syncopated bluesy rock. Actually, they were much better than this description is ending up - just go get their album and see for yourself. Next on was one of my RT favourites, The Hidden Cameras, or, as it was tonight, Joel plus a few friends, including Bernard Butler on guitar duties. Unfortunately, the setting wasn't quite right - the sound was turned down too far, feedback was constant, and the most of the crowd seemed upset that a band was getting in the way of their conversation. But at this point, I knew I was seeing them again in a few days, so I wasn't too upset. That I like Adam Green is a mystery even to myself, since I loathe The Moldy Peaches, but I enjoyed the few songs of his I was able to catch before getting the last tube back to the civilised East End. A good night, showing that the true strengths of the label are most certainly NOT behind them.