Upon entering the music room, upstairs at The Enterprise in Camden, the first thing to strike me was the large number of really rather big gaps inbetween the floorboards through which you could clearly see the main bar area downstairs.  My only previous visits to this venue had been to see the sorts of musicians that you usually sit down to enjoy.  This evening's event was due to be a hormonal all-ages gig.  I did wonder ………………

But there were some improvements since my last visit – the presence of a stage at one end of the room being a definite plus point.  Anyway, despite the non-arrival of the sound guy, which caused a search to be made for an emergency last-minute replacement and consequently a late start, by the time the bands and the punters had arrived we'd all rather forgotten about the holes in the floor – for now, at any rate.

The best nights don't usually put on the best act to open the show.  So consistently good was the line up at this Pop Goes The Weasel show that the other acts held up well when their turns came, but Sam Quill's set was so sensationally good that he threatened to steal the show before proceedings had barely begun.  Off stage, the rather tall Mr Quill cut quite a figure, his curly hair and hint of make up marking him out as someone who was determined to be noticed.  Once behind the mic, his command of the room was instant from the moment he opened his mouth and a most unexpectedly full bodied and deeply textured voice emerged to fill the room with some suitably left field lyrics in some memorable folky, bluesy torch songs.  The pick of the bunch, Sleepless Dream, transformed this part of Camden into a wooden shack somewhere next to a swamp in the deep south of the US of A.  There can be little doubt that we saw a potential star of the future in Sam Quill tonight.

The rather thankless task of immediately following Sam Quill fell to the clearly nervous members of three quarters of Catalan Corruption, trying their hand at performing an acoustic set for the first time in their short careers.  They imaginatively opened with a cover of Foals' Olympic Airways before sharing acoustic versions of some of their own future classics with us.  If the set never quite lifted off, certainly not in the way that their incendiary full electric band shows have a tendency to, it wasn't for a lack of quality playing.  By this time next year, with several more months' experience of playing live under their belts and with the added self confidence that this will bring, these boys will be well capable of pulling off any type of performance they wish with aplomb, whether acoustic or electric.

After two acoustic acts, at last the crowd was treated to the hum of electricity fizzing down wires as the members of Decent Public plugged in, readying themselves to treat us to the first full band set of the evening.  Now, I rather like this band and in my opinion the only thing that's held them back so far has been the lack of exposure on any really good shows, so this was a chance to impress.

They proceeded to deliver a really good set, benefiting from excellent sound.  Much improved from the first time I saw them, George seemed more confident with lead vocals and I really do like Callum's guitar playing.  Throw in a solid rhythm section and most of the ingredients are in place.  All the band needs now are a few more songs of the standard of Without It, with which they closed the show, and the song that opened their set, the name of which escaped me.  They will be recording again very soon, so let's hope that the quality of the new recordings shows off this band's full range of talents much more accurately than the stuff that's presently up on their myspace.  By the end of their set the boys had started to get the crowd rocking but, despite George deciding to dive off the stage into the crowd, so far the floor was holding firm.  However, the appearance of the manager with a message that people must not jump up and down didn't bode well.

Next on stage was Lets Get Science.  If you only know this band from the material available on their myspace page you would be forgiven for believing that they are a little "lightweight", for want of a better word.  However, should you ever have the privilege of witnessing them perform live you will immediately be disabused of that view.  Their main strength is that they are blessed with two natural front-men, which is two more than most bands you'll see.  There is the intense and very talented Harry, playing acoustic guitar on most songs and taking the majority of the lead vocals, and he is supplemented by the eternally effervescent Max, who has a penchant for prowling around the stage until, eventually, it all gets too much and he decides he must dive off.  Such a two headed set-up could be a recipe for disaster, but Harry and Max seem really to complement each other rather than it turn into a battle of egos.  As a result, the band succeeded in always holding the attention of the audience, even during the less memorable songs in the set.  And when they play their best material, such as Mary, can these boys really rock the house!

The highlight of the evening – for the band and for everybody else – was the appearance on stage of all the members of Blah Blah Blah to accompany Lets Get Science in a joyous, riotous version of Black Eyed Peas' best known song Where Is The Love?

It was at this point that the management of the venue expressed genuine alarm at the prospect of everyone on the first floor rapidly joining those downstairs.  It would have helped if the manager had made some sort of announcement to the crowd, or at least to the promoter, at the end of Lets Get Science's set (which had concluded with a tremendous rendition of Mary).  Instead, he seemed to be under the impression that his mere presence at the back of the room next to the sound desk was enough in itself to signal that the gig had ended.  Only after the members of Blah Blah Blah had gone some way towards fully setting uo their equipment did he decide to make an announcement to the audience.  At a pissed up 18+ gig no doubt a full scale riot would have ensued but the assembled youngsters satisfied themselves with a little gentle booing and were rewarded for their fortitude with an unmiced version of In The Shins from Blah Blah Blah, before everyone repaired to the pavement outside to hear the band perform a further three songs, much to the bemusement of passers by.

Quite what a venue with a dodgy floor that's about to collapse at any minute is doing booking lively music acts to play is beyond any logic.  Apparently Los Campesinos played there during the Camden Crawl and the crowd were told they had to sit down for the duration of their set.  Those of you who have seen Los Campesinos play live will understand just how bizarre that is.  It'll be acoustic guitars all round at The Enterprise in future methinks.

So in the end it was another triumph for Pop The Goes Weasel.  As always at their shows, little went according to plan and afterwards we could tick off another venue that won't be hosting Pop in the future.  But it was a triumph none the less, as much because of the difficulties as despite them.

(Louis Phillips took some great photographs and all of the pics in this blog were taken by him except for the last one which was taken by Nathan Grace)