The Wheelbarrow, much the same as the Flowerpot, will always provide a sense of lineage to the bands that play there, and with its free entry policy the punters would be doing one of North London's newest gems its just deserves by turning up en mass.
This ethos allows for the venue to attract higher profiled acts than most small venues, though it was telling that the locals had not yet heard of French art-pop folksters WE WERE EVERGREEN. The band are set to headline at The Borderline, an experience youd expect to be somewhat divergent to this one, their audience only just touched double figures on our arrival.
Their short set was telling, neat and creatively satisfying though it seemed disingenuous for a soft, neat and ambient performance to be mixed in with a youngster at the bar who was clearly untrained in such humble environments. Despite this, the trio come up trumps as they delivered a classy performance which will surely see them pull in one or two extras for the much bigger Borderline slot.
Camden based band UP tonight however were the headliners, and they wasted no time to get going, neither did their fans who seemed to suddenly appear from out the woodwork to surge to the front.
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UP have the sort of look and sound that either works or culminates into a mash up of forlorn 80s disco hits, the latter of which remain supressed for good reason. This worked.
They gave off the feeling that something was happening, and the people who had come specifically for them wanted to be a part of it. They have an exciting and accomplished sound to their 80s styled funk/disco-pop. The bass lines were captivating and were accompanied by drumming so tight any of the takes would have sat strongly in a recording. By way of fairness, their proficient guitarist was only allowed moments to show off but remained neatly within the rhythm. The band was led by a squirming, spinning and gifted lead singer who also punched in with synth parts to really give them that 80s feel.
Good band, and a great overall show. We knew there was something exciting about We Were Evergreen but lets extend this to UP. There is also something exciting there.
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