20 Jun 2010, Posted by admin in Jodie,Review,Thoughts, 2 Comments. Tagged Camden, Jodie, london, music

The Shitty Beatles

Words by Jodie Fischer

Last week NME secretly announced that a band named Venison would be doing a gig the following night. The band were described in only three words…The Shitty Beatles. It was an open secret that the band in question were in fact indie rock gods The Strokes. Tickets went on sale that night at 9 o’clock that night, but predictably the website jammed so I missed out on getting any. Not to let that stop me and with no plans, I went begging for a ticket.

The legendary New York rockers played the 500 capacity venue Dingwalls in Camden to a packed house of screaming fans. The band played under the alias Venison, at the infamous venue where The Artist Formally Known as… Prince performed a few years ago.

In the queue outside I had to restore to giving my best banter to the security guards for 3 hours, until they finally took pity on me and gave me the magic words I’d been dying to hear “Oi you, it’s you’re lucky day, get in!”

Racing in and falling down some steps in the progress, I was overwhelmed by the blast of “New York City Cops” and nobody was left fooled when their quintessential sounds were blasted all over the dripping walls in a full blooded pounder of “Reptilia” and “Modern Age”. Amongst the crowd were the likes of  Zane Lowe – who kindly gave his spare ticket to a punter guy outside desperately trying to get in! Also in attendance were Danny Masterson of That 70′s Show fame and far more impressively Coldplay’s own Chris Martin was out in full force with the band to support their touring peers.

The gig marked the first show in four years for The Strokes, and it was the only public show they’d be doing before the Isle Of Wight Festival, where they were greeted as the first nights headline act in front of thousands of adoring indie heads.

Lead singer, Julian, was hot on the heels of his successful ventures as a solo artist, as were guitarist Albert Hammond Jnr and Fab Moretti, but the moshers at the front would all vouch that he was eagerly welcomed back with his original group. Since the band last toured, lead guitarist Nick Valensi has had a Les Paul guitar line named after him and bassist Nikoli has forayed into the world of Nickel Eye. Even their producer Nigel Godrich was in town giving out free passes to the swarm of ticket-less lucky fans outside. The Strokes are off to play Scotland’s famous Rockness Festival before heading south of the Equator for the rest of the year.

Lets hope they get their skinny jeans back to Britain someday soon… I’ll be waiting.