Little Boots, The View, The Maccabees play Day Two of the Camden Crawl

The London festival sees more inspired sets from a host of acts eager to impress

Day Two of the Camden Crawl festival yesterday (April 25) saw the likes of Little Boots, The Maccabees, The Joy Formidable, The View and The Big Pink all play sets across various venues in the London borough.

The bash also saw an impromptu collaborative gig between Carl Barat, members of Babyshambles and The La’s Lee Mavers, as well as a brash headline set at the Roundhouse performed by Kasabian and a secret gig in a tiny local pub by Graham Coxon.

Little Boots played her biggest show yet at the festival, taking to the stage at the Roundhouse at 6pm (GMT). She kicked off with ‘Every Little Earthquake’ before playing songs from forthcoming debut album ‘Hands’.

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Backed by a drummer and synthesizer, Little Boots – real name, Victoria Hesketh – also played her trademark Tenori, much to the audience’s delight. Obviously wowed by the size of the gig, Hesketh asked the crowd to show their hands before exclaiming, “I think this is the biggest crowd I’ve ever played to, and there’s quite a lot of you!”

She played fan-favourites such as ‘Meddle’ and ‘Stuck On Repeat’ as well as ‘Remedy’, which saw Hesketh tell the crowd it was the first time the song had been played in England (and only the third time ever).

Playing the same venue, The Maccabees headlined the early evening slot of the Camden Crawl.

Opening to the packed crowd with recent single ‘No Kind Words’, the London quartet played a set featuring heavily from forthcoming second album ‘Wall of Arms’. Nevertheless, the loudest cheers came when the band played hits from first album ‘Colour It In’, such as ‘Toothpaste Kisses’, ‘X-Ray’ and ‘Precious Time’.

Upon playing album track ‘Lego’, frontman Orlando Weeks said, “This one is for whoever shouted it out, this is for you mate!”

Meanwhile, at Camden‘s Electric Ballroom, The Joy Formidable showcased their high-octane brand of art rock with a six-song set, warming up for The Fall.

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Taking to the stage at 8:45pm (GMT), the Welsh three-piece relied on tracks from their debut album ‘A Balloon Called Morning’. Opening with The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade’, frontwoman Ritzy Bryan was in charismatic form as she ripped through songs such as ‘Cradle’, ‘Austere’ and finisher ‘Whirring’.

Back at the Roundhouse, The View performed a typically swaggering set that took in songs from their two albums. The Scots drew a large crowd to the venue, with many screaming along to the words of the likes of ‘5Rebbeccas’ and ‘Wasted Little DJ’s’, both of which were deployed by the band early on in the set.

Mid-way through the gig, The View were joined by their string section – jokingly named Dirty Pretty Strings – for an acoustic take of ‘Distant Doubloon’.

The band stoked the atmosphere even more by playing fan favourites such as ‘Face For The Radio’ and ‘Superstar Tradesman’, both of which drew an impassioned response from fans.

The Big Pink rounded off the last day of the Camden Crawl with a hyped show at the Dingwalls venue.

Filling the venue with dry ice, the five-piece made an atmospheric entrance in front of a crowd that featured the likes of Jack Penate and The Cocknbullkid. Playing their second set of the Camden Crawl (the band played on Friday night at Electric Ballroom), the brooding London act wowed a massive crowd by playing songs such as ‘Too Young to Love’, ‘Crystal Visions’ and single ‘Velvet’.

Outside , fans struggled to get in as the venue filled up so quickly. While the band kept chat to a minimum, the atmosphere at the gig was still white-hot as most of the audience lapped up the chance to see the hotly-tipped act.

Click here to read NME.COM’s report on day one of Camden Crawl, as well as Madness’ open-top bus takeover of the festival, the full report on Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Roundhouse gig and Idlewild’s surprise headline slot at the Roundhouse, after The Enemy were forced to pull out at the last minute.

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