Pendulum, The Drums and more play first day of 2010 Camden Crawl

Calvin Harris, Plan B also play day one of the London festival

Pendulum headlined the opening night yesterday (May 1) of the 2010 Gaymers Camden Crawl with a 12-song set at The Roundhouse – head to NME Radio for coverage live from the event.

The Australian act played crowd favourites ‘Propane Nightmares’ and a remix of The Prodigy’s ‘Voodoo People’ before finishing with their new single ‘Watercolour’ and 2005 hit ‘Tarantula’.

Showering the sweaty crowd Rob Swire told the sweaty Roundhouse: “You’ve been entertained all day but now we’re going to finish you off, you understand?”

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Earlier that night Sugababes opened The Roundhouse shows with a greatest hits set backed by a five-piece band. Opening with ‘Freak Like Me’ and ‘Hole In The Head’ the trio also performed a cover of Florence And The Machine’s ‘Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)’.

Calvin Harris then played a set with a five-piece live band in The Roundhouse, dressed in a black shirt and white tie. The Scottish DJ warmed the crowd up with the likes of ‘Colours’ and ‘Ready For The Weekend’ before Plan B took to the stage.

The star broke up a set of tracks from his chart-topping new album ‘The Defamation Of Strickland Banks’ with a version of Paolo Nutini’s ‘Coming Up Easy’. Backed by a full band, singers and a saxophonist, Plan B received the biggest cheer of the set for recent single ‘She Said’, declaring afterwards: “Camden is where my musical career started, and it’s nice to be back here.”

Elsewhere at the multiple-venue event New Young Pony Club played material off both their albums at the Electric Ballroom, including classic single ‘Ice Cream’ and ‘Chaos’ from their new record ‘The Optimist’.

Pulled Apart By Horses had kicked off the action at the Electric Ballroom earlier that night with a nine-song set. Drummer Lee Vincent told NME.COM: “It’s a great venue, it’s a strange bill to be on but I suppose that’s the joy of Camden Crawl isn’t it? There’ll be people there who’ve come to see the other bands, and maybe we’ll scare them and they’ll like it!”

The Drums played a seven-song set at The Barfly, arriving onstage 45 minutes after their scheduled 4.30pm slot. Despite the wait, the packed crowd remained in high spirits, standing on seats around the downstairs of the venue and cheering on the band as they opened their set with ‘Best Friend’.

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LoneLady, aka Julie Campbell, played a slot at the Jazz Café, backed by a drummer and keyboard player. The Manchester singer played a set which included ‘Marble’, ‘Intuition’ and the title track of her debut album, ‘Nerve Up’.

British blues folk duo Smoke FairiesJessica Davies and Katherine Blamire – played a well received set at KOKO. Blamire told the crowd about the bursts of torrential rain hammering down outside the venue. “We’ll try and cheer you up,” she said, referring to the weather, before adding, deadpan, “This is a song about death.”

The Like had to battle to get on stage in a rammed Flowerpot in Kentish Town, as the four-piece ran through a short set of new and old material. Lead singer Elizabeth Berg told the crowd: “I just woke up from a nap, but this is a wonderful way to wake up,” before launching into recent single ‘Fair Game’.

Ms Dynamite played to a frenzied crowd at Dingwalls, supported only by her DJ. Sampling tracks from her forthcoming album as well as playing remixed tracks from her 2002 Mercury Prize winning album ‘A Little Deeper’, including a dubstep version of ‘Dy-na-mi-tee’. After performing recent single ‘Wile Out’ she asked the crowd “Who knows their old-skool garage?” before doing a version of So Solid Crew’s ‘They Don’t Know’.

Closing the night at the Jazz Cafe, Summer Camp debuted material to a soggy crowd. Lead singer Elizabeth Sankey, dressed in a tie-dye jumper suit, thanked the audience for staying so late and then, running out of things to say, simply repeated the word “banter” until the rest of her band were ready. The band closed the night with new single ‘Ghost Train’.

The Camden Crawl continues today (May 2). Stay tuned to NME.COM and NME Radio for full coverage.

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