I reckon it would be pretty anti-climactic if I had done a whole London Calling Preview thing without giving any sort of review in the end. But I try to make it a point not to review things, since it’s all in the eye of the beholder and stuff. But we did have a fantastic time and got a few new favorite bands out of it.

Unfortunately, The Young Knives joined my beloved Black Wire (yes, it still hurts) in canceling on me, which we didn’t find out until the night before. It was hard, but I still managed to drag my ass out of bed long enough to enjoy the other bands that actually do appreciate my love.

As I predicted, both Larrikin Love and The Long Blondes were definite highlights of the weekend. Larrikin Love was a great surprise because they were even better than I’d hoped they would be. The Long Blondes definitely live up to all the talk about them and I am forced to, again, plead for any information about a debut album. I suddenly feel like I can’t possibly live any longer without it. I loved them so much, I wanted to be them. Good Shoes were also good fun - it’s nice to see a band that’s still young and fresh enough to be enjoying themselves. I’ll definitely be looking forward to more releases from all of those bands.

A strange surprise for me was how much I enjoyed the Mystery Jets. I’m all about “You Can’t Fool Me, Dennis”, but other than that song, I didn’t think I was a Mystery Jets kind of gal. To be fair, I only saw them because Tam, my friend and yours, wanted to check them out. Their entrance kind of freaked me out - it sounded like the Eel Pie Island Army was invading Amsterdam (I can still hear it now: ZOOTIME. ZOOTIME. ZOOTIME.) - but in the end, I thought they were pretty great. Bizarre, but great. I especially liked the random and slightly useless stage invasion by the Larrikin Love lads during “Alas Agnes”. You couldn’t say they were contributing to the song in any way, but they sure looked like they were having a great time. And the four guys next to me, dancing insanely (picture Footloose in trendy Indie blazers), just made the whole moment perfect.

But as great as all those bands were, The Futureheads were, and will always be, the highlight of everything. The Futureheads was #1 on my Best Of 2004 list, beating out many other albums that I adore by greats like Franz Ferdinand, The Streets, and The Cribs. We’ve been waiting for them to come see us ever since. Hearing “Decent Days And Nights” live was positively thrilling. Tam and I both love that bit at the end with the awesome drum bit and the “WOO” (if you know the song, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about) and we both had huge grins when they played it. Every time I listen to the album version, I’ll always be reminded of that perfect concert moment.

   The Futureheads - Decent Days And Nights