First gig I’ve bothered writing about in absolutely ages and it turns out to be about Elliott, the band I first saw supporting Hot Water Music on our trip to the States back in March 2000. Currently I’m sitting on the train to Brighton to see them again and listening to Alkaline Trio on my stereo so now seems like a good time to write.

I wandered into the World’s End at around 6pn and ended up chatting to a guy from Brazil called Luke, simply because he was wearing a Texas Is The Reason hoodie. Always a good sign. Jeff showed up after a while along with Simon Wakusei and Tim (both of whom I’d never met before), Rich and eventually Spencer, wearing a fetching Village People t-shirt!! Quite an enjoyable hour really despite Spencer still being completely up his own arse sometimes! Some things will never change :-) Luke also introduced us to a friend of his whose name I forget (sorry!). Things were shaping up nicely for a good night ahead.

Most of us headed downstairs at around half seven and caught the first band on, Scuttle. Despite the band hailing from Brighton I’m constantly seeing Matt at gigs in London (including the memorable Snuff Christmas gig at the Camden Monarch). He’s a lively, funny guy and it was good to see him briefly again tonight. There weren’t that many people downstairs to see Scuttle but they pulled off a good hard set with some amazing musicianship and ever some Husker sounding guitar occasionally – always nice to hear. I always say this about Scuttle though – as much as I love what they do, I’m not overly fond of Steve’s vocals. He’s a wonderful frontman, flinging himself around the stage and his occasional screamy vocals complement the songs brilliantly. However, when he doesn’t scream and actually tries to SING, he never quite pulls it off – constantly sounding off-key. Last night when this happened I found myself looking around me to see to see what other people were thinking. Still, only a small complaint – a great band all in all.

Paulo turned up towards the end of Scuttle’s set and I also spotted Thackers and all of Dead Inside as well. All good people.

Second band on were Sunfactor, when I’d expected it to be Kids Near Water, so I rushed down to the front to catch them. No rollneck sweaters or any kind of knitwear at all on Nic and a quite fantastic set from Sunfactor. Mixing up songs from both their re:regarding EP and their split with Carver along with some older songs I didn’t know, they were poppy, heartfelt, powerful and occasionally even quite melancholic. It was quite hilarious when someone shouted out “I love you Nic!” and Nic gave a look which seemed to be a mixture of embarrassment and disgust :-) Storming closing song, the title of which I can’t remember but I think it’s on their re:regarding EP. Must look it up when I get home...

Third band on were Kids Near Water who are apparently getting some attention from Kerrang. Some people hate the band name. I think it’s ok – but what does it actually mean? Probably nothing of substance – and that’s pretty much the way I feel about their music. Whilst they’re competent at what they do, I don’t find their rock / emo hybrid particularly memorable or compelling. I also don’t see why so many people are raving about them. Obviously I’m missing something. Oh well – good luck to them!

Final band of the night were Elliott and I was slightly apprehensive about seeing them again. I first saw them in Las Vegas with Nick and Steve supporting Hot Water Music and whilst they weren’t a terrible band I actually just thought they were very dull. I remember the gig at Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco a few days later where we didn’t even bother watching Elliott, instead choosing to sit outside at the back of the venue. It was a nice surprise then to see that last night they’d improved tenfold. They’d also added quite a bit of electronics – at least, I don’t remember them from last time. I thought Elliott had some stunning songs despite sometimes sounding a bit like U2 (I think it was DS that said that!). However, they really needed to have a live keyboard player on stage with them because it’s obviously an important part of their sound. It’s a shame when you can hear all these great sounds and you look up and there’s four people on stage, all of whom aren’t playing a note. Still, it will certainly be interesting to see how they go down tonight in the intimate confines of The Lift.

Left after the main set and caught the train back to Gipsy Hill. I then made the fatal mistake of going to the Indian takeaway and getting a Chicken Pasanda with all the trimmings leaving me feeling really REALLY bloated when I went to bed! Will I ever learn?

--Chris