The Walkmen @ the Barfly

F*ck me, but the Walkmen are brilliant.

They were just too good for the tiny scummy Barfly and with their laid back New York cool they completely destroy Camden for us, ruining it for any future bands we might see here by setting an unattainable standard. They casually trample our hearts with a passionate, vicious, darkly urgent performance. The bastards.

There is a late start due to the organ being completely banjaxed – leading to lots of knob twidling and the twisting different coloured wires together, but still no dice. Not sure how much not having it changed the set list, there's no ‘Bows and Arrows’ or ‘What’s In It for me’. Boooooo!

But who cares when Leithauser’s intense, masculine vocals are so hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck terrifying. The rest of the Walkmen were just genius, swapping instruments and chewing gum, they look relaxed and not fussed, completely at odds with the sounds they are making. They end with a triumphant ‘Rat’; the Barfly looses its mind, we’re all going to be damned! .... ... Then they’re off stage and we’re left speechless in the aftermath.

No – not really, for they bounce back for a quick cover of Bill Haleys ‘Rock around the Clock’ – I’m not kidding.

It was the kind of electric performance that makes groupies of us all, with the ecstatic audience left milling about in a wash of euphoria. Am I overstating it a bit? Possibly but I was about 3 ft from the stage and had to literally pick my jaw up from the floor afterwards.

Sigh… …

Luce has a musical epiphany here: