All in All

Now, as you know, we go to a lot of gigs, and do judge a gig by the venue. Last night we went to see Yo La Tengo at Koko, the newly re-launched Camden Palace.

I was a bit wary of what this would be like as a venue; it's been nearly 20 years since I was last there in it's nightclub days (one fateful New Year's Eve by the speaker I swear is the cause of my hearing difficulties) and I'm not sure what it would be like as a music venue.

Crap, is the answer, frankly and I feel I will only return for someone pretty good.

Visually the refit is great, I can't recognise the club from the past at all, and the staff were great - friendly and efficient. However, accoustics and atmosphere-wise it was a real disappointment. A really cramped main floor which was it wasn't on a slope you couldn't see anything. People watching from the gallery upstairs talked through it as they couldn't have felt that they were at a gig, and the sound really carried. We also had a very obnoxious person standing in front of us, which didn't help matters.

What also didn't help matters was that Yo La Tengo were a bit lacklustre, and it was a very pedestrian, unexciting performance. On the whole, a bit of a disappointment all round, I'm afraid.