London calling

I spent Friday's evening at the London calling festival. It takes place in paradiso, former church and venue of choice for small gigs here in Amsterdam. The London calling festival is tailored to showcase upcoming British bands. There are two editions a year (fall and spring), and the line-up is usually made up of new British bands just about to release material.

The festival's been around for more than a decade, and I think it is sort of an indie institution here in Amsterdam. Previous editions featured:

• blur (1994)
• ash (1994)
• catatonia (1996)
• super furry animals (1996)
• travis (1997)
• embrace (1998)
• snow patrol (2001)
• ladytron (2001)
• franz ferdinand (2003)
• bloc party (2004)
• the infadels (2005)
• dirty pretty things (2006 spring)

(see the full archive)

From this edition I liked The Holloways, and The Rifles. I actually liked The Rifles a lot.

A bit on the sad side I left the festival with the impression that all brit bands nowadays sound somewhat the same to some extend. Gone are the days of britpop, which you could not literally define on a style basis. It makes me feel a bit nostalgic.