Skinny Camden Palace, Feet First, London, 03.07.2001

Feet First seem to have nicked their playlists straight from Xfm, or how would you otherwise explain a notorious overdose of Muse and Limp Bizkit. It's down with the Nu Metal kids and all that. But despite the time being literally hours after your average 14-year old's bed time (12.30 that is), the walletchain-sporting youngsters must have dodged mummy and escaped through the bathroom window. So now they're here. Lots of them. Half of them are sporting Weezer t-shirts, the rest comes in any old oversized T-shirt.

When the scenario was set just perfectly (ie some of the underaged drinkers had happily lost their ability to walk and either staggered around aimlessly or lay in the corner unconscious), Skinny take the stage. Initially half the crowd backs away. One can only speculate if this happened because Feet First have a reputation of putting on "interesting" bands, or because Skinny singer Paul Herman is sporting a bright blue and very Britpop looking Adidas jumper (yes, one of "those" jumpers). Some people...

Still, seeing the Camden Palace is a rather large affair, half the crowd watching the band is still a decent turnout. And those who watched obviously enjoyed themselves, bouncing about to Skinny's indie-come-dance tunes. Highlights included a lonely individual in a Garbage T-shirt grooving away somewhere at the back. Hurrah! The crowd seemed happy and so were Skinny. For a moment it looked like their singer was going to peel himself out of that desastrous jumper, but unfortunately it never quite came to that. Instead he spent his time wildly dancing about and plugging Skinny's latest single "Morning Light", that got (now there's a surprise) huge amounts of airplay on Xfm. Funnily enough, two of their other tracks sounded exactly like the bespoken single. Now what does that tell you? Answers on a postcard to the usual adress please.

Overall, not exactly a bad gig, although Skinny really could do with a little more variation in their songs.