Electrelane @ The Scala, London

I missed Electrelane pre-hiatus... I loved them, bought all their albums, but being in the same room as them just never happened for a variety of reasons... and there'd always be next time... and then suddenly it looked like there wouldn't be. They called it a 'hiatus' rather than a split but it wasn't looking good. But thankfully it was indeed a hiatus and last night at The Scala they came back to London. And a lot of London that had clearly missed them as much as I had.

The venue was too crowded and Hazel and I separated to try and find somewhere to see the band... we pretty much both failed. But it sort of didn't matter for me because I close my eyes anyway... then I can be on my own (well almost - see whinging below). The show was great... it could have been longer, I was disappointed that the crowd didn't try harder for a second encore, considering how enthusiastic they had been during the set I was pretty certain we could have got the band back, but no, they gave up after encore #1 and we all headed home.

I took a few crappy photos (and there are some MUCH better ones by annabelstaff on Flickr)... and there's some great videos (by barryfromwales) from Manchester a couple of nights earlier, the venue sounds positively sparse compared to The Scala and I suspect the show was even better... at least Folly of Youth's review makes me wish I'd been there instead!

This was my last trip to The Scala, I've been a number of times since it turned from a cinema into a venue and almost without exception I found the experience less than pleasurable. 'Sold out' at The Scala seems so much more crowded than 'sold out' anywhere else. And when it's crowded it's pretty much impossible to find a good viewing position, not really because of the venue, more because it's so uncomfortably full that finding a place would be impossible even if there was one to find. While I'm whinging I'll throw in the annoying bunch of folk I was stuck next to who talked loudly throughout the show and peed around with their smartphones taking silly pictures of each other, and the aircon that was blowing an icy chill onto my left side while my right side remained uncomfortably hot.