On the walk up to Bar Music hall Maya says to me that the Bar Music Hall is always empty. I remember that thhis was the case when I saw them there. But to be fair it was a Sunday evening. Tonight is not empty, but quite a lot of the crowd look as if they have been here since leaving the office. This type of audience may find Death Cigarettes a bit of a challenge. They throw everything into the gig and there is a good response from those who can still stand. It has been a tremendous evening. At least I don't need to leave for Newcastle too early tomorrow.

 Catching a tube from Aldgate is like using public transport in a foreign country, where you don't understand the language. In fact I think negotiating the Moscow metro is easier than working out what is going on at Aldgate. The signs may not be in cyrillic but they communicate so little, they may as well be. I am only trying to get one stop to Liverpool Street .....
The George Tavern is a nice place but really is a long way from civilisation. I know the venue has no lights at all, so am only planning to do a few blog pictures rather than anything serious. The band are not put off by the intimate (dark) atmosphere of the pub. They throw everything into it. The lack of a proper stage is an opportunity to stand on chairs and tables, and jump off them. I always enjoy this sort of performance and the music is equally rousing.

 Hoxton on a Sunday night is relatively quiet, many of the pubs and bars don't open on Sundays. The Bar Music Hall is a new venue to me; being Hoxton I had not expected much, but it is quite a nice bar. When I express doubts about the strength of the Belgian beer (too strong to drink for 2 hours) the bar person offers me samples, which is nice. I had even graver doubts about the price as I had arrived at 8.30 to find hardly more than the band here, and two hours until they play. The Belgian beer is good, and although not cheap it's not as expensive as I expected. The band make plesant company until their manager arrives and whisks them off for a band meeting. Daniel Miller, a photographer who I have run into at a couple of gigs lately arrives around 9.30 having rushed from the Scala where he was photographing the Editors. Someone else to chat with.
The crowd is thin. The lights are sort of adequate. They would be passable for most bands, thery are not good enough for the speed and distance that Death Cigarettes move during their set (the drummer tends to stay in one place).  Using Black and White it is easy to switch to using flash, so I do.

Several good bands are playing tonight. Little Fish in Portsmouth are a bit too far after so much driving this week, and I have work in the morning. Joana and the Wolf are playing at the Nambucca; whilst its quite a nice venue, with lights, I decide to see Death Cigarettes as they are playing Madame Jojos which has lights and is central. On the downside it only has expensive sterile lager in bottles. Death Cigarettes made quite an impression when I chanced upon them at the Barfly, so I'm glad to see them again. The lights are slightly disappointing, they are usually much better here. Another example of a lighting person who thinks a band can't be trusted to present an eye-catching show. In spite of the lighting man the band provide an exciting show with plenty of movement.

Popped down to the Barfly to see Plakka who were playing at the civilised hour of 5.30. When I arrived at 5.00 I discovered Death Cigarettes who were very lively (showed no signs of death at all). Later I run into Magna Saga who I have now run into 4 times in a month when they've been on with other bands I've been to see.
There are no lights downstairs at the barfly, although light leaking through the curtained windows is reasonably effective until arround 7.30. Upstairs there is some sort of minimalist lighting, quite similar to emergency lights.