22/12/2005 Xmas Rock Xplosion & Planet Of Women (acoustic)

Subject	Xmas Rock Xplosion & Planet Of Women (acoustic)
DateCreated	12/25/2005 10:20:00 AM
PostedDate	12/22/2005 10:13:00 AM
	I make my third visit to Camden in four days - this time for two gigs in one night! I've done this successfully before, but this time the Gods of Rock were not smiling on me. You know how the more you plan something the more certain it is to go wrong?  My first port of call was the Underworld for the Xmas Rock Xplosion. The main band I was interested in seeing were Skintight Jaguars and some research had told me they were due on stage sometine around 9.00 to 9.30ish. This was good as if they played a 30 minute set then I would have time to nip round the Corner to the G Lounge to catch Planet Of Women play their first ever acoustic set at 10.15. Or so I had planned... So I arrive at the Underworld soon after nine to find Renegade Playboys still in full flight. At 9.30 they were still playing.  Apparently. the Playboys were late taking to the stage, which probably wasn't their fault - but then they carried on playing for well over their alotted time.  The result of all this was that although I left it as late as I dared before leaving for G Lounge, as I left at 10.16 Skintight Jaguars were just starting their set.  As I walked into G Lounge Planet Of Women were still setting up, and they eventually started their set nearly half an hour late. As is usually the case with so-called 'acoustic' gigs - it was anything but: All three singers were mic'd up, the acoustic guitar was plugged into an amp, and the bass was electric. There was no drummer though. Apart from some radio sessions and a session for Kerrang! Radio at the Download festival, it was the first time Planet Of Women had ever played an acoustic set - so I was interested to see how the songs would stand up in this environment. In the event, they stood up very well. Jade hardly needed a mic as she belted out her vocals - really throwing herself (almost literally) into it in her usual style. In fact, although the girls were seated on stools as is customary for this type of gig she had trouble staying seated! Although few of the audience could have known who the band were or heard their songs before, they got a great reception and what was supposed to be a short 20 minute set turned into 30 minutes! After refusing to use the very poor bar at G Lounge (no beer apart from outrageously priced bottled lager) I rushed back to the Underworld... I arrived back there knowing that I would have completely missed the main band I had wanted to see.  By then Nothin' To Lose were halfway though their set - playing Motorhead's 'Killed By Death' when I walked in. This surprised me on two counts; I've never heard anyone cover this song before, and I wasn't really expecting covers from I band I'd heard seem to be gaining a reputation. They also threw in a cover of Motley Crue's 'Shout At The Devil' later in their set - although to be fair they did play these songs well. However, although the are a good band they failed to make much of an impression on me with their own songs. Hopefully I'll see them again sometime and maybe I'll be more impressed if I catch their whole set... After the bands finished the venue was supposed to stay open until two with DJ Angel spinning the tunes. Around midnight I had to make the decision 'Should I stay or should I go?' Leave then and catch the last tube and be home in an hour? Or stay until two and take a couple of hours more getting two night buses to get home? I chose the latter as there were still people there I hadn't had a chance to talk to yet. I was not pleased when less than an hour later the management of the Underworld (not the promoters themselves) decided to shut the bar!  Then they told the DJ to stop playing (he was pretty pissed off!) and shut the whole venue down an hour early - in spite of the event being advertised as going on until two!  This would seem to me to be a clear breach of the 'Trades Descriptions Act'... I was very pissed off about this - as were a lot of other people being cheated out of an hour of good music and boozing - not to mention getting home a lot later due to choosing to miss the last train as we believed the club would be open till 2.00.