9/12/2022 M.O.S.E.S & Healthy Junkies @ The Old Blue Last

This week Friday night is an actual 'Friday Night' again instead of Thursday - see my previous couple of posts. 😉 And this one finds me heading down to Shoreditch instead of Islington for a change.

After a shiny state-of-the-art modern venue last week I now find myself in an old school pub 'toilet' venue. It's fairly well known on the indie scene, but not to put too fine a point on it - the Old Blue Last is a bit of a dump. Reputedly 'haunted by Shakespeare' although the building is very obviously not old enough for him to have ever been in it. It's just another run-down East End boozer clinging on somehow by trying to be 'cool' to less discriminating hipsters. I don't have a beard, but somehow I managed to sneak in anyway. Upon reaching the bar after braving the indie disco and associated 1990's rose tinted spectacled hipsters I wondered why I had bothered? Another venue where regardless of price there is nothing I actually want to drink! No real ales on tap, but that was no surprise - and my request for a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale was met with a blank look from the obviously inexperienced barman.

I made my way upstairs to the room where the bands play. I had bought a ticket on the Dice app on my phone - which I showed to the guy doing the door - and was met with another blank look but he let me in anyway as he recognised me. There was another bar in the room upstairs, but I already knew it wasn't worth bothering with so I didn't. The actual room the bands were playing in was OK actually.

I was only there to see one of the support bands and had never heard of the headliners. I had never heard of the first 3 bands either, and to be honest because of the bar it wasn't the sort of place I wanted to hang around in any longer than I needed to. So I arrived just in time to see Healthy Junkies - a band I have seen countless times and have never left me disappointed.

Phil and Nina have kept the band going for a few years now after a few lineup changes, but the core sound and attitude of the band remains - a punk inspired mix of glam, grunge, and pop tunes.

Healthy Junkies always put on a high energy and impassioned show. It makes a change seeing them somewhere other than Camden, but a few familiar faces have made their way to East London to see them.

I'd never heard of the headliners M.O.S.ES. but a bunch of indie kids obviously had as they had a decent crowd watching them - although the small venue was by no means full.

There are a good band and can obviously play well, but to be honest it was pretty standard indie fare. The band had absolutely nothing to make you remember them from countless other indie bands that you might see in the usual Camden and Hoxton hipster hangouts - the only thing that stood out was the singer. Not because he had a great voice or anything, although he was perfectly good enough, but because he had that 'it' thing - that star quality. Probably a bit in love with himself like many frontmen are, but he knew he was good at being on stage and making himself the centre of attention.

None of their songs were particularly memorable, although they weren't crap. M.OS.E.S are probably a band who will vanish never to be heard of again, but I wouldn't be surprised if the singer doesn't pop up again somewhere in the future - either solo or with another band. He might have been a bit full of himself and his band very forgettable, but at least it was worth going down to Shoreditch to see Healthy Junkies.