The Zico Chain – Camden Electric Ballroom, London

By paul

The Zico Chain with The Ghost of a Thousand & Flood of Red.
Camden Barfly
15th August 2007

One thing’s for sure and that is that the Barfly is positively rammed tonight. A raucous cheer greets Flood of Red as they hit the stage, and commence their energetic albeit predictable set. They?re a clearly capable band, but they seem almost unnecessary today, when you consider the two following acts are much, much more accomplished.

Ghost of a Thousand are always one hell of a lot of fun to watch. Their unprecedented recent rise in fame is down to the fact that they put on shows like they do here tonight, vicious, aggressive and user-unfriendly affairs. Frontman Tom Lacey is a delight to watch bounding back and forth, climbing the occasional speaker and hurling himself crowdwards, without any care for his, or their safety. Set highlight ?New Toy? gets the two hundred sweaty audience members clap-clapping in unison, which is quite a feat for a show of this calibre.

After a frustratingly long wait, chants of ?Zico! Zico!? fade into obscurity as our headliners take their grimey, sexy and modern perception of rock ?n roll to the stage. ?Pretty Pictures? is beautifully visceral, while new single ?Anaemia? keeps the crowd singing for its entire duration. It?s only a shame we don?t have more hard rock bands in the UK scene that are this refreshing and this tight on stage.

Andy R