Thursday 17/04/08 Rosalita, The Laurel Collective, The Great Statesmen @ Buffalo Bar, London

If Camden is London’s beating musical heart, then Islington is one of its main arteries and Upper Street one of its many throbbing veins. Tucked away by Highbury & Islington station is the Buffalo Bar and its Twin Peaks red walls and tiny stage tonight play host to three bands. The basement setting has a capacity of 150, but sadly numbers are initially thin on the ground as The Great Statesmen, recently voted as unsigned band of the week on both XFM and BBC Radio 6, take to the stage. Apparently they started out as a Muse tribute act, but you wouldn’t really know it going by ‘Something I Have To Say’, ‘One By One’ and ‘My Overload’. There isn’t really a lot to say about them, undoubtedly a valiant live effort, but one that receives nothing more than polite applause from the slowly growing crowd.

Next up are The Laurel Collective, a six piece that hail from Scotland, England, Wales, Nigeria and Italy. On paper, it’s a multicultural melting pot that holds much promise and with the venue filling up to near capacity that promise seems to have some weight behind it. But scratch the surface and you’ll find a bar full of friends, family and young professionals who like to safely rough it on paper but not in the flesh. The band are bursting with energy, self-belief and crowd interaction, but it’s all directed to known faces and acquaintances and if you’re neither of the two, you feel very much left out in the cold. Bearing in mind the crowd demographic, the response to each and every song is as expected; over the top and unfounded and the encore is nothing more than self indulgent and un-necessary.

Thankfully Rosalita are on next to restore some sense of musical order. It’s gone 11 O’clock and unfortunately for them, most of the crowd has already left with the last band, but it’s their loss as they’ve missed out on the highlight of the evening. Undeterred the Ipswich five-piece proceed to live up to their strutting exuberance and growing reputation. They’re currently halfway through a UK tour, promoting their forthcoming ep and clearly honing their energetic stagecraft mirroring their musical style through their fuck you fashion sense. An exaggerated whirlwind of a set unleashes the likes of ‘Manga Girl’, ‘What Would Your Mother Say’, ‘If You Can’t Dance’, ‘Way Past Bedtime’ and ‘AWOL Sean’. It’s a short set at the end of a very long and drawn out night thanks in part to the two supporting acts, but Rosalita have positively shone, undoubtedly triumphed and in the process, are showing themselves as a live force to be reckoned with.