live review: summer camp / frankie & the heartstrings. the lexington, london. 8 october 2010

do i post about summer camp enough? no. in fact, there should be a top songs list from them coming up soon as well (*nudges sankles*). anyway, i saw them again on friday at the lexington, the same venue i first witnessed their successful assault on my favourite new band list. with a larger repertoire of songs and a crowd more aware of tracks such as ‘ghost train’, ’round the moon’ and the amazing ‘veronica sawyer’, this was a different affair from the single launch or even their support slot to slow club earlier in this year. the crowd knew what to expect and weren’t disappointed. one noticeable difference was the lack of a live band… for me, this was a positive. whereas previously session musicians had been trying to replicate jeremy warmsley’s sound, this time it was his music we were hearing. that can only be a good thing. as for elizabeth sankey’s vocals. spot on once again.

i, along with many other i imagine, came to see summer camp. frankie & the heartstrings were the headline act though, and i was keen to see them too. i’ve got a few of their demos, but am far more familiar with summer camp. frontman frankie is a born popstar. by the end of the performance his light grey t shirt had become a dark grey t shirt. the energy he put into the performance was clear for everybody to see (and if you were standing too close to him, i imagine smell). the songs are a pop delight, but it was frankie himself that stands out in my memory.