Nestled between the hip-hop hairdressers and amusement arcades of Oldham Street lies a small, slightly lost, section of the Lower East Side. So cool it was even mentioned on _Lost_ the venue is trapped in a timewarp of boho-chic. The doorman could be Eugene Hutz's bodydouble, the paintjob could be from a 1920's Parisian whorehouse and the furniture looks like it was salvaged from countless skips. You half expect the corner booth to erupt from a game of stud to a violent shootout. But instead of JD soaked cattle-rustlers, this dingy bar is home to the skinny jeaned and silly fringed hordes, and after dark is when they play. last night I joined the vintage clad, Vice-reading cool kids to give thinkingman's new ravers These New Puritans a listen.Support first came from Holloran, or Also-ran, or whatever they were called. Uninspiring, these kids should probably come back when they have some songs, and less whiny lyrics. 25 years ago they might have made a passable first generation emo band, now, not so much.Things picked up a little with The Torrents (a name to excite the assembled hipsters if ever there was one). An amped up post-punk ladrock combo that had the venue bouncing, and judging by the notes the woman next to me was scribbling throughout the set, are already attracting a lot of biz-ness attention. Watch this space, and remember, I new about them first.
Finally we got round to the main event, and the Puritans themselves took to the tiny stage. The first thing I noticed about them was their disarmingly attractive keyboardist, a smoldering blonde who became an instant rock crush. Marred by some technical issues the early part of the set seemed a little flat, the band not fully capturing the energy of the songs with their performance. Lean and pensive lead singer George Barnett at times seemed a little startled by this headline slot, his rockstar moves verging on the self-conscious from time to time. That said, the playing was more than competent for the whole set and by the end he was bouncing around the stage with fury. And his lack of confidence was more than made up for by the crowd, as skinny girls writhed and flailed with enthusiasm. Maybe not the most spectacular of gigs, but as a final warm-up before the band make the leap into larger venues, it was definitely promising.
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