This appears to be some sort of meeting for five hundred of Manchester's coolest people. Leant against the bar are endless pairs of skinny legs in skinny jeans, there are girls with short hair and home-made dresses, and they're all listening to what can only be the most obscure music the Academy could find. The Club Academy appears to have turned into a refuge from all the strange looks one might draw from the majority on Market Street - quite surprising for such a poppy indie band.
The first to address this surely hard-to-impress crowd come as quite the pleasant surprise. It's Johnny Foreigner, a band I personally have grown a fast liking for. They do a bit of a clumsy set, managing to break a guitar lead and two mic stands within the first half, but the songs speak for themselves. They have the sort of stage presence that isn't easy to look away from and live they have a heavier sound - mainly a result of the enthusiasm in, bassist, Kelly's voice. 'The End And Everything After' goes down particularly well, and by the end of it all lead singer Alexei is postively dripping with sweat.
The rabble that is Los Campesinos! soon follow, pleased to be playing their biggest show yet. It starts off calmly, but proves most uplifting; you can't help but smile at their shouting, grinning young faces. We are soon warned that so far on this tour they haven't got through a single show without lead singer, Alex's, voice dying, but this seems to provoke the audience to helping him out. Before you know it, they're playing 'Death To Los Campesinos' and everyone knows the words. It all kicks off: kids jumping around down the front shouting the chorus at the top of their lungs and launching themselves at the stage. "That was great" laughs Alex after a chaotic rendition of 'We Throw Parties You Throw Knives' (the first time it's been played on this tour), proceeding to tease us with the story of when Broken Social Scene played a song twice after a similarly enthusiastic reaction. But that's a bit lame, apparently. The finale is 'Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks', charged with sweat, energy and the last of the spirits they've been drinking all night. After a final chorus that seems to go on for about fifteen minutes we are told that their debut album is now available to download illegally... do what you will with that.
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