nme2
As we entered Rock City, there were all the signs of NME-induced hysteria. Ripped posters of the Arctic Monkeys lay scattered on the ground and a looping video of the 2010 Libertines reunion played out on the big screens. As you’d expected for a sell-out night, it was packed. Only the bar was conspicuously empty, and on closer inspection, it became clear that the average was hovering around sixteen.
Feeling decidedly old, we bought a drink and watched first act, Azealia Banks’ uncertain arrival onstage. The Harlem rapper comes with a formidable build-up of hype, with almost every review praising her feisty flow and “potty mouth”. With only an accompanying DJ, she looked a bit lost on the big stage and is faced with the unenviable task of playing to a room of white teenagers awaiting the arrival of their indie heroes. I was won over when she laughing asks, “How many of you got school tomorrow?!” But the lights are a bit too school disco, the flow’s too fast to decipher on your first listen and it all falls a bit flat until she closes with single ‘212’ and it’s slow morph into the Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’ – everyone finally starts dancing and she leaves with a much more invigorated crowd.