Damn it is hot!

I don't believe it.

I'm in London, it is Half Six in the Evening and it is feeling pretty damn hot.

Okay, pretty damn hot for london can mean that for the first time in six months you can't see you breath in the street.

But this is actually approaching tropical.

No wonder everyone is freaked out about climate change here.

I didn't blog last night because I didn't have time between going to see Fantomas (brilliant) watching Dr Who (pretty damn good, though it did mean that I all but missed the supports for Fantomas) and sleeping like a log after going out to see the Red Chord.

Although me getting back late Friday Night Saturday morning might have to do with me wandering up to Leicester Square and catching a late late session of Batman Begins.

Which wasn't bad. Christian Bale seems to do a neat line in playing Handsome Rich American men with occaisional Violent Tendencies. And Liam Neeson is always good.

Rewinding to the Red Chord: I missed the first support, caught the second (Rainy Day Fuck Parade - noisy screamo-noisecore which distinguished itself with groovy tribal drumming) and the third (twin guitar new-school metalcore with gold chains, essentially and English NCHC band).

But the Headliners were the real killers. The Red Chord kicked ass from the get go with their haphazard grind and muscular drums (ironicly provided by a skinny looking drummer).

Of course, the London Chapter of the International Brotherhood of Hardcore Gig Kung Fu Fuckwits were present and active. They started during the third band, shoving people off the dancefloor and doing their off balance wheelkicks and the like.

The space they had hollowed out was still there for the headliners. Which seems ridiculous to me. I mean, who the hell does Kung Fu Pitslaying to Grindcore? Still, due entirely to the intelligent design of the Borderline's stage (the stage was in the shape of half a hexagon) I managed to avoid getting beat up too badly and still eyeball the band.

Maybe that is the final stage of the Great Maoist Revolution that is Punk and Hardcore:

Punk Rock was the point where the division where the Band and the Audience was all but destroyed. For the first time in the history of music, the performers and the Audience were on an equal cultural footing, neither more important than the other. Or that was the theory.

In practise, it just meant that the Band Vs Audience thing was more pronounced, and that the crowd expected more connection and confrontation. The Band was no longer better than them, no longer worthy of blind worship, so they had to fight harder for the crowds respect, and vice versa.

Now it seems to have moved into the next level: it is no londer the Audience versus the Band. It is the Audience Versus Each Other. All fighting for the space on the dancefloor. And the Band often has to try to engage the people who came to see them play from fifteen feet away.

Which is irritating for me, because I still go to see bands for the bands.

Nevermind. The Kung Fu knobheads are either going to grow out of their bullshit, or they'll wipe each other out and decide that selfish self expression isn't worth broken bones. (Oh to be the one who breaks them... no, forget I said that).

I don't believe that violent dancing should be a matter for legislation and regulation, I do believe it needs to be dealt with at community level.

But the community is being retarded in dealing with it.

I've had enough ranting.

Over and out.