Julian Casablancas @ HMV Forum

Perhaps I wasn't in the right mood on a Wednesday night for this, but I was a bit bored. Didn't see any of the supports, and only had upper circle tickets so getting down into the crowd may have helped. Regardless, after exhausting all 8 tracks of "Phrazes For The Young" and another couple of new songs their was a Christmas song and we all filed out fairly orderly. I don't think he has progressed too far from The Strokes and given that it was a 6 (or maybe 7?) piece band I'm sure he could have made it a lot more interesting than it was.

Little Boots, Ellie Goulding, Wolf Gang @ Shepherds Bush Empire

It's quite obvious from the picture we were miles away, but it was a rather last minute decision to go and this was the best we could do. That aside, I felt a bit like I was at a Britney concert, given the number of teenagers scattered about. Still, Ellie Goulding and Little Boots put on pretty good shows. I would say my favourite was Ellie Goulding which I wasn't expecting. That's not to say that Little Boots didn't put on a great show, it was just a little close to the record for my liking and I really hoped she might do a bit more with her Tenori-on.

The Living End, Sucioperro @ HMV Forum

Got to this a little late and I'm not sure who opened, but caught the end of Sucioperro. Didn't realise until later that the front man (JP Reid) was the other half of Marmaduke Duke. Regardless, not bad, but didn't grab me too much.

Of course the main draw of the evening was The Living End. Chris Cheney as awesome as last time I saw them circa 12 years ago in Australia. This man is one of the most impressive live guitarists I've watched. And of course it wouldn't be The Living End without Scott Owen balanced precariously on his double bass playing the shit out of it. In fact the whole band brings such a big sound its hard to believe a 3 piece can make so much noise. Crowd pleasers aplenty, everyone seemed as into the performance as the band and all in all a good night out.

Reasonable venue, although I'm not that great a fan of the old theatre places like The Forum around London.