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A Vague reminder of Glasto’s Lost greatness
REVIEW: LOST VAGUENESS
Proud/ Monarch/ Fake Bar
FOR a decade, Lost Vagueness were the party-conscience heart of the Glastonbury festival, with the field dubbed a festival within a festival.
Its roots were in the Traveller section of the Somerset carnival and just exploded in popularity. Its influence can be seen across the festival world: trendy boutique festivals such as the Bestival and the Secret Garden Party owe much to Lost Vagueness – they were pioneers of putting on odd acts and encouraging the punters to dress up, let their hair down and leave their nine-to-five selves at the gates.
The festival world was shocked when Vagueness announced they were having no part in this year’s Glasto: backstage politics apparently made it impossible for them to continue.
The winners of this are the good people of Camden: instead of a field in Somerset, Lost Vagueness took over three venues last weekend to bring their own brand of mayhem to NW1.
We started at the hallowed interior of the Proud Galleries. Once inside, the initial atmosphere was slightly underwhelming, but then again it was only 10.30pm. The venue was not set-dressed as much as I had expected, and the crowd seemed a little po-faced, earnestly maintaining their hip upper lip. But as the crowd filled out, these chic Camdenites discovered the fancy-dress area, and pretty soon the place was awash with feathers, boas, sequins and top hats.
The atmosphere was tastefully sleazy with a semi-naked burlesque performance, and then turned up to 11 by The Fabulous Penetrators, one of many awesome bands who helped elevate the evening from glamorous club night to micro-festival.
The music policy was a gloriously schizophrenic cocktail of 1950s garage rock, 1980s pop, Northern Soul and Indie-Electronica. The Monarch was slightly less spectacular, but the Fake Bar – tucked away on Hartland Road – was a wood-panelled speakeasy, populated by the cream of Camden’s finest.
The only problem with Lost Vagueness was knowing which of the three venues to be in at the right moment, but because the organisers made such a huge effort to entertain, a magnificent night was guaranteed wherever you found yourself.
Glastonbury’s loss is Camden’s gain.
Ben Robinson |
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