Rakes –Astoria, London – 2 February 2006

No wonder wiry Rakes front man Alan Donohoe seemed so excited. This was the first time they had headlined and sold out the 2000-capacity Astoria.

He danced around like a maniac for the entire set, his hands gesticulating tirelessly. He was hand jiving, doing the Agadoo, and at one point it looked like he was attempting the Birdy Song.

Leeds support band Duel’s electro rock was a difficult act to follow. Lead singer Jon Foulger, looked uncannily like Julian Clary donning yellow lycra trousers.

The crowd, in their late teens and early twenties, were in a frenzy as balloons were released from the ceiling and the Rakes fired up adrenaline fuelled Retreat - they sang along to all the words in this familiar song about binge drinking in London.

The Rakes’ unashamedly cockney sound is like fusing the Clash with the Streets. But the low point of the set was the slower songs in the middle - even bringing their mate Ethan onstage to play the tambourine couldn’t save them.

Their catchy angular rock soon kicked in again for the shamelessly political Strasbourg. Donohoe swang his microphone in the air, lunatic drummer Lasse Petersen went wild and the kids are crowd surfed to the front to conclude this chaotic live performance.