As part of the run up to the NME Awards 2010 on the 24th of February, the folks over at NME have been hosting a number of gigs including the first time Courtney Love has played with Hole in 11 years (which I am gutted I missed, and in fact knew nothing about!).

Tonight’s gig was at the Islington Academy and featured an action packed line up of Teeth, Lyrebirds, Chew Lips and the all new material from the New Young Pony Club.

In typical fashion, James caused us to be late (nothing to do with me being fussy about not eating at McD, Burger King, KFC, Subway or any other fast food joint) so we missed Teeth, but I wasn’t too sure about them having poked around their MySpace.

We arrived out of the icy cold in time to catch the beginning of the Lyrebirds set and though I think whichever guitarist plays the Stratocaster needs to stop wearing his guitar just over his cock, they were pretty good. Could have done with more showcasing of individuals rather than just all playing the who can thwack the strings the loudest game, that really does my head in.

Chew Lips came on after Lyrebirds. I’ve only just found out about Chew Lips today after poking around on Last.fm and finding them listed on the event page for tonight’s gig, and I may have to admit that I then spent all of the morning listening to the tracks that they have up on their MySpace page. Live they were even better than their recorded material and good deep bass and quirky melodies, definitely had everyone moving.

Quick nip to the loo and a refill of the old JD and coke and we’re back at the front of the crowd in time for New Young Pony Club. Out they burst onto the stage with the lead singer Tahita sporting bright blonde hair.

This is the first time in a fair while that they’ve played London (or possibly anywhere?), having been locked in a cage writing new material for their new album due to be released mid next week.

For the first night of the tour and the first time they’ve played the material live, I have to admit they were a lot more refined than they were when I saw them at the Astoria a few years ago, Tahita has always been full of crowd moving energy but this time it was great to see the bass player really getting into it. Shame about the lead guitarist mostly looking frustrated with his guitar and the sound engineer, and madame keyboards still feigning boredom after how many years!

The new material was a bit of a mixed bag, some of the songs have lost a bit of that energy that I loved NYPC for when I first got into them, however others definitely embrace that feeling and kick it up a notch, should have grabbed a set list so I could work out which ones I liked!

All of the old material however was absolutely rocking and had the crowd bouncing away, I left the Islington Academy a very sweaty man. Good luck NYPC for the rest of your tour!