Radkey @ Dempseys
A big crowd of curious onlookers (and a few full on fans at the front) turned out for Radkey, they've been heavily marketed lately so we'd all heard about them it seemed. The three young brothers from Missouri looked like rabbits caught in the headlights before they started their set, but with the crowd standing almost eyeball to eyeball with them you can't really blame them for that. Thankfully they did start to loosen up a touch towards the end, their bassist did all the talking, some of which was clearly well-rehearsed but eventually he ventured into the crowd for a quick spot on the floor, histrionics and bass thumping which went down well with the uber fans up front.
There was a lot of chatter from the crowd while they were setting up about their age and how quickly they've got to this point but surely that's moot if you are good at what you do? This reviewer for one thinks so and with such great vocals a la Danzig, solid bass lines and cracking guitar work from their front man there's no denying they have the tools for the job at hand as well as some memorable melodies. Sure they wear their influences on their sleeve and turn out an established sound but I for one am interested to see where they will go from here and for us punk fans it was the first real treat of the festival.