insofox, who introduced me to the band, and also friend_of_tofu and alextiefling (sorry we got separated on exiting, you two).As a casual listener, I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy the evening's entertainment, especially as the first half was to be a complete performance of their most recent album, The Hazards of Love. I did my homework at the last minute by listening to it on Spotify yesterday afternoon and fortunately loved it to pieces.
The band knew just how to make a newbie feel at home, too, with perhaps the most fun audience participation I've ever participated in: "Scream like you're being swallowed by a whale! Wow, that was perfect - have you guys been swallowed by a whale before? Is it a coming-of-age ritual over here?"
They may have diced with death by welcoming us to 'East' London and claiming that the Elephant & Castle was named after a dodgy bar in Oregon, but they were such loveable scamps that we loved them anyway.
It says a lot about their fanbase that 186 Last.fm users attended, as opposed to six for Peggy Seeger...
