Rapturous response... The Good, The Bad and the Queen. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Day one
It's the first night of The BBC Electric Proms and Camden is awash with music hacks, industry liggers and a smattering of stars, as well as the usual drunks and dope dealers. Half the time it is pretty hard to spot which is which.
While Paul Weller and special guests chunter through a selection of his greatest hits over the road in the refurbished Roundhouse, the tiny upstairs room at the Barfly is packed for performances from new rave sensations the Klaxons and new tweedie sensations the Young Knives. Down the front is Jenny Abramsky, whose party this whole thing is (she's the BBC's director of radio and music), while hanging back nearer the bar are representatives from Vice magazine, the Sun's Bizarre column and the Observer Music Monthly.
New rave? Well... apart from covers of rave classics by the likes of the Kicks Like A Mule, it ain't quite that, and the Klaxons are fine, but nothing more. The Young Knives fail to rock the whole room. A disappointment. But then we run into Amy Winehouse, who's just been playing with Weller, in the Hawley Arms, and she looks fantastic and is funny and friendly!
So that's all right for the likes of, well... me. Still the question persists - and I put to the lovely Ms Abramsky and the equally lovely programmer of events, Lorna Clarke, at a dinner to launch the enterprise some months back: what's the point of this thing? Aren't we already awash with live music, particularly in the capital? What can the BBC bring to the table, other than a naked desire to win hearts and minds? But tonight is of course the first night, and perhaps the point is that the Electric Proms will encourage adventure, special projects and unlikely couplings. In other words exactly the sort of thing we'll be expecting tomorrow night when Damon Albarn's new group, featuring Paul Simonon, Tony Allen and wosshisface from the Verve, take the stage.
Day two
Tonight is the big one: the first chance for the world to see Albarn's new band, the Good, the Bad and the Queen, at the Roundhouse. First thing's first: the refurbished venue is simply stunning. Secondly: this is the Beeb in full effect - there are delicious canapes and endless waitresses serving drinks beforehand, seats in the balcony, then more hot food afterwards. And once again, umpteen liggers and semi-famous faces. Lovely.
But let's not forget who's paying for all of this, and indeed, who is paying for the festival. Over the road in the Barfly, where I was last night, Aussie rockers Jet are playing their Prom, and their concession to breaking new ground appears to be to covering a song by Kasabian. Must try harder.
The Roundhouse gig, however, delivers musically and then some. First up is Young Tiger, who is in fact 86, and sort of a new Damon discovery, through the London Is the Place For Me series on Honest Jon records. Following his charming calypso comes the excellent Jamie T, who I saw at the Scala last week. There, the young crowd seemed to know every word - screaming at the appropriate places on Sheila and generally going (technical term this) mental. Here, the audience is older, mostly new to his brilliant mash up of styles, but appreciative, in the end just about staving off the feeling that the Beeb would have been better off filming the Scala show.
On to Damon and co: Tony Allen on drums, who reminds you of what's wrong with most British guitar-based groups: crap drummers; Paul Simonon on bass, who reminds you of the meaning of true style; and Simon Tong from the Verve and Gorillaz on guitar, who reminds you that any front man is going to be preferable to looning Richard Ashcroft.
Having lived with the album, due out late January, for about a month now, I had doubts that it would translate in this environment, because it's a dark, subtle bit of work. But judging from the rapturous response and after talking to assembled hacks afterwards... well, the feeling is that this just might be the best thing the wee stripling from Blur has ever done. Judge for yourself with footage of the gig on the BBC's website.
The bill for the night proves perfectly balanced. The only question now is will it be Fatboy Slim tomorrow, or a break before the Who on Sunday?
