As a foreigner living in London it is easy to focus on the live music scene as massive concerts and festivals with tens of thousands of people. As much as I’m excited about shows like that (I already have tickets for Reading Festival and Nine Inch Nails at the O2) it is the smaller club shows that really appeal to me.

I suppose it is part of a South African inferiority complex in the global music scene, but suddenly bands I’ve loved for years have become accessible through intimate shows similar to the random gigs I went to back home. I was fairly jaded by the time I left Johannesburg so now I find myself as excited about gigs as I was in my early student years in Cape Town.

When I first landed in London I made a conscious effort to avoid the gig listings, thinking that ignorance would be my best money-saver. One gig managed to break through my media blackout within the first week… I’m so glad it did.

Back in 2006 my fellow Musketeer, English Dave, was researching international labels and new artists for us to license for South Africa. He discovered one of the best albums I‘d heard in years. Nightmare of You has incredibly infectious melodies over clean guitars and cleverly constructed lyrics. Our request to release the album was denied because a local major label had the rights but refused to do anything about it. So I had to import the album and it remained a gem in my personal collection ever since.

I realise this is a very lengthily introduction to a gig review but it is important for you to understand that I absolutely fucking love this band and it is a crime that no-one in my home country has heard of them.

I’d convinced my lady and some good friends to trust my better judgment on this one so we took off to The Monto Water Rats on Tuesday night. The club was very cool and is currently my favourite gig venue thanks to their awesome lights. Interestingly Skunk Anansie played their first two reunion shows there a few weeks ago, so it clearly has a lot of clout for a relatively small venue.

We walked in as Dexy was on the stage. Sadly we missed most of his set so it’s hard to make a fair judgment of his music. The songs we heard were good acoustic tunes, he had a friendly stage presence and was stoked to be opening for Nightmare of You.

The second band was an awesome new discovery. Jukebox the Ghost played really feel-good-upbeat-piano-indie-pop. They were incredibly entertaining and each song had hilarious introductions like, “This song has two parts, the first part is about falling in love and the second is about setting yourself on fire.”

As Nightmare of You prepared to take the stage I got that nervous feeling I wouldn’t be able to reach the front of the tightly packed crowd to take photos. The first song kicked off and as much as I enjoyed singing along, the band seemed a bit boring on stage. Although by the time I’d squeezed my way to the front things changed completely and they really got into it. The show featured songs off their debut album and more recent EP as well as showcasing a few new songs. The new songs weren’t as catchy as their earlier work, but I’m sure I’ll get into them by the time the new album drops in July.

All in all it was a superb gigging experience. I got to watch a band I love, discover great new bands and take some photos I can be proud of. Plus my friends are still willing to trust my judgment.