Camden Crawl Has Gone Into Liquidation

So Camden Crawl? Did you really just go into voluntary liquidation without paying us or anyone else?

— Jack Cooper (@jackmazes) July 3, 2014

#CamdenCrawl gone under without paying 2 Invada bands. They point blank refused to pay advance deposits & used the #TrustUs mantra throghout

— Invada Records (@invadauk) July 3, 2014

So Camden Crawl just went into voluntary liquidation. Before the bands got paid. YOU POINTY SHOED SCAMMY BASTARDS.

— Johnny Foreigner (@lexkelandjun) July 3, 2014

Every act playing a festival that charges money deserves to receive payment and we sincerely hope everyone involved gets their money back. But, we've got to say, surely someone saw this coming. We’re not financial advisors but if your business plan is to overcharge people to go and see a bunch of bands - who play every week in small pubs - in a bunch of cramped sweaty venues you have to queue to get into, you might run into trouble. Here are the reasons Camden Crawl just doesn't make sense in 2014.

It’s in Camden

Camden: the place so bad it's tried to burn itself down twice. The idea of a two-day indoor festival taking place in a small area frequented by goth French exchange students, grown-men with badges on their bags, and weird children in Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise is hardly going to compete with a lush nine stages in Victoria Park. The only people who like Camden are David Guest, Ronnie Joice and Suggs. Case closed.

The line-up is weak

ABC, Atari Teenage Riot, and Of Montreal were all booked as headliners - which is pretty varied but also pretty depressing because, let's be honest, Of Montreal sound like cardboard, Atari Teenage Riot sound like a teenager having a tantrum while holding a keyboard on the wrong setting, and ABC, though great, have been playing tiny gigs around London for years. At around £30-£50 a ticket, you would expect a lot of actually good names lower down on the bill - but, TBH, there are only a handful we actually recognise. Compare that to, say, Field Day's line-up of Fat White Family, Metronomy, Todd Terje, SOPHIE, Sky Ferreira, Blood Orange and Jon Hopkins all for the same price and it's pretty hard to see why anyone would buy a Camden crawl ticket.

You have to queue

Ok, so not only have you spent several sheets just to watch a band that once got mentioned in the backpages of Kerrang play a secret set at Underworld, you've also got to queue to get in. So - you're basically paying to stand in a queue which - top tip - you can do for free by walking to your local post office. Or, if you want the full experience, pay a group of friends to stand in a line for hours while someone plays a Johnny Foreigner album through their phone.

Again - you're in Camden

Can Camden go into liquidation too, please. RIP INDIE