Wainright siblings, Rogers Sisters and a Brendan Benson

The Rogers Sisters - Publicity Photo

Somehow, I managed to get up at 6:30 a.m. today despite a late night. I fly off to Copehagen in a matter of hours, and don't plan to return to London until the second weekend of July (unless, on the very, very outside chance I end up on Madonna's guestlist for the Hyde Park installment of the Live8 festival on Saturday, in which case I might just have to swim the North Sea.)

Yesterday was another mish-mash of music. After a successful afternoon of shopping in Camden Lock Market, it was time to head back to the Wireless Festival. Despite arriving rather late, I managed to do quite well for myself in terms of sheer quantity of music experienced.

I caught the tail-end (last bit of the last song) by Brendan Benson, who I was surprised to find rocking people's socks off in the XFM tent. (I made a note to catch his full set in Ireland next weekend.) Supergrass seemed to do a fair to middling job on the mainstage, but despite a few shivers going up my spine as the broke into "Moving" they didn't draw me in.

Next I headed to the Dis stage to catch a bit of Martha Wainright (seeing as I'd arrived to late to see her brother earlier.) "Did you see Rufus," she asked between songs, and the crowd responded with a hearty cheer. Moments later, dressed in a red athletic jacket Rufus Wainright appeared at her side to accompany her on the next song.

Skipping Wednesday's festival headliners, Keane (I've seen them twice and reviewed them for this very site -- I was suprised as I left to see and hear otherwise rough-looking English lads saying to each other, "Hurry up now, they go on in 1 minute!")

I was able to make it to Tottenham Court Tube Station, and the short walk up Oxford Street to the 100 Club (downstairs at 100 Oxford Street) to see the Rogers Sisters and meet up with music hound Andrew Zincke and his friend Phil from Beggars Group. The legendary 100 Club, which was originally opened as a restaurant called Macks in 1942, claims to be "the most celebrated live music venue in Europe and one of the most famous in the world." It has seen acts as diverse as The Sex Pistols, Muddy Waters, Oasis, Travis, The Clash,The White Stripes, and more.

On this night, with far superior sound to what they had at the Wireless Festival Friday, the New York-based Rogers Sisters (who are on Beggars Group's Too Pure label) won me over with their energetic and retro sounding rock. It's not fair to label a band by their covers, but in addition to their catchy originals, it was a joy to see the lovely Jennifer Rogers sing "Object" by The Cure.

The band is comprised of Jennifer Rogers on guitar and vocals, sister Laura on drums and backup vocals, and the sole male in the group, Miyuki Furtado plays bass and provides punchy and raw lead vocals himself on many tracks.)

At an after party in Soho I had the chance to have a few drinks with Furtado, who after admiring my glasses (clear plastic Gucci, 2004) gave me tips on where to buy hip eyewear in Brooklyn, and told me he loves Minneapolis, the 7th Street Entry in particular. Rogers Sisters' tour dates aren't finalized, but expect them to come through town sometime in November. I highly recommend you see them. (Check out a few MP3's on their music page and read more about the band here.)