The Backseat Lovers Light Up a Packed Electric Ballroom in Camden

Dave Broome
1 day ago
3 min read

Electric Ballroom, Camden, London, 25th July 2025

IMAGES / WORDS DAVID BROOME

The Backseat Lovers Light Up a Packed Electric Ballroom in Camden — The Backstreet Street Lovers

As a teenager collecting bootleg cassette tapes of live gigs, certain venues would crop up again and again. The Electric Ballroom in Camden was one of them. Ever since then (the 80’s by the way), I have wanted to see a band there and tonight I came to tick that box. The venue doesn’t disappoint; there are suggestions of its illustrious past everywhere. Posters of gigs from yesteryear featuring everyone from Van Morrison to The Killers, The Ramones to Harry Styles and many more besides. There’s even a few signs of its more distant past as an actual ballroom.

Its everything you want from a rock venue and it’s a perfect setting to see tonight’s headliners, The Backseat Lovers. But before they take to the stage, we have Charlie Vaughan, a singer songwriter from Hornsey North London to enjoy .. and enjoy we do.

Charlie comes with his own ready-made band ala Bruce Springsteen. They don’t look like session musicians they look like a band, they act like a band and they definitely play like a band. They are so tight, much tighter than an act with a sprinkling of tracks on Spotify would suggest. This feels like a band that have been on tours and had years to gel. Let’s not forget though this is not a band at all, it’s Charlie Vaughan. And Charlie has an endearing quality. I turn to face the crowd at one point and it’s full to the back of the hall. By the time he gets to his finale song, Thank You Joe Fernadez, he has the sizeable crowd eating out of his hand. Maybe the songs are not quite tuneful or memorable enough just yet but his and his band’s presence is stage ready for an arena tour in his own name, not just as a support act. Expect big things from this young man.

The first thing that struck me on arriving at the venue was the queue. It snaked from the front door down Camden Hight Street, past the Box Park and almost as far as the canal bridge. So a dedicated audience has rocked up to see The Backseat Lovers. I spoke to a brother and sister at the front and they had been in the queue since lunchtime. Near enough 6 hours of waiting just to be sure of a spot right at the front. No surprise then that when 9pm rolled around, the crowd went wild. For ninety minutes, they jumped, shouted, clapped and I dare say even cried. Safe to say, they went down an absolute storm. This would be one that lives long in the memory for much of the audience.

I love a show where the crowd know every word to every song, and this was pretty close. After a good chunk of older songs, there’s an apology from lead singer and frontman, Joshua Harmon. “Sorry it’s taken a long time to record the latest album”, it’s almost there. they then play a few tracks from it. He reiterates the energy of the room and thanks everyone for bringing it. He’s a fantastic front man. There’s a roughness to him that adds to the cool front-man vibe. Can someone this cool come out of Provo, Utah?

There’s the obligatory acoustic bit in the middle of the set, if the venue were big enough, this would have been the part where Harmon comes out to the satellite stage and performs the intimate quiet songs. Even with staying put on the stage it doesn’t lose the intensity, and it feels personal and special.

Everyone tonight, including the support act has given a 10/10 performance. Nobody leaves disappointed with a set full of fan favourites and a full-on energetic performance. This is the first night of two nights sold out at Camden, my bet is that most here tonight are coming back for more tomorrow. And why wouldn’t you?