Music

Every time there’s mention of emo, or post-hardcore, or screamo, or any other manipulation that makes angry rock music sound clever, people over the age of 25 turn into a talking head from ‘Grumpy Old Men’, annoyed, sneering and, in extreme cases, disgusted by a musical tribe who are completely innocuous. Judging by all the moaning people do, you’d have thought that teenagers are a new thing – that they’ve never before thought of themselves as more anguished than anybody else, never listened to music older people don’t like and never acted like sheep in the name of rebellion.

Well, if nobody else will, this weekend sees the emos – attacked in Mexico, and thought silly over here – celebrate themselves. SW5’s largest venue turfs out the ‘Doctor Who’ and marketing fairs, and replaces them with a pierced-lip convention-cum-angry-youth centre cum indoor music festival named after a song by the wonderful (and not just to 15-year-olds) At The Drive-In, who sang about serial murder and stuff. Things won’t be quite that intense here, not with a bill that includes punk-popsters Paramore, cartoon emo-poppers Plain White T’s (Sat), Jared Leto’s earnest alt-rock bores 30 Seconds To Mars (Sun) and more anguished guitar-slingers than you can stick your fingers up at. Merch will be sold, teens will get their first snog, baggy jeans will be torn in the mosh. The only concern for older people is how much pocket money to give to their offspring – angry kids have never been such a profitable demographic.