A surprisingly subdued Camden crowd greeted two next big things last night, at the first of three shows that should have seen the bands in question smoothing their paths to inevitable glory.

When groups such as Klaxons or Arctic Monkeys were at this stage, they already had armies of fans so rabid they could barely stand up straight.

Air Traffic and Ghosts, two London-based bands with nearly as much chance of a number one single, are still playing meekly to the curious.

Both suffered from short sets and technical problems, but also possessed guaranteed hits among their big, crowd-pleasing tunes.

Ghosts in particular already seemed prepared for that slot supporting U2 at a football stadium in Hungary, their shimmering, multi-layered melodies sounding far too grown-up for this thin pub audience.

Bouncy future single Stay the Night is already on heavy rotation at Virgin Radio, the same station whose listeners hilariously recently voted Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars the greatest song of all time, and Ghosts seem destined to be a similar kind of inoffensive but unavoidable presence.

Air Traffic, a four-piece with a combined age of about 11, had more life about them, singer Chris Wall pounding his piano with vigour on a succession of instantly hummable winners.

He switched to guitar for rowdy March single Charlotte, the highlight of an array of tracks that sounded spirited enough for Radio 1, while not being so noisy that Radio 2 will balk.

Both bands lacked a passionate following here, but the airwaves, at least, are imminently theirs.