- Festival Reviews
SXSW Sunday 13th March
SXSW is upon us again and Sandra and I have changed things up a bit. The music festival really starts on Tuesday, March 15 and runs until Sunday, March 20, but we have decided to stay in Austin for the entire week...Sunday-Sunday
Sadly that meant we were arriving in the middle of the interactive portion of SXSW. The housing desk that books your hotel for you was unable to book us in one hotel for the duration. Upon arrival we would be staying well out of the city for the first two nights then into the core on the 15th.
There is music events on Sunday and Monday so it's a bit of a hike, but if you have a solid plan it can be done. The solid plan combined with the fact that for the first time in 10 years we could book a direct flight from Toronto to Austin meant getting to town and starting SXSW off well, but ...
Our direct flight left over 5 hours late due to two things, a flight attendant forgot to set her clocks ahead on Saturday (North America moves clocks ahead on the 13th) and then a computer malfunction before getting off the gate.
So....so much for a plan!
We landed quite late...took a taxi to our hotel and dropped our bags, took another taxi to Latitude (home of the British Embassy parties at SXSW).
Arrived in time to see a full set by Hooton Tennis Club. They were on my list so this has worked out well. This little band from Wirral packs a lovely indie rock punch and has succeeded in giving us a boost after today's flight and travel issues. A small crowd has gathered to enjoy the free music and the band play their set loud, and being influenced by everyone from Deerhunter to Guided by Voices, I can see these guys pulling off some solid festival stages all over England in the summer...check them out if you can.
Now that we have had that boost...and with Hooton Tennis Club being the only band we could fit in this late at night...it was time to end the night off with a few pints of Craft Ale at the "Craft" pub on Rainey street. They serve only local Texas Craft Ale and they serve it well. We enjoy a few and as the night ends it's time for the Taxi ride back out to our hotel and hopefully the plan we have for Tuesday will all work out!!
SXSW Monday 14th March
Monday in Austin ( or just outside Austin where our hotel is) brings a slight hangover from late night craft ale and some weary travellers trying to get motivated for a full day of rock n roll..so after a greasy breakfast we walk into Austin.
It's a good hour long walk but nothing is scheduled to kick off until after noon so we have time. We walk directly to the convention centre and pick up our music badges.
Then it's off to the parties put on by Strange Brew & Spotify.
First we walk into Spotify and get our free beer tickets and watch BADBADNOTGOOD. The band from Toronto is a mess of jazz fusion and hip hop beats mixed together to form some very solid instrumental songs. These guys are well known in hip hop circles and have worked will everyone from Ghostface to Danny Brown so they are a very tight band and they produce some very catchy and clever songs that go well with the blistering heat of the day.
Now it's time to head across the street to an ideal set up for music lovers...the Strange Brew party. Plenty of bands I knew of, plenty I did not...but there are 3 stages with a main stage outside and two smaller stages inside two separate adjoining bars. You can move from one to the other to find your spot.
We arrive just in time to watch Patch. These local guys are fantastic. Tight little Austin band whose songs are built around the accordion!! and acoustic guitar and drums. The guys play some perfectly crafted indie rocks songs with great voices and lovely harmonies. Great way to start and a fascinating band to watch. This is what SXSW should be about, discovery and enjoying live music.
The day is simple now...just shift between the three stages and see if anything clicks for us. Main stage is Volcano...a two piece electro pop band. Solid singers but on the outside stage, the sound drifts away and so does the crowd. Inside, you have Mirror Travel..a three piece garage rock band featuring three dynamic young ladies. Seems the crowd has shifted in here as well..they are solid, but I must check out the other stage.
There I find Blankus Larry..a solid two piece garage rock band from DC. Now a quick move to another stage and its Daddy Issues...another all girl group doing Breeders like songs. Another solid set outside on the main stage are the hard rocking..pop punk band White Reaper. They are garage punk and suited for the main stage. They are a great live band but inside.
Stonefield are going to be on soon...this is an another all girl group from Australia. They are sisters and they are very very good. Can see why they were invited to play at Glastonbury...lead singer is very confident, playing is quite good and they are one of the better sounding bands of the day.
Again...have to keep moving and we find a lovely surf psych pop band The Deer. This local band play indie pop with a passion that is rare. The lead singer smiles through every song and she can switch from pop to folk to country seamlessly and with a talented band playing with her...they are a treat.
Outside its an odd "chillipeppers" ish band called Purple, the lead singer of the 3 piece is a young lady who is also the drummer...and while I admire their energy, it's not enough to keep me outside because Tacocat are playing inside. Their feminist pop punk goes down rather well on the small stage inside and their set is full of songs I enjoyed from their album.
All of these bands were setting us up for the main reason to hit this showcase, and that is Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires..and they pack a punch. They are experts at southern rock and they kick ass. Their songs confront plenty of social injustices and they beat injustice with some pretty nasty riffs. Well worth sticking around for!
Following dinner..it's our usual trek to Latitude and a couple more Brit bands before we call it a day.
First off at latitude is the lovely Irish singer Ciaran Lavery. Great little songwriter who clearly is a fan of some Americana..not simply a folk singer, it's a mixture of Ryan Adams, and Bob Dylan...but it all mixes into a wonderful blend. He gets a sing a long going with the crowd in the bar, so I would say he was successful.
Up next, is the Crookes. This Sheffield band have been around for some time, but I have never seen them. They are a solid indie rock guitar band with some sweet melodies and some great songwriting. It is a great way to end the night, because we have to get a cab out of the city and get to our hotel, so that we can grab all our gear and shift to the downtown core Tuesday morning!
SXSW Tuesday 15th March
Finally...time to shift our gear and move into our hotel in the heart of the city. We head to our hotel, drop our bags and off we go. The plan for the day is a little loose...it's Tuesday and there are not a lot of big day shows so it's off to Spotify House.
It's a pretty easy music day at Spotify ...up first is Lukas Graham, a young Danish pop rock soul singer. He is a big deal back home playing to crowds of 40,000 + so this youngster is used to big shows and the kid has swagger. His voice is solid and the songs all seem to be possible big pop hits, so we believe this kid will be playing huge shows in North America soon.
Kacy Hill is up next...young American singer who was hand picked by Kanye to join his label. She pretty much has it made. Her band is tight and her trip hop/dream pop/ soul style goes over well with the crowd and it's a good showcase for her voice. It's very smooth and perfectly suited to this sunny day
Now it's time for a boost of energy. Jack Garratt hits the stage and the crowd swells. Considering a year ago we saw Jack and he performed to a much smaller crowd, clearly his popularity has increased. This singer songwriter/multi-instrumentalist forms some perfect little pop/electronic songs with quite the kick and it's a fun upbeat way to end the afternoon on a sunny day.
A quick check at the schedules reveal a new addition...NightBeats are playing close by....so...off we go! Playing at the outside stage at Hotel Vegas, we wander straight in and the band goes on. It's perfect Psychedelic garage soul played by 3 wonderfully talented young men. It takes no time with these guys to raise the volume and a wave of sound and heavy guitar hits you in a good way. These guys take no prisoners, it's a heads down full on assault of their instruments and what results is a smooth but loud set of blissful but challenging psychedelia!
Continues in Part 2
Jim & Sandra
- Festival Reviews
What a unique way to spend Valentine’s Day at our very first Australian festival! The Laneway Festival series kicked off in Singapore two weeks ago and has travelled around the major cities of Australia before its final stop of the year in Fremantle.
It's a scorching day in Freo. Four stages (the main stage doubles up with two stages) and everything is well within walking distance. Early arrivals get the benefit of a spacious site to wander around as well as seeing first band of the day, the very talented Fait. Post Rock in the sunshine with big electric soundscapes.
Next band on the next door main stage are High Tension, a metal band who came on to a Stars Wars soundtrack. A big thing to live up to and not quite up to that level yet but, a competent band nevertheless.
The crowd starts to grow and everyone heads to the shade of the trees from where you can still see the main stages. Next up some indie pop from End of the Road festival bound, Methyl Ethel. Then it's a short walk to the Mistletone stage for Toronto's mighty Metz. Just out of bed, into the heat, rocking at full pelt, sweet drenched shirts and body shaking songs. A great set.
East India Youth was on the 'Red Bull Future Classic stage' (both Metz and East India Youth would have been much higher up the bill back home) and again a great set. For a one man show, Will Doyle just gets better and better with each show. It should not take long for Australia to catch on.
DllV prove to be the perfect band for a hot afternoon. Bouncy and lively, bright songs tinged with a surf rock feel. Now the site is getting really packed and the heat remains. Getting close to the main stage starts to become difficult. Best to adjourn to the craft ale bar and watch from afar.
The DMA's, a bit like Oasis meets the Pouges, are a grower in the afternoon sun and a band needing more investigation. Fidlar from L.A. blast away in blazing sunshine with their Garage Rock blend of high octane Rock n' Roll. A very solid set indeed.
Big Scary are on the opposite stage next and are a very soulful 5 piece. One of the most mellow bands of the day. Royal Headache on the Mistletone stage get the AC/DC Bon Scott award of the day. Lead vocalist, Shogun is in inspired form, on the last gig of the tour. Shirtless and rocking, the crowd lap it up.
Late afternoon brings 'The Freemantle Doctor' in (the daily afternoon wind) and a lovely breeze drives across the site. The Smith St Band draw a massive crowd for their anthems, but the band that takes us from daylight into night, is New York's Battles. Still one of the most original bands around, the crowds latch onto the rock, jazz, electronic soundscapes and are bouncing from the off. All the bands seem in party mode, this being the last night of the tour.
We stay at the Mistletone stage into the night, which is more comfortable than the main stages. Our reward is the dreamy Beach House, who play an awesome set.
We catch the last half hour of Chvrches set, and the band seem to have had a triumphant Laneway. They certainly seem to be the most talked about band of the festival. Last band of the evening are Purity Ring, with 2 piece, synths and vocals, a great light show and big songs.
A great day festival which, I reckon, if we looked for a comparison closer to home, would be Field Day, with its mix of indie and electronic bands. Oh and the sunshine!
Pete
- Festival Reviews
Drill in Brighton was one of the best urban multi-venue festivals of last year – curated by Wire on a rolling basis, this year in Chicago. One Inch Badge, the promoters who organised it, were so inspired by its mix of forms and acts that they set up their own version this year – Mutations!
It was a great first attempt. Inevitably smaller than its illustrious predecessor, the 2 days fell out as Sat = Mostly Country in Hove (Actually) and Sun = Mostly Noise in Brighton, with a Trance Aftershow. Definitely something for everyone! Cleverly they minimised the venue clashes, though it still meant choosing Neko Case over Chelsea Wolfe and Om over Jane Weaver (wrong choice!).
Saturday morning started at 1pm in the Hope and Ruin, an excellent punky pub with good beers and audience face-to-face with bands on the minimal stage. Saintseneca from Columbus Ohio appealed as they were impossible to classify – intense folk rock psych, anyone? It was their first trip abroad! LP ‘How many Blankets in the World?’ should be worth checking out.
Widowspeak from Brooklyn drew a packed crowd but were not my cup of anything – shoegazy dream pop which sent me to sleep. Everyone else liked them. Whereas Willis Earl Beal was very much awake and amazing! Superb soul voice in the vein of Isaac Hayes or JB, and a powerful sense of theatre – tattered cloak, eyeless mask, imaginative use of barstool. Nothing like as bluesy as the recordings I’ve heard, and with a great sense of self-depreciating humour, as he espoused his Church of Nobody and asked us not to clap although falling asleep was fine – not to this gig, bud!
Next, off to church in deepest Hove...which took a while, even by bike, so a tiny audience for first act All Tvvins. Shame as these lively twins from Dublin reminded me of early U2. On tour now with Kodaline. The alcohol free bar didn’t help...I thought churches were OK with wine?
Still, a beautiful venue with great sound...and perfect for the iconic Neko Case. Surely today’s headline act, although third on the bill, many people had come just for her, and she didn’t disappoint. She joked that she had the rare achievement of getting a box set while still alive, the wonderfully named ‘Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule’. She played songs from all her country noir career, including Hold on Hold on and Margaret v Pauline from the classic Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, and the beautiful Maybe Sparrow. She referenced John Peel as the man to introduce her to a UK audience before Twist the Knife, which topped the much-missed Festive 50 in 2000. She looked great, in a grey tracksuit, and seemed really happy, laughing with her band. I could have watched her all night.
However, she was followed by a related and also good looking artist whom I enjoyed if anything even more...Josh T Pearson. Gone are the long hair and matted beard, he’s now nattily dressed in a huge white Stetson, attributing his new health to yoga and clean(er) living. His set was a wonderful mix of the heartbreaking and the hilarious...his inter song banter referencing the church venue, the fact that he was single and that he was playing live for the first time for a while as he needed the money. He played Woman, When I’ve Raised Hell like resurrected Cash, and a supremely witty and sad new song StillBorn to Rock, about losing his girlfriend because kids would have ruined his career, which seemed very autobiographical. He ended the set as half of the Two Witnesses, a gospel duo covering extremely Christian numbers from the Louven Brothers and er, Sister Act 2, possibly with just a touch of tongue in that neatly shaven cheek.
It was brilliant, and a pleasure to meet him at the aftershow to find he was more or less the same as on stage, humour and deep emotion combined. Also great to see that he was really into his rock...he had made the trek earlier to see Chelsea Wolfe, whom he praised very highly. We vaguely arranged to meet the next day in Om’s set...I didn’t really expect this to happen, so missed him, but it seems that big Stetson was indeed seen amongst the head nodding crowd.
Maybe a good job we didn’t meet, we may have disagreed about Om. I do like their records, but here they seemed to play the same song 10 times, each version building from similar breathy vocals but never quite achieving a crescendo. Keyboard player Robert did a nice line in tambourine tossing, but I preferred his live work as Lichens.
Sunday was a harder and noisier line-up to ‘enjoy’, though there were many highlights. Anyone playing well in the wonderful Prince Albert is going to be a pleasure, and Lowly from Denmark were a breath of fresh air, sounding quite 80s and foreign, both in a good way.
The singer of Ought from Montreal had real stage presence, definitely one for fans of Pavement. Storm someone-or-other was blasting away outside, but here in the Green Door Store all was mighty hot. So much so that I arrived late for Blanck Mass at the Haunt. It was a measure of just how stunning this show was that even wedged in at the back I was blown away. This solo project from Fuck Buttons B J Power can be hard to listen to on record, but was much more funky live, with transfixing visuals, more like a wild rave than the experimental electronics of the album.
One more highlight awaited...Lightning Bolt! Highly influential, one of the original ‘two blokes with guitar drums and vocals’ bands from before the White Stripes, I first saw them in a riotous Portland Arms in Cambridge many years ago, when they played in the midst of the audience. Luckily this time they stayed on stage, so we could all still see, but the absolute frenzy of their playing is delightfully unchanged. Effects pedals give an amazing intricacy to what might otherwise be just deafening noise, and the highly skilled drummer shouts into a mike embedded in a huge voodoo mask he wears.
Amazingly amongst the sweaty rhythmic charge there’s a lot of humour too...two audience members are sent to the side of the stage for unspecified bad acts, with the punishment turning to a prize as they are given drumsticks and invited to help with the pounding. Sorry to Metz who came on next, but you just cannot follow a band like that!
Kevin Hand
- Festival Reviews
The ninth Derby Folk Festival has expanded to four venues across the city featuring some of the best traditional and contemporary folk from the UK and beyond.
After a short introduction from festival organisers Bob Rushton, Mick Peat and festival patron John Tams, we start Friday evening in the City marque.
The Liberty to Choose are a collaborative project interpreting traditional songs from the New Penguin Book of English Folks Songs with a modern twist or two. The line up tonight consists of Bran Peters, Jackie Oates, James Findlay and another festival patron Lucy Ward (her 3rd album 'I Dreamt I Was A Bird' was released today). Good versions of 'The Mole catcher,' 'The Spotted Cow' , James Findlay does a great 'Barbara Allen'. The highlight for me is an unaccompanied ' The Trees They Do Grow High' which features Lucy and Jackie two of the best female voices in British folk, spine-tingling stuff.
Next is Flats & Sharps , who are a young bluegrass five piece. Whilst they play the music from the Appalachian mountains, they originate from slightly to the East in ... Penzance. They're a great fun band with the traditional set up of banjos, acoustic guitar, fiddle and upright bass. We get to here about their “Gig Granny” as they call her who suppliers them with sound advice and illegal substances (take this with a large pinch of salt). Highlight 'You Can Have Her, I Don't Want Her' is a favourite at wedding party bookings apparently.
Headliners on Friday night are Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman, who play a great set of songs from their four albums. It's only when you see them live you truly appreciate how well Kathryn's warm, precise vocals and Sean's elegantly strummed guitar compliment each other 'The Robber Bridegroom', 'Child Owlet' and 'The Banishing Book' being great examples. Kathryn goes solo with piano for the devastating ' The Ballad of Andy Jacobs' which describes the difficult choices people had to make during the miner's strike in order to survive. The most heart-breaking moment is on '52 Hertz' written about a whale who's singing his mating call at 52 Hertz which is lower than other whales can hear so he swims the oceans alone ' 52 hertz, I'm singing a love song that no-one can hear' . All together now, aaaah .
After a rugby-ball shaped disappointing Saturday night I return on Sunday, perhaps unwisely, to see a Welsh band Calan (who only mention the rugby result about half a dozen times but it's all good natured). Today's line up is a four piece of two fiddles, acoustic guitar and accordion missing the usual Welsh harp, who blast through high speed instrumentals to wake the early Sunday morning crowd up. Bethan Rhiannon Williams-Jones provides beautiful sweet vocals on the slower tracks along with some impressive percussive step dancing . Considering they left Wales in the middle of the night to arrive for today's openers slot they're very chatty as we learn about being deported from the States (nothing more sinister than a paperwork issue) and a broke folk musician's tradition of gifting songs as wedding presents such 'Cariad Caerlyr (Leicester Love)' from the new album 'Dinas'. The twin fiddle blast and shouty chorus of 'Tale of Two Dragons' is the highlight of their energetic set.
Next is an unexpected delight The Dovetail Trio in the Derby Guildhall. Another young (this seems to be a trend) trio of Jamie Roberts (acoustic guitar and bv) Rosie Hood (lead vocals) and Matt Quinn (concertina and bv) who present a beautiful set of trad songs split between unaccompanied and full band tracks. 'Poison In A Glass Of Wine' as Rosie said contains a plot spoiler in the title, and her enchantingly, sweet vocals on 'Frozen Girl' about a girl travelling in the freezing winter causes something hard and jagged in the throat and brings a tear to the eye. They have just released their first album 'Wing of Evening' which is well worth checking out .
Back to the City Marque for John Spiers , squeeze box player extraordinaire, member of soon to depart Bellowhead and a duo with Jon Boden for a set of beautifully played squeeze box instrumentals and up-tempo dance tunes which cause the first outbreak of enthusiastic dancing in the aisles including a mother and infant combination which rightly gets a shout out from John.
The good people of Furthest From The Sea , a local arts organisation have been hosting a Festival Fringe stage all day in The Bell Hotel. Isembard's Wheel, describe themselves as “Folk. And then some” play a lively set with a The Levellers, Frank Turner feel. Felix M-B is a local talent with a down to earth delivery in a Nu-Folk style similar to Nick Drake or Laura Marling.
Melrose Quartet consists of Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, Jess and Richard Arrowsmith, the band are named after the street they all live on in Sheffield, the combination of their four voices is very effectively used on the unaccompanied tunes such as 'Santa Georgia' written about the multi-cultural part of Sheffield they live in and 'Bampton Fair'. Their virtuoso twin fiddle, squeeze box and guitar playing illuminate the full band parts of the set. We hear another two gifted songs on 'Wedding Bells' which Jess wrote for a friend's wedding and 'Margaret Fagan's 50th Birthday Polka' . We get a glimpse into the Kerr/Fagan household when after a lovely version 'John Ball' which celebrates the life of the English radical, Nancy reveals she often sings this to their children as a lullaby ,except when James (who is Australian, but doesn't mention the rugby result) is in charge of bedtime when it's more likely to be AC/DC.
This is only a small part of the great musical events which occur in the city during the Derby Folk Festival, and we're already looking forward to a celebration for DFF10 next year.
Alisdair Whyte
- Festival Reviews
My first visit to The Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia was an exhilarating and gritty experience. Based in the Baltic quarter of Liverpool and centred on the Camp/Furnace venues, a few roads had been closed to create the festival site which added a further two stages.
A good selection of fairly priced food, beer and coffee meant no one had to leave the site in search of sustenance, which was just as well as the music flowed non-stop across the various stages from 3pm on Friday and 1pm on Saturday though to 2am the next morning each day.
Not an acoustic guitar in sight all weekend (apart from Slug) Friday blasted off to the sounds of Vuelveteloca, wall of sound merchants from Chile and it was a psych Chilean afternoon as we also had impressive sets from The Ganjas and Chicos de Nazca. New discoveries straight away!
Dengue Fever were their usual fabulous selves but I think they expected a longer set than the 45 mins provided, as a band member was overheard afterwards saying they would have re-jigged the set song wise had they known. not that anyone noticed, it was great set anyway and marvellous to see this unique band again.
Jacco Gardner is a bit of a star these days; tight band, toe tapping great songs and nice voice. Just the perfect package.
Now, what band could make NIN sound like Simon & Garfunkel? That must be Destruction Unit who reduced the audience into wide-eyed submission under bright white lights after just one song. Perhaps the loudest band I have heard in over forty years of gigs!
Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe where far more subtle. A mesmeric set that was one of the true highlights of the festival.
Pinkshinyultrablast from Russia pretty much matched their name with, female vocals, shiny new songs and a lot of shoegazing power. A great set. After a couple of hours of stage hopping it was Carlton Melton who rounded off Friday with a brilliant widescreen sounding set.
One of the major hightlights of this festival was the light show on the two main stages, which on the Camp stage consisted of having the band on camera and then throwing a load of psychedelic colours around them which, was then projected behind the band and at the back of the venue. This meant that if you could not get anywhere near the front to see the band, you could just turn round and watch the projection behind.
Saturday kicks off for me with Radar Men from the Moon. Based in Eindhoven, it's more shoegazing/ psych being produced to a very high standard. The Flowers from Hell (well, Toronto and London) were something quite original as well as being the largest band of the weekend. Ethereal voices and a room filling sound was an early highlight of the day.
Meance Beach from Leeds hit all the garage rock buttons and were followed by the magnificent discovery of the quite beautiful sounds of Death and Vanilla, a band with ambient,Sigur ros leanings.
Hey Colossus played to a rammed one in one out District stage and nearly blew the roof off the place
Canada's No Joy had a 'hit you between the eyeballs', no chat, no fuss set followed by three bands that really again enhanced the feel that this weekend is all about new discoveries; Kandodo3, Cult of Dom Keller and Lumerians from San Francisco, The latter hooded space rock warriors.
Sunderland's Slug, part of the Field Music collective, had a main stage slot on Saturday evening but for some reason the psychedelic crowd were not ready for the bright pop and happy stage banter from this fine band. They gave it their all but it was pretty much a lost cause. A case of the wrong gene of band for the festival I guess.
Jane Weaver packed them in for her set. When she was announced for this festival earlier in the year she was not playing any other festivals. By the time she actually played in Liverpool it must have been around her 10th festival appearance of the summer.
A queuing system was put in place for Hookworms and Spiritualized, which meant I saw the last song of the former and the complete set of the latter which in turn meant missing The Heads for fear of not getting back in for the festival headliners. This was the first and only time I had this issue all weekend and wonder if there was a substantial uptake of day tickets on Saturday evening?
To say that the Spiritualized set was epic would be an understatement. As usual nothing other than a thank you from Jason Pierce but, a tighter band you could not wish for. Standing next to the guy doing the lighting, the amount of effort he was putting in over his board was nearly equally as compelling as watching the band themselves!
So a fine festival all round and one I will definitely return to.
Pete
- Festival Reviews
No major changes on the site itself to mention this year. The Silent Disco was now in the Garden stage area, and there was a sizeable Fox at the top of the field for the Woods stage and an elephant hanging from a hot air balloon in the Big Top tent. The woods themselves were a myriad of colour and sounds with many delights to be discovered.
Sunday was glorious weather; the rest of the weekend was overcast and generally autumnal. Less of a family feel this year with the kids already being back at school but an increase in the pre-Uni crowd was evident. As ever a decent vibe and many smiling faces.
Palma Violets were a rocking start for the early arrivals on Thursday with a crowd surfing, stage invading set and the festival as a whole kicked off on Friday with a laid back, jam orientated Ryley Walker on the Garden Stage just after midday on the Friday.
Loose Music's Andrew Combs brought a fine country vibe to the Woods stage followed by a trio of ladies who stormed the rest of the afternoon. Frazey Ford stared off gently with some very fine songs from her solo album followed by the rising star that is the formidable Nadine Shah who put on an electric performance in the Big Top tent. The trio was completed by a sonic if somewhat distance performance from Torres.
Back to the Big Top for a superb show from a psychedelic driven Pond who really excelled as did, the fun filled Diagrams in the Tipi (Uncut Stage) tent.
TY Segall's Fuzz blasted the last remains of any Friday daylight out of the sky and plunged the world into darkness with their sonic horizon filling sound. Final choice of the day was Tame Impala or Low. I went with the latter and was rewarded with a spell-binding set from the band containing a lot of new material.
Low seem be to on a creative high again. Adam mentioned that he was surprised to be invited back to the festival where last time he threw his guitar into the crowd (not gently either). Thank heavens they were asked back though, this was a show totally focussed on the music, no major lighting or videos, just the music.
Saturday started with a soon to be indie Welsh legend, H. Hawkline. Huw and the boys really had some cracking songs in the sunshine followed by The Duke Spirit who delivered a rocking return on the Woods Stage.
Madisen Ward & Mama Bear gave a delightful show of country blues to a packed and overflowing Tipi tent audience after which Stephen Steinbrink brought some heart wrenching solo tunes to the same stage followed by a young Flo Morrissey who then charmed another substantial crowd on the Uncut stage with her angelic voice.
A sojourn to the tented base camp was followed by a widescreen rock show from My Morning Jacket who packed a 60 minute set with as many songs as they could. Leaving time for an encore, I got the impression that they left the stage, only to be told there were no encores?
Tonight's Saturday headline for the 10th anniversary of the festival was the much sought after Surfjan Stevens, whose shows the previous week leading up to the festival were given 5 star reviews across the board but, could that translate to a festival field? Well quite frankly, yes. I don't think I have ever seen a festival audience so quiet and reverential. Dawn Landes was in Surfjan's band this time around and the whole unit seemed to gel exceptionally well together. It's just hard to actually find anything lacking in the performance, stage lighting, sound or enthusiasm of the band; this was darn near as perfect festival set as you could wish for. some more thoughts on this particular set are HERE.
Sunday was a slow peaceful start but we did make it to the Woods stage for the rather excellent Houndtooth who were just beautiful in the sunshine. The Black Tambourines from Nottingham lived up to their growing live reputation with their Stones like riffs and retro reverb filled tunes. Ultimate Painting followed, these guys part Mazes, part Veronica Falls are a really first rate outfit. Marika Hackman underlined her performance at the Green Man Festival with another fine set, just one woman and a guitar (and amp).
Sunshine, main stage, Alvvays, what more could you need for a teatime slot, just glorious, the band from Nova Scotia relay delivered even though lead singer Molly Rankin was suffering with a sore throat.
A Giant Sand gig is always an intriguing affair and after a storming set at Glastonbury hopes were high for End of the Road show. Endless tuning meant the band where fifteen minutes late on even Howe quipped, "we only have time for one song now, but, it will be a good one". Howe never really seemed to have his heart in it and although the remaining forty five minutes sparked occasionally, overall it was a sense of what could have been.
Future Islands on the other hand exceeded expectations with a thoroughly entertaining set as day turned to night. Headliners for me were The War on Drugs who wound up the festival on a terrific high. There must be a new album soon and still more to come from this great band.
Highlight's of the late night sets in the Tipi included Jaco Gardner who had everyone dancing on sore feet and Ex Hex who just rocked the place to the ground.
So, the Tenth Anniversary is done and dusted and an excellent event it was as well. Here's looking forward to 2016!
Pete
- Festival Reviews
The overriding sensations' at Green Man 2015 were, the fabulous vibe amongst the sold out crowd, staff and artists, the sensational music and, the apocalyptic rainfall.
The Black Mountains of the Breacon Becons in Wales offered us a sunny Thursday morning to set up base camp, before the rain started to fall around teatime. Settling in all day just saw us check out part of the revitalised Leftfield's set before returning to the Courtyard for the100 Welsh Ales and Ciders testing commitments.
Facilities remained impressive throughout the weekend. Even with all the rainfall the site and staff responded well to the changing conditions. Indeed how much have festivals changed these days when the main concern of someone coming out of a toilet cubicle is to whisper the news that "the hand sanitiser has run out, is that ok?" …. Another brilliant job all weekend by 'Andy's Loos'.
Friday starts off with competition winner's Hunck and the hardy souls standing in front of the main stage. A nice and brave set from the band to get the festival started. The Green Man Rising stage is next and the fabulous Art Bandini and band offer some rootsy blues and Americana by way of a seven piece band. It's a real spirit raiser!
Coral guitarist, Bill Ryder-Jones had the perfect tone for the weather and C. Duncan followed with songs from debut album 'Architect', which is full of fine music from this Scottish producer and musician, today with a full band this was classy set.
Slug, part of the Field Music Empire from Sunderland, were in fine fettle having survived the car journey down from Wearside and really got the crowd revved up in the Far Out tent. A really great show from a charismatic band. Teleman followed with a very polished set and lots of new songs. This band is really maturing nicely.
Syd Arthur bring their heavily 70's influenced sound to the Chai Wallah's tent, but with a rum 'Super Furries Fizz' in hand, the sonic attack on the senses that is otherwise known as Viet Cong was the preferred option. Formed from the ashes of Canadian sonic warriors, 'Women' the band did not disappoint, particularly with the Neil Young esqe style, never-ending finishes' to songs.
Singer/Songwriter Joe Pug played a lovely set in the summer sunshine on the Walled Garden Stage. Storytelling and singing in equal measure made this an intimate set. Calexico in all their glory triumphed with a great set on the Mountain stage. Indeed it was hard seeing anything surpassing this set for the rest of the day when next came, Atomic Bomb! The music of William Onyeabor with a joyous explosion of sound and attitude. Special guests included Hot Chips' Alexis Taylor and Jimmy Rip from Television amongst the large band of singers and musicians. If Calexico were joyous then this lot moved the happiness level up to good few notches. Hot Chip were the headliners on the Mountain Stage on Friday evening and seemed to draw the biggest crowd of the entire weekend to their show. I however, chose Mew on the Far Out Stage to end my Friday night. An excellent band with an ever growing catalogue and nice light show, this proved a rocking end to a Friday night.
Hannah-Lou Clarke was our first full set on Saturday. Initially checking the music out as we wondered if this Hannah-Lou, was the Hannah-Lou of 'Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou fame. She wasn't but, my, what a discovery. With a very fine band in tow, this was a fine set. Good songs, lead and rhythm guitars. With a grit reminiscence of Beth Orton and with this band set-up, Hannah-Lou Clarke is one to look out for.
As with every version of this festival, the great music just continues to flow and, Marika Hackman had the main stage all to herself with her electric guitar and amp, as the sun shone down on a quiet disbelieving crowd. There was even a queue at the Ice Cream van. Marika's lovely songs kept the crowd entranced.
The Far Out tent was bursting to overflowing halfway down the hill for Songhoy Blues, but in the sunshine the rhythms sounded just as good even if, you couldn't actually see the band. The Leisure Society continued the feel-good factor with their usual style and had the crowd jigging away. Then Nick came out with the comment "where's this rain we were promised". Well it turned up around teatime and took on seemingly apocalyptic strength over the next 18 hours and well into Sunday morning.
The Green Man Folk are made of hardy stuff and like any festival, you just get on with it. On Sunday morning it was reassuring that not many cars had left the site.
So Saturday continues apace, Jane Weaver spreads her psych sound from the Silver Globe LP across the Walled Garden crowd, followed by the storm at its most ferocious and primal.That's not the rain by the way, that's Richard Dawson who was next up on the Walled Garden Stage. Certainly an artist to split opinions, I found his set captivating. Described as a folk musician from Newcastle, that title just scratches the surface of a spine tingling live performance.
It turns out that we are in the Walled Garden for the afternoon and early evening. The final act for us this evening is the sublime This is the Kit with added Rozi Plain. A delightful and delicate lo-fi set from this wonderful band.
It's 9.30pm and the rain has eased and the main stage turn's it's attention to the legend that is Television performing the equally legendary album 'Marquee Moon'. For those people of a certain age, this is 'Goosebumps on the back of the neck time'. The bands are electric and the songs from the album captivating. It's great to see the kids of today dancing along and singing the words. As impressive as the recent Patti Smith 'Horses' shows, both gigs were quite astonishing.
Biggest decision of the weekend was Super Furry Animals or Slowdive (who on earth did that scheduling?). Welsh band, Welsh festival, so SFA got our vote and the ninety minutes of hits and more was truly well received in the pouring rain. The recent UK tour obviously had longer shows and there was the unknown factor of what was ahead. Tonight it was more a celebratory homecoming and the band triumphed.
The heavens kept the tap open all night and well into Sunday morning. Boots turned to wellies and the grass disappeared into the mud. Having said that, the site drainage is excellent and there are never any real Glasto mud moments.
Sunday was a day of musical gold, starting out on the Far Out stage with the excellent Ultimate Painting. Part Mazes part Veronica Falls, there was a slight twinge of West Coast evident though an impressive set. Steve Gunn was next on the Mountain Stage. A prolific songwriter and guitarist, he as fabulous in the strengthening sunshine. Plenty of exercise today moving between stages, hence a new slim line Matthew E. White appeared with his band on the main stage and were beguiling, after which it was back up the Far Out stage for workwomanlike set from Waxahatchee. No chat, just a chock –a block set of songs squeezed into the band's allotted forty five minutes slot.
Son Lux were a real find. Perhaps a close comparison would be Battles (for me). Son Lux seem genuinely nice guys, pleased, happy and humble to be playing at the festival. The music was superb and a band you should truly check out.
The sun is blazing and everyone is drying. Antlers and The Staves both put in solid sets in the sunshine. Back in tent for the first gig I have seen by Public Service Broadcasting. What an original idea for a show, educational, engaging and visually enthralling. The day just gets better.
Back to the main stage for Josh Tillman, better known as Father John Misty. For a drummer he is certainly not shy in coming forward making this is a brilliant and fun show. Great songs from a growing solo back catalogue. Josh is a real showman.
Final band of the festival for me is Goat. Again I had never seen this band live before and what a live experience they are. Psychedelic aerobics in Aztec costumes perhaps might get close. An outstanding performance anyway.
So there we are then, another Green Man passes with the burning of, yes, The Green Man and fireworks. Another stunning edition of this family friendly festival.
Pete
- Festival Reviews
The Pig Hotel, Pensford, a few miles west of Bath, is one of a small chain of boutique hotels in the South of England. Through the summer months most locations host a live music event under the 'Smoked & Uncut' banner.
It is an imaginative attempt to showcase original and contemporary artists in a wonderful setting. This particular event was right up our street as favourites Teleman were on the bill topped by singer-songwriter with god-like status in my eyes Ed Harcourt.
We made the festival the centrepiece of the weekend and stayed the weekend at the hotel. So as we enjoyed a leisurely Sunday breakfast in the conservatory we were able to see the festival being set up before our eyes. The spacious lawn was populated with straw bales which lent itself beautifully for a picnic-style music afternoon. With just 650 tickets on sale there was plenty of space, arguably a little too much space as the tendency for folk to place themselves at the back (some behind the small tented sound desk) meant there were no people up close to the stage. The only exception was toward the end of the Teleman set when the band encouraged a few people forward, so I was able to jump around for their set closer 'Not In Control'
A nod to the catering. This is a top-quality hotel and restaurant and the festival fare followed suit: a variety of alcoholic beverages including some decent real ale plus a selection of fresh cooked food from pizzas, flat-breads to barbecued mini-skewers with dips. A voucher system was in operation. With vouchers (=1 pint) at £5 each it puts it on the expensive side. But accepting that, it's good to see establishments like this provide an entree to families to the wonder of listening to a variety of music in the sunshine.
Given the family-centric nature of the day the live music lasted from 12.30 to 6.00 pm, followed by DJs for an hour. In that time we enjoyed:
Carousels & Limousines - guitars to get the afternoon off to a rocking start
The Drystones - a guitar and fiddle duo playing lively tunes with overtones of The Unthanks/Bellowhead. A virtue of this genre is that it got a few people to their feet. New song 'Green Trees' came to an abrupt end - with fiddle player, Alex, explaining that guitar player, Ford, had broken a string. They then went into a final assault of a medley of songs with Ford demonstrating his prowess on a number of variously-sized penny whistles. Impressive and entertaining in equal measure.
Brother From Another - an acoustic duo that performed a few covers under a canvas at the side of the lawn. I didn't have high hopes as they went into their opener 'I Wanna Be like You' from The Jungle Book, but they redeemed themselves with some George Benson and Hendrix material later in their brief set.
Sinnober - a folk/indie band with Danish roots but now located in Somerset. Great melodies and a very tight live performance with songs covering multiple styles including an unmistakable Zutons sound in 'Lucky 13'. The only slight disappointment was that they terminated 'Hollywood Lies' without the guitar solo that brings this song to a conclusion on their eponymous debut CD.
Teleman - their debut album 'Breakfast' was in my 2014 top-3. Nevertheless it was good to see them breaking away from those tunes. More than half their set was 'new' material including recent single 'Strange Combination'. Not a major shift from the winning formula and unique sound of their first offering but 'Dusseldorf' and 'Glory Hallelujah' are underpinned with a slightly heavier piano sound. '23 Floors Up' from 'Breakfast' was a set highlight.
Ed Harcourt - played a set sprinkled with many of his better known numbers 'Apple Of My Eye', 'I've Become Misguided', 'Born In The Seventies', 'This Ones For You'. At one point he clambered from the stage cutting a pied piper-like figure with children draped round his neck as he delivered a number a cappella (in Spanish). Another brief sortie across the lawn accompanied the beginning of set-closer 'Until Tomorrow Then' delivered with the now familiar RCA microphone and the usual Harcourt panache
A marvellous conclusion to a beautiful afternoon.
Si
- Festival Reviews
If anybody is looking for a small, family-friendly festival, look no further. Truck has been going for 18 years and is a well-established item in the local Oxfordshire calendar. Located on a farm near Dicot it is easily accessible for anybody in the South.
It falls on the same weekend as Latitude so quite understandably as far as the bill is concerned Truck cannot boast the riches of the Suffolk-based event, but at £80 for a weekend ticket, value-for-money cannot be faulted (and the kids are free).
This was the first time we had taken small children to a festival (a four and ten-year old) but with plenty of adult company the band-watching was not compromised too much. And there is certainly more than enough to keep the little ones amused in the form of circus classes, painting and fairground attractions.
The festival is held over two days, Friday & Saturday, so a big plus that it only requires a single day off work. A small frustration that the camping doesn’t open until Friday morning, so after queuing to get into the car-park the tent-pitching and setting up was followed by an immediate launch into the bands which frustratingly meant we missed a couple of bands on our agenda..
I suspect the festival has grown a little over the years. On previous visits the car park was easily accessible and extremely close to the camping. This year the car park was further away and it took us longer to get in, and an hour to get out on Sunday morning. But these are trifles relative to the joy this small event provides.
The main stage area “Truck Stage” is an open space. Second venue “Market stage’ is a moderately sized big top. Third stage is a barn – an excellent location to showcase the ‘heavier’ bands on the bill like Pulled Apart By Horses, Slaves, Bo Ningen, Eagulls.There were also three further stages so plenty of choice throughout the weekend.
FRIDAY
Spring King (Truck stage) - unusually the leader of this guitar band is the drummer but all four band members contribute to the vocals. Sweeping choruses make their song highly accessible, though they were occasionally a little too close to boy-band territory for my liking. The bass player broke his e-string In the first number and, failing to live up to their name 'Nothing But Thieves' lent them a replacement.
Bloody Knees (Barn) - guitar band; clearly a favourite of the Oxford kids as they got an early afternoon mosh-pit going
Cut Ribbons (Palm City stage) - a 5-strong line up including a female bass player. Lo-fi pop, great preparation for afternoon slumbering.
The Bohicas (Truck stage) - Guitar band who had to overcome a power-out mid-set. The drummer manfully tried to fill the gap with a drum solo.
Neon Waltz (Market Stage) - Refreshing to see a lead vocalist not encumbered with an instrument. He is supported by two guitars, bass, drums and keys. Hailing from the outer reaches of Scotland, the keys-man interestingly has his keyboard draped in a Spanish flag emblazoned with the name and logo 'XV Brigada Internacional' a multi-national brigade that battled to quell the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Well-crafted indie tunes delivered with conviction. Best discovery of the day.
Sunset Sons (Market Stage) - lead vocalist plays keys with guitar bass and drums in support. Drew a large crowd to the tent. Tattoos, Ponytails and long curly locks gave the look of a band that was going to give in yer face rock so it was a little disappointing that their set comprised fairly unremarkable, gentle indie tunes.
Eagulls (Barn) - great sound for this first-class Leeds band. Within their thirty-minute they gave plenty of airing to their excellent debut album plus new song 'Life In Reverse'. A very lively audience with crowd-surfers young and old.
Clean Bandit (Truck stage) - a superbly polished act. Their dance-funk tunes have mass audience appeal. Some hits thrown in too!
Darwin Deez (Market Stage) - Truly a one-off. Darwin and his band provide entertainment of the first order combining quirky pop, dance-routines and audience participation all meandering into prog rock refrains. Got the tent bouncing from the very start of the set that included songs old and new, including 'Time Machine' from forthcoming album 'Double Down' out in August; also the excellent Chelsea’s Hotel from 2nd album ‘Songs For Imaginative People’ . As if the crowd needed to be delighted any more than they already were, the encore was concluded with ‘Radar Detector’. Best set of the weekend.
The Charlatans (Truck stage) - Tim Burgess once again delivers a sublime performance with timeless Charlatans classics peppered with songs from their brilliantly-crafted 2015 album ‘Modern Nature’
SATURDAY
Safe To Swim (Market Stage) - Guitars with very imaginative keyboard refrains. Summery tunes morphing into excellent grungy guitar outros reminiscent of Idlewild
New Desert Blues (Truck stage) - Mature guitar songs from this Hampshire-based six-piece. Not frightened to vary the pace. Slower song ‘Summer Skin’ had shades of Arctic Monkeys.
Allusondrugs (Market Stage) - taking the stage when the sun was at it's most intense this was the hottest the tent got all weekend. So highly appropriate that the drummer and vocalist should be bare-chested with impressive tattoo work on show. Conversely the rhythm guitarist sported a shirt and woolly cardigan, but didn't lack for movement for all that. This was in yer face punk-edged songs. Friends of Pulled Apart by Horses, their closing number could have been a PABH song.
Simon Stanley Ward (Great Western Saloon stage) – my first visit to this stage, with a facade of a western saloon. Stupidly I was surprised they actually had a bar in there (!) so it seemed rude not to avail oneself of a pint of Hobgoblin. Despite the tin roof this was the coolest (temperature-wise) drinking establishment on the site. As for the music, this was a deviation into Country & Western territory but with strong sprinklings of humour evidenced by the best opening lyric to a rockabilly song I’ve ever heard: 'I went to a psycho hydro-therapy class....'. Showed the band not taking themselves too seriously; and again on closing number, winning best song title of the weekend: 'I wish I was Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park'. Simon mentioned he had CDs for sale but only had 5 left – this set was great fun but I must confess I made a mental note that if I found myself in the queue I would make sure I was at least six back.
Magic Gang (Market Stage) - Highly competent at what they do. What they do is anthemic indie songs which border on Simon Cowell manufactured, mass-appeal tunes. Perfect example, mid-set song 'Only In My Dreams', a saccharine-fuelled pop song. This band is getting a great deal of acclaim in the credible music press and today there were a lot of people who knew their stuff to the point where the local kids were moshing to it. My concern is if this is the direction indie music is heading this is (for me) the wrong direction.
Rat Boy (Market Stage) - unlike the previous band this band feels 'real'. A hybrid of Streets, Billy Bragg, King Blues, Jehst. Brilliantly constructed songs with a highly relevant topical edge. Jordan Cardy is clearly the main man but he had the grace to announce his band (guitar, bass, drums) as 'We are Ratboy'. For the final song ‘Sign On’ he invited a stage invasion - only partially successful on account of the well-drilled Security Crew.
Peasants King (Palm City stage) Lead vocal, 2nd vocal (plus tambourine/bass drum), bass, 2 guitars, drums. Loud and proud, high-intensity rock. Suffice to say, forthcoming single 'Give A Little Love' is far removed from similarly named tune from The Osmonds. This band are from South Wales - perhaps it's the Celtic routes that put me in mind of a many Scottish bands that deliver superb songs with a dark bass-drum foundation.
Rae Morris (Market Stage) - with a band comprising 2 guitars and female drummer. Her early 2015 album passed me by - most definitely an oversight on my part. Superb songs. Whole band smiling all the way through, loving the love they were getting from the crowd
Public Service Broadcasting (Truck stage) - I love this band but tonight was a disappointment. 2-3 years ago at an early PSB show at The Haunt, Brighton (a Sea Power club night) their makeshift projector broke down leading me to comment (partly in jest) 'Public Service Broadcasting are nothing without the films'. Tonight the backdrop and now traditional stacked-up retro TV sets were devoid of film, showing just the static PSB logo. Sorry to say that the songs lose their charm without the supporting visual footage. 'Letters for the rich, Letters for the poor, the shop at the corner and the girl next door’ seemed a little hollow without the images of the rushing train. I am no technical expert but I can't believe it can be that difficult to display the films, as a minimum on the backdrop screens? My sadness is I love this band and all the stuff they've done, but I suspect anybody watching for the first time wouldn't warm to them on this performance.
Temples (Truck stage) - having seen them perform an excellent set in Holland a few weeks ago, today seemed a little like going through the motions. But the set was lifted to a brilliant height when they played a new song, which sounded like early Floyd
Basement Jaxx (Truck stage) – with kiddies tucked up in the truck, lovely to enjoy this band with a warming whisky in hand
Si
- Festival Reviews
It was another great Glastonbury. Shared this year with Joe and Ian (and of course a mere 175,000 others).
We set out at 6:30am on Wednesday morning so that we could camp at Pennard Hill Ground. That’s my favourite camping area between The Park and Greenfields and not far from many of the stages, not far from beer and not far from good food. However, it took 2 hours to get into the site via gate D and so we had to opt for South Park 2 field on the west of The Park. Still a good location though. We spent a lazy afternoon drinking Brothers cider on the West Holts ground after which it's our annual fix of Goan Fish Curry from the West Holts field.
Thursday was a beautiful sunny day with our morning spent on the lounging fields above the Park where this year they’ve built a bar serving real ales! Didn’t think the Park could get any better but I was wrong! Listened to a few bands on at The Bandstand.
That evening Heavenly Records were hosting at the Crow's Nest, the tiny venue at the top of the Park hill with Eaves, The Voyeurs and Toy. Toy sounded superb as always with their pulsating psychedelic riffs.
Friday started with The Charlatans as special guests on the Other Stage belting out their anthems. Then it was off to the John Peel tent for Hinds, 4 Spanish girls enthusiastically dishing out pop rock numbers.
Everything Everything had the crowd bouncing on the Other Stage and told us “best week in our fu**ing lives”. Alabama Shakes were superb on the Pyramid Stage. The rain couldn’t dampen the powerful sound of Brittany & band's version of soulful rock. After which Mary J Blige gave an inspired performance.
The sun came out for Motorhead who were up next. Classic heavy rock experienced (and a first for me) from the front rail of the Pyramid Stage with a constant flow of crowd surfers passing over my head!
Then for some gentle chill-out sounds from King Creosote who was performing songs from his recent album 'With Love from Scotland'. Magic! All this just left enough time to catch Caribou at West Holts. Their electronica sounds were so good.
We all met up at the Somerset Cider bar before Florence and the Machine headlining on the Pyramid. We were half way up the field for the show but even from there, her performance was superb and her stamina was awesome. She well deserved that headline slot.
Glastonbury never sleeps so it’s off to my favourite chill out bar at the back of the stonemasons tent in Greenfields. You can rest up in their armchairs sampling their real ale before heading back out into the night to NYC Download in Block 9.
This is the club with a facade of a ruined New York tenement block with a yellow cab imbedded in the second floor. It’s crowded hot and sweaty with great vintage club music. It’s the kind of thing that makes Glastonbury so special. At dawn it's time for some Chai in the tipi field served by a Tibetan from a log fire before heading back to camp for some kip.
Saturday started at the Park with the sweet young voice of Flo Morrissey, followed by Eves and the fine acoustic guitar songs of Joseph Lyons and his band. Then the 2 Cuban sisters that are Ibeyi were also on at the Park stage but I struggled to dial into their sounds. Maybe a smaller indoor venue would suit better.
Giant Sand was in 8 piece legendary band mode on the Park stage. They started slow and bluesy with Howe Gelb’s gravely low voice. They then ramped the set up and five guitars were rocking by the end. After that Gaz Coombes, the former Supergrass front man produced some excellent songs old and new with his band to a hands-aloft crowd.
Leaving behind the Park Stage I headed for some pop from Paloma Faith. Again into the front area of the Pyramid Stage I witnessed her ‘show’ from close quarters. She is such a great performer and the three backing singers in her band were superb.
Pharrell Williams was next up. The songs and the dancers were all great and packed with that feel-good factor that is the song 'Happy', one of those great festival sing along anthems.
I wasn’t going to stay for Kanye West but we were so near the front of the stage I decided to hang on. That was a mistake! I’m not a lover of rap so found it tedious! Just him on the stage (mostly) and moving slowly under yellow lights. I was trapped and had to stay until the end. Even the appearance of Justin Vernon did not rescue the situation.
Eventually freed myself and met up with Joe at the Crow's Nest for a late night gig from Django Django. The small tent was full by the time we got there so we sat outside with a beer. Couldn’t appreciate the set because of the sound coming up the hill from below. The view of the Glastonbury lights and the fireballs from Arcadia were superb however but not enough to rescue the night.
Sunday was another very good day, I had wanted to catch the excellent Songhoy Blues on the Pyramid Stage but the Dalai Lama beckoned! He spoke from a Tibetan timber stage in the stone circle field. It was an inspiring speech covering such subjects as war, ISIS, religion, poverty, happiness, care of the earth and music (which he doesn’t rate!), afterwards time for a beer or two at my favourite Greenfields bar.
Then to the Pyramid stage for another brilliant performance from Patti Smith performing her classic album 'Horses'. She was joined mid set by the Dalai Lama who said a few words, but he didn’t play in the band (see above). Patti finished her set with My Generation and a nod to the Who complete with amp feedback and guitar string breaking!
After this we were at the Park Stage to hear The Staves who gave a great performance of their folk rock harmonies with added Justin Vernon. Alas Kanye didn't show this time. This was followed by some more rocking from the excellent Fat White Family
Next it's back to the Other Stage for the happy sound of Belle & Sebastian in the evening sunshine. All the classic numbers from this large and very musical band complete with the usual dancers from the crowd invited up for 'The Boy with the Arab Strap'.
Back to the Park Stage again (good exercise) for some classic garage punk rock from The Fall after which Goat hit the stage. Goat are a Swedish psychedelic, mask wearing trance inducing band with some exotic dancing added in. They are superb!
Then it's down to the final headliner of the festival on the Park Stage, Ryan Adams who never fails to deliver. This time it's a storming rocking set and the perfect ending to another perfect Glastonbury.
But wait, earlier I said I couldn’t go to Songhoy Blues because they clashed with the Dalai Lama, well guess what! They turned up for a secret gig after Ryan at the Crow's Nest. We danced to their late night set of rock rhythms before a last pint on the top of the Park hill and a last view of the Arcadia fireballs lighting up the night sky.
Sweet!
Ken
- Festival Reviews
Our first venture to a non-UK festival and pleased to report a first-class experience.
The event was located on a Leisure/Safari Park just over the Dutch border from Belgium, a 3 hour drive from Calais. Entry to the campsite was not allowed until Friday so we travelled Thursday and stayed in a hotel at nearby Tilbourg; otherwise a middle-of-the night departure would have been required. Not a large festival, about 15,000 people which included weekend campers, weekenders staying in chalets on the park, and day visitors. First impressions were extremely favourable as the camping was just a 10-minute wheel-barrow push from the car park. The festival site was a 20 minute walk from the camp-site so nipping back to the tent during the day wasn't really an option, but this sounded better than some of the chalets which we heard were up to 45 minutes' walk away.
The main stage was on a man-made beach by a lake named, in typical direct Dutch style, 'Stage One' with the others being 'Stage Two', a sizeable big-top, 'Three' and 'Five' (smaller tents) and 'Four' an area a couple of minutes away that hosted DJ sets most of the time. Such was the quality of bands on the bill we didn't venture there at all.
This festival is well organised and the most noteworthy aspect is the chip that is part of the festival wristband. This needs to be loaded up with cash and is the only means of payment for drink, food, merch or records. This leads to minimal waiting. Even if there was a queue at the bar it moved exceedingly quickly as no cash or tokens were changing hands. One tip for any future visitors however, the chip cannot be loaded with Visa/Mastercard, just a local NL 'maestro/PIN' card. This gave us our one stressful moment of the weekend as we had to load all our cash onto our chip on day one and spend an hour Saturday morning driving 5 miles to Tilbourg to locate an ATM.
As regards catering, the standard beer on offer was 'Juliper', available in small (250 cl) or large (440cl) servings. It was interesting to observe the differing drinking habits. While I walked around most of the weekend clutching a large beer in true 'brit abroad' style, most of the locals (including groups of lads) were drinking beer in the smaller 250cl portions. After a day on Juliper I was craving some real ale or 'The Cider Bus' but the closest available here was a small selection of craft beers available on the jetty bar stretching over the lake.
We had been drawn to this festival by the excellent line up, but one experience to recount: Sunday afternoon we had fantastic band after fantastic band including (on the bounce with no time in between) new band Gengahr, 2014 favourites Alvvays and the fantastic Mew. So having been taken to such a high I truly thought the Royal Blood set later on would be a perfunctory viewing of this much hyped band - but it took us to a yet further high, a reminder why we do this stuff.
And so to the bands:
FRIDAY
Metz (Stage Two) - Raucous guitar tunes from Canada
Drenge (One) - This band have matured over the last 18 months, and whilst still technically a two-piece brothers Eoin and Rory were today accompanied a third band member adding a further guitar. Shades of Parquet Courts guitars and clever lyrics grounded in Arctic Monkeys style. My favourite was ' When I put the kettle on, you put heavy metal on'
Fidlar (Two) - As we entered the tent we both wondered how come so many people in Netherlands had heard of her. As the lights went down it became amusingly evident to us this was not Stockport-based songstress Finlay ! No, this was a quite different proposition. Fidlar are a guitar band from California but were greeted like local heroes with moshing and crowd-surfing from the off. Dressed for the beach. Emo tunes spattered with heavy guitar riffs.
Klangstaf (Three) - Wandering to Stage 3 for the first time we came across this local Netherlands band. 4-piece with drummer side-on plus guitar, bass and keys. Verve-sounding tunes with prominent keys. The fact they were a local band didn't stop people talking so their delicately crafted tunes got a little lost.
Yak (Five) - 3-piece indie guitar band with occasional keys thrown in. Jim Morrison meets The Strokes. Announced their last song after just 30 minutes and went into a superb 8-minute chaotic number replete with drum solos, PA kicking and guitars strewn on the floor. Marvellous
Eagulls (Five) - Good to see them do some new songs 'Stab In The Dark', 'Opaque' and 'Life In Reverse' which appear to signal a slight mellowing in their style. The prominent nature of George Mitchell's vocal requires the sound balance to be spot on which sadly it wasn't today (at least from where we were standing at the front).
Chet Faker (Two) - Drew a large and enthusiastic crowd for his rehashed classics
The Tallest Man On Earth (One) - this is the moniker for Swedish singer songwriter Kristian Matsson. Sounding like the love-child of Bob Dylan and Hamilton Leithauser..... with some Sam Duckworth guitar action thrown in. Despite hailing from Sweden I'm sure he announced this his first time in Europe (??). He was accompanied by a band but the 2-3 songs he did on his own were somehow more engaging.
The Libertines (One) - Of the three headliners this weekend (the others were Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Alt-J). The Libs delivered the most vibrant top-of-the bill show by far. Libs shows are a stroll down nostalgia lane but the chemistry between Carl and Pete is truly wonderful to behold. With many music media column inches being devoted to their forthcoming new album they gave a sneak peak by playing single Gunga Din. A defining band of the indie-age; great to see them on such good form.
SATURDAY
Rhodes (Three) - A wonderful sound. Hearing David Rhodes' vocal I suspect the jury would be out as to whether it was male or female. He was complemented with a four-strong band on drums, guitar, bass and keys (with occasional Cello). Spine-tingling songs. Album is coming out late August - let's hope the production gives these songs an indie feel rather than a 'James Blunt' veneer. I believe this will be a defining point as to whether this excellent artiste falls into Radio 2 mainstream or 6Music quality.
Sue The Night (One) - Suus de Groots gave a wonderful performance with a 5-strong band in support. Did a quirky version of Heart Of Glass
Fickle Friends (Three) - Female lead (also played keys). Poppy songs given a thumping edge through the prominent bass and drums. Got the crowd jumping at the end with a Caribou-sounding number (coincidentally called 'Swim')
Temples (One) - A wonderful band, should be sub-titled 'The Young Persons Guide To The 1970s'. Apart from the young indie dude on drums the three front-line band members have the look of rock icons: John Lennon, Ian Hunter, Dave Hill (of Slade, but with black hair). Their set swings between jangly guitars, 70's style guitar solos (on new song 'Volcano') accompanied by lyrics early Genesis fans would warm to. If their look doesn't lay down their RnR credentials their songs certainly do
Of Mice And Men (One) - British Sea Power playing Lanterns On The Lake covers
Death Cab For Cutie - I can't make out whether DCFC sound like everyone else or whether everyone else sounds like DCFC ? A great set from this highly accomplished US indie band. Closing song 'I Need You So Much Closer' filled the tent with stunning sounds
Follakzoid (Five) - we were drawn in out of curiosity after hearing a few bars. This band from Chile was Kraftwerk doing Bellowhead. Certain factions of the Dutch audience were going mental. Each song lasted 8-10 minutes with chord changes 5 minutes apart. The repetition was mesmerising.... to a point. I was waiting for the moment it all fell into place - but it didn't. As I left during the closing number I turned to a guy wildly bopping around and said ' You Dutch like some f***ing weird shit'. He smiled broadly, nodding in agreement and high-fiveing. [Aren't festivals just wonderful !]
Balthazar (One) - Wonderful to see this Belgian 5-piece playing such a big stage. Veering between indie tunes and prog-rock time-signatures, the guitar playing was excellent throughout
Boxed In (Three) - horrifyingly appeared to be in the Keane mould in their first song, but quickly threw off any comparison as they moved into a quality dancey number for their second tune. The sound got darker during the following tracks including ' Say It All'. New number 'Searchers' reverted to a mainstream feel but plenty on show here to suggest this band could go far.
The Vaccines (One) - A notable aspect was the large mosh-pit behind the tented sound desk. You couldn't see the stage from there (and the band wouldn't have been able to see them!). Great to see a bunch of people enjoying music for music's sake. New songs are clearly moving into the anthemic/stadium-filling direction but sounded good for all that.
Hookworms (Five) - A moody sound. Vocals/keys with two guitars, bass and drums. Highlights of the set were when the guitars got into a frenzy against the back-drop of the thumping beat.
Kindness (Five) – Best set of the weekend and unquestionably the niftiest footwork. This show was a real performance with Adam Bainbridge directing the show (as well as the off-stage huddle/pump-up in the wings beforehand). Fantastic female vocals (two of em), smiley guitarist and drummer - all leading to a show with pinpoint precision and unrehearsed feel in equal measure, with each song culminating in chaotic drumming. At one point Adam handed a cowbell and drumstick into the crowd - the couple in front of me who grabbed it soon got bored so passed it back - so I was delighted to accompany a couple of tunes from the floor. (Well it sounded in time to me ..... ! )
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - we caught the last three songs, a really good number off the album followed by the single (which I'm not keen on) and then Don't Look Back In Anger. The crowd seemed fairly muted but burst into life for the final number.
SUNDAY
Pretty Vicious (Two) - Everything about this band is brilliant: their Youthfulness, their band-name, their swagger, their maturity of performance, their songs. Excellent rockin tunes throughout the set. Not in the 'Metz, North American-rock' style but 100% in the UK-indie sound reminiscent of Sex Pistols/ Ramones / Strokes / Libertines (and yes I acknowledge two of those are American) but this is a British, vibrant indie sound with a genuine punk edge.
Marmozets (One) – Kerrang favourites from West Yorkshire, comfortably gracing the main stage. Didn’t draw a particularly big crowd but most of them were going wild. I guess you either love em or you hate em.
Wolf Alice (Two) - London-based indie guitar band, being watched by Pretty Vicious from the side of the stage. Lead vocalist Ellie Rowsell's piercing voice fills the tent. Their set builds and builds to a wonderful climax. We met the band later that day in the pop-up record shop - were able to tell them that amongst our forthcoming tickets we have two gigs at Southampton Guildhall: Wolf Alice and Bob Dylan, so they're in good company !
Gengahr (Five) - another band I was excited to see having caught them supporting The Maccabees on recent tour. They sound even better live than on their excellent album, A Dream Outside, recently released
Mew (Two) - I was surprised to see this fantastic Danish band on so early, renowned for giving good value for money, I was curious to see how they would structure a set lasting just 45 minutes. Suffice to say it was brilliant - liberally peppered with songs from their excellent recent release '+/-'. (Satellites, Witness, Water Slides) dovetailed with favourites from their three earlier albums. For the first time in my many excursions to see this band they didn't play Comforting Sounds, the usual set-closer; just as well as that would have taken 10 valuable minutes from this stunning set.
Alvvays (Five) - fantastic Canadian band led by beguiling vocalist Mollie Rankin. Their eponymous 2014 album was my favourite of the year so great to see them airing their tuneful songs live. Taking to the stage in the now familiar Arrival (by Abba) they proceeded to deliver a wonderful set containing three new songs too
Swim Deep (Three) - a rather odd experience. This band was not announced on the programme and we wandered in as they went into their first number not knowing who they were. I vaguely recognised the band but couldn't pinpoint them. So here we were judging the tunes on merit with no pre-conceived ideas and no influence from hype. The male vocalist had a deep speaking voice but sang mostly falsetto. Indie tunes, some verging on an emo sound but mostly guitar/keyboard based melodies. By mid set we had worked out this was a British band and this was reaffirmed near the end of the set as Wolf Alice walked in. They eventually announced their band name as they went into the last song. A refreshing experience and highly enjoyable set.
Royal Blood (One) - this much-hyped Brighton duo are a band that, through force of circumstances, we hadn't see before so they were definitely on our list. But after such an intense afternoon of exciting bands on the smaller stages, we simply felt maxed out as we strolled toward the main stage to watch them. But such is the power of rock n roll to lift us to yet higher levels. Royal Blood delivered on every front: energy, performance, swagger and most notably their superb songs. Their 2014 album is one of those that is crammed so full of great tunes that watching them live you are convinced they've done all their strong material but they continue to deliver great song after great song. As a two piece it would be easy for them to just rock through their album but you get the real feeling they think through their performance which is duly punctuated with goading the crowd, standing on the drum kit and culminating in drummer Ben Thatcher crowd-surfing.
Sohn (Two) - gentle electro tunes that grew and grew. Accompanied with guitar and drums though barely visible through the dry ice. A quality performance.
Alt-J (One) - an excellent set from this accomplished band, playing a varied selection of songs from their two albums. This band always conjure up colourful images in my head so it was interesting to see the screens either side of the stage were in monochrome for the whole set, apart from song Blood Flow when a hint of red was appropriately added. The band lined up as a four across the stage giving a Kraftwerk feel to the performance. Clinically delivered songs in classy style.
To sum up, a well organised event. The ticket price offers excellent value for money though this of course must be offset by the additional travel costs. But overall a festival we would commend to anybody.
Si & Sally
- Festival Reviews
What was once Hard Rock Calling over three nights in Hyde Park has found itself as a one day event on Clapham Common with a capacity 10% of the former event. No doubt had ticket sales been higher then the site size itself would have been larger. The Calling Festival this year really was the festival equivalent of an intimate indoor gig. The O2 vs Shepherds Bush Empire perhaps.
The festival had the feel of a one day event all over, catering and bar stock, pretty uninspiring. No Bruce Springsteen or Bon Jovi this year either, it's Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds headlining the main stage with 2015 breakthrough band Wolf Alice top billing on the second stage.
So, excepting what it is, the day is actually full of cracking bands for your £60. Sundara Karma were our first band of the day on stage 2, A very capable outfit and one to look out for. The first big hitters on the main stage just after 3.15pm was Echo and the Bunnymen who delivered a glorious hit laden 45 minutes in the afternoon sunshine. The next positive was as there were two stages located pretty close to each other, there was only one band on at a time. The timing was actually pristine, as one band left the stage, there was the next one walking onto the other stage.
The Hives are getting older but remain as energetic as ever and get the crowd in audience participation mode from start to finish. James Veck-Gilodi comes across as a very able singer- songwriter on the second stage after which, the very fine, Modest Mouse blast though their set on the main stage with the sun still blazing. Having had their instruments "liberated" according to main man Isaac Brook, the band sounded just great on presumabley borrowed instruments. A quick fire succession of 'Lampshades on Fire' and 'Dashboard' had the crowd jigging and 'Float On' had the crowd jumping.
Bleachers just rocked on the second stage, crowd arms aloft loved it. 7pm and Ryan Adams and the Shining take to the main stage. This is Ryan in Neil Young & Crazy horse mode. All electric, massive amps as stage props and a vintage Dr Pepper vending machine and various animal models and memorabilia make up the stage background. The five piece band is a well oiled machine now and Ryan is in guitar hero electrified mode.
The twelve song set started with a powerful 'Gimme something good' , drifted into the countyesqe 'Let it Ride' then a rocking 'To be Young'.Just with an hour set, the songs came thick and fast, as Ryan pulled his guitar shapes to each. An electrifying sixty minutes!
Set
Gimme Something Good
Let It Ride
To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)
Stay With Me
Dirty Rain
Fix It
Kim
Shakedown on 9th Street
This House Is Not For Sale
Peaceful Valley Come Pick Me Up
Magnolia Mountain
By the time 8pm arrived, most people seem to be in the queue for toilets, food or beer and that's where most people enjoyed Wolf Alice from. A superb set of high energy rock n roll for 2015 from a band cementing their place in the band of the year spot!
Last band of the day and headliners of "a gig in a big field" as described by the man himself earlier in the week were, Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds. Both albums get a look in and new songs like 'Riverman' and 'Lock All The Doors' are early winners. The set contains half a dozen Oasis songs and an early doors showing for 'Champagne Supernova' had the whole crowd as one singing at the top of their voices. So let's hope these brothers make up one day!
A great day out in London Town, not a festival though so 'Calling' has some soul searching to do before 2016.
Pete