There is nothing you can do about the weather. A festival will generally go ahead come rain or shine. From the punters point of view though, the festival takes on a different dynamic depending on the conditions.
Imagine turning up at the inaugural No Direction Home Festival in the grounds of Welbeck Abbey in
Luckily on a site roughly the size of the Park Area at
Future of the Left ripped it up with a solid 45 minute set. A capacity crowd inside with eager hopefuls queued up outside for the 1 out
Click on the Youtube clips below to catch a glimpse of the fervour, in lieu of actually being in the room. Incendiary vocals shared between Jimmy and Julia with Andy switching between guitar and bass for a few songs. The pulse of the room was raging and the crowd was a fist pumping, lyric belting swell of raucous energy.
Future Of The Left’s upcoming album, The Plot Against Common Sense, will be the group’s third full-length release.
Scott Pappas / Christina Eichelberger
"Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues" and "To Hell With Good Intentions"
Last day. Feet are tired! First showcase of the day...it’s a long one!!! Mohawk patio again, and once the doors open, the long line moves quickly. First off...is Silent Comedy A 4 piece of power, firecrackers these guys. Great dirty rock n roll whiskey soaked gospel tinted raucous and joyful and fantastic.
Back outside for Gary Clark Jr...Great guitarist, tight band, great songs and great weather! Next up...War on Drugs. Great layered waves of sound and clever songs, I do love the cd. Blitzen Trapper is up next. Another great rock band ,with superb harmonies.
Inside for the Cloud Nothings. Packed small room, sweaty messy loud. Just the way you would expect them. Is the drummer insane? Maybe. Now outside for Bob Mould playing’ Copper Blue’ start to finish. Bob and his band have been doing the same show a few times lately so they have it down. Loud and smooth, a great album performed on a sunny patio can’t get much better than that. We decide to move before Roots begin and we head out in search of another show.
We stop by Latitude and lucky enough, Dunwells have just gone on. 5 members,5 part harmonies, some very solid songs and a sound that goes over well with me, Sandra and the crowd Dutch Uncles are up next.,crazy mathematical layered sound of mayhem...interesting and noisy and rather fun.Time for dinner.
Day starts heading to Mellow Johnny’s bike shop to catch Pickwick only came to know this band when doing some SXSW research and really glad I did. This kid has got it, band is great, not sure how to describe him but, his voice is stunning and I would suggest to anyone, go and check out the band and their KEXP radio station videos.
Now it’s off to Cedar Street to see Of Monsters & Men and Ed Sheeran. Of Monsters & Men are fantastic. Very similar to our Canadian band the Stars, great harmonies, clever songs, from Iceland! Ed Sheeran is up next, and this guy is pretty darned entertaining. He does have a great voice, and by his last song, he has got the entire crowd doing an audience participation song, while he loops some self-created beats on his mic, he has a split crowd singing parts of the song. He is a showman and must admit, I quite liked it!
An attempt now to go see Dry The River failed as the W Hotel patio where they were to playing only holds 100 people and its well past full. So....back to Mellow Johnny’s for rockabilly band JD MacPherson. New cd coming out on Rounder, this fellow and his band mates know what they are doing. A great showman with a spectacular band. Big keys, stand-up bass, saxophone, great upbeat party going on at Mellow Johnny’s
Now we return to Cedar for the sweet harmonies of Grafitti6 and Fanfarlo, both great patio music, especially when you are on Cedar St Courtyard!
Dinner time! A little rest then mayhem! Here is where I throw in my opinion ....watch out....don’t hate me!!
Again...the plan changes ……We check out the Google/YouTube party line-up...none! Easy access for badges so, we decide to go see Nick Waterhouse and Lee Fields at the Hype hotel.
Nick Waterhouse comes on with three backup singers, saxophone and a great rock-a-billy blues sound. A rocking band and a great start...the kid really gets the people moving!
Next up, Lee Fields! He is like a smaller version of Charles Bradley...but with more energy! This young/old guy sings for the ladies and they sing back...if only I had half of this senior citizens soul or charm!! Fantastic set!!
Then a quick run up to see Cults and Frankie Rose at the aforementioned You Tube/Google party. Cults are perfectly dreamy and a great sunny band to listen to in the beating sun! Frankie Rose fits right in as well; though everyone including the band seems to be suffering from the night before, and that morning feeling but, both bands get a great response.
Wedneday ...first full day in
Start off by wandering up toward Mohawk to see django django but we have a little time. Why not go into Paste magazine party, get some early cool sounds and beers. Sandra shops for lovely Tretorn shoes on display and then listen to a kick ass
Now to Mohawk. django django are first on, club offers some great viewing spots so crowd looks sparse but by the time the band gets into their 3rd song...everyone is paying attention I did love the record so am particularly happy that they can pull it off live, great fun, like a funky Byrds at times, fun to watch especially when 3 of the 4 band members play keyboards at once and everyone agrees!
Inside Mohawk its Husky performing. I didn’t know much about these guys but they are a solid 4 piece with beautiful harmonies. and a great front guy
Outside now for Kindness, a funky awkward long haired white guy singing funky pop songs ...good band and back up singers, they have their moments.
Realised after dinner that Campfire Trails show did not start until 9pm so got antsy and decided to push my luck and hit another club first.
Hype hotel with a huge line was starting Tuesday night and first band of the evening was Oberhofer..lots of buzz about this
The spirited, Strokes"ish" Oberhofer hit the stage and these kids were fantastic, highlight of the evening for sure. Young but very polished, energetic little fellas, floppy haired and rocking. it was a hoot.
Then it was off to Bat Bar for Campfire Trails night. First off,. Apache Relay. Almost Dry the River but not quite there, their set was haunted by what I thought was no vocals audible for the first few songs. This turned out to be an issue all night. Good little band with a little Springsteen thrown in with a cover of State Trooper.
Supersonic Festival The Custard Factory, Digbeth, Birmingham, 21-23 Oct 2011
Supersonic - probably one of the most original festivals around. Musicians mix with the
audience, as both get the same – to see challenging new music, and acts who rarely
play live in the UK. The setting is perfect - huge railway arches shelter eclectic food
vendors, and a narrow bridge over an urban river provides a crossing between venues,
which include warehouses and an old library, which ironically plays host to some of the
loudest bands.
And loud is the order of the day. Electric Wizard, Wolves in the Throne Room, Skull
Defects (wonderful repeated rhythms, SO loud)…but one of the most powerful sounds of
the whole weekend is the final track by aPAtT (think I got that right), a Sunn 0)) ‘pastiche’
which echoes around the room and shakes you to your core. Serious or an expertly played
joke?
Interpreting humour was a big issue for me this year – lots of Scandinavian bands, all
with a weird sense of humour. Circle – great band, very heavy, but are they being ‘ironic’
looking like a hair metal tribute band? Not until the singer stuffs his water bottle down the
front of his spandex tights, do we finally know the answer for sure. Turbonegro – they
dress like the Village People, with sailors hats, bowler hats and handlebar moustaches –
and play like a pub band playing punk anthems. Great fans, biggest mosh of the weekend,
who dress in matching badged denim like 70s Quo-ites. Ironic, post –ironic, or just having
a laugh? And does it even matter? Not just the Scand bands either -the Secret Chiefs,
in monks hoods and a net curtain hijab, play wonderful versions of Dallas soundtracks.
The funniest words came from Pekko Kappi describing the subjects of his eerie folk drones
– as in ‘this one’s about a woman so evil that her husband sent her to hell and she beat
up all the demons’.
Maybe the really big names of last year were absent – and the planned collaboration
between David Tibet of Current 93 and jazz rockers Zu fell through for some reason –
but its those bands we’ve never heard of that make the weekend so special. For example,
Klaus Kinski rocked the library – rampant energy, indie jazz rock, and a singer with a
penchant for self-abuse not seen since the salad days of Iggy Pop. A charmingly quiet
chap afterwards, onstage he French-kissed his guitarist, beat his head til it bled with what
he afterwards told me was a sock full of drawing pins (do all singers carry these, in case
they get the urge?!), then rolled on said pins, finally mounting the amps to walk perilously
along the gantry. Now I didn’t know they could do this, but the backdrop people can type
messages in extreme circumstances – and he was rewarded with a big white on black
blast of ‘Get Down You Dick’!
Those backdrops are another star of the festival – works of art in themselves, in keeping
with the variety of media used in the festival. Its not just music. Occasionally the images
are so striking they detract from the musicians – as when Mike Watts quirky songs were
given a backing of lurid images from old horror and porn movies. Perhaps they were
practising for Drunk in Hell or whoever.
Overall a great, warm experience, made even more special by the volunteer staff,
the enthusiasm of all who play here, and the wonderful duration of the Capsule girls who
organise it – truly a fans festival!
Kevin Hand
Our fourth visit to the
A great selection of food and a brilliant selection of beers and just like the Green Man festival, a nice, friendly mix of people of all ages. What everyone had in common was with an appreciation of the music, their surroundings and fellow festival-goers. I really cannot recommend this festival highly enough along with Green Man - they are both just perfect weekends, whatever the weather.