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24th-26th August 2007Compared to the other festivals Carling Reading Festival is the one where unruly behaviour, riot acts like burning tents are acceptable to the point that it wouldn't be Reading without these. Music on the other hand is another excuse to throw yourself around. Compared to previous years this year's line-up was pretty much disappointing. You had the "new" bands who have been playing at every festival available all summer, you had the bands who play Reading every year, then you had the major names, who with the exception of one didn't really live up to the expectations.
It appeared the Friday's real headliners were Ash. Much to everyone's amusement the main headliner was Razorlight. Most asked why but most went to sing-a-long to America anyway. Being over the 90s and not being into egomaniacs I stayed in the bar and drank instead. One band that shone on Friday was Reverend and the Makers. There is something special about Sheffield bands. They have the inexplicable ability to produce songs that make you want to swing your head and arms left and right. They simply sold their upcoming album to me with their performance which was followed by the muchly talked about Cajun Dance Party who filled the tent with balloons but didn't do any "dancey" stuff. Still they were worth checking out. Sandwiched between them and one fabulous Patrick Wolf was Jack Penate who had what seemed to be his family and Jo Whiley dancing in the pit. I am not a fan of George Michael doing Elvis impressions so if I looked bored, it was because I was. Luckily my evening was saved by another terrific performance by Patrick Wolf who was keen on playing tracks from Lycantrophy.
As the disappointment with the headliners go, none could have beaten the Saturday's. Step forward Red Hot Chili Peppers. If one band needed to blamed for lack of enthusiasm, lack of interaction and lack of festival spirit, everyone can point their fingers to RHCP. So disappointing they were, it felt like this was a band who's been around for a year or two, so had to rely on 20 minute jamming sessions followed by minutes of silence in between songs to fill their 2 hour slot. They blamed sound problems. Maybe their non-existing greeting of the crowd was due to the sound problems too. It wasn't all bad tho. Especially if you were in the dance tent earlier that day. A lot of people were for Crystal Castles who were followed by Does It Offend You, Yeah? which were probably the best act of the day. They sound like Discovery era Daft Punk but with an edge, not necessarily offending but you get what they mean with their title. Scroobius Pip was in his most articulate, measuring his audience and telling them that he has to dance it up a bit.
Thankfully Sunday headliner was a major act who has been doing many festivals this year to know how to act
. But long before them there was Late of the Pier, who were the first act of the day pulling enough audience to prove there was interest. They kept their clothes on too. The Maccabees did a secret set in the Nokia Tent in the afternoon. Later, the day heard stories about how someone threw a lemon at Kate Nash while she was performing Foundations. Packed tent is an understatement; it was obvious everyone Kate Nashed to see Kate Nash, and I wonder if anyone needed a Kate Nash how they manged to leave the tent for the toilets. Yes this is how I entertained myself through her set. Previous to Nash, Devendra Banhart was over in the BBC1 tent. It was good to see the messiah-like performing again. By the time the clocks hit half 8, Nine Inch Nails, who could have easily been the double headliner, were on stage. What can be described as brilliant audio visual show came to end with Aaron North smashing his guitar and throwing the amp to the security. Trent Reznor later appeared on its own to sing Hurt. The closing act of the festival was Smashing Pumpkins. And they came and went with bang and a wow! Billy Corgan was surprisingly in good form, not shy of addressing the audience and being generally charming. The band gave the fans the classics and the under-rated Zeitgeist tracks which are brilliant. Cherub Rock sent everyone singing along and jumping up and down and closed the festival in great spirit.
For full line-up info - check out the Official Website
17th August 2007
Taking a break from selected festival appearances this year, Martha Wainwright was in London for a one off gig. She promised many new songs and she delivered that promise with her instantly recognizable mourning voice that either saves the souls or breaks the hearts. Seeing Martha live is a completely different experience to listening to her on CD. On stage she lives every word she sings. One could identify this with the time Bjork ate her dress while at the set of Dancer in the Dark. There is so much emotion; from sorrow to joy, regret to pride and combined with the voice it turns into this scene which you can't take your eyes of - you do not want to miss a second of it.
The new songs are in the same direction of the old ones. Personal stories of pain and loss and hope are covered in songs such as Bleeding All Over You and George, a song she wrote about a friend who committed suicide. With guest appearances from Pete Townsend and Rachel Fuller who covers the Eels' It's A Motherfucker, the evening gets spiced up. Eels' is not the only act covered, Martha takes on Annie Lennox's Love Is A Stranger. Everytime she sings "...and I want you..." crowd melts a little bit more, however she points out she is now taken. The evening comes to an end with the introduction of tequilla and the appropriate song to go with it - GPT -, followed by the now anthemic BMFA and the jaw dropping rendition of Dis Quand Reviendras-Tu? confirming her state as an amazing performer and perhaps a future icon like Edith Piaf.
Check Official Martha Wainwright website for tour info
Martha's Myspace page
For more photos from the show, check out YouNeedToSeeThese
4th & 5th August 2007The inclusion of The Young Knives was, perhaps, a great tactical move by the organizers of Electric Gardens Festival. The band's "Hot Summer"summarized this boutique festival,now on its second year, on Kent's Mount Ephraim Gardens perfectly.The glorious weather at the weekend, lots of sunshine, no drop of rain which made the festival feel like a day out up in the mountains. The bands were carefully selected to cater different people's different music needs. A great plus was, the acts were not clashing with each other. An advantage of it being a small festival or just clever thinking on the organizers' part, while a band was playing on the main stage, the DJs were spinning the records on the second stage and vice versa so there was no hesitation on who you would want to see. The fact that it takes you about 5 minutes to walk in between stages was a welcomed change, especially after Glastonbury. So when things are running this smoothly you don't realize you are in a festival so there had to be something going on and that would be the queues to enter the festival site but then again once you are in there's nothing whinge about.
As said it was eclectic music-wise. You had establish bands such as the Happy Mondays alongside the upcoming french trio The Teenagers. While Calvin Harris was getting the main stage ready for the headliners on Saturday, New Young Pony Club were licking Ice-Cream on the 2nd Stage. The now obligatory festival stage - Myspace stage was offering a selection of unsigned talent alongside several Londoners GoodBooks and Scroobius Pip. The dance tent on the other hand was packed all weekend long with handpicked DJs like Statnton Warriors and Justin Robertson delivering the tunes.
One of the more energetic performances came from the Noisettes what with singer Shingai seemingly suffering from hyperactivity, she wouldn't stop jumping off drum kits and speakers. Maccabees on the other hand were just cool and pulled a great crowd. You got to love a band who demands smoke machines to be turned off. The eccentricism was delivered by Frederick of Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man and Foals were on stage to deliver the future indie floor fillers. The Pipettes got everyone up on their feet. There were plenty of pointing going on during their set. In the 2nd Stage area, there was complete silence for Laura Marling. To my ears she and her guitar were not too memorable but she definitely has a following, at the end of the day there's always a market for acoustic guitar/poet types. While s
he was being quiet and self-restrained, Patrick Wolf did not mind getting friendly with his audience. Even the security decided to leave him be, after the 3rd time he dived into the crowd. There were smiles all around and no tears. One can say Kate Nash was very good, her album released the following week is number 1 in the charts. She was definitely happy Saturday's headliner Supergrass filled the field and treated the audience to some new songs as well as back-catalogue of singles such as Pumping On The Stereo, St Petersburgh and Mary.
The afterthought? You get to watch some great bands and get a tan and do it for half the money of most festival, get those early bird tickets for next year's Electric Gardens.
For information about the festival, check out the Electric Gardens website
For pictures of the bands, check out YouNeedToSeeThese
27th July 2007
Clap clap clap whistle whistle whistle. Add a healthy dose of "i have no idea what chords they are playing" guitars, a flask full of "makes me wanna stomp my foot and dance" drums, keys, lotsa keys in the form of keyboards, keytars, those flute-keyboard things and a pinch of flute.
Not quite the DIY band but more than enough layered instrumentals to create a dance chaos while sounding simple and subdued at the same time.
How is this possible? Ask the Norwich band Bearsuit. Or better go catch them live in support of their upcoming new single More Soul Than Wigan Casino in August and album titled OH:IO (both released on Fantastic Plastic) in September. As witnessed on this Fortuna Pop night, their music and live performance will make you wave your arms in all directions and if you end up in one of their future gigs and if anyone gives you the weird look for the uncontrollable body jerkin, make sure to deck them and blame it to the band. Don't forget to fall for the charms of Itsuke Got Married once again and do a sexy dance for the new song Foxy Boxer.
Check out Bearsuit's Official website and Myspace for news and tour dates
Also check out Fantastic Plastic, Fortuna Pop Records
More photos from the Buffalo Bar is on YouNeedToSeeThese
Truck festival was cancelled due to heavy rainfall prior to the weekend. It is rescheduled to take place on the weekend of 22nd/23rd September 2007.
Let's hope it won't rain that week (or weekend).
10th July 2007
9th July 2007
You can't help but feel disappointed when Courtney Love says she can't smoke in the venue because of the laws. This is the new Courtney Love. She is still the punk/rock/grunge icon but she has grown up.
On her birthday Courtney Love was in London to perform a secret gig to about 250+ people. The reason behind was probably to test the waters for her new songs from her new album scheduled to be released in Spring 2008. I can't wait that long, as Love, who's been to hell and back in the last couple of years appears to have written an album of such beauty it hurts.
She opened her set with a song called Samantha (not Maloney) which is 1 of the 3 "rockin" songs that might end up on the album. Alongside the new songs, she squeezed some Hole classics from Live Through This (Doll Parts, Miss World) and Celebrity Skin (Malibu, Celebrity Skin and Northern Star). Her new material tells the story of someone looking at her life, acknowledging her wrongs and looking for redemption (Letter to God, Happy Ending Story, Once In Your Life, Never Go Hungry) and revenge (Stand Up Motherfucker, Sunset Marquis) and better than anything she can sing these songs live. It is a fact that she ran out of breath in some songs and ruined the intro to Miss World but to cut her some slack she has not played live (and with her new band) for years. And if her performance is like this at the beginning of the road I am looking forward to the next occasion.
Check out Courtney's new website, Courtney Love
Her Myspace for informative and amusing blog entries
and YouNeedToSeeThese for photos from Bush Hall
It appeared the Friday's real headliners were Ash. Much to everyone's amusement the main headliner was Razorlight. Most asked why but most went to sing-a-long to America anyway. Being over the 90s and not being into egomaniacs I stayed in the bar and drank instead. One band that shone on Friday was Reverend and the Makers. There is something special about Sheffield bands. They have the inexplicable ability to produce songs that make you want to swing your head and arms left and right. They simply sold their upcoming album to me with their performance which was followed by the muchly talked about Cajun Dance Party who filled the tent with balloons but didn't do any "dancey" stuff. Still they were worth checking out. Sandwiched between them and one fabulous Patrick Wolf was Jack Penate who had what seemed to be his family and Jo Whiley dancing in the pit. I am not a fan of George Michael doing Elvis impressions so if I looked bored, it was because I was. Luckily my evening was saved by another terrific performance by Patrick Wolf who was keen on playing tracks from Lycantrophy.
. But long before them there was Late of the Pier, who were the first act of the day pulling enough audience to prove there was interest. They kept their clothes on too. The Maccabees did a secret set in the Nokia Tent in the afternoon. Later, the day heard stories about how someone threw a lemon at Kate Nash while she was performing Foundations. Packed tent is an understatement; it was obvious everyone Kate Nashed to see Kate Nash, and I wonder if anyone needed a Kate Nash how they manged to leave the tent for the toilets. Yes this is how I entertained myself through her set. Previous to Nash, Devendra Banhart was over in the BBC1 tent. It was good to see the messiah-like performing again. By the time the clocks hit half 8, Nine Inch Nails, who could have easily been the double headliner, were on stage. What can be described as brilliant audio visual show came to end with Aaron North smashing his guitar and throwing the amp to the security. Trent Reznor later appeared on its own to sing Hurt. The closing act of the festival was Smashing Pumpkins. And they came and went with bang and a wow! Billy Corgan was surprisingly in good form, not shy of addressing the audience and being generally charming. The band gave the fans the classics and the under-rated Zeitgeist tracks which are brilliant. Cherub Rock sent everyone singing along and jumping up and down and closed the festival in great spirit.
