Cheapscape, freeloader, penny pincher … yeah yeah yeah … fact is the Undertones at Bingley fest on the free day was the band I wanted to see. I spose because bands from around 79 influenced my musical tastes for the next … years. The Undertones were high on that list. Original lineup, except for the ‘new’ singer (since 1999) replacing Fergal … I was wondering how they would sound compared to yester-year. After seeing ‘From the Jam’ at Bingley a few years back, I was prepared to give a band with a replacement singer a go. For From the Jam, their replacement for Paul Weller, sounded like Weller and had some much needed energy being younger than the man – it was a good gig. The Undertones new singer also sounded like his forerunner – with the same cracked warble … and it was looking good going into the first couple of songs. Then the problem started … he began strutting around the stage like Mick Jagger … except he was a fifty year old bloke doing something very old and unoriginal … Mick owned his strut. The songs were good, but looking at this guy was painful. His continual hip thrusts, and rockstar poses just looked crap and pretty embassasing. My perfect cousin and Teenage Kicks went down predictably well – with all and sundry jumping around … the bearded 50 year old biker in leathers jumping around with some young ladies in front was my favourite … accompanied by the stench of weed the couple behind were blowing straight at me. It was a good gig, marred by the singers posing … he should watch a video of himself – some of his moves worked and some looked really terrible. Best thing for me was material I hadn’t heard that was really good – I don’t know which album(s) they were from but there were some cracking songs that never reached me as a 12 year old.
photos from the y not festival in Derbyshire a couple of weeks ago.
The festival is small but perfect with a main stage and a acoustic tent. Acts alternate between them, so you can get to see them all. There was real ale and ciders instead of the usual garbage festival booze … and lots of mud!
A few photos added to the King of Burger section from Manchester … mainly taken around the Oxford Road backstreets and the North Quarter.
Dan’s idea … Y-Not indeed … early train over to Manni and on to Stockport for a pickup over to Buxton and then Derbyshire … festival ok to find, up a long track with a very muddy field on the right with some marooned cars. Some festival stewards suggested a council car park further on, and there was one space left just for us. Down the road and into the fest … no queues at all … magic! Then to the gate … the mud started … pretty much the whole area covered in a swamp. Wearing best trainers suddenly seemed pretty stuppid – most people were in wellies … doh, all those years at Leeds hadn’t prepared me for this. Staggered across to the beach bar cocktail tent and a sex on the beach … suddenly the mud didn’t seem so bad – I resigned myself to chucking my trainers in the bin – and off we went. A slippery slide over to the beer tent … ‘what no carling?’ ‘what no strongbow?’ what kind of festival was this … barrel after barrel of real ales … didn’t they know people came to festivals to drink the crappiest beer for the most overinflated prices from paper cups? Still I didn’t trust this real ale business so what about the ciders? Dave had bought a pint and now was looking a little unhappy with it … ‘ok, I’ll have that, you get some real ale if you must’. Ooof 7% with a very bitter aftertaste … took some drinking ‘haven’t you finished that pint yet?’ – ‘no I got a bit to go yet’.
Still we should try and see some of the bands I suppose…The Souvenirs…King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys…HUW…Joe Summers..Minus IQ, they went by, Souvenirs & Minus IQ not too bad, King Pleasure best watched from a very long distance on coffee tables in the mud with bacon sandwich…HUW – cider kicking in viciously now – don’t remember ever being that disappointed about missing a dance music set, getting there on the last track, something a little strange about that cider … Joe Summers – a song about how the new rave movement had left him totally non-plussed … the bands were playing alternatively in the tent and the main stage so you could catch a bit of everyone – or just loiter in the beer tent or at the beach bar sipping vivid cocktails from plastic glasses …
The Dandilions hadn’t sounded too good on the spoiler CD I’d put together, but they were working SO hard. The crowd weren’t taking part too much, but the band got everyone on their feet, large portions of the crowd to dance … and finally a huge conga around the tent, brilliant, all on a Sunday afternoon towards the end of the festival. Detroit Social Club had sounded a little different from the indie fare – but it was the Sunshine Underground who really hit the festival spot! Ok they were a bit Manc or a bit Coral … but by then they sounded like the greatest band on earth!!! Sam Beeton was terrible in contrast and I went outside and sat in the muddy field watching the sunset, one field of party goers in a rural English landscape – black and white cows dotted around the rolling hills surrounding the field.
The Young Knives finished it off…laced with irony and self mockery – they were indie but quite different from the norm, 3 suited men playing to a field of partied out festival goers but with still just enough left in the tank … staggering back through the mud in the dark I was glad not to go down … back to the council car park and a quick escape back to Chorlton with only a few scratches.
Cat Empire – a fun night – strange band, mix of very different characters making quite different styles of song. Some brill moments though, followed by some groupy behaviour to get an autograph at least.
Tried to make Rosie and the Goldbugs at Cockpit … but 3 bands on, first not started till 8.30 on a work night … nooooooooo! Saw first band tho – crazy bunch of space invader kids – like walking into a 80s video arcade room turned up full with guitars and drum machine … mental!
Was heading home by 9.30 tho, sad yes, sensible yes … but then, live to fight another day
Bat for Lashes and School of Seven Bells gig … after cancelling PJ Harvey, this one had to be doubly good. Seven Bells were on second last track, I was on first Grolsh … sounding good half way down the pint … the wall of noise was starting to make sense … after the student bar 5 deep experience for the first pint, needed to get a couple in to keep me going for a while – Bat for Lashes had a big crowd, not seen them gigging much outside London before, so had to check em out. Thoughts on going in was they sounded a little like Bjork, but soon the songs were moving away from this into their own space, and they were quite diverse. Natashas trouser suit made up for the lack of glitter and masks, some of the crowd had em tho. There was a kind of homely harpsichord moment with fairy lights on the keyboard and something that looked from a distance like a crib? The big drum though made the biggest impact, turning the songs danceable. Amazing noise. They came across as a new band with a fairly short set? but now into second album – they must have been picking out their best stuff, no filler.
Buzzcocks, Leeds Academy. Playing their first two albums back to back on the ‘another bites’ tour, the Buzzcocks were supported by the Lurkers. The Lurkers, with judging by the age of the band, only one original member – the singer/bass guitarist played for 35 minutes. Their songs were a mix of older songs, a cover of a New York Dolls song and some off their new album. I didn’t know their original material, and the newer material grabbed me the most. They were a good warmup, but the singer who talked quite a bit between songs, noted that punk would be better listened to after a few more beers … the gig started very early.
The Buzzcocks, playing Another Music in a Different Kitchen, Love Bites and some of the other favourite tracks not on those albums, kicked the gig to another level. The sound was up, the energy and the lights brought the gig to life. With two original members Shelley and Diggle, we had discussed earlier which original members were crucial to the band. For me the singers voice of Shelley, and for Ru & Dave both interested in drumming, the drummer – who wasn’t present. The young drummer though was good, very good. After a few songs from the lesser known album Another Music in a Different Kitchen, good to hear some great tracks that I didn’t know by the band, Ru headed into the mosh pit area. Gone were the ideas of standing at the back, and now we were in the centre of it, the tribal drumming getting our middle aged bodies moving – memories and sensations of gigs from many years earlier making us start to dance to the high energy music. Unlike some punk bands, the Buzzcocks hadn’t slowed down with age – the music sounding far better live, than on compilation CDs – it was great to be there. The mosh pit was largely thronged with skinheads battling away, they were going down, and off came the glasses into a pocket – only to be broken shortly afterwards. Maybe they weren’t skins, maybe just balding 40+ year old men, I couldn’t see clearly, but the energy was there and we battled together while keeping dancing. Shelley and Diggle were clearly loving it, Shelley with a very slight wry smile, and Diggle clearly very exuberant. Shelley had come on looking like a graying middle aged banker, but looks can be deceptive as he again reclaimed his position as a player of still very exciting music 20 years later.
Cat Power at Academy, Manchester … arrived in Manchester realising I’d forgotten where the Hostel was, so searched around WHsmiths for an AZ and located. Settled in at hostel and down to Oxford Road for a pint – the students were watching some wildlife program rather than Euro 2008. Genned up on the Manni gigs, and then across to the Union for the Cat Power gig. Missed most of the warmup – didn’t seem very interesting. Cat Power were on around 9, and not having seen a live show, was amazed by the power of Chans voice, put together with the blues backing band, they made a great sound. Chan kind of leaned into the crowd, sometimes aggressive and sometimes more approachable. They played for a least two hours, many many songs. I started near the front and moved around for different views, sitting on the floor just to listen at one point. Up for the end, someone gave Chan some flowers. She gave many out to women in the crowd, throwing some out into the crowd, it was nice for both her and the crowd, and she got much applause. Did she have something going on with the keyboard player? I couldn’t make my mind up…
The Hop – part of Bradford Music Week gigs across Love Apple and Delius. Checked out Laura Groves, Napolean IIIrd, Ox Eagle Lion Man, Paul Marshall, Lets Wrestle, Sons & Daughters. Laura Groves sounded good, but very similar to artists like Regina Spektor – sadly the most notable part of the gig was a set to between an avid fan and a guy talking very loud making it hard to hear the gig.
Ox Eagle Lion Man were very charismatic and pretty good. Some of the tracks better than others, but the NME hype seemed justified this time.
Lets Wrestle – the bit that stuck in my mind was the guitarist being unable to sing their Lets Wrestle track, so he got two lads up to chant the chorus – rock stars for a night, it was great.
Sons and Daughters, sounded not all that interesting from the back of the room, but up closer started to see what the band was about, maybe need to check this band out further.
Two gigs last week: Breeders and Bjork.
Breeders were supported by mountain goats most notable for brown bobbly hat worn by the singer. Pretty crap otherwise. The Breeders were brill – a mix of their old stuff and some new stuff. The sisters had some on stage squabbling which was entertaining. Best tracks: No Aloha and of course Cannonball – so good to hear these tracks live after so many years. The new tracks sounded interesting … .waiting for the new album now.
Bjork was a totally different experience. Lasers, smoke, fire cauldrons, amazing costumes and falling confetti/foil made the show visually amazing. She played a mix of known tracks and some new ones. Her dancing to some of the more wild songs was amazing, and she really seemed into it … the crowd was totally awestruck at some of the tracks – I was totally deafened by the applause, and thought my eardrum was perforated at one point. So many good tracks, and few slow ones to give contrast. Brill!
