Best Festival: Krankenhaus

Krankenhaus continues to be my favourite festival. I seem to have become the festival’s unofficial ‘official’ photographer. Another great weekend with lots of friends, fantastic castle staff, and accommodating local pub. It strained me a bit this year. The Guardian asked the festival for photos for the morning after festival for half a dozen performances. I had to edit during the last day of the festival and into the early hours. The last day was a bit too much like work. However, this took nothing away from the joyfulness of the weekend. The festival creates such a glorious community bubble that you don’t want to leave. Outside our bubble the flag shaggers were imposing their idea of ‘Englishness’ across the country. Inside the bubble – the kind of Britain I want to live in. Every time I leave Ravenglass, I leave a little bit of me behind.

After the festival finished, we believed it was taking a year off. But then they announced a 2026 festival. Hopefully, I can find some accommodation in Ravenglass. I really don’t want to camp. But I will be there no matter what.

Best New Festival: Mutations Festival

SXSW London should have been a major milestone for the capital. The premier festival for discovering new music opening a London edition. Due to a combination of poor planning, an artist boycott and extortionate badge prices, the inaugural event fell flat on its face.

A new St Albans all-dayer made a good attempt of creating an indie festival for Hertfordshire. While it had an excellent lineup, attendance was low. I think with some tweaks, such as including local bands, they should be able to get the numbers up.

A new festival for me was the Mutations festival in Brighton. Think of it as a low key Great Escape. A multi-venue festival with a more concentrated lineup and smaller audience, guaranteeing easier access to venues and less chance of settling for watching a band I’m not interested in. However, because of this, it is a festival where I will only attend if the lineup interests me.

Best Gig: Jehnny Beth at Camden Festival

For a short time, the Savages burnt with an intense flame. The flag bearers of the post-punk revival. Then they were no more. But the flame still burns brightly in Jehnny Beth. From the first minute, she completely dominated Camden Assembly. The energy and passion she brought to the Savages were still there. Playing music from her excellent new album and featuring her long time collaborator, Johnny Hostile, she showed that she is still a force of nature.

Album of the Year: The New Eve Is Rising

Another year when my listening habits have been curtailed by daily meetings and listening to too many podcasts and audio plays when I’m walking around London. However, there were a few highlights.

Heartworms finally released their debut album, ‘Glutten for Punishment’. Maybe slightly less intense than her EPs. But it was a good debut album.

‘Constant Noise’ by Benefits, took the energy and rage of their debut album but turned down the noise and increased the beats. The perfect soundtrack for the revolution.

However, there was only one contender for album of the year. ‘New Eve Is Rising’ by the New Eves. Folk music influenced by the Velvet Underground. Folk music with angular guitars and cellos. I find there is something hypnotic about the sound they have created.

Most listened to albums

• Band of Holy Joy – Scorched Jerusalem
• Benefits – Constant Noise
• Big Special – National Average
• Goddess – Goddess
• Heartworms – Glutten for Punishment
• Jehnny Beth – You Heartbreaker, You
• Jim Ghedi – Wastelands
• Richard Dawson – End of the Middle
• Sprints – All That Is Over
• The Wants – Bastard

Best Music in a film: Sinners

Stunning use of blues and traditional Irish music. Miles Canton, gives a standout performance, both as an actor and singer, as a blue musician.

Favourite Photo: Heartworms at the Bedford Esquires

I keep coming back to this photo of Jojo from the Heartworms. I photographed her a few times over the last few years. I know that early in her set she plays a theremin and there is a point where she stares intensely. This day I only had my pocket camera and was shooting from the crowd. Although later in the year, I photographed her with full gear and from the pit. However, the combination of stage height, position and lighting meant this was the perfect capture.

2024 was The Horn’s 50th birthday. To celebrate, I aimed to attend 50 gigs. The final total was 59. As an experiment, it was a very enjoyable one, featuring touring artists such as Sleeper, Personal Trainer, Steve Mason, Dead Pony, and Divorce, plus a lot more local bands. While the quality of local bands was variable, it was nice to see the development of young talented artists. Highlights being The Skive, Deadbeat Bracket and WTKD. In 2025, I will continue the trend.

2025 is going to be a big year for the Horn. The current owners are stepping back from the business and Luke and Shane, who have done a great job of managing the Horn and programming its music are hoping to take over the business. Under their management, The Horn can only go on to new highs.

Elsewhere in Hertfordshire, Club 85’s future is no clearer. They are still open. The plans to build flats have stalled and they been offered the opportunity to buy the existing pub and club. However, I’m not convinced they will be able to find what is a considerable amount of money. Hopefully, they prove me wrong.

2024 saw a sponsor backlash for The Great Escape. After bands boycotted SXSW, some bands called into question Barclays sponsorship of TGE, causing a significant number of artists to pull out. TGE’s reaction was to put blinkers on, ignore the controversy and audience, leading to a festival where we were constantly checking the app to avoid walking across Brighton to find an artist had pulled out. Ironically, many of the bands who pulled out of the main festival, played the unaffiliated shows. Their actions probably saved the festival from more criticism. I spent most of my festival at these events leading me to question if I need to buy a ticket in future and instead make a day trip and save myself an expensive hotel. Currently, I don’t plan to attend TGE in 2025 and I’m looking for an alternative city festival.

Despite my best efforts, updates to this website has been pretty poor. By the time I get home from a gig and edited my photos, it’s 2am and the next night I’m back out gigging. I need to find a way to keep on top of the site. Hopefully, 2025 will be better.

Best Festival: Krankenhaus

Despite some horrendous weather, Krankenhaus continues to be a home away from home for Sea Power fans. 2024 was another great festival featuring artists such as Nadine Shah, Lias Sauodi, Snapped Ankles, BC Camplight, The New Eves, Islet and Lanterns on the Lake.

Best Gig: Nadine Shah at the Social

It has been another good year for gigs. It was great to catch the Kills again. Hinds were full of energy at Lafayette. Benefits new lineup and material takes them into new territory, but they are every bit as visceral as before. Snōōper‘s performance at the Moth club was chaotic. Ezra Furman at the Union Chapel felt special. Porridge Radio provided three of my favourite sets of the year. All were stripped back sets just featuring Dana. Sea Power played several great sets. Their set at the newly refurbished Brighton Corn Exchange was a fitting way to open the venue. The Murder Capital tried out new material at the Moth Club. My highlight though was one of Nadine Shah’s sets. She played the Social for a Gigs for Gaza event, something she passionately believes in and her stripped back intimate set was special.

Album of the Year: Sprints, Letter to Self

Best New Band/Artist: The New Eves

Mistakenly believing they were a Last Dinner Party adjacent band, despite hearing great things, I hadn’t been in a rush to catch them. Finally catching them at The Great Escape, I was captivated by their fresh take on alt-folk. Their set at Krankenhaus cemented my belief that they will have a strong 2025.

Favourite Photo: Abi Fry at Birmingham Town Hall

After photographing over 200 gigs, working out what is my favourite photo is difficult. In some ways, it should be a photo from Benefits gig at the George Tavern. It was basically lit via strobe. As I don’t use flash, it was a challenging gig and I did manage to get some interesting results using long exposures. But I like composed shots and there was an element of luck to these photos. I also really loved photographing the Paraorchestra playing a 360 degree concert. Lots of opportunities to capture an orchestra as they played. But my current favourite shot is of Sea Power’s Abi Fry in silhouette at Birmingham Town Hall. It’s simple but effective and despite photographing Sea Power more than any other band, something I’ve never had the opportunity to capture before.

Album of the year: Sprints, Letter to Self

The first album I listened to this year, was also my favourite. Sprints ‘Letter to Self’ was released the first weekend of the year and was a great post-Christmas tonic. It is sharp, edgy, angry, but it there are also moments of beauty that has meant I have returned to this album time and time again through the year.

Other notable albums

• Amelia Coburn – Between the Moon and the Milkman
• Barbican Estate – Viscum (EP)
• Blood Wizard – Grinning William
• Big Special – Postindustrial Hometown Blues
• Bill Ryder-Jones – lechyd Da
• Bodega – Our Brand Could Be Yr Life
• DEADLETTER – Hysterical Strength
• Drahla – Angeltape
• English Teacher – This Could Be Texas
• Erland Cooper – Carve the Runes The Be Content With the Silence
• The Bevis Front – Focus on Nature
• Gurriers – Come and See
• Hamish Hawk – A Firmer Hand
• Haley Heynderickx – Seed of a Seed
• Halo Maud – Celebrate
• Honeyglaze – Real Deal
• Loose Articles – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster
• Marcel Wave – Something Looming
• Mary In The Junkyard – This Old House (EP)
• Melts – Field Theory
• Nadine Shah – Filthy Underneath
• Pictish Trail – Follow Steps (EP)
• Porridge Radio – Clouds in the Sky
• She Drew the Gun – Howl
• Tramways. The First Exit

Many years ago a friend recommended a Saturday afternoon music event at the Union Chapel. He thought I might like the mix of music. That event was Daylight Music and the event has been a big part of my weekend ever since.

If you are not aware, Daylight Music is a music series that started at the Union Chapel 15 years ago. It always aimed to bring an eclectic range of music to willing ears, both young and old. Daylight curate interesting lineups that feature everything from classical to indie, folk to jazz, experimental electronic music to sitar.

Since lockdown, the series has faced new challenges. The Union Chapel is no longer available and it has faced a challenging time building new audiences in new venues across London. Through constant crowdfunding and grants from the Arts Council, it has continued to bring its unique mix of accessible music to a number of new venues in London. It has even extended its reach, bringing events to venues in Kent.

While the Union Chapel is an amazing building, Daylight has managed to find some equally wonderful and charming new venues. I guess it’s London home is now St John’s in Leytonstone. But it regularly uses St John’s in Bethnal Green and St Catherine’s in Telegraph Hill. Grand Junction and St Matthias have also hosted events. In Kent, it has found a wonderful home in the homely The Hot Tin in Faversham, which has become one of my favourite venues anywhere. They have also hosted events in the Arc in Margate. This weekend, for its 15th birthday, they venture to a new venue, St Mary Magdalene Church in Islington and on Sunday, the Arc.

While the loss of the Union Chapel has made life more difficult building a regular audience and finding volunteers to help run the events. It has been an opportunity to bring music to new audiences across London and to work with new people who have the same passion to discover music as the Daylight team. They’ve even partnered up with the London Jazz Festival to challenge the jazz-heads with their eclectic approach to music.

The word eclectic is used by people who like to put things in boxes and label them. I, like most music fans, like my boxes. I have to admit to restricting my music listening habits to music that fits in genres I am comfortable with. 

Over the years my collection of boxes has expanded. Watching a friend singing in a choir at the Proms opened the classical box. Only for me to find ‘classical’ itself is dozens of boxes defining radically different music styles, leading me off into music as diverse as Pärt and Xenakis. A band like Led Zeppelin opened the door to Blues, Blues led back to 50s rock and roll, rockabilly, and Elvis and Elvis led to… and so on. We all have a spider diagram of our discoveries and for most of us, there is a clear logical procession and it’s very rare that we jump too far from what we know we like.

So imagine an event that takes all your nice comfortably arrange boxes and throws them in the air. Putting a post-classical pianist next to a folk musician and an experimental electronic artist. That’s Daylight Music. Think of it as a genreless curated musical discovery service designed to open your ears to new music. I don’t think there is anything else like it.

But let’s back up a bit and head back to the beginning and my connection to Daylight Music.

12 years ago, I was backing away from working seven days a week, trying to become a normal person. I found gigging stopped me working and at the time, I was looking for weekend activities to keep me away from the computer. The Daylight Music suggestion came just at the right time.

The first few months, I selected sessions based on the description and I pretty much stuck to weeks where there was music in genres I was comfortable with.

To some extent things changed at the first Christmas event where the Trans-Siberian March Band were playing. I had gone along before Christmas shopping and while the Trans Siberian Orchestra weren’t really the type of music I would listen to, I thought I would call in anyway. It turned out they were just really good fun. After this, I started to go to more events, trusting the Daylight team to do the selection for me.

Ben, who runs Daylight Music spends a ridiculous amount of time putting together each season. I’ve found he is a very capable guide through these new musical landscapes. I am impressed how he sets out to curate interesting lineups each week. He doesn’t take the easy option of putting on the same artists each week. If an artist plays Daylight more than once, it’s because they have something new to contribute to the Daylight ethos. Artists regularly become the curators of their own sessions and become part of the Daylight family. Sometimes a week will have a theme. Other times, Ben is simply tries to bring great music to a wider audience.

As I attended more events, my music taste widened, admittedly, often building upon genres I had partially explored. But also new opportunities opened up and I made some good friends.

I already took a lot of gig photos. At that point, I attended around 100 gigs a year, but it was rare for me to use my SLR due to venue restrictions. As Daylight Music is relaxed, most weekends I was taking photos from the crowd. Most were just ‘snaps’ as I never took long lenses with me. However, a member of the Daylight team contacted me and asked if I wanted to photograph an event for them. Hell, why not?

Early one Saturday morning I turned with my camera bag and everything changed. Daylight Music took on a much bigger picture (no pun intended). I discovered Daylight Music is much more than a music event. It truly is an opportunity for many.

At my first event, I quickly became aware how much effort goes into Daylight Music. There is a team of volunteers who make sure this ‘pay what you can event’ happens every weekend. 

Each weekend Daylight volunteers give up their time to set up the venue, work on the door, provide a friendly welcome, supporting the artists, running the cafe, work the march desk and ensure everything is safe. A large part of the success of the series, are the volunteers who help make the events so welcoming.

The excellent sound engineers are always there very early to soundcheck each artist and with the range of music styles covered, mic’ing instruments can often be challenging. They always do an excellent job and I don’t think I have ever heard poor sound at a Daylight event.

With its inclusive policy, you will regularly see families at Daylight Music. At Daylight, no one tells children to be quiet. It gives families an opportunity to introduce children to live music and it is always a pleasure watching children come down to the front and be totally wrapped-up in a performance. Something many in the audience don’t realise, this is often the first time an artist’s children have had to see them play. How nice is that? And thankfully, because Daylight Music shows respect to families, the majority replay that respect.

From a music perspective. The music is nearly always for adults, but just occasionally, when Ben is being his most mischievous, he puts together a fantastical session that is for the child in all of us and has featured things like musical dummies, an automatic piano and even the odd event where children themselves make the music through programmes, like the School of Noise.

I have been involved with Daylight Music for over 10 years. I go most weekends. At the time or writing, it has been running for 385 sessions and I have attended around half of them. With a small team of wonderful photographers, we take turns to photograph and document each session for Daylight.

Sadly, Daylight Music is now under constant threat. It is difficult to maintain a pay what you can approach while funding these performances. Ben is constantly having to try and raise money through crowdfunding, merchandise sales (I now have so many tea towels) and Arts Council grants. If you haven’t been to a Daylight event. I really would recommend coming along to help keep these events going.

So what makes this series so special musically? I thought I would look back at some of my favourite sessions over the last few years. This isn’t an exhaustive list, all Daylight Music sessions have something for everyone and this list is missing many of my favourite Daylight Music performers who are too many to mention. Hopefully this list gives you an idea of the scope Ben brings to Daylight Music and is enough for you to give it a try.

9th November 2013 (DM146?)

I think my first event was November 2013 with Frank Chicken, Dead Flowers and Ben Calvert and the Swifts. I admit I left perplexed. I wrote a one word note on a photo of Frank Chicken from the event. It just said ‘weird’. I guess this was the perfect introduction to Daylight. It clearly didn’t put me off as I went to the next few weeks.

17th May 2014 (DM162)

My first time covering an event was in May 2014. This is when my view of Daylight started to change. I remember turning up during the soundcheck and enjoying watching the Stuart Masters play some amazing guitar music while I explored the chapel. It felt a privilege to be there listening to the soundcheck (and still does).

I have to admit early on, I very much turned up, took photos and then left. Initially my interaction with the volunteers was limited as I felt I was a guest and didn’t want to get in the way of anyone. Now, I get under the feet all the time.

My first full set is available on Flickr

1st November 2014 (DM176)

This was a good lineup. Musically, everything worked. Digitonal played classical inspired electronica, combining violin and harp. Harps always sound beautiful in the chapel and it was great to be able to photograph a harpist up close. Dean McPhee played a great guitar set. But it was Rachael that made the set so special.  She plays some enchanting folk music, often with her husband, Japanese artist ICHI.

As mentioned, I love photographing the soundcheck. The soundcheck is an opportunity to grab performance photos without disturbing the crowd with my shutter sound (although sadly, far too often artists change clothes for the live performance, and I have to get more shots anyway). What was extra special about this session was that it was the first time I saw an artist take a short timeout to prepare themselves for the event and take in the amazing space. After her soundcheck finished, Rachel literally lay down on the stage and stared at the amazing chapel roof. It was at this point that I realised that the artists themselves really love playing the space. And it’s still one of my favourite photographs.

Poppy Ackroyd (DM190, DM221, DM273)

I think the first time a Daylight Music artist took my breath away was Poppy Ackroyd.

I think Poppy had played Daylight Music before, but this was my first encounter with her music. If you are not aware, Poppy is a violinist and pianist who uses a loop pedal to build up beautiful multi-layered music.

Often with artists who use loop pedals, it feel laborious as they build up the layers and you lose interest before the piece gets goings. But that isn’t the case with Poppy. It’s fascinating to watch her move between instruments building up each layer. This was my first encounter with her and I immediately bought everything she had released an made sure I caught her solo performances.

For DM273, I was lucky enough to be photographing that weekend, so had a double dose, catching the soundcheck too. Also on the lineup was Matt Emery, a composer of some equally beautiful music who is another favourite Daylight discovery.

Daylight Music 190

Daylight Music 273

Emily Hall with Ana Silvera (DM236)

Often, the audience isn’t aware that some of the performers come together to create special pieces for Daylight Music. It happens more often than you think. These collaborations often break genre boundaries. For example last year Britten Sinfonia Academy combined with folk artists Stick In The Wheel to produce really interesting results. Other times, it’s simply the first time a piece has been played by artists and they need to tweak the performance in soundcheck.

Occasionally when this happens, it’s an honour to see a performance come together at soundcheck and the reaction of the audience. This Daylight Music session was probably my favourite session of this kind.

Composer Emily Hall was joined by the Khoros Choir and Ana Silvera to perform her music. Clearly it had been rehearsed but in soundcheck Emily was able to clarify how she wanted it performed, tweaking in little areas, improving the work ready for midday. It was clear from soundcheck that it was going to be a stunning and to this day, this is still one of my favourite performances. Okay, I know I am lucky to be around the soundcheck. But I feel so much gratitude that I get to experience these little moments and it makes Daylight Music all the more special.

Jherek Bischoff (DM252 and DM323)

I knew nothing about Jherek before I covered this event. He is an American composer and musician who has worked with the likes of Amanda Palmer. He has played twice at Daylight and both sessions featured Jherek playing bass with an ensemble.

His first session was a real pleasure. Jherek was working with an ensemble of young musicians. He had no airs and graces and was completely down to earth and a thoroughly nice person. He seemed to genuinely want to help these young musicians develop as musicians. These collaborations seem to happen regularly at Daylight Music and Ben seems to find thoroughly nice people to play his event who are interested in other artists. The music they produced reflected the warmth of the soundcheck. The bass became it’s own unique voice complementing, never competing with the ensemble. It turns out not only is he a great composer, he is also a brilliant bass player.

The second session was equally impressive. For the last three years, Daylight Music has been part of the the London Jazz Festival. These sessions are a good example of how Ben challenges our genre boxes. Jazz isn’t something I listen to very often and much of my idea of what jazz is, is constrained by the kind of jazz I hear on TV or radio. Daylight’s LJF seem to try to challenge our preconceived ideas of jazz aiming to explore the spaces where jazz is pushing against other genres creating something unique. For example, jazz overlapping with folk music and post-classical.

Jherek’s second session, was one of these LFJ events.

The lineup was as I would expect, one trying to push our ideas of what jazz is. Robert Stillman on sax and Andres Holst on 12 string guitar explored how two quite different instruments could complement each other. A young artist, Rose Frazier-Taylor stuck to a more traditional jazz sound but showed there is a new generation of artists finding their voice through jazz.

Jherek, accompanied by a string quartet combined his amazing bass tone with violins and cello to explore the dark edges of jazz, with some heavily Twin Peaks inspired music. The Wolf, a piece from his Cistern album has a Jherek’s bass acting like a possessed metronome, constantly ticking and increasing in loudness and aggression. While strings weave a dark tale around him gradually taking over the lead, as his guitar fades away into the background. I think this is my favourite piece ever to be played at Daylight.

As if this wasn’t enough. Terry Edwards, who is a great supported of the series, joined Jherek to bring an early, but very dark Christmas twist. Playing a Twin Peaks inspired version of Silent Night.

Official video from DM252: Jherek Bischoff – Cistern

8-bit special (DM256)

The 256th Daylight took its inspiration from computer music and the chapel echoed to the beeps of synths and old computers. For example Deerful, (Emma Winson) played music on gameboys. While the film composer David Julyan and Héloïse Werner combined analogue synths and cello. A perfect illustration of the risks Daylight Music takes. A simple idea excuted brilliantely and fascinating to watch.

‘The foghorn lady’ (DM267)

Now on to one of the weirdest Daylight sessions I can remember. Often the curration of a Daylight session is handed over to record labels or individuals. This session was handed over to Laura Cannell and her ‘Modern Ritual’ series.

Laura Cannell is a musician who has chosen the recorder has her instrument. Not the nasty little plastic recorders we used at school, but the classic wooden versions. Her music is always interesting and she isn’t afraid of taking her music into different environments, often supporting indie musicians playing over noisy crowds. So this session was always going to be interesting, I’m just not sure I was ready for how interesting it would be.

The sessions expored rituals through words and music. This session featured a whole bunch of weird. Charles Hayward simply drummed on a snare drum for 30 minutes. With the speed and pitch increasing and reducing. It really was something to behold. It was also something I really didn’t like! (I always skip drum solos!)

These Feathers Have Plumes, used electronics and played wine glasses to create a facinating soundscape.

Then there was the ‘foghorn lady’ as I call her. Jennifer Lucy Allan, who is the wonderful presenter of Radio 3’s Late Junction, performed ‘Foulis’s Daughter: A short history of the foghorn in 30 interrupted acts’. In the performance, Jennifer traces the history of the foghorn and performance combines spoken word with the sounds of foghorns captured round the UK. It was initially really interesting, then started to drag and it just didn’t work for me. Others though loved it.

And that is the point. Daylight Music isn’t simply trying to regurgitate music. It gives artists the chance to perform pieces that will challenge us. In this case, it didn’t connect with me. At times, it permits itself the risk to be a glorious failure by being adventurous. This session was one of them and I’m glad I was there to experience it.

From Call to Choir (DM309)

Possibly one of the most adventurous events Daylight Music has put on was ‘From Call to the Choir’. It was a simple premise. Could one singer bring the chapel to one voice?

Throughout the afternoon, starting with one singer, the size of each act grew, one became two, two because four, one choir became two choirs. A ‘scratch choir’ formed from amateur singers who only met the night before, combined with these artists, bands and other choirs to perform one large piece. Eventually for the last piece, the audience joined in. It was a thrill watching the performance build from one person up to the the entire chapel.

I photographed the rehearsals the night before and it was a pleasure to see how excited the volunteer choir were. It was also great seeing so many Daylight alumni giving up their time to make the event work. Chatting to several of the choir, many hadn’t sung before in public and were thrilled at the opportunity to sing in such an amazing venue.

This is probably the best example of what makes Daylight special. How many events would take a risk and give a composer a chance to perform a piece on such a scale and give so many people a chance to participate?

Majestic Euro-Musical Showcase Special (DM223)

I am not a fan of Eurovision. But in 2017, Ben decided to invite many of the international artists who have played Daylight to celebrate Eurovision by playing playing their own songs and covering one Eurovision song. It was great to see so many musicians collaborate to produce a great feel good event. And, the highlight was a live rendition of Father Ted’s My Lovely Horse. Unusually, I tried to capture a video to give people a favour of the event. You can tell, I’m not a videographer from the whacky clips and sound quality.

Piano Day (DM221, DM251, DM279, DM306, DM335, DM342, DM358, DM360)

For the last few years, Piano Day has been an annual highlight. Ben loves post-classical and early Daylight’s featured now world renown artist Nils Frahm who created Piano Day. It takes place on the 88th day of the year, or in Daylight Music’s case the nearest Saturday to it.

The piano is a wonderful instrument and Daylight Music always makes an effort by hiring in a baby grand piano which when combined with the wonderful acoustics of the chapel, is always special.

Some of my favourite discoveries have come via Piano Day. I have already mentioned the wonderful Poppy Ackryod, who I had already seen before a Piano Day session.

Another discovery is the talented pianist and composer, Xenia Pestova Bennett. My first experience of Xenia was when she played a tiny toy piano at her first appearance. Over different sessions, some of which she has helped curate, we have had the opportunity to see Xenia experiments with how the piano can sound. One amazing session she brought a magnetic resonance piano that sounds like an electric guitar, where each note can be held indefinitely.

What I’ve found amazing, is the often subtle ways each pianist plays the piano and interprets each piece. Often watching their hands is like watching a ballet. Each hand dancing around the keys hypnotically.

Piano day is always a special Daylight. If you want one session to try. I would always recommend a Piano Day session. They are always magical.

‘That wasn’t jazz’ (DM338)

Doing to the jazz-heads, what they’ve done to us for a long time. Since lockdown, Daylight Music has curated a number of EFG: London Jazz Festival related events. Longtime collaborator and supporter of the series, Terry Edwards, curated this event for Daylight. Featuring his excellent Near Jazz Experience, Terry decided to challenge the jazz crowd audience with a ‘near jazz experience’ leading to two people leaving after the first act telling the team on the door ‘That wasn’t jazz’.

What it was, was everything Daylight prides itself on being. BAG, the offending opening artists, mixed spoken word with various electronic sounds and music. They used vocals to deconstruct our expectations of musical structures, a bit like improvisation in jazz. With vocals speeding up and slowing down, accenting different bits of variable length sentences forcing the music to shift form. It was a fascinating performance, and I could see why it was ‘near jazz’.

Thankfully, the people who left didn’t see the next piece which would have probably been even more frustrating. Terry, with soprano Jan Goodkin and Rod Melvin, explored an idea of Terry’s that the songs of the Smiths have similarities to plainsong chants. While not jazz, a set of musicians who had never met before using their musical knowledge of plainsong to work with each other’s performance, clearly has some of the spirit of jazz.

I’ve never liked the Smiths. Or rather, I’ve never liked Smiths when sung by Morrissey. I enjoy their songs far more when covered by other bands without Morrissey’s annoying voice. But I will begrudgingly admit the music and lyrics are often brilliant. Today, stripped back to a minimalistic interpretation on the piano and Jan’s terrific singing of plainsong, the songs also gained an absurdist humour that I would never have connected to the Smiths.

The people who left would have hated it.

Continuing with the theme. Jem Moore gave us his fascinating interpretation of Shelley’s The Masque of Anarchy. His bass playing perfectly complementing the darkness in the poem.

The people who left would have hated it.

Closing Terry’s curation was his own band, The Near Jazz Experience and for once there was some improvised jazz. Always musical and never inappropriately noodley, I’m sure this was more of what those two people who left were looking for. Although, I’m not sure they would have appreciated the NJE’s excellent take on Hendrix. Maybe they were right to leave after all? Me, I loved every second.

But this session was everything Daylight is. Daylight’s strength has always been its ability to challenge. Occasionally these invited curations play it safe. But more often than not, the curator rises to the challenge of selecting a range of music that embraces Daylight’s ethos. Terry’s session more than did that.

Heartbreak (DM343)

Ted Barnes curated DM343 with a theme of postcards from the artist to the audience. How they represent themselves in song. An interesting idea and one song in particular laid bare a heartbreaking moment.

There were the usual three acts. Ted Barnes, a Daylight stalwart had brought other Daylight stalwarts, the brilliant Samantha Waites and Gill Sandell (though sadly underused today). Julia Biel and Me For Queen. All complementing each other and all great.

I was photographing this one for Daylight. The other photographers were unavailable this week. I have to admit. I was hoping not to as I was trying to keep track of the final day of the Championship (Boro lost and didn’t get into the playoffs). I was expecting to take breaks from photographing to catch up on the football scores, but I wasn’t expecting to be knocked off my feet by one of the performers. It was Me For Queen’s song about her feelings after a miscarriage that was beautifully devastating. As a man, I can never understand the pain. But the song opened the door slightly on the pain and loss experienced after a miscarriage. It was truly special. It is these little moments that make Daylight so special.

A privilege (DM349)

Daylight regularly showcases young early-career artists from places like Goldsmiths and some of the feeder ensembles orchestras have. These are truly some of the most inspirational Daylight sessions. Seeing the talent of young musicians is humbling. However, one that was very special was DM349 featuring The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Experience Ensemble. The performance was simply wonderful. I felt privileged to photograph the soundcheck and see the frankly amazing tutoring of Maggie, the professional leading the ensemble. The time she gave these young musicians was great to see. She never once criticised their playing. Instead, helped each young artist find the right way to play each piece. I work in education. I’ve seen many good educators, so I know how to judge one. Maggie was inspirational. It was honestly a privilege to see behind the curtain and see the inspirational people who help turn a good musician into a great musician.

The Snow Queen: DM331

Daylight always tries new things. DM331 was something different. The entire session was given over to London Dreamtime, who along with Cunning Folk, told the story of the Snow Queen through words and music.

It was an enchanting afternoon with audience participation and lots of smiling children (and many adults) and as Hans Christian Andersen’s story vividly unfolded, Cunning Folk added songs from the likes of Bowie, Nirvana, Doors and Led Zeppelin which oddly didn’t seem out of place.

Lost Map

Closing off why I feel Daylight Music is so special. Let me introduce you to the Pictish Trail and more precisely Lost Maps Records.

As mentioned, Daylight Music regularly explores building relationships with small record labels. Lost Map is a Scottish label based on the Isle of Eigg, with a great stable of artists that has included artists such Rozi Plain, Callum Easter, Bas Jan, Alabaster dePlume, Tuff Love, Ed Dowie, plus the inimitable Pictish Trail himself.

Several of the label’s artists have played at different sessions. Every few years, Daylight effectively hosts Lost Maps’ London Christmas party. Each of these sessions is a fun event. If you have never seen the Pictish Trail, he is extremely charismatic and extremely enthusiastic about his artists. These Christmas events are usually very popular. Since Lockdown, the relationship has grown even stronger, with additional summer sessions in London and Kent.

It is these close relationships with small labels that makes Daylight so important. It provide labels and artists with an audience who are willing to listen to something new and they in return provide Daylight Music with a constant stream of new and interesting artists that keep the sessions going.

I’m sure many of these small labels appreciate the efforts Ben put in to keep Daylight Music going, allowing their artists a chance to play an amazing venue. I know I appreciate Ben bringing these artists to me.

Daylight Music is special. Come along and see for yourself and if you are feeling generous, you might want to help support the series through their regular crowdfunders or buy a tea towel! Discover more about Daylight Music at https://www.daylightmusic.co.uk

The history of the Horn is a bit hazy. It is believed it was a railway hotel until 1974, when it changed hands and became the Horn of Plenty and started to host live music. Over the years it has seen many great bands play its venue who have gone on to bigger things and many Hertfordshire bands have cut their teeth in the venue.

I have to admit, in the late 90s, I lived a few hundred metres away, but hardly ever used it. At the time, I wouldn’t go to gigs on my own and if I was going out, I would head into the town centre. It didn’t help that the Crown was literally a few doors away which always had a match to watch. My memory from the time was that it mainly put on covers bands. I suspect then, like now, that’s the wrong impression many have of the venue which programmes new music most nights of the week.

My use of the Horn increased as my gigging increased, especially after I shifted away from big venues gigs after I found I enjoyed small venue gigs so much more. After moving away from St Albans in 2000, I didn’t return to the venue until 2013 for a Bo Ningen gig and since then my attendance has steadily increased. Until lockdown, I was probably attending one gig a month, usually for touring bands. But since lockdown, I have been using the venue more, preferring a trip to the Horn, rather than heading into London. 

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, I decided to try and attend 50 gigs at the Horn. At the time of writing, I managed to attend 57 gigs. It has been an interesting experiment. I have seen many of the new local Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire bands and while there isn’t the depth of talent London has. There are several young bands with potential and this is what makes venues like the Horn special. They give an opportunity to young artists to the learn their trade. Sadly, many of these bands split up after the kids go to University and other music scenes benefit. But that’s why every small venue is important, their reach is often much wider than the local scene. The Horn, as a grassroot venue, has more than played its part in underpinning the UK music scene.

That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been touring bands this year. The Horn has done well this year, featuring artists such as Steve Mason, Personal Trainer, Hotel Lux, My Life Story, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Lost Alone, Sleeper, Dead Pony, High Fade, Laughter, Welly, King No-One, Divorce, Alien Chicks, Alias and this week the excellent FEET.

Like all grassroots venues. It is the team behind the venue that makes it special. The team at the Horn know how to get the most from its tiny 200 capacity room making sure it has great sound and lighting for touring bands and they work hard to make sure the venue is on the radar of touring bands. It goes without saying they all love music.

The list of bands I have seen at the Horn is impressive and I have loads of personal favourites such as Porridge Radio, Bo Ningen. Black Honey, The Wytches, Sleeper, Warmduscher, Kid Wave, Talk Show, Big Special, Slow Readers Club, HMLTD, Metz, Avalanche Party, LIFE, Personal Trainer, Reverend and the Makers, Girl Scout, Pale Blue Eyes, Enola Gay and Ash. Even my favourite band, Sea Power even played the venue in 2019.

A pair of gigs that highlight what is great about the Horn and probably your own local venue too, is seeing Slaves (now Soft Play), a band broke not long after playing the Horn. In 2016 they returned as a thank you for taking the risk of putting them on and they only charged the audience £1 to see them too. You may look at your local listing and think there is nothing on because you haven’t heard of anyone, but the following year you might be kicking yourself for missing the artist when you had the chance.

When Slaves played the venue in 2014, there was a little bit of a buzz, they had some early radio play, but they hadn’t released their first album. That first time, the early evening crowd attending to see the local support bands, had slipped away by the time they played their set with only a handful watching them. Returning in 2016 to celebrate the release of their second album, the tickets sold out in minutes with people complaining they couldn’t get tickets unaware they had already missed them the first time. They were on blistering form and the rammed room was sweaty mayhem confirming the potential a few of us saw in 2014.

And this is why the Horn and venues like it as so important. They underpin the music scene. They are the heart beat. Hopefully, the Horn will have many more birthdays and continue to stay young at heart. Thank you for all the memories. Here’s to many more.

Another thing affecting my London gigging is the cost. Stevenage council’s redevelopment plan for the town centre seems to involve building on all the cheap long stay car parks, so car parking has shot up by £8. Add in a small increase in the price of train tickets and each gig is costing me £30 before I’ve even bought a ticket for the gig.

Because of the rising costs, I concentrated on local gigs, attending around 50 gigs across the Horn, Corn Exchange and Club 85. This had some positives. I’ve seen more local bands. But the negative is that there is only a finite number of bands in and around Hertfordshire and the quality is more variable than I experience at London venues. However, I’ve discovered quite a few interesting bands with potential and in 2024 I’m going to put more effort into local gigging. I believe it is the Horn’s 50th Birthday. I think 50 for 50 would be a good aim.

Sadly, earlier this year, we learnt that Club 85 is now on borrowed time. The owners of the venue are retiring and want to sell the land for redevelopment. Club 85’s business model has been one where they programme the venue and profit from ticket sales. Managing the bar and the bar’s revenue has always gone to the venue itself. The promoters are not in a position to offer up the sums of cash needed to persuade the owners to sell them the venue. While they are hopeful they will find a new venue. I think it will be difficult to find a similar space in Hitchin. It will be a sad loss for Hertfordshire if it does close.

Daylight Music is also under threat. We learnt late in the year that it failed in its bid for Arts Council funding. Hopefully, a follow-up bid will be successful. It would be awful to lose this series.

The second half of this year I found it difficult to find the motivation to review gigs and this website hasn’t seen many updates. Work has been busy and given how many nights I sit in front of a computer at 2am editing photos from that evening’s gig. I needed nights off away from the computer. To be honest, much of my apathy was because I was messed about by the Great Escape’s media team. They appeared to have a new team and I registered early for a photo pass. The new team actually acknowledged emails, which was an improvement and were sending me the press releases. So I played the game. Posted their lineups and retweeted their announcements. Then when it got to the point of them making a decision, they used my previous reviews as an excuse to turn me down. Why? Because I stated I had already bought an early-bird ticket. Yes, I buy tickets for everything I shoot because I am not a ‘guest list leacher’ who never pays for anything. Frankly, after the kick and being so busy at work, it killed off my enthusiasm for this website. I’m trying to rediscover my enthusiasm and I spent Christmas posting galleries to bring it back up to date. Hopefully, this year I can find a better balance.

Musically, I’ve still been listening to a lot of post-punk and the post-punk bands still dominated my gigs this year. I suspect we are at the tail end of the post-punk revival and there are signs that new bands are starting to raid other 80s genres. There’s even signs of Prog making a comeback with HMLTD releasing a concept album ‘The Worm’ and played it in full at the ICA. After the COVID years stifled new bands. I think 2024 will see an explosion of new artists and I’m looking forward to what the year will bring.

Best Festival: Krankenhaus

I only managed three festivals this year. Although I also missed the new Rally festival due to a train strike and I had to give up my ticket for the WideAwake Festival as it clashed with a wedding.

My usual pilgrimage to the Great Escape once again proved frustrating due to the queues and the fact that hotels in Brighton are now ridiculously expensive. Rockaway Beach continues to grow on me. It gives me a boost to the start of the year.

My favourite festival is once again Sea Power’s Krankenhaus festival. Despite an increase in numbers, it retained its DIY charm and relaxed friendly atmosphere. The organisers made numerous tweaks that improved the overall experience and the lineup was excellent and they seem to have finally hit on a sustainable formula.

Best Gig: Lottery Winners at the Corn Exchange Hertford

My best gig of the year goes to a band I don’t even listen to, as their music does little for me on record. Lottery Winners played the Corn Exchange in Hertford and I went along to support my local venue. But I was really pleased I did because Lottery Winners put on an extremely fun show. It is part gig and part comedy show. It is the first time I have seen a singer paint while the rest of the band played a song that didn’t feature him. If you get a chance to see one of their headline shows, go, you will not be disappointed.

Album of the Year: Benefits – Nails

Best New Band/Artist: Lael Neale

I think this was a good year for new discoveries. Lankum produced an extremely good album and were excellent at the Roundhouse. At the start of the year, Personal Trainer showed their fun side. I caught Big Special twice in 2023. I have no doubt they will be big in 2024. But it was Lael Neale’s album that I kept coming back to and I managed to catch her three times and each time I found myself entranced by her sound.

Best New Venue: The Hot Tin, Faversham

In the summer, Daylight Music held a Lost Map special in London and at the Hot Tin in Faversham. I headed down and discovered one of my favourite venues. It is an old pre-fabricated Victorian tin church that the owners live in and because of this, it is full of quirky touches. It felt like we were being welcomed into their home. Sadly, I think the venue is under threat from neighbours who don’t want the noise. I hope it survives.

Favourite Photo: Sea Power at Krankenhaus

I’ve decided to go with my favourite photo from the year. It isn’t my best shot. It captures the anarchy at the end of Sea Power’s extremely good first set at Krankenhaus, with Martin trying to ride the bear and the band having fun on the stage.

Album of the year: Nails – Benefits

Nails is not an easy listen. It isn’t meant to be. Nails is a reaction to the state of a Tory-ruled post-Brexit Britain where people are punching down rather than up. Don’t expect this album to get a five star review from the Daily Mail.

I was worried this album wouldn’t work. Live, Kingsley spits his poetry with anger and despair over industrial noise and pounding drums. Their performances are visceral. After their gigs, you feel like you’ve gone a few rounds in the ring. On Nails, Benefits have managed to capture much of this anger. No effort has been made to make the noise more musical or tone down the anger. This is why it is my album of the year. Benefits dared to produce an uncompromising album knowing it could be commercial suicide.

Most of the album attacks the notion of patriotism and politicians who sell it to us. On tracks like Traitors, there’s also that strong sense of the alienation and anger you feel if you saw through the lies. There are also swipes at the working class who have bought into these lies. No excuses are being made. As Kingsley puts it, ‘You get the future you deserve’ and it’s clear Benefits think many have been fooled into punching down, rather than up.

The surprise on the album was Council Rust. After all the noise and angst. The final track is almost ambient. Kingsley calmly explores how we sit back while we see the world around us rust away, because most of us as are alright with the life we have. After all the angst and noise. It’s a poignant way to end the album.

Most Listened to album: Star Eaters Delight – Lael Neale

Lael Neale was unknown to me before this album was released. I noticed the album in one of the Apple Music categories and on first listen, it sounded pleasant, but didn’t jump out as anything special. A few weeks later, I noticed I had listened to it more than any other recent release. Something kept drawing me in.

Star Eater’s Delight is the perfect example of how a catchy first song can draw the listener in. The album starts with infectious ‘I am the river’. There’s a familiarity about the song. But the song is breathless. It is like the song is being played at a faster speed. By the end of the song you are hooked. The album then pauses to let you get your breath back. With its church organ and religious imagery, ‘If I had no wings’ is like a familiar church hymn. One sung in an idealised wooden church with a white picket fence that is stuck in the 1950s. This format is repeated across the album. Every song feels familiar and timeless. But there’s also twist that makes them sound fresh, no matter how often you come back to the album.

Other notable albums

• Alabaster Deplume – Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem
• Anna B Savage – inFLUX
• Baba Ali – Laugh Like A Bomb
• Band of Holy Joy – Fated Beautiful Mistakes 
• Bar Italia – The Twits
• David Julyan – Hireth
• Esben and the Witch – Hold Sacred
• Hamish Hawk – Angel Numbers
• HMLTD – The Worm
• James Yorkston, Nina Persson & The Second Hand Orchestra – The Great White Sea Eagle
• John J Presley – Chaos and Calypso
• The Kills – God Games
• Lankum – False Lankum
• M(h)aol – Attachment Styles
• Murder Capital – Gigi’s Recovery
• Mandy, Indiana – I’ve Seen A Way
• Me Lost Me – PRG
• Model/Actriz – Dogsbody
• Pale Blue Eyes – This House
• Ulrika Spacek – Compact Trauma

The year didn’t start off well, catching COVID over Christmas causing me to miss the Rockaway Beach festival at the beginning of January. In some way, catching COVID was a blessing. I felt I had some COVID protection during the first few months of the year and it helped me open up a bit more and I know I attended more gigs than I might have otherwise.

Changes to working patterns, allowing me to work from home, made it easier to get to gigs as I didn’t have to fight traffic on the A1 every evening before catching a train into London. But oddly, it seemed to reduce my enthusiasm for Friday night gigs. I often wanted to stay in and relax after a week of work. Trains were another issue this year. Weekend trains continued to be unreliable so I rarely attended Saturday night gigs. Strikes caused me to miss a few more.

One big saving grace was DICE. More promoters recognised the benefit of allowing the audience to return tickets to a waiting list. It helps reassure us that we can get our money back if we catch COVID. Despite missing several gigs this year, in most cases I didn’t lose any money as people picked them up from DICE.

Hertfordshire got a new venue, the Corn Exchange in Hertford. Managed by the excellent team from The Horn in St Albans. It has all the elements to be a great venue for Hertfordshire. Hopefully, the people of Hertford will embrace it in 2023.

The annual trip to the Great Escape proved to be a disappointment. The venues were too busy and the festival seemed to place too much emphasis on the conference attendees being allowed in first. Hopefully, they will tweak things for 2023.

Dark, gothy post-punk bands were still the major influence on me this year. But there were signs of the poppier sound that emerged in the early 80s making a comeback again. I think 2023 could see a shift to a lighter sound.

New from us, was our first online magazine. Featuring articles from the first half of the year. Unfortunately, I struggled to find the time to create an issue 2. I was out gigging too much. I enjoyed producing it, so hope I can find the time to produce future issues.

Best Festival: Krankenhaus

A festival for Sea Power fans. Featuring three sets from the band. A whole host of excellent bands. A fantastic venue, Muncaster Castle, with helpful, friendly staff. A range of other activities such as talks, fell walks, trips on a miniature train, a dog and bird of prey shows and a friendly audience. It was a very special festival.

Best Gig: Richard Dawson with Circle

The Sea Power gigs this year were special. Their Roundhouse gig was special for me. It was my first opportunity to photograph the amazing venue. But as they have won the ‘Best Festival’ award, I will focus on some of the other impressive gigs in 2023.

Benefits played their first London show. Their abrasive art-noise sound with Kingsley’s poetry challenged the listener. At each successive show, they got better and better.

A departure for us was seeing the Pet Shop Boys at the Electric Ballroom. A fun diversion from our usual gigs

Jack White released his second album of the year and played Rough Trade. I say played Rough Trade. It was a very short and sweet 15 minute set. But it was still worth queuing for 90 minutes to see Jack play such a small venue.

Richard Dawson had the time of his life playing a fun metal show with Finish metal band Circle. I got the feeling he would have had just as much fun playing to an empty room. Thankfully, we were all invited to his party and because of this I’m going to make this my gig of the year. I really didn’t know what to expect. I don’t even know if I really enjoyed the music. I just know I left the venue with a beaming smile.

Band of the year: Sea Power

Great album. Great Gigs. Great festival.

Best new band: Deadletter

Although 2022 was my first chance at catching Benefits. I was aware of their output. Deadletter on the other hand, were a new discovery when I saw them play an Independent Venue Week gig at the Social. Since then I have seen them several times. Each time, they have got better and better.

Best gig photo: Xenia Pestova Bennett

So many photos to choose from. But there is one photo I love more than any other. It is a photo of the talented composer and pianist, Xenia Pestrova Bennett playing Daylight Music. It is a music photo that doesn’t feature the piano. It shows the Xenia feeling the music as she is playing, with a steam of light through the church’s window. I love the way my exposure for the strong light on her face made the background disappear to black, putting us in her world. No distractions. Only the music.

Album Of The Year: Everything Was Forever

Album of the year: Everything Was Forever – Sea Power

Sea Power’s eighth studio album and first under their new name reflects a more mature band. Neil and Scott having lost both parents since their last outing seemed to be in a more contemplative mood that producer Graham Sutton has encouraged them to explore. Sonically this pays off with probably their most spacial album to date. The album has the usual rockers in ‘Green Goddess’, ‘Dopplerganger’ and ‘Two Fingers’, the later a reference to their dad’s habit of pouring out two fingers of alcohol. The beautiful ‘Lakeland Echo’ is a wistful walk through childhood memories of parents and Cumbria. ‘Lakeland Echo’ being the name of the local paper. On ‘Transmitter’, Martin Noble gets a chance to throw in a guitar solo. The album feels their most personal to date and that isn’t a bad thing. Having heard the material played live throughout this year. The new songs all sound brilliant live and seem to have reinvigorate the band and audience.

2nd: The Overload – Yard Act

Following the lead of bands like Dry Cleaning, James Smith speaks most of the songs weaving interesting tales full of wry comment on modern society. At no point does it become sneary, but it is angry. Six minute long Tall Poppies is a good example. The cautionary story of a handsome man who is a big fish in a small village. When you think it might turn sneary, it spins you around. ‘He wasn’t perfect, but he was one of us’, James explains after the man’s death from cancer. On Dead Horse, concern for post-Brexit England being overrun by nationalist ‘nob heads morris dancing to Sham 69’. Unethical business men, the middle-classes, the compensation society are all targets. Driving the narrative is the current trend of a post-punk bass line. Several songs make good use of breaks from relentless bass with the music fading away leaving just the vocals, to then kick back in at a different speed. All combining to create a fresh sounding debut album.

3rd: The Ruby Cord – Richard Dawson

Richard Dawson is one of those special artists who does what he wants and transcends the boundaries of ‘his genre’. Not only did he release a metal album with Circle. He returned with a majestic piece of folk-opera in the form of the ‘Ruby Cord’. The backbone of the album is the epic 41 minute long ‘The Hermit’ is without doubt my favourite piece of music from 2022. Starting slowly as almost laid back jazz, violins come in adding a discordant jeopardy, interspersed by harps creating dream-like spaces. At the 11 minute mark, Richard’s unique vocals come in with his fantasy infused lyrics. The music then switches to a more standard Dawkins folk song. Finally ending as a reflective choral piece. I can’t get enough of this song.

Honourable Mentions

• Broken Equipment – Bodega
• Hellfire – Black Midi
• Heart Under – Just Mustard
• Wet Leg – Wet Leg
• North East Coastal Town – Life
• Time Bend and Break The Bower – Sinead O’Brien
• Caroline – Caroline
• When It Comes – Dana Gavanski
• The Great Regression – Ditz
• Entering Heaven Alive – Jack White
• This Rock – Jill Lorean
• My Name is Hell – Kai Marks
• Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life – Bob Vylan
• Beware Believers – Crows
• Stump Works – Dry Cleaning
• All Of Us Flames – Ezra Furman
• Skinny Fa – Fontaines D.C.
• Most Normal – Gilla Band
• Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To the Sky – Porridge Radio
• My Other People – TV Priest
• Versions of Modern Performance – Horsegirl

I had some remote hope I had a photo pass waiting even though we hadn’t received notification, as Down At The Front had some email issues leading up to the festival. But no luck. We weren’t on the list. Another year where we would be limiting ourselves to venues where we knew we would be safe take in our cameras.

Day 0

As is customary, we headed down to Brighton on Wednesday. As we experienced this time, it is the sensible choice if you want to catch all the music and not worry about how well the trains run. Sadly, this year, Brighton has got even more expensive than it was pre-lockdown and it was already stupidly expensive then. The extra day really does make things a lot more expensive. Usually there are events happening the night before the festival starts that help justify the extra cost. But this year was light on interest and I did wonder if it was really worth the extra cost just just for the Thursday afternoon.

Pretty much the only thing happening in Brighton was the Alt-Alt Escape Opening Party at the Green Door Store. The opening party had some decent music on show. ELLiS.D started the evening of well with his psychy rock with a touch of glam theatrics thrown in.

Another standout was The Kitterns. Just good, uncomplicated indie

CIEL, who many caught during the TGE and raved about, were also on the bill. They were very entertaining with some catchy songs, especially their single ‘Fine Everything’. Although they didn’t light my fire, I will happily catch them again.

As this was the first night of my first real break since pre-lockdown. I decided to head off to find a grab some food, find a pub and hunker down for the evening. Really disappointedly, Brighton was dead. Restaurants seemed to close by 11 and my usual late night pubs were closed by midnight. I did find a pub open until 1am, but my usual approach of watching bands and to not really starting to drink until about 11ish, meant that I was waking up for the rest of the festival with a clear head.

Day 1

In many ways this was a different festival for me. I am not sure how others felt about it. I don’t think I was ready for this year’s Great Escape. Normally, I wake up (with a hangover) and go for a long walk down the sea front, grab some breakfast and head to the first gig on the bill. Since catching COVID at Christmas (luckily, no symptoms), I found my exercise has reduced after my calf pinged (twice). Meanwhile, I have relaxed and been out to the pub a lot more. Essentially, I am not in the best physical shape I have been. Unfortunately for me, my calf tightened again the day before the festival and I decided I had to be sensible. I couldn’t rush around doing stupid things like power walking from Horatio’s to the Green Door Store. For much of the festival I planned short routes between venues. Avoiding gambling on walking across town to venues that might be busy and that have no nearby backup venues. My step count was about 50% down on a normal TGE.

Starting the first day off as I was to continue the festival. I decide to have a relaxed start in Komedia Studio with Telenova, rather than rushing off to the first venue that opened, like I normally do. The room was already packed by the time I got there. I found a space midway in the room and listened to a few enjoyable songs of breezy indie pop, before heading down stairs to catch High School who sadly didn’t do much for me.

Music Scotland were holding one of their regular showcases at the nearby One Church. Featuring Memes and Kathryn Joseph, I thought I would ease myself into the festival and headed the short way up to the church. Opening was Blair Davie, a singer songwriter with songs exploring his identity. It was all fine but a little introspective for me.

Memes followed. I had seen them a few weeks earlier supporting Benefits. I liked their set the first time and enjoyed it even more a second. Garage post-punk. Memes are just two people. Lots of bass, complementing a drum machine that drive each song forward, with the singer barking the lines. There is a bit of an industrial feel to it at times and remarkably dancy.

After a brief, but uninteresting trip up to the Alt-Escape at the Laines Brewhouse. I headed back to see Kathryn Joseph and her distinctive voice. She seems to have gone all Taylor Swift with a new album of songs about failed relationships. She was completely engaging, with lots of self-deprecating humour about each song. It was a lovely set.

This was pretty much the afternoon over and I realised I hadn’t really seen much new music and decided that for the rest of the festival I would only try and catch new artists and headed back to my hotel room to grab some refreshments.

The evenings at The Great Escape usually consist of queue. Although Thursdays often aren’t too bad and I hoped that would be the case tonight.

I decided it was time to give Chalk a try. I had a soft spot for The Haunt, so was unhappy when it closed. The new space isn’t bad. It gives Brighton a bigger venue and The Haunt is somewhere in the heavily remodelled bigger Chalk space. I was there to see Medicine Cabinet. The lead singer, looked like an escapee from a Final Fantasy game and guitarist looked like an escapee from CHIPS (there’s one for the kids). They clearly didn’t take themselves too seriously. Definitely at the pop end of the indie scale. While fun to watch. They didn’t do too much for me.

First of a few missteps at the TGE. English Teacher were on my list to catch. They were playing the nearby Latest Bar. I should have headed there earlier. But I stayed to catch the whole of Medicine Cabinet’s set.

Arriving at the latest bar I found there was already a long queue. I should have just left and moved on. But I waited and actually got to the door before they told people it was at capacity. The security guard seeing I was on my own, did actually sneak me in. Unfortunately, this just allowed me to join a second queue in the bar area as downstairs was rammed and at capacity. From past experience, it is not a pleasant space when it is full and I finally saw sense and decided to head off. There shouldn’t be queues like this on a Thursday. Sadly this was an experience repeated throughout the festival.

There was a decent double bill at Komedia with the Folly Group and Billy Nomates. I knew it was likely Billy would have a long queue and the sensible choice would be to queue for her, as I would really like to see her in a smallish venue. Instead I decided to catch Folly Group first, catching the tail end of French band District Five who create music with a fusion of influences from jazz and indie. They were really quite good.

I really liked the Folly Group’s recent EP and live that nervous energy is there. While fitting into the generic post-punk descriptor. Like Squid, they have a singing drummer and angular guitars. Unfortunately the singer was hidden at the back of the stage behind a haze of smoke. They probably should push the drums to the front of the stage to give him a more staring role.

Sadly after the Folly Group had finished, the queue for Billy was long and the venue was at capacity. I waited for an about 10 minutes but the queue didn’t move. Worse, the delegate’s queue was increasing in size and I knew they would be let in first. These delegates queues are becoming a problem The Great Escape is going to have to solve if it isn’t to collapse under its own weight and push out us normal festival goers.

It seemed this year the Great Escape conference was bigger than it has ever been. In many ways this should be a good thing. However, there were hip middle-class delegates everywhere. I don’t remember it being this way in the past. But if the conference is going to be useful, it has to find a way to be more accessible and not just a conference for University-graduate, young, white, middle-class adults. That’s pretty much the whole problem with the music industry at the moment. It has to try harder not to be Shoreditch-on-sea.

This year, delegates had separate queues at most venues and these allowed them to by-pass the general queue, giving them priority. This is a sign The Great Escape is starting to edge towards being the UK’s version of SXSW, when due to it’s location it is simply is a pale impersonator.

Unfortunately, Austin is set up so much better for forced venue hoping than Brighton is. Also, Austin actually makes an effort to support SXSW. Most TGE’s outside of the venues, I wouldn’t really know there was the UK’s premier new music festival taking place. The council seem to make no effort to support it and local business don’t seem to embrace it. I guess it is because of how popular it is as a holiday destination they don’t have to chase after the TGE punters.

When combined with what seemed like an increase in standard festival goers, queues were worse than ever this year. And with nothing done to stop the spread of venues leading to an ever reducing venue density. Choosing the wrong venue means missing a good chuck of music each evening. At SXSW there are 20 other venues within 15 minutes walk. This is not the case in Brighton and after missing Billy, I headed to the next venue, only to have to join another queue at a venue that usually doesn’t have them. It was a good 40 minutes before I saw the next act. TGE really needs to up the number of venues and have bands play multiple times across the city, increasing the chances of seeing the buzzy bands or stumbling across your new favourite band.

After more queuing at usually quiet venues, I headed up to see Hamish Hawk at Brighthelm. I have never seen a queue at this place and thankfully there was no issue getting in to see what turned out to be a really fun set and one of my highlights of the festival.

Friends had seen Hamish play the week before and recommended I catch him. Whether intentional or not, there is more than a touch of Neil Hannon about Hamish and that is not a bad thing. Hamish was fun and engaging. My highlight of the day.

After Hamish, I decided to catch one more band and then head off for a drink and to process photos. So picking a venue I expected I would be able to get in I headed to catch Grace Cummings at Komedia’s Studio venue.

Often at these festivals you see bands stressed out as they rush around and having to set up quickly at a new venue. tI was great to see a very relaxed Grace Cummings and her band. Lots of smiles and fooling around as they set up. I have to admit I had already decided what her voice would sound like before she started, so was pleasantly surprised to find she has a proper rock blues voice, the kind you don’t hear too often from male or female singers. Her music was I guess blues rock. But there was the occasional country blues tone and also some pschy guitars. I was pleasantly surprised.

After Grace I decided to head off and find a beer. But like the previous night, not much was open outside of the festival and it was another relatively early night.

Day 2

Waking up without a hangover was a nice change. I grabbed my first ‘full-English’ in probably three years while perusing the day’s schedule. Friday was the best day on paper. Lots of the bands who broke during the previous two years were playing today. Many of whom, I have already seen and who were bound to be the day’s big draws. But I decided I would stick to my plan and avoid these bands and try and only catch new bands for the rest of the festival.

Looking at the early options. There was an enticing double bill of Irish post punk at the Prince Albert. Arriving to see long queues wasn’t a good sign for the day ahead and this was the first of many queues this day.

Starting the day were The Clockworks. One of the many great post punk Irish bands following on the heals of the Fontaines. They impressed the early crowd, who many like me, were here for the Sprints. I believe the bands has moved to London. So definitely one to watch.

Another highlight for the festival were Sprints. Sprints are at the shouty end of post punk. Lots of attitude and energy and great front person. They put in the perfect festival set. It was clear to see why they already have an ardent falling.

Heading off into the early afternoon sun, there were already queues outside some of the venues. Unusual for a Friday afternoon. So I again headed to the One Church for another afternoon of Scottish music. It is also close to the alt-Escapes Laines Brewhouse venue, which had been empty the day before. So I knew I could nip out and catch another band or two.

Up first were Dead Pony. They have a classic Scottish Indie rock sound with lots of energy. Very popular with the crowd and fun to photograph but in all honesty, the Scottish indie sound doesn’t quite tick the boxes for me. I prefer my rock to me a little more post-punk at the moment.

Following Dead Pony was Alex Amor. The guide suggested that she was a flautist. A flautist at a predominantly indie festival sounded interesting. Unfortunately, her sound wasn’t indie or classical. It was more pop music with the flute hardly used and when it was, it seemed crowbarred into songs. Sadly, this performance didn’t work for me.

The rest of the afternoon really didn’t work either. I dipped in and out of the Alt-Escape. But nothing jumped out. So I headed back to my hotel room for a break from what was starting to become a very busy Brighton.

Heading to Chalk again to start the evening. A young Scottish artist, Bonnie Kempley played a nervous, but endearing set to the early crowd bedding down to catch a strong evening of music at Chalk. But I decide to stick with my plan to see new artists and headed off to St Mary’s Church.

Arriving at St Mary’s, Yama Warsashi was finishing off her set. From the song I heard, she sounds like somebody to catch in future.

Friends had recommended Maarja Nuut, an electronic artist who filled the church with many ‘found sounds’. It was pleasant but there wasn’t much that really grabbed me.

I still hadn’t had a drink by this point and I decided that I might as well hunker down at the BBC showcase rather than join another queue. It would mean catching a band I had seen before, but it was better than trying to get into busy venues. (It wasn’t a good start when I realised the venue only had larger!)

Beginning with duo Dark Tropics, with their gothy cinematic pop. It was all very theatrical. But the sound was a bit weak. Too reliant on backing tracks. They probably should beef up the sound with a bassist and drummer.

That can’t be said for the next band, one I saw a few months ago and who greatly impressed me, Deadletter. Enhancing the traditional post-punk guitar line up with a saxophonist. They immediately have a dynamic that separates them from the other post-punk artists. Add to that their explosive front-man Zac, alongside several observant songs. I really feel this band has the talent to hit the mainstream and it was clear Steve Lamacq was a big fan too. With a terrible Tory government in power, I love how there are bands on the scene again who have something to say about the issues we are all facing and not just focused on love and breakup songs.

The reason for sticking at the BBC event was to catch Opus Kink. Another band making waves for their live shows. Thanking the audience for not heading off to Warmduscher, there was some similarity between their sound and Duscher’s. They maybe lack the humour that permeates Warmduscher. But there was no denying that they put on a very good show. Worth catching at a festival.

After Opus, some unsuccessful attempts at getting into busy venues, I finally ended up waiting for an artist, who when they finally tuned up on stage, were so bad, I left after one song. I decided to call it a day and headed into what had become a very busy Brighton to find a quieter pub for a few beers.

Day 3

I have to admit, Saturday didn’t look like a good lineup and my calf was still playing up and with expectation of long queues throughout the day, I decided to take it relatively easy. For me, this year’s TGE didn’t feel completely normal. Brighton was busier than I have ever seen it. The good weather dragging many down from London for a day out. I think Brighton is being hit by the wedding catchup that is happening at the moment. There were more hen and stag groups than ever. Let us be honest, hen and stag groups just make places unpleasant. By this point, I wasn’t really feeling the love for Brighton and this had a knock-on effect of my enjoyment of TGE this year.

Deciding it was worth risking TGE’s own beach venue with the small amount of camera equipment I had with me. I headed off to the Aussie afternoon, one of my favourite ‘country’ showcases at SXSW (a close second behind the the UKs). Their version at TGE is never as well financed, so lacks the beer and snacks, but they usually have a great lineup.

I was really there for The Lazy Eyes who were on my list to catch in 2020 and are one of the few bands to make it to the delayed festival. While VAANS with their straight forward rock and did little for me. Singer songwriter, Didirri, a late addition, offered an engaging and impressive set filling in the gap before The Lazy Eyes.

The popularity of psych seems to be waining. But that hasn’t dampened The Lazy Eyes enthusiasm and they clearly won over the early afternoon crowd with an energetic set that featured possibly the quickest setup of a piano I have ever seen, that was like a bit of performance art. Very fun to watch.

The rest of the day was pretty unsuccessful for of both queues and my musical choices. But that’s not unusual for the Saturday at TGE. I have learnt not to get wound up by it.

In the case of Unschooling, I had no way of knowing they were going to be effected by poor sound quality. Clearly a band I would enjoy a lot in a better venue. They suffered from the worst sound I have heard at a gig for years. With the band asking if they sounded as awful in the audience, as they did on stage. This highlights the challenge TGE has, which as I mention in every TGE review, SXSW doesn’t suffer from. While Austin is wall to wall venues. Brighton has less option. Obviously trying to find new venues, TGE opted to use Revenge, a gay club with a sound system that probably is fine for the Drag Queens who seem to dominate their events listening, but didn’t work for noisy rock music. The sound system just made the band sound muddy and that isn’t fair on the band.

After an unsuccessful evening of more poor musical choices (the risk with avoiding the bands you know you will enjoy), I decided to finish early. Catching a really enjoyable set from Swim School at a packed Prince Albert. I then decided I would finish and grab some beers and find something to eat. But true to form for this weekend. It turns out pretty much all restaurants in Brighton are still closing by 11pm and I just walked between closed restaurants. Eventually heading into the town only to find many of the pubs looked like a stag and hen armageddon. I am not ready to be in packed pubs full of stag parties. So I called it quits and headed back to my hotel room. This is the first TGE where I ended up in my hotel room at midnight on the Saturday.

So was this a successful TGE?

In all honesty, this is probably my poorest TGE experience and a lot of it was down to me. I still really enjoyed finally being back at a city music festival. I had really missed this. While I currently lack the fitness for the weekend, Brighton isn’t back to normal yet and the cost of staying in Brighton seems to have gone through the roof. These aren’t problems TGE can fix. However, the venue spread that has been steadily getting worse, is under their control. Likewise, they can control the number of delegates and the rules around access. But equally, it is great seeing the conference side take off. It is probably good for the music industry. I do wonder if TGE is now close to outgrowing Brighton and that it might have to refocus itself as a festival that serves the Industry, rather than a festival for punters. However, despite my disappointment, I have already purchased my ticket for next year and booked a ridiculously expensive hotel room. Hopefully myself and Brighton are back to our best and TGE somehow does something increasing the number of venues and reduces the spread.