A mature festival like SXSW, running for the first time in London, has some serious expectations to meet. SXSW is unparalleled in size, using Austin’s big convention centre, numerous hotels, cinemas, and music venues, but with a remarkably compact footprint. You can overdose on music, films and interesting talks, without straying too far from the convention centre or hotel. Austin seems to have a density of music venues, probably unparalleled outside of Nashville.

London’s iteration announced that it was going to be based in Shoreditch. There are obvious synergies. The ‘New Media’ industries that based themselves in Shoreditch over the last 20 years, are always in attendance and Austin has clearly influenced Shoreditch over the last 20 years.

However, there are fundamental problems SXSW London needed to address and sadly, they go beyond there being no breakfast tacos. My first concern was simply that I’m not sure Shoreditch is capable of hosting a festival of SXSW Austin’s size. London as a whole is. It has the conference centres. It has more music venues than Austin. It has more cinema screens. But it is also a massive city compared to tiny Austin. Its conference centres are spread across the city. Its music venues sprout up in little creative hubs across the city and while say Leicester Square could handle the film festival, they would be too expensive and big for the festival to use and the smaller arthouse cinemas are spread across the city.

Another problem, unlike Austin, where it takes place over 10 days and Interactive finishes and music takes over, this festival was going take place over 6 days. The overlap between ‘interactive’ attendees and music has always been remarkably small, with the interactive attendees seemingly on company expenses, leaving at the start of music, so there’s no competition over venues. Clearly squashing everything into six days, across an unknown number of venues – with no conference centre in Shoreditch meant that the perceived value of conference badges was far less. You might therefore expect the badges to be cheaper. But they weren’t. The Platinum badge for London was more expensive than the last badge I bought in 2019. They even tried to pull a US trick that us in the UK aren’t used to. Quoting ticket prices excluding VAT.

Given all these unknowns. You would assume that SXSW London would try to cover them off to encourage ticket sales. With regular news about speakers, the venues they were using, featured films and artists playing the music festival, etc. Instead, it seemed their main approach was simply to offer discounts to previous SXSW attendees and to stay quiet about what we should expect for our money. There was no way I was purchasing a full badge for what was clearly going to be a second-class experience.

When they finally announced the list of artists. The lineup wasn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting it to be full of the best new indie talent from around the UK and Europe. Instead, there were slim pickings. I guess in an effort to reflect the more diverse music of London, there was much more R&B and rap. In fairness, this was the right thing to do, this diverse mix of music reflects London’s music scene. But to sell tickets, you need to provide something to entice the usual gig attendees. The lineup was so unappealing that none of my gig buddies bought tickets. These are the very people you would expect to jump at buying wristbands, people who gig across London most nights and attend festivals like the Great Escape. Their argument were that there was more than enough good stuff happening in London and with no clear draw, it was easier to do a normal gigging week.

I’m of the belief that London is crying out for a multi-day, multi-venue festival. Other UK cities have them. Many, like The Great Escape, seem to have modelled themselves on SXSW and I expected SXSW London to be in prime position to become the London multi-venue festival. However, after this first festival, they have a lot of work to do to make this happen.

A few weeks before the festival started, they finally announced venues and music wristbands. The wristbands were very reasonably priced. £100 for the six day music pass. The venues, were pretty much what I expected. XOYO, Village Underground, Old Blue Last, Rich Mix, Strong Room Bar, Jaguar Shoes, Colours. There were some surprises, such as Shoreditch Town Hall.

On the surface it didn’t look too bad. Not brilliant. But not bad. There seemed to be no late licenses. So venues would finish at 11pm meaning I could travel in each day and go home to my own bed.

However, in reality, there was a lot of walking for very slim pickings. At SXSW I can see 35 bands in a day jumping between venues on Reds and 6th Street. At SXSW London, I was seeing less than 10 bands a day. I see more at The Great Escape and I’ve spent years moaning about the venue density.

What surprised me most, was how little impact SXSW had on Shoreditch. On the first day, walking down from St Pancras, through Angel, down to Old Street, I didn’t see a single poster or sign. Even in Shoreditch, it wasn’t prominent. Most bars, shops, cafes and restaurants seemed oblivious to SXSW with no signs encouraging SXSW attendees into their establishments.

The second day, I got off at London Bridge as I wanted to visit WEX on Commercial Road. Walking up Brick Lane to the main conference hub at the Truman Brewery, you wouldn’t know anything was happening. Basically the first SXSW sign I saw was at the Brewery. This isn’t a SXSW I’m used to. You can’t move in Austin for SXSW branding. Austin breathes SXSW.

Despite some backing from Sadiq Khan, the festival was almost invisible. This isn’t unusual for London. Even big football matches can have little impact on the city. But you expect the local area to embrace the event. Shoreditch seemed oblivious the event was happening. This has to change for the festival to be successful. London needs to do better. Sadly, with some venues seeing really low footfall, they might have a problem convincing existing venues to participate next year.

During the week, the lack of venues proved problematic. Some had dual use. During the day they were conference venues, in the evening music venues. At times there were only half a dozen venues in use and given the diversity of music, it meant at times there wasn’t much to listen to. That isn’t to say I didn’t try other music genres, but none of it really excited me. At one point on Friday afternoon, there were only three venues with music on. That’s just not good enough.

One advantage of the low key first year was that despite there being few venues, most of the time it was easy to get into venues. This was a real positive. If I’m dragging myself 20 minutes across Shoreditch, I need to know I’m getting in. Other than one event, even the Village Underground was easy to get into – and with none of their usual security search shenanigans.

Hopefully, they can grow the venue density over the next year by enticing some of the pubs to host gigs while increasing the audience. If they just increase the audience, then there simply isn’t enough venues and everyone will be queuing.

One massive positive was that the British Music Embassy put in a short but welcome appearance. The BME is sponsored by industry and the DTI to promote the British music industry in the USA. So you wouldn’t expect them to be hosting a venue in the UK. I think there was a realisation that maybe SXSW London needed a bit of a helping hand and they spun this up at the last minute. Anyone who’s been to Austin knows that the British Embassy team are one of the best. Taking over Devonshire Square for two days, featuring some of the hottest bands who played their Austin venue, such as Gurriers, they provided a real showcase venue. Hopefully, they will be more involved next year.

Sadly, SXSW London hadn’t enticed any of the national groups who put on SXSW events in Austin. The Aussies are still taking their music to The Great Escape. SXSW London seemed to have missed a great opportunity to encourage the European music industry to bring their country’s artists over.

Not everything was within the control of SXSW. Unfortunately, like Austin last year, SXSW London experienced some controversy. Several artists signed up to SXSW without researching what SXSW is. Pulling out when they realised that the main conference featured talks from politicians and companies with connection to activities they didn’t agree with. Then the usual peer pressure caused artists to drop out at the last minute when they decided Tony Blair speaking at the conference, didn’t fit with their morals.

I don’t have an issue with artists pulling out of events when they are caught off guard or protesting when they don’t agree with something. Many argued SXSW Music told them that there wouldn’t be anyone controversial giving keynotes. There seemed to be a feeling that the different SXSW stands were keeping each other in the dark and that SXSW Music were unaware Blair was speaking. Personally, I don’t buy this. I don’t think SXSW perceived Blair as an issue and they are hardly going to tell bands that their big surprise was that they had arranged for ex-Prime Ministers to talk. It’s also hardly surprising that there might be individuals on panels who might have connections to things artists don’t like. I always feel artists should play and make it known that they disagree. But they shouldn’t don’t pull out due to peer pressure. In this case, many just look like idiots who had not bothered to research what SXSW does.

Rant over.

But it was annoying.

Some lineups were devastated, with massive gaps in the running order. When many of the stages had hand curated their lineups, trying to encourage representation. Artists pulling out denied opportunities to other who may have benefitted from the exposure. From my perspective, at times it meant very little music. Given most stages tried to be diverse, alongside numerous lineups that defaulted to diversity, such as two stages of South Asian music and several LGBTQ+ stages. There were points in each day when there were zero indie artists. Best way to illustrate the issue was Scottish music brought no indie artists. Probably fulfilling their arts funding, they brought a diverse selection of artists. But when everyone else was doing the same, it meant the lineup didn’t appeal to the average ‘6 Music’ gig goer.

Next year they need to tweak the formula. Increase the number of venues to get more of the normal traditional indie fare on the bill. They shouldn’t reduce the ratio of artists from the diverse musical and social backgrounds by increasing the indie representation by adding new venues. They need to keep the number of venues with none indie music as I think this could be SXSW’s key unique selling point compared to all the UK indie festivals. Maybe they need to encourage some of the notable indie venues around London and the UK to bring local lineups, so the traditional indie audience will buy tickets. Personally, I think it would also be good to get London-based Loud Women involved who seem to strike a good balance pushing inclusivity.

Musically, it could have been stronger. If this is the standard next year, The Great Escape will feel relieved. Many of the artists I saw, I had seen before. New artists that stood out were Bethia Beadman, August Charles, Cosmonaut, Uncle Junior, Karma Sheen, HMS Morris. But there were slim pickings. A weekender at the Windmill would have a stronger lineup.

There are some things the festival can’t fix, the main one being the weather. It wasn’t fun trekking between venues in the pouring rain. Maybe next year there needs to be SXSW branded umbrellas? It was most definitely not the Austin experience.

What was most disappointing, by the time Saturday came round I think the corporates were heading home. With heavy rain that day, I think people headed home and footfall was atrocious and by the end, Benefits, the last band of the day had maybe a dozen people watching them in an empty 93 East. With such poor turnout at these venues, SXSW may have a job convincing them to take part next year.

SXSW is definitely a ‘work in progress’. It felt like it was a pencil sketch of a potentially good idea. Apparently SXSW London operates as a franchise and has a multi-year contract. The talk at the festival was that there is a Berlin addition planned. If that’s the case, London needs to quickly turn its pencil sketch into a more realised version. Berlin sounds more attractive to me. My feeling after this year is that it has a long way to go to convince the UK that this is the default place to find new music. It may end up having to drop live music from the festival and accept it is simply an ideas festival.

Artists seen

Amelia Coburn, Anaiis, August Charles, Ava Joe, Baby Said, Benefits, Catrin Finch and Aoife Ni Bhrian, Beauty Sleep, Bethia Beadman, Charlie Austin, Christopher Clarke, Clara Serra Lopez, Cosmonaut, Cucamaras, Eden J Howells, Ella Jinks, Ellor, Enjoyable Listens, Florence Road, Gia Ford, GIFT, Girlband!, Gurriers, HMS Morris, Hollows, Hornet, Jay Chakravorty, Joviale, Kaoti, Karma Sheen, Kay Greyson, Korda Korder, Levitation Orchestra, L’Objectif, Lucky Iris, Orchards, MONO, Mystery Time, Nikitar, PRITT, Robinson’s Village, Samuel Sharp, Salvana, Sm*sher, Sol Paradise, Stay In Nothing, SUDS, Sunflower Thieves, Taliable, Tatyana, The White Gates Band, Thistle, Trisha Tan, Uncle Junior, Vegas Water Taxi, Vulva Voce, Wave Machine, Wildes, Yasmin Umay

Earlier this year, Amyl released their second album, ‘Comfort to Me’. Musically, it showed the band had moved on with more complicated and tuneful songs. So I thought it was worth catching their ‘album release’ in-store, especially as they’ve gathered a good following and no longer play such small venues in London.

Tonight’s gig didn’t vastly change my previous opinion. In Amy Taylor they have a great front woman. She was chatty and funny and performs with a lot of energy. Despite the album being more tuneful, live she was still very shouty and again, while I enjoyed the gig, I wasn’t left feeling like I needed to rush out to see them again. Worth catching them to see if they are your thing.

It turned out seeing British Sea Power wasn’t going to happen. The band decided to change their name. So tonight I headed up to Derby to see Sea Power!

I have to admit, when I booked the extra dates for Derby and Leicester. I assumed we would be in better times. While ‘Freedom Day’ opened everything up. It also increased COVID rates to 40K infections a day and one thousand deaths a week. So I really questioned if it was sensible and safe to head to venues I didn’t know. It was only really the day before I decided I was going. Even then, I partially bottled out on the day, deciding to drive rather than catching the three different trains needed to get to Derby.

At times, reality seems like another language. I still wear masks indoors. I do a lateral flow before every gig. When I walk into venues, I look around checking for air con units, exits, windows. Anything that might make the room safer. I’m even trying to feel the hairs on my arms being stimulated by air flow. I’m gauging where’s best to stand to reduce risk. Even moving if I think there’s somebody coughing without any mask. Meanwhile I’m masking up with FFP2 masks, even if I’m the only one. At the moment, ‘Down at the front’ is not comfortable being at the front. But I’ve figured that it’s probably safer than being further back surrounded by people.

Tonight, The Venue completely failed my ‘once over’. No signs of air con. A single door into the building but no real signs of airflow. They had made little effort to make the space safe. If I lived in Derby, it would immediately have been added to my ‘no go’ list. I had to hope that the fact the Sea Power audience are a little older, few probably still have kids at school and therefore it would be relatively COVID free and hope that if there was somebody in the audience, my mask would do it’s job.

Opening the evening were a new band to me, Pale Blue Eyes. They have a shoegaze psych pop sound. A washy guitar, anchored by a solid rhythm section. I enjoyed the set and the band continued to grow on me at subsequent gigs. I will keep an eye on them.

Over the last few months we have been meeting up with friends and family. I’ve found it amazing how quickly we are back talking where we once went, like nothing had happened. Tonight, was just like that. Sea Power started from where they left off, replacing the Hercules we’ve all tried to be, with the heroic sounds of Formby and there was no need to dwell on our shared experience. We both needed tonight and we both knew it.

After 20 years, Sea Power have an amazing back catalogue. They have so many fan favourites. There is always something I would like to see that is missing from the set. But tonight’s set was a great set to return with, featuring a mixture of songs from the last 20 years, starting with Heavenly Waters from Decline. An inspired choice. It’s an instrumental that gradually builds up into a crescendo of noise and then ebbs away and then washes back in again like a tide. That’s very much how we all felt. There was a pent up expectation and pent up emotion. It was no longer the tide washing in and out. It was our emotions. We had waited for this moment for so very very long.

From that moment, I was lost in my emotions. I have to admit. I felt like shedding a tear.

Tonight was pretty much the perfect gig. We were back. The world felt normal. You could feel the emotion in the room. Everyone was on the same page.

Sprinkled throughout the set were new songs. Two Fingers is an immediately favourite, which I have to admit surprised me. It didn’t grab me when they released it as a single. But I could say the same about Bad Bohemian and Machineries or Joy. They also didn’t grab me until I heard them played live.

The usual fan favourites were in the set. With the name change, Waving Flags felt especially poignant, putting up ‘two fingers’ to the minority who have not been happy with the band changing their name. By the time they played this. The packed room was bouncing. (making me very uncomfortable). I was surprised that Yan went crowd surfing at the end. I thought he might be careful, to avoid the tour being cancelled due to COVID. But we both needed tonight…….. and it was everything I needed it to be. At times through lockdown, it was music that grounded me and helped keep me sane. But tonight it released me. It gave me a little sense of normality.

The past is like a foreign country. So goodbye British Sea Power. We’ve avoided the landmines. Welcome to the heroic sounds of Sea Power……… I love this band

Set List

• Heavenly Waters
• Machineries of Joy
• Larsen B
• Doppelgänger
• Spring Has Sprung
• What You’re Doing
• The Lonely
• Two Fingers
• Lights Out For Darker Skies
• North Hanging Rock
• We Only Want to Make You Happy
• Folly
• Lucifer
• Bad Bohemian
• Remember Me
• Carrion
• All In It
• A Trip Out
• Waving Flags
• The Great Skua

Supporting Anna was Irish singer Rachael Lavelle. I’m not sure what to make of her. I will definitely buy her music when it comes out. But I’m not sure I would rush to see her again in a venue like the Lexington. I think in the right venue, she would be fascinating, ideally with some other musicians, maybe a cello and violin(?) She has an interesting voice. It had an ethereal quality that at times soared above the simple minimalist keys and electronic drone, other times retreated to talking. It felt rooted in the past. Almost like a ghost of the past, a siren calling out from the stage. Completely fascinating and I’m sure her performance would be enhanced playing somewhere that caters for classical performances like Kings Place. However, I’m finding I want something more from live music at the moment. I’ve missed the energy of the live room and I was was tired and needed an energy boost from the stage and other than a wave of a hand, she literally didn’t move an inch. Everything was down to her voice which which seemed to be designed to make me drowsy. I know this isn’t her fault and as I said, I’m definitely going to seek out Rachael’s work. It just wasn’t the right music for me tonight.

Despite looking forward to this gig. I don’t think I was really into it tonight. Anna B Savage’s set didn’t hit the bar I had set – despite the fact I felt I was enjoying each song. Anna’s voice, which was special on the album, seemed to wear on me as the gig went on. I get the same with affected classical voices and there’s some similarities in the vocal styles. I was yearning by the end of the gig for some ‘light’ to her vocals. Not sure why I felt so weird tonight as the set was actually enjoyable. The dark humour and weird little stories were there. Some of the songs were danceable and I saw my feet move. The band were tight. I guess it was down to going into this gig up with undue expectations. I thought about it afterwards. I think I was hoping to find another Aldous Harding as there’s some similarities in the way they have affected vocals. Given Aldous is one of my favourite artists, that might have set the bar too high? Or it might be what I call the ‘Anna Calvi’ effect. I remember after first seeing her, being left with a similar feeling. I found it hard to tune into her operatic voice, in the same way I can struggle with classically trained ‘none natural’ vocalists at the Proms. It was only after seeing her again did my brain tune into her vocal style. Whatever the reason, I will have to give Anna another listen. I think she is worth tuning my ear to, I suspect my initial expectation are right and there is a special artist to be found. There were definitely signs.

Set List

• A Steady Warmth
• Chelsea Hotel
• Dead Pursuits
• Bedstuy
• Since We Broke Up
• The Dreams
• Hotel
• A Common Tern
• Cornflakes
• Baby Grand
• NE?

It was also slightly surreal seeing Camden so quiet on the Thursday night. With very few people on Camden High Street. A very sad sight. It was so quiet, the drug dealers seem to have disappeared too.

I’m not sure when Dingwalls became PowerHaus. Dingwalls has been one of those ever present venues in London’s music scene and has a history of some serious bands having played there.. In recent years, it seems to have fallen out of favour as music shifted to Dalston. I’m not sure if this was a planned takeover of Dingwalls or it was due to COVID. But to be honest, it was still Dingwalls, complete with Dingwalls sign. It is good to see it’s survived and maybe the rebrand might help drag music back across to Camden, where it belongs.

Tonight’s gig was to see The Band of Holy Joy who I first saw at Rockaway Beach, who were one of my surprise highlights. Since then I try to catch them whenever they are playing London. Not only do they put in great performances, they’re good to photograph.

First up tonight was I See Islands. A Scottish singer songwriter. Sadly, it was an error strewn set and the sound engineer didn’t do the best job either, with the sound being a bit mushy. Even the lights were left off for most of his performance. Which was a pity, because despite the errors, which were mainly down to the singer kicking off his backing tracks at the wrong time, I found the music had some merit. It had a nice laid back sound that takes you on a journey to other places. I suspect it would benefit from a collection of talented musicians adding the extra dynamics that a backing track can’t offer. I’d be happy to give him another listen.

Unlike the next act, Vagrant Lovers. Again, I’m going to preface this with a with the fact the sound guy was doing a terrible job and I’m not confident the monitors were necessarily working. But Vagrant Lovers sounded awful. The singer shouted most of the set, in a off key kind of way. I have to admit, I moved away from the front and stopped listening. They just didn’t work for me.

Having a poor voice is not something you could accuse the backing singer in the Doctors of Madness, who had a stunning voice. This combined with Richard Strange’s assured gravitas meant the Doctors of Madness were excellent to watch. Doctors of Madness have been around since the 70s and they played a combination of old material, new Doctors material and some or Richard’s own solo material. Even the odd sound issue wasn’t going to stop them putting in a great performance.

With their customary multimedia presentation, The Band Of Holy Joy took the stage to much improved sound. Johny and band were on great form. Playing a mix of old material and songs from their recent released album. I think this was the first time they had played the material live and it sounded fantastic. I have to admit, the album hadn’t grabbed me. But live, every song worked. Either weaving interesting stories or actually being really dancy. This was just what I needed. Something great to listen to, great to photograph and a chance to move my tired old bones. They shouldn’t work. Johny isn’t a vocalist in the traditional sense. But the way he talk/sings his stories makes you want to listen more and more. They’re fascinating to watch. Tonight, was just what I needed.

I haven’t seen Laura Marking for a good few years. She only plays larger venues and tickets often sellout quickly. So it’s a pleasure to LUMP play these small venues. It feels a privilege to see Laura up close

Tonight’s gig at Rough Trade was an in-store for Animal, released at the end of July. I have to admit, I had only streamed the album once. So I wasn’t as familiar with the album as many in the audience were. Luckily it was pretty much a set of two halves. The first half, new stuff, the second, tracks from their first album

I don’t have to tell you how great Laura’s voice is. It has a timeless quality, with a warmth that makes me feel like I’m wrapped in a warm blanket. You know each new Laura Marling album will be good. But you also know what you’ll be getting.

Her music with LUMP forces Laura to adapt her style slightly to fit in with odd musical timings and washes of guitar. But she never loses that warmth. She even seems far more relaxed with LUMP. It would be hard not to be with Mike jumping around the stage, throwing warm smiles at Laura and also occasionally trying to make them laugh by sustaining the feedback at end of a song. Although, Laura is the reason most of us are there. This clearly isn’t Laura’s band. Mike seems to enjoy directing the musical output and this seems to help her relax. As I watched, it seem to me both see LUMP as a release, allowing them to do things that might not be appropriate with their ‘day job’ and both want to enjoy the experience. Who knows, maybe we will see a third album and another opportunity to see Laura in a small venue? Based on tonight’s gig. I really hope that’s the case.

Set List

• Bloom at Night
• Gamma Ray
• Animal
• Climb Every Wall
• Paradise
• Rolling Thunder
• Curse The Contemporary
• Shake Your Shelter

I have seen Sinead O’Brien half a dozen times supporting other artist or playing festivals. She’s pretty unique. Superficially she seems to fit in with talky bands like Dry Cleaning. But unlike the recent slew of story-led bands. Sinead is first and foremost a poet and it marks her music out from the rest. But it also means she’s probably more of an acquired taste than other talky bands.

SInead’s Irish lilt is put to great use in her poetic approach, with rising emphasis on words that sometimes seem to be at a strange point from a traditional music perspective, but perfectly normal in poetry. But it means that the music doesn’t just follow a simple verse/chorus structure. The music has to force itself to follow her inflections, short sentences and pauses. Sometimes this means backing off, laying down a backbeat of post-punk guitar, like on Talking in Time. Other times, the drums and guitars have to wander off into psych territory, providing a swirling wash to underpin her lyrics.

Tonight, was another good performance and will no doubt have won over a few more new fans.

Set List:

• Girlkind
• Post Modern Painting
• Roman Ruins
• A Thing You Call Joy
• Kid Stuff
• There Are Good Times Coming
• Taking On Time

The great thing about the Fred Perry gigs is that they are cheap. Tonight’s gig was less than £6. So I half expected a stripped back set from Nadine Shah. That wouldn’t have been a bad thing. Nadine’s early albums, when she sung and played guitar were brilliant and it would be great to hear some of that music again. Something expressed jokingly from the crowd (it was a joke, I’m sure Nadine knows him). But her music has so much of a bigger sound and it would have been unfair on her latest album, Kitchen Sink. It came out during the first lockdown and tracks from it have hardly been aired live and it deserves to be heard live. So rightly, most of tonight’s tracks were from this album, with a few from Holiday Destinations

With her last two albums, co-written by Ben Hillier, her sound has shifted to include some jazz influences, a much bigger sound and much expanded band. The addition of saxophone, especially, has shifted her music to another level. She now is vocalist and that’s not a bad thing. She’s a bloody good vocalist and she has something to say and it gives her a chance to perform. Others can play the guitar bits. We want to see and hear Nadine. More bands coudl learn from her. Singers, put your guitars down and own the stage. Nadine, certainly does.

I’d call Nadine ‘gobby’ and for me, that’s a very good thing. More musicians should be gobby. Music has become too safe. I saw the king of gobby people, Bod Geldof at SXSW in 2011, mid banking crisis as austerity was biting and he decried the lack of artists singing about important things. Something I completely agree with him. Music is often too safe. Indie music is full of boy/girl (boy/boy, girl/girl) songs. If bands do touch on issues, it’s usually issues that relate to them and not commentary on society. Sadly, few put a stake in the ground and write songs about societal issues of the day. Nadine has a lot to say. You don’t have to agree with everything she says (although, I’d hope most of her audience do). That’s not the point. Nadine, is one of the few artists using her platform to try to make people think. With the world as it is. We need more artists like Nadine.

I’m going to slip into politics for a second. We are currently watching the collapse of Afghanistan on our TVs. Our great liberal hope, Joe Biden, has shown himself to be as extreme as his predecessor. Acting on his view that we should never have been in Afghanistan, unilaterally pulling out US troops ignoring NATO and our Afghan allies. Taking the same ‘USA first’ approach as his predecessor. Handing back the country to the Taliban and their regressive form of Islam and possibly sending thousands of Afghans to their death, resetting women’s rights back to the middle ages and undoubtably creating a humanitarian disaster. Having written ‘Holiday Destinations’, an album focused on the disposed, it wasn’t a surprise to see Nadine include some those prescient songs and address Afghanistan between songs.

One of the reasons given why artists don’t write songs about things that matter is that they will write depressing songs and lose the audience. Let’s face it, there’s something to be said for that. I want to have a bit of a dance at a gig. But that shouldn’t stop them writing about things that matter. These worthy songs give the artist an opportunity to take a second to make you think. They have a platform. Use it. Nadine in her usual, ‘shit’ way did that. I love how crap she is at doing stuff like this. That’s why it works so well. It’s not a long Billy Bragg speech (sorry Billy, I love you really) . With Nadine, it’s straight from the heart with no filters. As a Teessider, I’m with Nadine. I’d love to be like Billy and present coherent views, but why say ten words, when you can just say the ‘fuck’ and we all know what you mean?

Tonight, Nadine owned the stage. This was my perfect return to gigging gig. I loved tonight.

I love the 100 Club. There is no venue like it in London. While big venues like the Albert Hall might have a great history. This venue has been instrumental in creating new music genres. While watching Nadine, I was struck that she was probably the most ‘100 Club’ artist I’ve seen play here. With a stunning voice and jazz background, she could have easily graced the jazz era of the club. But with her attitude, her spirit is completely PUNK. She is the perfect 100 Club artist.

Musically, tonight the band were as good as ever. Pete Wareham’s saxophone put to effective use on many of the songs, sometimes seeming to become a second vocal, providing a screaming chorus to Nadine’s biting vocals. Vocally, Nadine blew me away today. It’s a while since I’ve seen her on a small stage. At times she let rip with controlled power and was as good as any vocalist I’ve seen.

This is going to be one of my favourite gigs of 2021. Yes, I may not get to many this year. But even in a normal year, where it would be jostling with 150 other gigs, tonight’s performance would almost certainly be fighting for top spot. It was that good.

Set list

• Kitchen Sink
• Ladies for Babies (Goats for love)
• Holiday Destinations
• EVIL
• Buckfast
• Club Cougar
• Trad
• Prayer Mat
• Dilly Dally
• Fool
• Out the Way

This was my third Rockaway. I previously complained about the lack of music for a music festival. You are only going to see 10 bands each day. I guess for many this is as much as they would normally see at a festival. But I tend to see nearly 30 a day at SXSW and around 20 at Great Escape. So I have found the lack of options frustrating in the past.

But this year, I decided to approach this festival differently. This is the music festival where I get to kick back in what’s usually a very long depressing January and have a break by the seaside listening to an expertly curated music lineup, playing in the arcades and eating chips, and it worked. I felt much more refreshed after this festival than I normally do after a music festival.

With the recent backlash against the lack of women on festival bills, it’s worth noting that the Rockaway has done a reasonable job of introducing female fronted acts. While there was still no headliner, (maybe they could persuade previous act, Nadine Shah to headline next year?), at least one of the bands on the big Centre Stage was female fronted with Brix and the Extricated, Nova Twins and Soak. In the case of the Nova Twins, this was a very helpful boost for a very talented band.

This year I decided to stay in the onsite hotel. It is a rather odd experience, with lifts designed to be diving bells, playing the Jaws theme music as you ride it. The rooms are (submarine) yellow and the children’s bunk beds designed to look like the inside of a submarine. A bit surreal, but the rooms were clean and well appointed and you didn’t hear the sound of people walking up and down the metal walkways, like you do in the chalets. Let’s face it, I wasn’t going to be spending much time in there anyway.

Day one began late afternoon with Indian Queens. They are two sisters with their friend on drums, who are at the rock end of indie, with strong guitars, drums and vocals. There’s no washy guitars with this band.

In their early days (when they were Bleach), they were a little too derivative. But with their reinvention as Indian Queens, they have developed a much more interesting catalogue of material – but they never quite leave their rock origins behind. A strong start to the festival and I think for many in the crowd of early festival birds, a new discovery.

There’s a vocal style amongst a small number of female artist doing the rounds at the moment that often grates on me. It’s the one where the artist puts on an affected childish sounding voice. At times in her set Bellatrix used that technique. While the music was okay, I’m afraid I couldn’t get past the vocal affectation and gradually edged to the back to allow somebody who was enjoying the set more than me, my space at the front.

The Polish band Trupa Trupa were up next. Their singer had one of those excitable friendly personalities where he made you feel the band thought this was a special gig and he was going make sure we were part of it. Many of the English songs were light on lyrics. But that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the psychy indie music.

Young Knives are a band I have never got. They have a new lineup they described as Young Knives V2. I’m afraid this didn’t change my appreciation of them.

With Friday’s late start and many people still arriving, the action moved upstairs to the bigger Centre Stage. It’s an odd layout for a gig, with a big dance floor and a slightly raised seating area. Probably demonstrating the age of the crowd, as soon as doors opened there was a mad rush for the seats at the back, something repeated each night. Obviously, Down At The Front headed to grab a place on the barrier for an interesting evening of new music and some not so new music.

First up were Black Country New Road. I have tried to catch them in London several times but failed to. One time, they didn’t play until after I had to catch my last train and I heard from people afterwards how great they were.

What surprised me the most, was to see how young they appear to be. From their sound, I expected to see people in their late 20s/early 30s. Instead, it looked like the chess club from the local sixth form college had picked up instruments and kidnapped the actual band. And the chess club analogy is not far from the truth. The music they play is intricate and needs them to play off each other. They are a very talented bunch, playing complex music that shares as much with jazz as it did with rock. They have something in common with Squid and Black Midi – a less anarchic chess club version. I’m not sure their music is mainstream enough for them to become big, I think Squid is the most likely out these bands, as they go for 3 minute ‘smash and grab’ songs that suit radio play. But they are definitely going to go down well at festival audiences

SOAK has passed me by. The bits I have heard sound pleasant but unremarkable. Tonight with a band, she was still unremarkable. I think to highlight this, when I looked at my photos for the gig, they all looked the same which is something I see from most singer / songwriters. But equally when you move to a larger stage and take on a band, you have to find a way to perform on the larger stage. I took the opportunity to grab my first beer of the festival.

Closing the evening was John Cale. I have to admit I only really know his stuff with the Velvet Underground. He’s now in his late 70s, having lived a life that put many of his contemporaries in the grave. But despite being a little bit slower and his voice older and less strong, he seemed in remarkable good health and spent the evening exploring his back catalogue, including an extended, less angular version of ‘I’m waiting for my man’.

Day 2 looked interesting with a mixture of bands I’ve seen before and new names. The first band, Pagans SOH, had previously impressed me at the Great Escape. So I knew it was worth making sure I got to Reds early.

There’s always a chance when you see bands at an intimate festival like The Great Escape, you may not enjoy them when they play at a less intimate festival. I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case with Pagans. At TGE I was touching distance from them, essential in amongst the performance. But there was no need to be concerned. All the elements I enjoyed about their performance was still there.

Much of the charm of Pagans is their frontman Marcus. The band mix, rock, ska, reggae and rap but don’t sound derivative or ever threaten to become a Rage Against the Machine. Definitely worth catching in a small venue.

First new band of the day, Scrounge, didn’t hang around, with a blink and you will miss it, 20 minute set that left me wanting to hear more. With the classic garage rock lineup of a drummer and guitarist/vocalist, they made post-punk music, with a garage attitude. I liked them.

At some point you have to take breaks and I decided that as I had seen Penelope Isles a few times, including earlier this year, this was a good point to head back to my hotel.

Heading back to Reds to catch Rascalton, a Scottish no nonsense punk band, there was a lot of positively for Penelope Isles. It seems they went down well.

Rascalton are the kind of punk band that play straightforward rock ‘n’ roll with a bit of agro. I liked them. Direct without being in you face. They held my attention.

Next was one of my favourite discoveries of this festival, The Sweet Release of Death. As the name suggests, they are not setting out to create music that is soft and fluffy. Instead, they have a kind of doom noise sound. At times they reminded me of Esben and the Witch when they’re off on their 12 minute long journeys. I really enjoyed the layers and textures they built up over each (long) track. One to catch again.

Unfortunately, I had to make another trip to my hotel room, so I missed the beginning of Our Girl’s set. I always forget how much I like Our Girl. I’ve seen them probably half a dozen times. There was a time before Sophie’s other band took off, where they seemed to be getting regular support slots. Over time they grew on me and I now like them a lot, especially when they open up and hit the fuzz pedal. I wonder what they would have achieved if it wasn’t for Big Moon taking off. I have to admit, I prefer Our Girl.

Okay. Let’s jump straight to the point. Self Esteem, weren’t for me. I gave them a few songs and then left and joined the queue for the Centre Stage. I saw Slow Club several times and this is a big bold departure from Rebecca. She’s basically created her own version of a pop group, complete with dance moves to every song. Not for me.

Upstairs, was a bit of a mixed bag. Peter Perrett beyond his hit song, ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’, I don’t really know his work. I enjoyed the set. Probably as much for his excellent guitarist.

Next up, a really good move by the Rockaway schedulers, Nova Twins. I have seen them several times in small venues in London. They always manage to cause the place to explode. The obvious comparison is with Rage Against the Machine. But they play without the Rage and much more fun. They are a really good band. Tonight they showed they are ready to be at the top end of the festival order. They had the entire Butlins audience in the palm of their hands and causing their usual havoc, jumping into the crowd to finish off their great set.

I felt sorry for The Jesus and Mary Chain having to follow the Nova Twins. I have never really got them. There’s the odd song I like. Tonight didn’t convert me to the chain gang. I gave them a try. I stayed at the front for a few songs but they basically played in the dark and there was little benefit of being at the front. So I grabbed a beer and started to download photos while listening to them. Nothing caught my attention and eventually I moved on.

Closing the evening was Steve Lamacaq playing one great song after another to a pretty packed crowd who stuck around to dance into the early hours.

Day three was always the strongest on paper with Fountaines D.C. and LIFE, but there was still time for some surprises.

First up Adwaith, a welsh band who sang several songs in Welsh. They were pleasant enough. For me, the English songs were stronger than the Welsh songs.

Eyesore and the Jinx were new to me. They are from Liverpool and have a psychobilly sound. I’m a bit of a sucker for that sound and it’s rare you hear a contemporary indie band exploring the sound. I loved their set.

Next up, The Vegan Leather did nothing for me. After the dark psychobilly, the happy indie pop of Vegan Leather left me cold. If it wasn’t for the fact that I wanted to hold my place for LIFE, I would have gone to get something to eat.

I love LIFE. Mez, their singer has the confident swagger of Jagger and that cheekiness that Jarvis has at his best. That wouldn’t be enough if they didn’t have good songs and a strong band behind him. Everyone in LIFE contributes. Lydia, the bassist, dances around the stage swinging the base around like it’s a dance partner. While, Mick, Mez’s brother, split kicks his way around the stage (annoyingly, I missed every one of them!)

I love LIFE. They are the kind of band I want to be in. They make catchy music, but with a message and they make sure they and the audience enjoy themselves. I really hope they get a break in the next 12 months that catapult them to the next level. They are ready for the big time.

Melys were up next. A 90s band I don’t remember. They were pleasant enough,

I had seen Heavy Lungs support the Idles. I enjoyed them at the time. Not sure why, but tonight, while they put on a good show, I was left a bit indifferent. Maybe it was seeing them so soon after LIFE.

Closing Reds for this festival, the International Teachers or Pop. They were an amusing diversion for a few songs.

At this point I made a tactical mistake. Previous evenings, people started to queue up, but the queues were small and most in the queue headed to the back of Centre Stage to grab tables for the whole evening. So I decided to grab some food and when I got back, the queue was much longer than in previous nights and worse, when the doors opened they filled up the barrier. I could tell that they were the kind of people (like me) who were there for one thing, Fontaines. Suspecting that it might get a bit moshy at the front, I opted for the end of the barrier to stay away from any potential camera damaging action.

Opening the evening was Brix and the Extricated. I don’t like the Fall or Brix’s music, but I find Brix fascinating and her set was a bit like that. The music didn’t hold my attention. Brix is a very good performer. Although I have to admit, I prefer it when she’s telling stories!

Anyone at University in the early 90s knows the Wedding Present. There was alway a t-shirt or two floating around and somebody was always playing them somewhere in Halls. They have grown on me over the years, but never enough for me to listen to them regularly. Tonight was no different. I enjoyed the performance. But I’m not going to raid their back catalogue (again)

And so we come to the final band of the evening. Rockaway Beach’s booker took a massive gamble that the Fontaines D.C. would be a big enough draw to headline a festival. I missed them in 2018 and finally caught up to them in the Mohawk at SXSW where it was obvious they had something. Fast forward less than 12 months and they have already headlined the Forum and now they are headlining a festival.

Tonight that same nervous energy they showed at SXSW was there. But honed for the big stage and an expectant crowd. They have been championed on a 6 Music, especially from Steve Lamacq and Rockaway is a Steve Lamacq audience. Right from the off, they owned the stage. They sounded much better than when I saw them at the Forum a few months ago, where I felt the sound was awful. Tonight, they showed us how they were ‘going to be big’. Oh yes, they are.

Most of the set was the same as the Forum. But they introduced two (?) new songs which were an interesting guide to their future direction. They seemed to explore a wider sonic landscape than the first album. I suspect their second album will move their sound on considerably.

What I find interesting about Grain, the Fontaines singer is that he has the Ian Curtis nervous energy approach to performing. He paces around the stage shaking and bashing the microphone stand and seems to be impatient for the band to catch up to him. He never talks to the crowd beyond saying three or four words, but the crowd don’t want him to. He seems to hypnotise us and we don’t want him to break his hold by interacting with us. It works. I don’t know why. But it does.

Well done for the Rockaway team for gambling on them. It is these odd decisions that helped me decide to return to the festival. If you continue to make these big decisions, I can overlook the lack of music.

And with that, another Rockaway ended. Butlins is a surprisingly good venue. Heading back to a room every night, is my idea of a festival. Sitting in the onsite Burger King with members of bands on the next table, is a weirdly democratising activity. The Butlins staff are universally brilliant and friendly and while I would like more music, the music there is, is expertly chosen by the Rockaway team. I’m not sure I will be back next year. I’m hoping to do SXSW next year. But I suspect I’ll be back in 2022

Low Anthem’s 2008 album ‘Oh My God, Charlie Darwin’ is pretty much a perfect album and I had forgotten how good it is. Tonight’s intimate gig at the Union Chapel allowed me to reacquaint myself with this beautiful album, played in full by the current lineup.

The lighting guy had warned me the Chapel’s lights were going to be down at 15%. So tonight wasn’t a photography night and to be honest, knowing the chapel well from photographing the weekly Daylight Music (and occasionally setting up the lights), the Chapel is usually part of what makes the event so special. But it was a good decision.

The low light put the entire focus on the band and the music and it was so beautiful. Each song was like reading a chapter in a favourite book that you haven’t read for a long time. The joy of rediscovering what you first loved about the album and hearing it with fresh ears.

At the end, they rightly recieved a standing ovation. This was a special concert.

It’s been a few years since I had been at St Pancras Old Church and Bryde playing there seemed to be a great reason to visit. Bryde made one of my favourite albums of 2018 so this was always going to be a special gig.

What I didn’t expect was for the gig to be so stripped back. Bryde had left her band behind, but brought along her talented friends. It was mainly just Bryde and her guitar. But the stripped back nature allowed her friends to add new dynamics to her live songs, by adding cello, piano and extra vocals. It was a beautiful evening in a beautiful church.