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

The headline for the evening was Farao. An Norwegian indie pop band. They did very little for me. Most of the time the lead singer played keyboards which after the warm sound of Black Mountain, seemed weedy and thin. The set picked up when the singer switched to guitar. But overall, not a band that did much for me

With so many bands around, it’s now possible to catch gigs from the first day as some of the corporate parties have bands play and this was the case this time, with the White Denim playing on the first evening. But even before SXSW started it was possible to catch some of the great local Austin music by simply walking into any of the dive bars on 6th street.

2016 was a bit of an odd year. Yes, there were hundreds of great bands around but despite the fact that it was SXSW’s 30th anniversary, there wasn’t the buzz of previous years. There weren’t any massive bands playing secret shows and during the day and there seemed to be less parties. I think part of this is due to Austin trying to reduce the crowds turning up for the free parties. But I’m not sure this really is working, the crowds were still massive and they seemed to be mainly walking around on the streets. It didn’t help that Austin police had decided to introduce some crowd control measures that made it very difficult to move between venues.

One of the reasons why I loved SXSW was that it was so easy to move between dozens of venues and catch bands. If you didn’t like the band, you could then move across the road and see another one. So it’s been a great place to hear lots of different types of music and discover new bands.

This year, the venue density was lower. Last time I was here, quite a few showcases had shifted to Rainey street but there was still a good core set of venues on 6th and Red River. This time, some venues had shifted out east of I35. These tended to be sponsored venues with the bigger bands and I think part of the reason is to encourage people to stick to the venue. If you’ve queued to get into a venue that’s out of the way, you’re going to stay. Unfortunately, the venues that were left on 6th had changed. At my last visits, The Parish and Maggie Mae’s offered five stages that you could loop around in 10 minutes and catch a lot of music. The Parish was now a single venue and Maggie Mae’s split their stages into separate venues so you had to leave one venue to go back in. Maggie Mae’s also seemed to have switched to programming electronic and rap music and this unfortunately was also the case for several other venues.

In all honesty, rap is the biggest problem facing SXSW. The increase in rap programming seemed to encourage massive crowds who were seeking free gigs hoping that big name rappers were going to turn up. This also encouraged ‘rappers’ turning up often with massive crews trying to push their rap albums on the crowds on 6th street. I’m not sure if rap had led to issues at previous SXSW’s but it seemed like they’d concentrated rap programming into single venues often with heavy security. But this mean that whole venues disappeared off my ‘bounce circuit’. At times 6th street was literally at a standstill.

Unfortunately, the thing I really loved about SXSW was the ability to bounce around venues. I go to SXSW to discover new music. I tend to plan lightly with just a few bands I’d like to see and then just bounce up and down 6th and Red. With the increased crowds I just wasn’t getting to see the same level of bands I’d expect to see each day. Don’t get me wrong, during the music part of SXSW, I was still seeing 20-30 bands a day but it took a lot of effort to catch this number and it took a few days to optimise my route to maximise the amount of bands I caught.

It sounds like I didn’t enjoy myself this time. This is far from the truth. I had a brilliant time watching some great bands in venues ranging from churches to dive bars.

There were the usual programming surprises, where you stumble upon a band you hadn’t realised were playing SXSW. For example going to a venue to watch the excellent Ezra Furman and realising that Mercury Rev were on afterwards. So getting the opportunity to see a great band in a relatively tiny venue.

Them there was the opportunity to see music that I’d never otherwise catch, such as the South Korean band Jambinai who mix traditional Korean instruments to create some really good ambient rock music.

It was also an opportunity to catch many British bands that I hadn’t managed to catch at home. Often they were playing the frankly excellently organised and managed British Music Embassy. YAK, a band I’d been unable to catch in London, I caught playing an excellent set at the British Music Embassy.

In total I managed to catch over 130 bands. This isn’t the complete list as I didn’t catch the name of every band but as you can see it’s a pretty diverse range of bands

[Alexandros], Abjects, Amber Arcades, Autobahn, Avec Sans, Baby Shakes, Basia Bulat, Big Thief, Big Ups, Black Fast, Blaenavon, The Blind Suns, Bombino, Boy Toy, Burn Out, CallMeKat, Capsula, Castillo, Caveman, Chad Valley, Chocolat, Ciaran Lowery, Clean Cut Kid, The Crookes, Demob Happy, DEXSTRINGs, Diet Cig, Dilly Dally, The Do Aways, Dude York, Elanor Friedberger, Enemies, Ezra Furman, Faith Healer, Fear of Men, FEWS, Fior, Fizzy Blood, Get Inuit, Gold Class, Golden Boys, The Gooch Palms, Guerrilla Toss, Gwenno, GYMNSHORTS, Haelos, Harts, Heaters, The Heavy, Hinds, Hooton Tennis Club, Houndstooth, Jack Garrett, Jane Weaver, Judah and the Lion, Juiceboxxx, Kat Dehlia, Keeps, Khruangbin, Laura Carbone, Lazyeyes, Lushes, Lusts, The Parrots, Petite Noir, PMS and the Mood Swings, Jambinai, Julia Jacklin, Luke Sweeney, Magic Is Real, Mainland, Mercury Rev, _Methyl Ethyl, Modern Sons, MONEY, Mothers, Moustache Prawn, Mr Lewis and the Funeral, Nancy Pants, New Berlin, Night Moves, Obn IIIs, Oh Pep!, The Outfit, TX, PARTYBABY, PHASES, PINS, Phebe Starr, Poliça, Power Trip, Protomartyr, Pure Bathing Culture, Queen Suitcase, Ritual Howls, Rozi Plain, Rubblebucket, Runaway Saints, The San Juan Project, Sara [], September Girls, Seratones, Sister Fuzz, Slingshot Dakota, Sorority Noise, Spooklyland, Sons of an Illustrious Father, Spook School, Stealing Sheep, Sunflower Bean, Sweet Talk, Sweet Spirit, Sugarmen, Tacocat, TEEN, Tele Novella, Tiger Town, Thelma and the Sleaze, Trash, Trevor Sensor, Twin Limb, VACATION, Violet Skies, Warprty, Waxahatchee, The Weather Station, Welshly Arms, White Denim, White Lung, The Whistles and the Bells, Wild Belle, Yak, Yonatan Gat

I’ve highlighted bands who stood out. I thought Yak and Yonatan Gat stood put in the best performances of SXSW. But bands such as Sunflower Bean, Ezra Furman and Mercury Rev put in really strong performances. Then there were some great unusual situations that enhanced performances, such as thunderstorms forcing the Barracuda to move their outside stage inside their venue with the bands being playing in a circle in the centre of the room surrounded by the audience. GYMNSHORTS’s performance really was enhanced by this and I’m not sure I would have been as impressed if they’d played outside on a stage.

My only disappointment was missing the Kills. They were playing two venues that according to Twitter, always seemed to have queues so I couldn’t be bothered spending time queuing to see a band I’ve seen numerous times and that I’ll catch again in the UK.

From a photography point of view. Getting a good shot wasn’t a priority. So although I had my Sony A7s with me, as soon as music officially started, I left it in my hotel and just carried a pocket camera and if there wasn’t an opportunity to get to the front, just grabbed a shot simply to document out who I’d seen. I also decided towards the end of SXSW to try and capture some of the atmosphere of SXSW and captured lots of short 20 second clips of video.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcuA-R0pCTw]

Okay, I’m jumping ahead of myself. I like the Rough Trade West in-stores. It’s a great little shop and their gigs are usually free. So as I was already in London for Daylight Music and a gig later in the evening. I thought I’d pop over and see who was playing.

It didn’t start well. Her manager / Dad / ANR person, made the store kick everyone out into the cold so that she could sound check. WTF? It’s an in-store. You don’t sound check and if you do, make sure you know what you’re doing. I’ve never seen RTW close for a sound check.

Unfortunately, I get the feeling that Billie is already surrounded by people who are pushing her when she’s not ready. Even the X-Factor has an lower age limit and as we know Cowell, doesn’t particularly care about his artists. She’s very young and clearly if she was older she would have just accepted the limitations of an in-store and played. She wouldn’t have allowed the shop to be closed – pissing off both staff and audience (the weather wasn’t great). She’d also make sure the sound guy actually knew what he was doing and didn’t overpower the speakers so that they were distorting (I had to put ear plugs for an acoustic gig and was here the next day for a ‘louder band’ that had much better sound). She’d also realise that her material needs to mature. Unfortunately for me, it sounding like a 16 year old was singing songs written by a 16 year old. She’s clearly talented with an reasonable and the music was pleasant. But I just felt she needs a few years of the touring circuit. I really hope she has the right people around her who aren’t pushing her too early. But as she’s on the ‘Sound of 2016’ list, I suspect not.

Arriving at Bognor Regis, I can’t say I was overly impressed. I’d say that it’s probably seen better days, but I’m not sure it ever had better days! There’s a main high street and very little else. It definitely wouldn’t be high on my list of places to visits. There’s a little bit of ‘faded elegance’. But when compared to some other south coast resorts with their elegant hotels, Bognor clearly wasn’t the biggest holiday resort. Butlins is a short walk from the station.

My main concern about staying at Butlins were some horrendous reviews on TripAdviser. It’s alway difficult to work out if these are realistic reviews or reviews from people with unrealistic expectations so I set my expectations very low. Arriving at the site, I was welcomed by friendly staff (as were all staff at Butlins) and was told that despite being informed that we wouldn’t have access to our rooms until 4pm, they had made most rooms ready for early arrival. I’d been bitching about the fact that you couldn’t check-in until after the music started, so first big plus for Butlins.

Okay, time to be honest. The rooms aren’t great. Mine was an end room with a double bed and a second room with twin beds. Not the roomiest family room, but fine for families who want to get away for a week and will only be using it as a base. But the decor in the rooms was pretty poor. Furniture old and worn. The bed, wasn’t great (but then my own bed is pretty poor, so probably shouldn’t be casting stones!). The bedding, although clean, wouldn’t be re-used by most hotels as there were small black scuffs. The walls needed painting, looking faded with lots of little marks and the carpet was ‘clean dirty’. It had clearly been cleaned. But there were stains on it. So not great. However, this was pretty much what I was expecting and still better than staying in a tent!

The Butlins site is pretty big. Centre of the site is the pavilion. It’s a big canvased tent structure. I think it’s about 20 years old, so probably could do with a clean. But it’s pretty impressive. Inside are a number of venues, bars, shops and amusements.

The site also has a small amusement park, crazy golf, climbing wall, splash zone, tenpin bowling, pool tables and a small astroturf pitch. Lots to do for families. (But all at extra cost!). However, for this weekend, many of these had restricted opening hours. Probably something that could be looked at for next year’s events.

Day 1

The music started at about 3pm on the Skyline stage. This was a stage inside the big pavilion. It looked like a permanent stage so I expect it is used for Butlins own shows. But it wasn’t the greatest place for a stage as the sound quality suffered, often being too quiet. I’m not sure if Butlins were using external crew, but a regular occurrence were delays building up so that the band second to last, had sets cut short so that the headline act didn’t lose time. Nadine Shah, Lola Colt and Public Service Broadcasting all had big delays due to setup issues. In Nadine and Lola Colt’s case, this meant their sets were significantly shortened so that headline acts were unaffected. This is something they need to figure out for next year.

FURS opened to a very select audience. Sound wasn’t great. They were pleasant enough but I think they’d come across better in a smaller venue with louder PA

Next up was Whyte Horses with a pleasant set

Opening the main stage was RM Hubbert. A rather odd choice as he’s a guy with a guitar and a acid sense of humour. Again, it was enjoyable enough fair. But he wasn’t really suited to the main stage. One thing I think Butlins could improve for next year is to use another venue for small acoustic acts. The room doesn’t have to be big as I think it would have been nice to kick back at times and sit with a pint listening to some acoustic music.

Back on the Skyline stage, Du Blonde finally kick started the afternoon. With another of their energy packed set. I think these guys are finally starting to grow on me as I thoroughly enjoyed their set.

My first surprise of the day was the John Knox Sex Club who, despite playing to a spartan crowd played a really great set. (crowds only seemed to appear for around headline act time).

Grasscuts were finishing off their set on the main stage. I’m covering their appearance at Daylight Music in November, so I wasn’t too bothered about the clash. What I saw was pleasant enough.

The Telescopes were up next with a fine performance of noise.

Emma Pollock’s set was pleasant and inoffensive, but didn’t really do anything for me.

The Membranes are a new band for me. Punk’s a movement I like, but it’s not something I have spent much time listening to. So I was unaware of the Membranes. However, I was aware of John Robb, their lead singer from his appearances on radio and TV. I didn’t know what to expect. But hell, what a fun band they are. Clearly they’re still playing because they enjoy it.

The Errors have never appealed to me. Far too electronic and bland. But, I was willing to give them a chance. It didn’t start well with problems with the electronics. Once they started. God, they were just so bland. I didn’t give them much chance. Instead I decided to head downstairs to see the Fall.

The Fall have never really appealed to me. I’m sure if I’d listened to them at the time I would have loved them. But taken as a historical band, I just don’t get them although I was really interested to see what their latest incarnation looked like. As you would expect they are very much Mark E. Smith. He walks around the stage shouting and he seemed drunk, but then he always seems drunk, even when he isn’t. It was entertaining I suppose. But they didn’t convert me.

Headlining the first evening where Echo and the Bunnymen. Another band that don’t register on my radar. The crowd seemed to be loving them. But they didn’t do much for me

The last band on Day 1 was Flowers. I have seen them before. I thought they were pleasant and inoffensive. But I’ve met some people who really like them, so I thought I’d give them another listen. Although enjoyable, it was a very similar experience to last time. Nothing to dislike. But nothing distinctive enough to differentiate them.

There was one other band playing after Flowers, Astral Patterns. But I really disliked them last time I saw them. So I called it quits and went for a beer.

Day 2

Day 2 started with a walk down into Bognor and an impromptu chat with John Robb. He seemed a really nice guy and passionate about music.

Fever Dream opened the day to a very select group. I’d seen them before. But they were still worth catching again.

Matineé were first up on the Skyline stage. They didn’t do much for me

Daudi Matisko was an interesting diversion. Simply him and a guitar and a few songs and stories. It would have been nice for a few more acts like Daudi.

One of the acts I wanted to catch was Jennie Vee. I’d heard some good things about her. But it was hard to judge on this performance. There were serious sound issues with vocals so low in the mix, I was unable to hear her at times. What I heard sounded okay.

I gave up on the next band, Cherry Wave. I just didn’t get them.

At this point, it was one of those lulls you get with every festival. Unfortunately, this is when Butlins felt very limited. With only three stages and little overlap. If there was a few bands that didn’t appeal. There wasn’t much to do. Zyna Hel, like Cherry Wave, just didn’t connect with me.

The next few bands improved the afternoon with decent sets from Orange Yellow Red and St Deluxe.

Next, was Day 2’s big surprise. The Band of Holy Joy were fantastic. The lead singer walking arrogantly around the stage. He’s a very good front person. Singing with passion and leading from the front.

Spot what’s wrong with the image of Miaoux Miaoux below. Yes, that’s right. Two guys thought ‘let’s start a band and play keyboards’. ‘No, no really, a drum machine is better than real drums’. There’s just no reason to watch these guys live because nothing interesting happens. Go and get their album.

Fun set from the Monochrome set

Ghostpoet was one of the acts I wanted to catch. He also was clashing with Nadine Shah. So I knew I couldn’t watch his whole set. What I saw was really impressive. Picking up from an earlier point. Ghostpoet could just go out with a backing track. But he doesn’t. He has a good band behind him and this gives everything that extra dynamism.

Unfortunately, I didn’t need to leave Ghostpoet. Upstairs, the sound guys were being completely incompetent and leading to a short set from Nadine Shah, one of the acts I really wanted to see. The short set was still great. No sooner had she started and she was finished. This was so that the headliner had their full set. But really annoying as I frankly didn’t care about the headline act!

Downstairs yet more sound issues. This time the sound guys were struggling to set up Public Service Broadcasting. This meant there was now a clash with upstairs. What to do? I love Public Service Broadcasting, but then I’ve seen them loads of times. It was time to bounce between PSB and Johnny Marr.

I have to admit, I don’t get the Smiths. Or rather I don’t like Morrisey’s voice so haven’t tried to get the Smiths. But Johnny on his own, won’t convert me. The Smiths stuff was interesting, but seemed to be played by the band and not him and the none Smiths music frankly isn’t very good. So I headed back downstairs to catch what was left of PSB

Gum Takes Tooth

Due to all the late running, Teeth the Sea closed Day 2 around 2am. Few people were left. Sadly, they missed an excellent set. A really great way to close Day 2

Day 3

I started Day 3 with less energy than Day 2. But that’s the way it’s meant to be. So off into town to find a cafe and have breakfast.

Unlike me, the openers on Day 3 didn’t seem to have any problems with a lack of energy. The Jaguar Club put in a full high energy performance. The band have the swagger of a band that should be higher up the bill and playing the main stage. I’m not sure I liked their music, but I loved their performance.

The next few bands were okay but didn’t stand out. Prince Vaseline, Big Hogg, Alex Ohm, Walleater were all okay. But didn’t do much for me.

St Sleep then dropped the standard. I really didn’t like these guys. Sorry, they just didn’t appeal to me.

Back on the Pavilion stage, Skinny Girl Diet, a band I’ve seen countless times and one I kind of have a love/ambivalence relationship with, as I think they lack consistency. Today, was a decent performance from the girls. They seemed to be up for this more than they sometimes are. Which is a good job, because oddly they drew the first big crowd on the Pavilion stage over the whole weekend. The thing that did let them down and falls into the ‘lazy attitude’ I think these girls have, is that despite having a 30 minute set, they played just over 20 and then finished. Leading to the first encore from a none headline act. Obviously having not played their full time, there was loads of time for them to do an encore. Something they seemed reluctant to do. Somebody really need to give these girls a massive kick up the backsides. For me, they should be bigger than they are and it’s simply down to their attitude.

Another surprise was Misty Miller who played a really lovely set.

Emmecosta, Blaenavon and Jonnie Common provided some diversion but nothing memorable.

Pinkshinyultrablast are a band I’ve seen before. They had sound issues that day but there was something about them. But this was a small venue at the back of a pub. Today they were on a big stage and although I enjoyed the performance, it wasn’t as good as I was expecting. They just didn’t give a ‘big stage performance’, all rigidly stuck to their position on the stage. They just seemed to be missing the stage craft their music needs. It’s easy creating a wall of sound when the crowd is a metre away from you. It’s less easy when it’s a big stage.

The next band were the exact opposite. The Young Fathers, a band I dismissed at SXSW as they failed my ‘one song rule’ but then saw them play an acoustic session that really showcased their talent are a band they convince you through their performance and what a performance. These guys were one of the highlights of the weekend.

Just like the night before, back on the main stage, the sound guys were doing their best to undermine the second to last act. This time another band I wanted to see, Lola Colt. The sound guys just seemed so amateur, frustrating both the audience and band. This again meant the act before headliners had to cut short their set. What they did play, was up to their usual standard. But it was rather disappointing, especially as I left the end of the Young Fathers set to catch Lola Colt. I’m not sure what led to these setup issues, but hopefully they can learn from it for next year.

To prove my point about drums are always better than drum machines. Downstairs James Holden was twiddling knobs creating interesting electronic sounds. If it was just him, I’d have given up very quickly. But luckily he also had a drummer. It makes everything more interesting.

Upstairs, the headliner that caused Lola Colt to finish early were Spiritualized, a band I’d seen earlier in the year and wasn’t overly impressed back then. I watched bits of their set but took the opportunity to grab Burger King. It seemed to be full of bands.

Downstairs, the Cult of Dom Keller were closing the show. Sadly, few people remained to watch an excellent set.

So all in all. Not a bad first festival. There’s still some tweaks needed before I would book the festival without knowing the bands. They need to sort out the sound issues. They need a few more bands so there’s no downtime between sets. Ideally an acoustic stage. But I’d definitely go again in they have the right set of bands.

Although the line-up was weak. In some ways I can understand why they make so little effort. By the time Blur came on, the park was full of people who really don’t care about music. I’m not sure why you spend £70 to meet friends at a music festival and then have to buy expensive food and drink, when you could have met in pub elsewhere in London. But some of the crowd was really distracting.

I made a decision to try and see the other bands. (Even if they were all rubbish) So when Blur were playing, I didn’t want to spend 20 minutes pushing towards the front. So I found a place with sight of screens and stage and settled in to watch. But the first 10 minutes of the Blur gig was spoilt by everyone, and I mean everyone, talking. Not the quiet talking. No, the ‘we don’t care what’s going on around us, we’ll make as much noise as necessary to be heard over the music’, talking. Why, do you go an expensive gig, to then talk over headline act? I know it’s their money, but it’s also my money they’re wasting, by und. In the end. I kept moving further and further back until the crowd thinned out and it returned to a crowd who were watching the performance. I guess it was my fault, for not pushing down to the front.

Once I’d found a decent position. I thought Blur were brilliant. Unlike the Strokes. They knew their audience. Damon talked to the crowd rather than at the crowd. The band seemed to be enjoying playing and there was a lovely happy vibe coming from the stage. The new material, especially ‘Thought I was a Spaceman’, worked really well. The obvious crowd pleasers, pleased. I was a great set. I’m really glad I’ve managed to finally catch them. But I think it’s the last time I go to a Hyde Park gig. I’ll stick to small venues.

Oscar

Oscar with product placement

The Horrors on in daylight – it’s just wrong.

Hanni El Khatib – enjoyable set garage rock set

Beach – didn’t find them interesting

Jupiter & Okwess International – standard festival world music.

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis -good. But I didn’t feel their music translate too well to big stages. Some sounds are bigger when they’re smaller.

Metronomy – as interesting as a metronome

Roots Manuva – not sure why these were on the bill

Partying

Oscar (again)

Blur

Blur

Day 0

Last year I travelled down to the TGE on the Thursday and by the time I’d checked into the hotel, much of the Thursday afternoon action had finished. So this year, I thought I’d head down a day early and see if anything was happening pre-festival.

Luckily there was a pretty decent gig with Queen Kwong playing playing at Sticky Mike’s. First up was Yonaka. I liked the singer’s voice. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to catch them again. Next up were Gloo who did nothing for me. Finally Queen Kwong who put in a pretty enthusiastic performance with sone pretty decent music. After Queen Kwong. I decided to call it a day to save my energies for the rest of the weekend

Day 1

I used to be lucky enough for the Coffeehouse Sessions to play my Students’ Union at lunchtimes. They put on acoustic sessions with a good mix of bands and singer songwriters. Unfortunately, the students at my University don’t seem to like live music (more interested in going to ‘gigs’ by people who sing over backing tracks). So the turnout was abysmal. Basically only me and whatever work colleagues I could pursuade to come along. So this year they had dropped my Uni from the circuit. But they were providing programming for the Fishpool as part of the alternative escape. As they appeared to be the first venue out of the blocks, I dropped by to see what they were up to.

The first band they had on were a 60s style retro band (if a music style is still good, why stop playing it?). I think they were called the Waletones. I thought they were pleasant enough. I stayed for a few songs then decided to ‘browse’.

Next up was Flying Colours at Komedia. I’d heard they were good. By the time I got there the place was already rammed and they were well into their set. They sounded good. Again I stayed for a few songs before heading off again.

Next up was Model Aeroplanes. They didn’t really work for me.

Heading down to the the Hope and Ruin, a venue that’s usually too busy in the evenings to even bother with, I caught Liberto Wolf. I quiet liked them. I stayed for all of their set.

But the afternoon was really about seeing Aldous Harding again. I’d been intrigued by her earlier in the week (and concerned about her wellbeing). So I was pleased to see her looking well and seemingly less stressed than earlier in the week when she was clearly suffering from terrible jet lag. This afternoon’s session was again, simply wondrous. She has a very distinctive and haunting voice. There’s something about her voice that keeps me enthralled.

With the afternoon’s official programme winding down, I once again dropped by the Fishpool to catch some Coffeehouse Sessions. A London band called the Carnabys. They seemed like a pretty fun and energetic rock and roll band. They weren’t necessarily somebody I’d want to listen to. But they put on a good show.

One thing I like about the Great Escape is the mixture of venues. (Although I don’t like how spread out they are!). One of the venues I like because of it’s oddness is the (currently) called the Hub. It’s one of the small venues in the arches of the sea wall. It’s a tiny tunnel with a stage at the end. If you’re at the back you simply can’t see anything. But if you catch the right band, it has a great atmosphere. I started the evening by bouncing around the sea wall venues watching random bands.

K.I.D were first up who were pleasant enough.

But the next band, Jpnsgrls, surprised me. Despite it only being 6 in the evening, they were ‘full on’. The lead singer was jumping around and bouncing off the walls and there was even crowd surfing! Not bad for 6pm. Their performance was good enough to warrant a purchase of the album.

As the Arch was the nearest venue, I dropped by. A band called STAL were playing. I left after one song. They really didn’t appeal to me.

STAL

I’d already decided that most of the evening was going to be about the Green Door Store, where Black Honey and PINS were playing, two of my ‘must see’ bands. So I decided to head up early so that I’d be guaranteed entry. With the Prince Albert opposite I dropped by for their first band of the evening, Ward Thomas. I should have read up on them. Country. Need I say more. Next band…

For most of the rest of the evening, I stayed at the Green Door Store. Once you’re in the stage area, it’s a nice little venue. But it’s layout is poor with a tiny door leading from the bar area into the venue making it really difficult getting in and out.

Two bands played before Black Honey. Dark Moon were up first. I wasn’t taken by them. They had a big gong, yet didn’t really use it. All Tvvins were proficient, but despite all their kit, managed to produce some rather bland music.

At last year’s Great Escape, I’d stumbled upon a local Brighton band, Kill Moon, who stepped into fill a vacant slot in the Alternative Great Escape. They were playing a tiny little venue with a small audience but I thought they were excellent, in part due to the performance by their lead singer. Unfortunately, they split soon afterwards. However, some of the band went on to form a new band called Black Honey. So I was interested in catching one of their performances.

Being a local Brighton band, both the band and the audience were up for the gig. So there was a great atmosphere. It helps that the lead singer puts in a full-on gutsy swaggering performance. Singing and squealing her way through indie with a popularist sound. In some ways there’s some similarity between them and Wolf Alice. Both put on excellent live shows. Definitely worth watching.

The final band at this venue were PINS. I’ve seen them before. As before, this was a solid performance. The material from the new album sounding great. The boys from Drendge were also there supporting their friends.

The Drendge boys

With the programme starting to wind down. On my way back into the centre of town to grab some late night drinks, I dropped by Komedia to see who was still playing. I think it was a band called Mt. Wolf. I stayed for a few songs, but there wasn’t enough in their performance to keep me from grabbing a few pints.

Day 2

Unlike a rather decent Day 1, Day 2 proved to be a less successful day. Boro were in the play-off semi finals and football takes priority over music. So I knew I’d be dropping out of the music for a few hours in the evening. Unfortunately, this was when some of the bands I wanted to watch were playing. I also made an ill-fated decision to traipse up to the Green Door Store to catch a band who’d who was no longer playing.

I managed to grab some music though. In the afternoon, Forever Pavot, Spring King and Loris didn’t really do much for me. But I was rather bewitched by the performance of the lead singer of Fable. The Xcerts also sounded pretty good. But I only caught the tail end of their last song. So should reserve judgement.

Forever Pavot

Spring King

Loris

Fable

Fable

The evening was about football. But I wanted to try and catch at least some of Bully’s set who’d been recommended to me. They sound pretty good as did The Garden who played before them. After the football, everywhere seemed to be busy. So I bounced around the a few of the quieter venues before finished the evening with a ‘banker’, Shopping, who played a great bouncy set to finish off my evening.

The Garden

Bully

Lion Babe – Amazing hair!

Saskwatch – their set grew on me. Wasn’t sure I’d like them, but enjoyed every song.

Shopping – great, fun, bouncy set.

Day 3

I had quiet a lot of bands I’d like to see on Day 3. Some though were playing the more popular venues and I don’t think it’s worth queuing. Top of my ‘probably won’t see list’ was the Slaves who I’ve seen before but wanted to catch again. But they were playing the Corn Exchange which always seems to have long queues outside. So I planned a day that would leave me near the venue around the time they were playing.

Starting the day early, I managed to catch a set from Pinkshinyultrablast. It was kind of spoilt by technical issues. But from what I saw, they’re worth catching in a better surrounding. I also caught the Crows play an energetic early afternoon set to a fairly empty room. But you’ve got to hand it to bands who try and put on a show, no matter how big the audience is. I also managed to catch Tuff Love, a band I seem to keep missing. Although the venue wasn’t ideal. Again, there was enough in their performance to merit further investigations.

Pinkshinyultrablast

The Crows

The Crows

Lawson

Zun Zun Egui – caught the tail end of what sounded like a fun filled set

Tuff Love

One band that I’d been looking forward to catching after being enthralled by their excellent album, was Virginia wing. Unfortunately, this band pissed me off. The venue was running late because they kept faffing around setting up. When will bands learn that if you’re carrying around a big box of cables, you’ve got too much stuff on stage.

However, I can take late running sound checks. What I can’t abide is the band when asked if they were ready to go on (20 minutes late), they said no, they needed a five minute ‘break’ to get a drink. FFS, you’re playing a multi-venue festival. There’s other bands to see. So in the end, all I heard from Virginia Wing was their sound check. My original plan was to catch 15 minutes of their on-time set and then head off to try and catch the Slaves. So with the Slaves starting in 10 minutes, I decided Virginia Wing had been given enough opportunity to play to me and headed off. If this is the band’s attitude, in future, I’m not going out of my way to pay to see any of their performances.

Unfortunately, the delays meant that the Corn Exchange was at capacity. So I headed down to the sea wall venues catching set from an okay Menace Beach, a thunderous an enjoyable set from Picturebooks at the Hub and Spector who played a lot of new material rather meant their set was a bit more subdued than I expected. To round off the festival, I kept it safe and headed to see Saint Agnes play probably the best set I’ve seen from them. They’re really starting to impress me. They just seem to be getting stronger and strong with every gig.

The Dunwells playing an acoustic show in the museum

Menace Beach

The Picturebooks

Theo Verney

Spector

Saint Agnes

So that was it. Three days of music. Some good, some bad, some brilliant. But all in all, for £45, it’s a pretty decent little festival

First up were Hayward and Parsons. Two guys who go on ‘pilgrimage’ and sing old songs. Not my cup of team

2nd on the bill was another choir. The chapel’s really suited to choirs. Unfortunately, for me, Daylight seem to choose the wrong type of choir. The acoustics lend themselves to gospel, traditional ecclesiastical and classical. But what we usually get is a choirs singing renditions of pop songs. Yesterday was one of those days. Everyone bar me seemed to enjoy them. But then probably 2/3rds of the audience knew somebody singing in the choir. But the reason why I really dislike choirs singing pop songs is that they invariably lose any emotion the original song had. Choirs have the potential for amazing emotion. From the highs of traditional pieces like Beethoven’s 9th, to non traditional, like the spine tingling Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna. The acappella version of Joy Division’s ‘She’s Lost Control’ simply lacked any real emotion. I really wish one weekend, Daylight would get a traditional choir to make best use of the acoustics.

Closing the show was Mimika Mak Music Ensemble who play what’s been termed ‘Balkan Space Jazz’. Not sure what that is, but it sounded good. Lots of interesting musical jazzy sounds featuring some great performances. Definitely a fun band.

First up was Alma Elste from France. Sadly I found the music and performance didn’t grab me.

Next up was Jagaara. Three sisters from London who put in a lovely performance of quality indie pop. I thought they had a nice blend of voices and some good material. I’ll definitely keep an eye of these girls. At times they musically reminded me of the Jezebels minus Haley’s soaring voice

Last up, was Laura Groves who did a pleasant turn of folkish pop.

Unfortunately, I then messed up. I’d knew Ultimate Paintings were playing at the Lexington. Their album’s has grown on me over the last few weeks so I made an impulsive decision to give My Sad Captains a miss and to try and catch Ultimate Painting’s set. But it was 2240 when the bus reached the Lexington. So I’ve decided to head home early. I should have stayed at the Shacklewell. Especially as I’ve seen Ultimate Paintings a few times this year already.