The full lineup

The Charlatans, Getdown Services, SPRINTS, The Twilight Sad, Cockney Rejects, Madra Salach, Alien Chicks, Bis, Congratulations, Cowboy Hunters, Lemonsuckr, Makeshift Art Bar, Katie Malco, Modern Woman, Mouth Ulcers, Nightbus, Pigeon, SILVERWINGKILLER, Vona Vella along with DJs, Chris Hawkins and Steve Lamacq

See http://www.rockawaybeach.co.uk for more details

Joining previously announced headliners, Public Image Ltd and English Teacher will be Soft Play. It is a few years since we last saw them play as Slaves. We have fond memories of watching them play The Horn in 2014, before the release of their first album, to a handful of people and loving their energy and whit. Seeing them up alongside po-faced

The full lineup is looking strong, with Antony Szmierek, Dry Cleaning, Idlewild, Insecure Men, Inspiral Carpets, The Moonlandingz at the top of the bill and a really exciting day lineup featuring Adult DVD, Baggio, BLACKGOLD, Bruise Control, chest, Coach Party, Ellur, GANS, Home Counties, Humour, Low Harness, Mandrake Handshake, The Members, Prima Queen, Spielmann, Stealing Sheep, Swallowtail, TV Smith, Voka Gentle, We Hate You Please Die Walt Disco, Whitelands, Winter Gardens and Y

See the Rockaway Beach website for more details

With the announcement of SXSW London, it seemed like a no-brainer that I would buy a ticket. I have been to SXSW four times. Each time, I purchased the Platinum badge. First half of the festival, I would drop into interesting Interactive sessions and watch a lot of films. Second half, was almost exclusively music venue hopping. However, SXSW London is shorter, with Music overlapping Film and Interactive. Without knowing the scale of the festival, it didn’t seem like value for money.

Today, SXSW announced the first batch of artists, the venues they are using, a three day festival option and the music wristband prices. I am guessing the addition of the three day pass is an indication that they have failed to sell enough tickets. Sadly, I think they only have themselves to blame. The marketing of SXSW London seems to have been intentionally obtuse, as if they were knew the first year of the festival was going to be relative small scale and they had overpriced the tickets.

The last SXSW Platinum badge cost me about £1000 for 10 days. With a dozen film screens, a big conference centre, nearby conference rooms in hotels and over 80 music venues. Throw in that Austin special sauce, where the city breathes SXSW for two weeks and although the badge is expensive, I feel it is money well spent.

A London Platinum badge, even at the discounted rate, is more expensive than the last full-festival Austin pass I purchased. The marketing simply told us ‘it will be in Shoreditch’, which we know doesn’t have that many music venues any more. Hell, there’s not even a conference centre in that bit of London. They have been shooting themselves in the foot all year. Honestly, why would I risk spending money on a Platinum badge without them being forthcoming about venues? Surely, it would have made sense to price the festival cheaply and grow it? I suspect many others thought the same and the sales are worse than expected. Which is a pity, I think SXSW could be a good match for London

Sadly, today’s announcement seems to confirm that SXSW London is a pale imitation of Austin. SXSW released a music schedule and there’s only 22 venues listed, many of these are shared with conference sessions. Fine for a cheaper than Austin badge, but not for one that’s more expensive.

One big positive is that all the venues are centred around Shoreditch and the festival footprint is relatively compact. I had feared it would be spread across East London. It is only a 15 minute walk between the furthest venues. The list features all the expected venues like the Village Underground, The Old Blue Last, Rich Mix, XOYO, Colours, Shoreditch Town Hall, Truman Brewery and the Strongroom Bar. I had expected to see them use Dalston venues to bump up the numbers. I was also expecting them to encourage local pubs to become venues for the week. But I guess the small footprint is probably a good thing, as it would stretch out the festival and make it really annoying if a venue has queues and I’m sure there will pubs offering their own ‘off festival’ music lineups.

SXSW London also announced the first batch of 100 artists. The lineup is diverse. Everything from classical to rap. It is also a bit underwhelming for me, as indie artists, the cornerstone of the UK live music scene, seem underrepresented and there doesn’t appear to be much representation from European music scenes. Sadly, representation from the UK regions also seems less than at SXSW Austin. I suspect regional bodies have decided to continue to spend money sending artists to Austin. With only two months to go, I had hoped to see a fuller lineup announcement by now. Only announcing 100 artists, with only a handful I know, is disappointing and reinforces the feeling that this festival will be smaller than I had initially hoped.

Given the apparent size of the festival, the cost of a platinum ticket is looking far too expensive. It is no surprise that today they announced a special three day festival pass, along with music-only wristbands. £100 for a six day music wristband and £80 for a three day pass. In fairness, these are very reasonably priced and even with the current music lineup, they have finally peaked my interest. As I mind don’t jumping around venues trying to discover new artists and the schedules have music venues starting at around 4pm and finished by 11pm. I can easily travel into London each day on a discounted travel card, so no need for hotels. A whole week’s travel will work out cheaper than the cost of a Brighton Premier Inn on the Saturday of the Great Escape. I have to admit, at £20 a day, even with the limited venues and artists, SXSW London has suddenly become tempting.

*Update: I bought a wristband. I can’t do the Saturday, but I will be milling around the Shoreditch for the rest of the week. (And the full badges are still too expensive)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Horn, St Albans Gets a Brand New Sound System

We’re excited to announce that The Horn in St Albans has just gotten a brand new sound system! Thanks to a generous grant from Arts Council England and amazing support from Music Venue Trust we’ve been able to invest in state-of-the-art equipment to provide our audiences with the best possible listening experience.

Our new sound system from d&b audiotechnik and supplied White Light Ltd is designed to deliver crystal-clear audio at all volume levels. Whether you’re enjoying a chilled acoustic evening or dancing the night away, you can be sure to hear every beat and lyric.

We’re also proud to say that our new sound system is more energy-efficient than our old one, which means we’re doing our bit to reduce our environmental impact.

To celebrate the launch and installation of our new sound system, we’re hosting a special FREE event on Thursday 5 October (from 8pm) featuring live music from The Shantlys aThe Class. Come along and experience the new sound for yourself!

We look forward to seeing you there!

The landlords of Club 85, Jas and Ranjit Lidder have decided to retire and have submitted plans to turn the space into flats. They have applied to North Herts Council to turn the space into 16 apartments.

As you would expect, there has been a strong response from music lovers across Hertfordshire with many objecting to the development on the council website.

However, a statement from Bob and the Club 85 team is more reflective.

“While we want to thank everyone for objecting to the planning application and thus showing the council how important the venue is to you and the town, we would like to encourage you to act with kindness towards our landlord, we have no ill will towards Jas, we understand his decision to retire and we can understand wanting to do what is in the interest of supporting family.”

“So, after a glorious 20+ years running 1000’s of gigs at Club 85, it is with great sorrow that we have to say we’re probably not going to be in this building for more than a year or so.”

“We’d like to say a huge thank you to Jas and his family for hosting our Grassroots Music Venue and wish him well in his retirement.”

“While the our future is not yet secure, we are working to establish our options towards finding a positive resolution and even a new location locally that we aim to make even better for our community.”

“We look forward to continuing conversations with Music Venue Trust, North Herts District Council, stakeholders and the music community to ensure live music continues to thrive in our town.”

“Over the years we have proved that North Herts needs and supports a Grassroots Music Venue, so many acts have grown up on our stage and gone on to stardom and many successful industry professionals took their first steps with us.”

“We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved so far and look forward to continuing to bring great live music to our community.”

“We are going to need your support over the coming year or so to prepare for this move.”

Returning in 2023 are fan favourites Bo Ningen, who have regularly supported Sea Power after playing their Tan Hill festival in 2010. They also played Krankenhaus in 2020 where they brought us ‘Bo Ningen bingo’. Hopefully, this well get another outing.

Also returning are Rozi Plain and Utopia Strong. With Steve Davis & Kavus Torab no doubt DJ’ing as in previous years. (It is slight surreal seeing a drunk sporting legend giggling on stage)

Walks this year include a trip to stone circles at Burnmoor, the ‘Pilgrimage’ walk across Muchaster Fell, a RSPB guided walk and a walk along the English Costal Path.

The full list of artists announced so far:

Baba Ali, Bodega, Bo Ningen, Deerhoof, The Go! Team, Hamish Hawk, Haress, Heartworms, Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage, The Lovely Eggs, Personal Trainer, Rozi Plain, The Utopia Strong.

Tickets to this dog friendly festival are still available from https://www.krankenhausfestival.com

Artists announced so far are:

Abbie Gathard, All Out Emo, Allergy, Almamor, Aza, Bianca I.ego, Bobby Xx, Cam Thomas, Damo And The Dynamites, Delta Duo, Dl, Eastside Jimmy, Eve Christina, Frances, Hot Mess, Joshua Thew, Jw Paris, Mat Bylett, Mel Quinn And The Manekins, Mike Norman, Million Pebble Beach, Rf2, Rob Lyons, Rum And Reggae Boys, Sidecar Bob, Soul Chain, Steve Young And The Realtime Players, The Groove Generation, The Iv’s, The Magic E’s, The Metatrons, The Revivals, The Skallywags, The Skeltons, Ward Is Hydra

Old Town Live takes place on the 5th August in Stevenage Old Town. (We have a festival, so we will miss it)

The Great Escape takes place at venues across Brighton 10-13th of May. With previously announced headline acts Maisie Peters and Arlo Parks, alongside artists such as The Big Moon, The Pretenders, The Murder Capital and buzzy bands such as English Teacher, Heartworms, Lambrini Girls, Fat Dog, Personal Trainer and PVA.

2023 is shaping up to be a good Great Escape. 2023 tickets are still available for just £105 (our early bird ticket was just £60) and there are various day options.

Day splits

Music Photographer Of The Year: Neil Lupin

Image Of The Year: Belinda Enthoven for a photography of McFly’s Tom Fletcher at the O2

Must-See Artist Of The Year: Lottery Winners

Independent Venue Of The Year: The Horn

Product Of The Year: Nikon Z9

Legend Of The Year: David Hogan