Delayed from last summer. The festival has found a home in Brockwell Park which was ready for it’s big day. For a new festival, it was remarkably well organised. COVID checks dealt with quickly and efficiently. In the main, the site was organised well. A good range of food and drink in the centre with stages spinning off. Sadly, there was a bit of leakage between the Bad Vibes and Moth Club stages, but I’ve experienced far worse and something that can be tweaked in later years. A nice touch was a free drink to those of us who had kept faith last year and not asked for a refund.

First up was Tiña on the Windmill stage. Dressed in bright pink with a cowboy hat playing breezy cowboy indie, it was just the right sound to wake us up with positive vibes.

On the Moth Club stage was Lazarus Kane, a band who previously had left me unimpressed. At that performance, Ben the singer, appeared as a kind of lounge lizard caricature, with the band playing second fiddle. But here on a big stage with the band spaced out and the singer having dropped the disguise, I thought they had a much bigger and a more dancy sound than I remembered. I was left wondering if they’d increased the size of the band as there was an added depth to their sound, I didn’t experience on the small stage. Or maybe Ben’s theatrics had just put me off. Either way, I was impressed today. I will definitely be keeping an eye on them.

My second surprise of the day was Regressive Left. A band I knew nothing about. Apparently they are now based in Stevenage. I’ll have to keep an eye out for local gigs. Again, like Lazarus Kane, they a very dancy sound. But in an 80s art-pop way. Strong drumming with feedback laden guitars and keyboards adding an 80s feeling. One to watch

Next up was a brief visit to the Bad Vibes stage to listen to Maripool. Possibly the first misstep. Their music was pleasant, in a laid back ‘beer in the sunshine’ kind of way. But the vocals were off. I didn’t experience sound issue later in the day but I was heading off to see the afternoon headliners, Idles and maybe they improved before the end of the set.

Idles were always going to be my highlight of the festival. They’ve made some of my favourite albums from the last few years. They are fantastic live and have helped revitalise guitar based music by putting issues at the forefront of driving pop punk. Their audience mixes us oldies, rekindling our youth, with young people who are hopefully listening to their messages of community and compassion (especially the blokes). There’s something special about the ‘AF gang’ community that’s grown up organically around the band. Something I’ve never experienced before.

It was odd seeing a headliner play an early afternoon set. But this isn’t normal times. With the festivals opening after a delay of a year, it’s not surprising we’re seeing clashes. Idles, were double booked for a festival in their hometown. Understandably, that took precedence. But Bristol’s gain wasn’t our loss. If anything, it gave this festival a massive boost as everyone arrived early to see the band. It meant most stages were busy right from the off with a great atmosphere throughout they day.

Their latest album came out during lockdown and they haven’t had the opportunity to play live. So I was expecting a large number of songs from the album. I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of the last album. But the one live performance I’ve seen of it, the songs were much stronger live. Maybe sensibly, they gave the crowd what they wanted with a greatest hits of their three albums. Despite reservations, the new songs fitted into the set and sounded great.

I’ve never seen Idles have an off day. Today was no exception. Right from the off they got the crowd going with a circle forming in the early afternoon sun. They then did their usual thing of jumping into the crowd. Keeping the crowd at boiling point throughout the set. Pretty much a perfect headline slot. It just happened in daylight.

A Certain Ratio aren’t a band I know much about. They’ve been around since the late 70s. I liked what I heard but I wanted to grab some photos of other stages so I moved on after two songs.

Likewise, I didn’t stick with Porridge Radio for long. I love Porridge Radio and I’ve seen them several times. They sounded on form for the two songs I heard.

Fenne Lily was part of the reason why I was jumping around stages. She produced a great album so I wanted to see how it translated to a festival stage. Although playing a smaller stage more suited to her sound, in all honesty, I thought the sound was lost. Despite being a small stage, it was competing with the rest of the festival and I think much of the delicacy of the album was lost to the air. I’ll have to catch her at a more appropriate venue.

I love Squid. There’s similarity with bands like Black Midi and Black Country New Road but their sound is less noodly prog and feels more anarchic and organic They’re also far less serious than their siblings. Live, they’re the best out of the bunch. Today, they were on good form.

Another band I’ve seen before, so only listened to a few songs, is Los Bitchos. They play dancy latin fuzed psych with no vocals. They appear to have a changed lineup but still sounded great. The first time I saw them I wanted there to be a vocalist. But they don’t need a vocalist. Their music is so infectious and had the crowd dancing away to their latin vibes. Perfect festival band.

I only caught one song of White Flowers. They were pleasant but like Fenne Lilly, their sound seemed to be a little bit lost on the small stage so I moved on.

I’ve heard great things about PVA. Naturally as a ‘Windmill’ band they were playing the main Windmill stage. But they left me cold. They were very disco. I’m sure they sound great in a small venue with a crowd bouncing to their music. But on the big stage with everyone hidden behind keyboards, it just wasn’t my type of festival experience so I took the opportunity to grab some food.

As my recent POZI review mentioned. Pozi were my most listened to band over the last year. Unlike the Social, the drummer wasn’t lost in smoke and darkness at the back of the stage so I could actually see him sing this time. It felt more of a band performance. However, as I had just seen them a few weeks ago I only stayed for 10 minutes before heading off to catch another lockdown favourite, Dry Cleaning.

I’m never sure how to describe Dry Cleaning. They’re a talky band, with no singing. Florence’s delivers her stories as if she’s oblivious to the audience’s presence. Creating mesmerising tales of mundane modern life, enhanced with simple expressions and waves of her hand. The rest of the band acting like a stage director, focusing the audience’s emotions and attentions on the rise and fall of the tempo of each story. I always feel I’m listening to something the Velvet Underground could have written.

They’re also a surprising band. They shouldn’t work on a big stage. Half of the performance is seeing Florence’s expressions which surely is lost in a big venue. They should be very much an acquired taste. Yet pretty much everyone I know who has seen them live, have enjoyed what they saw. They’re a special band, rightly deserving of the good press they receive. They’re also an example of why Wide Awake could grow into a vital London festival. It’s venues like the Shacklewell and Windmill that are taking a chance on booking bands like Dry Cleaning.

Another ‘Shacklewell’ band, and one long overdue serious attention, CROWS played the Bad Vibes stage to a packed crowd. Their support for Idles clearly paying off, with a lot of Idles t-shirts in the packed Bad Vibes stage. As I would expect, their performance was full of the energy they’re known for.

Annoyingly, I dallied too long between stages and the pit for Goat Girl was closed. So I took the opportunity to kick back with a soft-drink and listen to the delightful sounds of Goat Girl in the glorious early evening sun.

Lynks are an acquired taste. Not my taste. They’re a camp disco performance art group who have no instruments on stage singing over backing tracks. Really not my musical taste. But they are entirely about the stage show. The whole crowd on the So Young Stage bouncing along to their set, probably the best reaction of the day. Everyone there clearly loved them. They are worth catching to see if they are your thing.

Snapped Ankles are just awesome live. They create a primeval driving shamanistic music to dance to and dance the crowd did. I stayed for three songs before heading off to catch the Bad Vibes stage.

Kikagaku Moyo are possibly one of the best psych bands around at the moment. They make playing psych look effortless but controlled. Today was no exception with layers of sound washing over each other, interacting and heading off in a new direction dragging you with them on their musical wanderings. They a perfect band to catch at a festival when you’re feeling tired. Just allow the music to take over and revitalise yourself. Catch them if you can.

I cut short the Kikagaku Moyo set to catch the pit for Black Country New Road. They’re the chess club of music. There’s an element of prog with every instrument give time to weave it’s sound into their stories. Everything sounds like they’ve made a conscious compositional choice. That’s not a bad thing. But it lacks the organic nature of Squid and maybe at times feels too serious. However, their debut album released earlier this year, is one of my favourite albums of 2021. It looked like their lineup had changed since the first time I saw them at Rockaway Beach last year. They also didn’t look like school kids this time. It’s amazing what a year in music does to people. Have to admit, in the evening sun, I enjoyed their set. But the music has that kind of downstairs in a jazz club type feel that requires concentration and might have worked better when things got dark or even a smaller stage.

With the slew of bands that followed Idles into the mainstream. A bunch of Irish acts forced their way through the door. Initially, Fontaines DC were my favourites. They have a poetry and nervous energy that instantly made me like them.

The Murder Capital followed close behind, disposing with the nervous energy, replacing it with a dark intense emotion. Over the last year or so, the album I keep going back to is the Murder Capital’s debut. There are songs on the album with a real emotional punch. Somehow they manage to carry the darkness into their performances.

Tonight, was no different. James holding the crowd in his hands (or them literally holding his to stop him falling into them). His use of space in songs to give everyone time to take in the emotion and then hitting you with his powerful rich mournful voice distinguishes the band from the crowd. While a big stage in a big top, lacked the intimacy of the 100 Club gig last year. This was another storming performance. Slightly let down when the sound engineer cut them off after timing issues with James squaring up him and security dragging him away. He’ll have to learn to keep the emotion on stage.

I did briefly leave the Murder Capital set to catch Crack Cloud. I’ve seen them before and they’re really good. But there’s something special about the Murder Capital that meant I needed to see the rest of the set. I will have to catch Crack Cloud at some other point.

Getting to the Wide Awake Festival had been a bit of a trek. My rail line was closed due to a fatality on the line. So I had to drive across country to pick up a different line into London meaning I had to return to pick up my car. I also am still not comfortable with crowds and spent most of the day wearing a mask in the pit and in crowded areas of the festival. I didn’t really want to be stuck on packed trains out of Brockwell with a late night drive. So despite some excellent bands to come, I decided to cut after one last band – Black Midi

I’ve seen Black Midi a few times and their debut album was my one of my favourite albums of 2019. Their followup, this year’s Cavalcade hasn’t had such a big an impact on me. It’s too consciously experimental. I have to be in the right mood for it to work.

I think with BCNR and Squid also playing in the same space. The seriousness of Black Midi and BCNR has worn more heavily. There’s an intensity to their music and the way they play that means you have to really be switched on to enjoy them. By this time, I have to admit I was a bit tired with my mind on home, I didn’t take in their set. I think the Murder Capital had taken all my emotions.

Not quite the high I’d expected to finish the festival on. But I can’t complain. It was a day I needed after a long 18 months. It felt like a bit of normality had returned to my life.

While I had a ticket, I was grateful for Bad Vibes giving me a photo pass. It helped me relax into the day and move around more easily without having to deal with packed crowds. I had also upgraded to a very reasonably priced VIP ticket. I needed to have a space to retire to if things got too much and the VIP space was quiet enough to allow me to deal with my post-COVID return to the real world.

I really hope this festival happens again next year. From the organisation, to the lineup. It was pretty much perfect. An excellent start.

For the last few years I’ve started my TGE on the Wednesday. It means I can start at midday on the Thursday and there’s usually some music on in Brighton the night before anyway. This year as no different. Well I say no different, I actually mean sadly, was different.

Just before Christmas, one of my favourite Brighton venues, Sticky Mike’s announced it was closing. This is my usual Wednesday night and end of festival hang-out. There was some good news, when they announced that they would be using the East Street Tap as their new venue, one of my favourite pubs in Brighton. It turned out to be bad news as the regular student crowd who seemed to occupy upstairs at Sticky Mike’s have migrated to the much smaller East Street Tap and throughout the weekend I struggled to get in. The nearest was stranding on the stairs to the upstairs venue/

Losing Sticky Mike’s is a sad loss.

Despite its closure. There was still some things happening on the Wednesday with some bands playing the main festival hub, some free events at the Green Door Store and the Prince Albert

Unlike last year. I didn’t have a photo pass. Okay, I’m not shooting for a magazine or online website. But I’m the sort of person they should be giving a pass to. I’m not overly bothered by the big acts. I’m happy to photograph the next generation and throughout the weekend, the venues I was in, were devoid of official photographers unless there was ‘hype’ behind the band. What’s the point of having the same acts photographed by a few dozen photographers? Because of this, I left most of my kit at home and just took a few primes and a fallback camera in case security were being sniffy.

The festival itself kicked off in fine style with Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird. An Aussie band who played a nice slice of infectious pop-indie. They even made a ‘keytar’ sound good.

Deciding on getting in an early banker and positioning myself for the walk up to Horatios, I headed down to see the amazing playing of Gwenifer Raymond. If you haven’t seen there. She’s pretty amazing on the guitar and banjo.

The Russians had invaded Horatios on the pier and I headed up to hear Lucidvox, a band that had played London earlier in the week with positive reviews. Sadly, there were sound issues that effected the two bands I saw.  

After a few misses, I decided to see one of my favourite live bands, Avalanche Party. Playing the tiny Black Lion pub as part of the Alternative Escape, they still managed to put on an excellent show that was appreciated by the packed pub.

Bumping into some friends, they had mentioned that Giungla had impressed in the afternoon. So I headed into the sea wall to catch her. I have to say I was really disappointed.

Venues seemed to be busier this year. By the middle of the first day it was already proving to be difficult to move around. Venues, I usually found easy to get into were often full, so I headed to see the Murder Capital early and had caught, Jockstrap. They are members of Black Country New Road but this offshoot band, really didn’t work for me.

There was a lot of hype around the Murder Capital. They had been heavily supported by Steve Lamacq and were coming through on the tails of the Idles and Fontaines D.C. What surprised me the most though, was how different the band are to those two bands. Fontaines have the poetry. Idles have the politics. The Murder Capital are your dark emotions. Every song brooded with an intense emotional centre and was something I was completely unprepared for. Easily the highlight of the festival.

After the emotion of the Murder Capital I decided to take it easy and find a seated venue and caught a band called MarthaGunn. They were okay. Almost an Americana twinge to their indie.

Day 2 started with a highlight. Dry Cleaning are one of my favourite bands at the moment. They mix interesting stories with some brilliant windy guitars.

After a few okay bands, one of the great things about TGE happened. I stumbled upon a band I didn’t know were playing. Walking past the Hope and Ruin, I could hear the brilliant sound of Snapped Ankles. It was one in one out, but the windows were open so I stood and watched and they came over to see me!

I had heard good things about the Petrol Girls. A punk band focused on feminist issues. Not sure I’m the core market but the post punk word at the moment seems to be missing female bands. However, while they put on a good performance, it was all too shouty shouty, rather than shouty singing, or shouty talking, as is the norm with post-punk. They are definitely more of a punk band and they didn’t work for me.

The other thing I like with TGE (when the weather is good) is how they give busking spaces to local artists if you have time, it’s always worth stopping and listening.

Often at this year’s TGE, I went for safe bands who I’d seen before. Saint Agnes are one of those safe bands. They always put in a brilliant performance. They were playing in the alt-Escape and as expected they were great.

Venues were getting busy and I decided to opt out of queuing and headed down see another set from Gwenifer Raymond in a seated venue. (I must be getting old).

As I was chatting to a friend, I stayed on for the next band, Ferris and Sylvester who played blues rock. At times it was a bit saccharine but I enjoyed the set.

It was getting late and Black Honey were playing a very late set at the Haunt after most places had closed. I thought it would probably be a complete waste queuing. Luckily I got in to catch the last few songs and them having a complete ball playing their home town.

Day 3 started with another banker. I’m a big fan of John J Presley’s blues. He’s got such an expressive voice and distinctive guitar. It was also good to see him reverting back to having a band as they add an extra depth to his music.

Queuing was much more an issue this year. You had to get there early for the hyped bands and there was no bigger hyped band this year than Black Midi. As The Ninth Wave were playing before hand, I queued up and caught both bands play good sets.

Wanting to take it easier, I headed back to the alt-Escape and grabbed a pint and the opportunity to catch Dutch Mustard who I’ve caught in London a few times

After heading out and finding all the nearby venues full, I returned to the Black Lion and was fortunate to catch another enjoyable performance from the Pagans SOH. They mixed rap, funk and rock in a very enjoyable way with a charismatic lead singer.

After the Pagans I bounced around with no one in particular standing out.

I have to admit. I was a bit more knackered at this festival than usual. I was also getting sick of queuing. As I’d hit SXSW in a big way and seen lots of new music. I decided to take it easy and stick to a venue. The Green Door Store seemed to have the best lineup with Big Joannie, Porridge Radio, and Peggy Sue, all of whom I’ve seen before. They were all good and Porridge Radio, played the best set I’ve seen from them. But it was Stonefield, a group of sisters who I assume grew up in a house with only Paranoid by Black Sabbath to listen to, who really impressed.

Sadly after the Green Door Store finished their programme, it wasn’t possible for my traditional trip to Sticky Mikes to catch their late-night off-festival bands and it was time to grab a few pints before calling it a relatively early night. Losing Sticky Mikes is definitely a loss to Brighton.

All in all. Another good TGE. It’s disappointing that the venues continue to spread out with what seemed like an increase queue time at each and the risk of walking half way across town to find TGE’s app’s busy status hadn’t been updated. Sadly, the ability to move around is reducing. Hopefully, next year they can rebalance the mix of venues. But I will be back again next year.