Support came from Blonde Bunny and Telegram, bands I’ve seen several times.

Blonde Bunny just don’t work for me. They produce lots of interesting sounds. They’ve got a great drummer who introduces some jazz-like loops. The guitarist manages to eek out interesting sounds and squeals from his guitar. But unfortunately, I have no time for the vocalist. He sings in an unnatural key. At his natural key, he’s got a decent rock/indie voice. But for most songs he sings at his top-end and I find it doesn’t work for me

Next up was Telegram. A band I’ve enjoyed on previous occasions. But tonight, I thought the sound was off with the guitar low in the mix. So I’m afraid didn’t really get into their performance. But to be honest, I’m not sure they did either. They seemed less dynamic than I’ve seen them before – and it’s not the venue, I’ve seen them play Scala before. But they’re a decent band. So I’ll put tonight down to sound.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen the Wytches since their album launch. Since then, they’ve basically toured non stop. With another trip to the US and a small UK tour. Tonight was the last night.

As usual, they sounded good. The audience clearly enjoying their performance with lots of surges. I have to admit, I’m starting to find I don’t enjoy being on the fence and at the brunt of these surges. They’re enjoyable when you’re in the mosh. But not at the brunt of the mosh. I find I lose a little bit from the performance as I’m trying to be aware of where the surges are going. I think it’s often to do with the location. The Wytches set themselves up with the singer on the left. So the surge is a lateral surge as most people who want to mosh go to the centre of the barriers. Once they realise the singer’s on the left, the surge is pushing along the barrier.

Because of this, tonight was the least enjoyable set I’ve seen. Although the seemed to have a little bit less energy than I’ve seen from them, it was significantly less and they played well and had a good mix of songs. I just didn’t feel completely engaged with them tonight (but then I have a cold, maybe it was that?). Don’t get me wrong. This was not a bad set. I enjoyed this more than most gigs I’ve seen this year. It just didn’t connect with me as much as some of their performances earlier in the year did.

Great weekend of psych music at the Shacklewell Arms.

Day 1

Blonde Bunny

Brazilian band, Boogarins

Gap Dreams

Day 2

The Wands

Underground Youth

Highlight of the weekend – Radar Men From The Moon

Fun performance from Black Mekon

Lumerians

Day 3

Grimm Grimm – One man and an old fashion tape looping machine

Spectral Park

Parlour – Consistently good

Great set from the Mexican band Lorelle Meets the Obsolete

The Blue Angel Lounge

First up was Blonde Bunny, a band I saw support Wytches before Christmas and just like before Christmas, I wasn’t too enthused by their performance. The audience however were and their set was very well received.

After Blonde Bunny, the crowd seemed to thin out for John J Presley and his band. Which is a pity as there’s something unique about his blend of dirty blues rock. John has a voice that seems to be the voice of a man 30 years older and who has many tall story to tell. The nearest comparison I can think of is Josh T Pearson, somebody John lists as one of his influences. It’s hard to believe that this guy hails from the UK. You’d expect him to be playing in some backstreet joint in the deep South. His set was as excellent as I remember his Band of Skull support being. I’ll definitely be catching him again.

Cold Crows Dead

Blonde Bunny