I have supported the band more than any other. Buying a draw full of t-shirts, a shelf full of mugs, attending their festivals and Krankenhaus’s and contributing to every crowdfunded they have started. I have even told my parents which of their songs I want at my funeral. They are my band.

I love small venues. I tend to avoid bands playing the big venues. Sea Power are one band I will willingly go to watch in a larger venue. But there are a few larger venues I like and the Roundhouse is one of them. It’s a great space with decent sound.

Opening tonight was Penelope Isles. I have seen them a few times. They are a pleasant melodious indie pop band. They don’t pull up trees, but they have a charm  that means they are always pleasant to watch.

After seven albums. Sea Power have a massive back catalogue. Playing for nearly two hours, they skirted across each of their albums with an emphasis on their latest album, ‘Everything Was Forever’. They are at the point where they leave everyone disappointedly happy. There’s always something on the set list you are happy to hear to again, but then they undoubtably have left out something you love. But no matter what the set list is. It is amazing how well all the songs sit together. From the expansive sounds of ‘Folly’ and ‘Fire Escape I the Sea’, the the straight out rockers like ‘Doppelganger’ and ‘Green Goddess’, to the joyous ‘We Only Want to Make You Happy’,  the new songs seemed at home amongst the classics.

Sea Power last played the Roundhouse in 2015 for the 10th anniversary of ‘Decline Of British Sea Power’. I remember that evening being a raucous evening with lots of on-stage high jinks, crowd surfing and the bears out in the crowd. Tonight was a different experience. Both the crowd and band are a little older but I also think there is a confidence with the band where they don’t feel the need to lark.

Tonight the band were supremely confident. It is clear they are proud of their new album and there was a shout out to producer Graham Sutton. The more I listen to the album, the better it gets and I think that is in a large part down to Graham’s production and helping the band feel at ease with their song choices. While controversial to some fans, I get the feeling after changing their name they are more comfortable with their identity and are now playing on their terms. Even the bears have been dropped. It is all about the songs and them as a band playing together and it was great to see Abby add the extra dynamics to the new songs missing from the last few shows. It really felt like tonight they owned the Roundhouse. A great night.

Set List

• Machineries Of Joy
• It Ended On An Oily Stage
• Transmitter
• Two Fingers
• Fire Escape In The Sea
• Cleaning Rooms
• We Only Wanted To Make You Happy
• The Lonely
• Green Goddess
• Doppelganger
• Mongk
• No Lucifer
• Folly
• Bad Bohemian
• Lights Out For Dark Skies
• Carrion / All In It
• Remember Me
• Waving Flags
• Skua

To some extent I can understand why reviewers are so positive about this album. Maybe due to lockdown, the band maturing, or their producer Graham Sutton. There’s a sonic depth maybe missing from other albums. It is a great album. But for me, Sea Power songs live in the live arena and most of these songs haven’t had a live airing. With their last album, songs I wasn’t keen on, became a different beast live. Let us be clear , there are no bad Sea Power albums and this album will have to prove itself live and with it being arguably their most ‘studio album’, I have to admit I had some doubts if this would be the case.

I shouldn’t have.

Tonight at their ‘in-store’ performance at Pryzm for Banquet Records, Sea Power, minus Abi, played eight songs from the new album. All sounding great live. The most ‘studio’ of their new album, ‘Scaring At The Sky’ was one of those omitted. (I really hope it gets an outing at some point). Everything else didn’t seem to suffer from the move from the studio.

Working out which songs might become a stable track on future tours is difficult. Doppelgänger, Two Fingers and Green Goddess are ‘bangers’ and proved themselves on their brief October tour. But Sea Power have a lot of ‘bangers’ from previous albums they don’t play. Lakeland Echo has already captured the hearts of many Sea Power fans and is an incredibly beautiful track and sounded great live. I suspect this might feature irregularly on set lists. My favourite, ‘We Only Want To Make You Happy’ I don’t think is destined to find a place in the set, despite sounding great live.

So what do I think might end up in a Sea Power set?

Doppelgänger has a great energy that could sit mid set after a quieter number. But it has similarities to several songs from earlier albums and I suspect won’t last beyond the album’s tour. Lakeland Echo I think will end up on set lists. It’s too beautiful not to be played regularly. Two Fingers sounds great live and I think will end up getting regular future outings. I have a sneaking feeling Transmitter might end up on set lists. With a short guitar solo, I thought Martin especially enjoyed playing this. And many fans think this is the best song on the album. I hope Green Goddess doesn’t. It actually sounds great live, but it will depose other similar tracks. Other tracks have tracks on earlier albums bring similar energy to the set and the familiar will trump them. I’m really hoping at this summer’s Krankenhaus festival, Sea Power will play a set or rarities, as there’s so many good songs that never get played. (A big plea for Bear)

I’m really glad I made tonight’s gig. I suspect many didn’t. I was close to turning around. After storm Eunice, my line into London opened and regular trains were starting to run on a reduced service. My train app suggested I could get to Kingston and back without any serious delays. So I decided to head into London. Stupidly I didn’t check the stations I needed to use. On the way in, I checked Waterloo and Vauxhall. ‘Cancelled’. It was if the lines to Kingston has said something controversial. Storm Eunice had seemingly blocked all train lines out of Waterloo. While I could get to Kingston via underground and bus. Getting home after the gig was clearly going to to be a problem as the train company announced there would be no trains for the rest of the day. I sat at Farringdon for about an hour weighing up the options. Wait for the next train and head home and maybe try and drive to the gig? In the end I decided to book a Travelodge and worry about getting home tomorrow. I’m so glad I did.

Mixed amongst the tracks were ‘bangers’ from other albums. Opening with the beautiful ‘Heavenly Waters’ seemed right. It could easily sit with this new album. As always, the simply perfect The Great Skua closed the show. Phil added some beautiful extra texture to the ‘The Lonely’ that hopefully will see future airings. But justifying the trip, my perfect song, ‘Lately’ found its way onto tonight’s set. At over ten minutes long, it understandably doesn’t get many airings. But for me, it is the seminal Sea Power track. Everything they became is in that track.

I find it hard to describe why I love this band so much. I guess their mixing of musical styles with idiosyncratic topics, tickles my sensibility. I often wonder why the band aren’t bigger. But looking at tonight’s set list. Is too much to ask an audience to enjoy the slow pace and spatial ‘Lake Land Echo’ after the high energy Doppelgänger? Maybe? There has to be a reason why Sea Power aren’t the biggest band in the country. But at the end of the day. I don’t care. For me, there is no better band than Sea Power. Round two on Monday.

Set List

• Heavenly Water
• Transmitter
• Two Fingers
• Fire Escape in the Sea
• Doppleganger
• Lakeland Echo
• Folly
• Green Goddess
• We Only Want To Make You Happy
• The Lonely
• Remember Me
• Lately
• Waving Flags
• The Great Skua

From a COVID perspective, the O2 venue, what I assume was the old Leicester University Students’ Union, felt much safer. The smaller audience and big open doors straight into the venue meant it felt much safer than the previous night

Pale Blue Eyes again warmed up the audience

Tonight’s set had a few minor tweaks. New song Doppelgänger was switched out for Green Goddess. North Hanging Rock was dropped and Fire Escapes was swapped in for We Only Want To Make You Happy. I think last night’s set worked better. But it was good to hear more new songs.

Set List

• Heavenly Waters
• Machineries of Joy
• Larsen B
• Green Goddess
• Spring Has Sprung
• What You’re Doing
• The Lonely
• Two Fingers
• Lights Out For Darker Skies
• Fire Escapes
• Folly
• Lucifer
• Bad Bohemian
• Remember Me
• Carrion
• All In It
• A Trip Out
• Waving Flags
• The Great Skua

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Set List

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

The castle in question turned out to be Muncaster Castle and as expected, it was in the middle of nowhere at the edge of the Lake District and very little local accommodation. So despite my usual ‘no tents’ music festival policy, there was no way I was going to miss this festival and I am so glad I didn’t. The festival was nearly perfect, simply like minded people getting together to celebrate the band we all love.

As you might expect from a British Sea Power festival, it wasn’t your normal festival featuring lots of ‘very British Sea Power’ things, such as birds of prey displays, hikes across the fells, miniature railways, bingo (Bo Ningen style), book readings, a poet laureate and very appropriate heron feeding

The event actually didn’t take place in the castle itself, but a farmer’s barn next to the castle’s entrance. I arrived fairly early to find a much better organised setup than I expected. Martin had brought up Brighton Dome’s light and sound engineer and they had worked hard to setup a professional stage with good sound. Even the castle owners mucked in to make sure everything went smoothly, with the husband of the castle’s Lady and her children helping out.

It was also unusual for a festival in that prices were reasonable and facilities decent. Access to the Castle grounds and a tour of the castle was included in the ticket price. This meant we had access to the castle’s cafe and toilets. So hot water and cooked breakfast’s were available every day. Also, the castle’s information centre was right next to camp site and this had proper toilets with hot running water! The only issue was the shower available was best described as ‘makeshift’ and most of us avoided using it. Instead using the hot water in the toilets for a flannel wash. But all in all. Much better than I expected, and much less smelly too.

From a music perspective, the lineup was fairly light in terms of artists but full of quality with the likes of Snapped Ankles, Bo Ningen, and Squid. British Sea Power also played a set each day. Effectively, the festival was two full days spread over three days, starting Friday evening and finished early Sunday evening.

Penelope Isles opened the music. They have supported British Sea Power and are a pleasant way to open the festival.

Next up were one of my favourites of 2019. The excellent Squid. Squid have an anarchic but fun punk sound. Oddly, they elected to play pretty much all new stuff which made me happy as I had seen them before, but despite this, they seemed to get a positive reaction from the early festival crowd.

Lost Map, with their close connection to British Sea Power had a big influence over the festival providing several artists for the lineup. First up was Rozi Plain. Rozi is a great artist. I have to admit, I didn’t buy into her when I first heard her, but she has grown on me the more I’ve seen her and listened to her music (I think I’ve just mellowed into her sound). She writes great catchy indie folk pop tunes.

The next band didn’t work for me and were the only miss-step of the festival, DSM. I just didn’t get them. It was time for a (cheap) pint and some food.

Pictish Trail was next. I’ve photographed him a few times for Daylight Music and he’s a bloody nice guy. If you’ve never seen Pictish Trail, you need to. Johnny Pictish is a such a charismatic host who welcomes you into his wonderful surreal world. Tonight was no different.

British Sea Power play a set each evening three nights. There were basically a walk through the some of corridors of their vast back catalogue. Friday and Saturday’s set, pretty much playing to a captive audience and Sunday’s set, a low key set of some of their more rarely played songs. They played pretty much everything I wanted to hear, including my favourite song, Lately. So I was very happy.

Closing the evening was a DJ set from the Poet Laureate, Simon Ermitage and a set from the UK’s ‘premier Jonathan Richman covers band’, The Modern Lovers – featuring many familiar faces.

Day 2

Day 2 started with a walk around the castle’s garden and a very informative guided tour of the castle by members of the Pennington family who’ve lived at the castle for 800 years. So they know a little bit about it’s history!

Early afternoon activities were focused on the castle’s music room(?) for a performance by Last Map’s Callum Easter, a reading from Luke Turner with musical accompaniment, and a interview with author David Keenan. Oh, and a display of the castle’s Birds of Prey!

The evening’s music was pretty much spot on. Opening the evening was the delightful Celestial North featuring BSP’s Woody and his wife. A fun bingo session with Bo Ningen adding a touch of psychedelia to bingo. A interesting chat with Joy Division’s Stephen Morris. A fantastic poetry reading by Simon Armitage. The excellent Mr Ben and the Bens and full set by Bo Ningen and British Sea Power.

Closing the evening were Snapped Ankles. New to many in the audience, I had seen them several times and was looking forward to seeing them. You have to see this band live. They’re such a great live band. Dressed as shamans, they mix all kinds of primal rhythms to create an infectious sound that you can’t help but get caught up in.

Closing the evening was Steve Davis spinning some discs. Yes, I do mean that Steve Davis. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people being so excited to meet a celebrity. Although, to be honest, his set was a bit heavy going and eventually drove people back to their tents!

Day 3

Like all festivals, day 3 started with a short trip on a miniature railway followed by a six mile hike across the Cumbrian fells!

While I do a lot of walking, I’m pretty much an urban (London) rambler. So this was a bit more difficult than my normal walks. I stupidly decided to carry my camera bag. Luckily, I’d lightened the load a little. But it was harder work than I expected.

Oddly the festival’s final day had an early finish with a BSP short set closing the day at about 7pm. This left be in a quandary as to whether I should stay one more night or try and make the long drive back. Before that however, there was still some interesting music from My Little Brother, Will Burn and Hannah Peel, BSP side project – Slow Tree and Steve Davis’s own excellent band, Utopia Strong.

In the end, I decided to head off home. For pretty much the whole weekend, it was difficult to get a Three signal except for in some selected places. However, when I managed to get a signal, it appeared that there was a weather front moving in. I had hoped the bar would have stayed open after the BSP finished, but pretty much everything closed as BSP’s set finished and I didn’t fancy sitting in a tent in the rain, so I quickly packed (broke) my tent and cut my losses heading across the Pennines to my parents rather than risking driving several extra hours to my home.

But despite this blip at the end of the festival. The whole weekend felt like a renewal. My parents knew I’d enjoyed myself as they said they could hear the enthusiasm in my voice as I talked about the weekend, even when talking about the few negatives!

Pretty much everything went well. Even when the toilets next to the barn had to be closed, the Castle team managed to get more delivered to the site late on a Saturday night. (I guess it has bonuses living in a castle!) It was great to see BSP and fans bring their families and dogs along giving the festival a relaxed feeling. Compared to my usual festival where I’m rushing around between venues trying to catch as many bands as possible, this festival just happened at it’s own pace and gave me a much needed boost.

Hopefully, I won’t have to wait as long for the next Krankenhaus!

An intimate, stripped back British Sea Power (Brighton contingent) played a sell-out Lexington. Minus the Northern contingent Martin had to play drums alongside guitar which gave well loved songs a new dynamic. A great Christmas gift from BSP

Artists I liked

Spring King, Fizzy Blood, Nadine Shah, Ezra Furman x2, Abjects, Colleen Green, Hookworms, Soliloquy, Protection Spells, The Orielles x2, British Sea Power x3, Gurr, Mr Ben and the Bens, The Lovely Eggs, Matt Emery, Poppy Ackroyd, The Blinders, The Solo Collective,

Artists that were okay

Blushes, Alice Phelps, Tiny Leaves, Bennet Wilson Poole, Grawl!x, Penelope Isles, DunningWebsterUnderwood, Phobophobes,

Artists I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Cozy, Zkeletonz

Best Gig

It was a good month for gigs. British Sea Power are always good value. Ezra Furman played a fantastic two hour set at the Lexington. But I’ll have to give it to Nadine Shah at the Roundhouse. She stepped up to the occasion and proved that she can play any size of venue

Best new artist

There wasn’t any outstanding new bands this month.

Albums of the Month

• Twin Fantasy – Car Seat Headrest
• Silver Dollar Moment – The Orielles
• Basic Behaviour – FRIGS
• Resolve – Poppy Ackroyd
• This is Eggland – The Lovely Eggs
• Microshift – The Hookworms
• Transangelic Exodus – Ezra Furman

Best photo

Artists I liked

Hotel Lux, Drahla, Shame, Hussy, Lucia, The Band Of Holy Joy, Warmdusher, Honeyblood, The Horrors, Snapped Ankles, Desperate Journalist, She Drew A Gun, Pulled Apart By Horses, British Sea Power, Koyo,  Yonaka, Gang Of Four, Peter Hook and the Light, Helen McCookerybook, Jo Quail, Myrkur, SKiNNY MiLK, Dronningen, Dream Wife, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Artists that were okay

Yowl, Crosa Rosa, Melt Dunes, Moderate Rebels, Soccer Mummy, Sweaty Palms, Scoundrel

Artists I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Crewel Intentions, Chemtrails, God Colony, The Orb, Lower Slaughter, Drug Store Romeos, Eyrie Leiu, Alabama Three, Judy Dyble and Andy Lewis

Best Gig

January was actually a decent start to the year. The Rockaway Beach festival was a good way to start a new year. Next year it needs more acts. But it was a good break. But there was one outstanding gig this month. Myrkur at St John on Bethnal Green was simply stunning. A perfect location for folk gothic folk music.

Best new artist

I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy Peter Hook. I thought it might be a bit karaoke. But he was really good.

Best photo