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

Dream Wife opened the evening and went down well with audience. They’ll definitely have won over a new crowd.

Likewise Shame didn’t do themselves any harm, with an excellent set.

Moving upstairs, the Magic Gang were up next. They’re a decent fun band.

I find Spring King a bit hit and miss. They’re never bad. But sometimes I find them a bit bland. Usually it relates to the size of stage. I think it’s because their drummer is the singer. It’s fine in a small location. But in a big location there’s no ‘presence’. Tonight was a better gig. But I wish they had a traditional singer who can hold my attention

Closing the evening were one of my personal favourites, the Wytches. As expected they were on form and the young audience really went for it adding to a great atmosphere. The Wytches new material wasn’t quiet up to the material off their first album, sounding more ‘metal’ than the ‘Nirvana’. But they sound great on a big stage

Wind on two years and after many storming festival sets, the release of their first album and Radio 1 airplay, the band are now a different proposition. Clearly they are much bigger than a tiny room in St Albans. Tonight’s gig proved that. Playing a sell-out Kentish Town Forum, the two lads are in no way phased by their top of the bill status. Showing the same attitude they showed in St Albans, they had the crowd bouncing right from the off with a very high energy set that left the crowd wanting more.

Support on the evening was from Spring King and Wonk Unit.

Wonk Unit

Spring King

Overall, I thought it was pretty decent value, the weather was good and it wasn’t overcrowded. So I was pleasantly surprised by the festival. So what was the music like?

I started the day with another performance by Ex Hex. As always, it was good simple rock and roll, played well.

Next up were the Allah-las. Never seen them before. They were pleasant enough but just didn’t grab me. They were a little unfair though. They played into the setup time for Viet Cong, despite receiving the signal to wind up. So black mark against them.

The Field Day site has a number of stages. Two big stages and then a few small stages. One of the small stages was sponsored by Jaegermeister and featured Tough Love.

I like this band. They’ve got some really good songs. But they both come across as really nice people and their good stuff, is really good.

Tuff Love

Tuff Love

Another band that won me over simply because they appeared to be nice people, were Spring King. I think I saw them at the Great Escape and wasn’t impressed. They were playing quiet a big stand and the music all seemed to be pretty run of the mill – and it is. But on a small stage, they interacted with the crowd with a nice line of self-deprecating humour they put in a really frantic performance that wasn’t short changing anyone.

Spring King

Spring King

Spring King

The Field Day site is pretty compact. So it’s easy to wander around between stages so I wandered between stages on the way to catch the end of Matthew E. White. Nothing, including Matthew, particularly interested me.

??

Matthew E. White

As I was bouncing between stages, I ended up back at the Jaegermeister venue. A band called Whilk and Misky were setting up. I took one look at them and decided that I wasn’t going to like them. Too hipster for me. They also had a bunch of arseholes hanging around them. Clearly friends, all drunk and full of themselves, in the ‘we’re friends of the band’ type way you regularly see. (Friends of bands can be the worst audience. They’ve seen the band before, so think it’s fine to mess around or talk and shout through the set – this group were this type of friend). I really was going to move on. They just looked like a band I’d dislike. But then the singer started playing and singing. He’s got a pretty decent voice. It’s got a nice bluesy tone to it. They mix the guitar with the keyboards adding some interesting rhythms. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t like everything they did. I preferred the songs with which felt more bluesy. But they were watchable.

As I was only really here for the Savages. I decided it was time to get my place at the front for their gig. This ‘unfortunately’ meant watching the Hookworms. 🙂 However, the tent appeared remarkably quiet to say the Hookworms were playing. It was only now that I realised that the Hookworms had cancelled due to illness. Their replacements, the Ducktails were unfortunately one of those bands that are really bad, not because they’ve written bad music, but because they’ve written music of absolutely no interest. Music that’s just bland. Their performances, didn’t help either. They didn’t seem to be anymore interested by their own music than we were. I really couldn’t wait for the music to be over because at least the Shacklewell’s DJs had been playing decent music.

Thankfully, the Savages woke me from my slumber. As you would now expect for a band that have spent the last two years building a reputation around their live performances, they were fantastic. Coming armed with new songs, and their now formidable stage presence. They blasted their way through a great 1 hour set. The 10 minutes long Fuckers is now really becoming one of the highlights of their set. Their new material was heavier and at least on first listen, feels less textured than some of their best material. But it probably just needs some bedding down. Fuckers felt like that the first time they played it and now it’s one of their strongest songs. So it bodes well for the new album.

As always, they put in 100%. Jenny was her usual self, talking to the crowd throughout the set but in a way that only she does. Where you know if you say something wrong, you might get a well directed DM aimed at a delicate body part. The rest of the band played to their usual high standard. The rhythm section (one of the strongest around) underpinning the Gemma’s swirling guitar sound. They really are a band where every cog fits. They even use the lighting really effectively to enhance their sound with stark lighting, with very little colour, just strong white lights with the odd yellow highlighter and smoke. A great festival set.

After the Savages storming set. It was time to head off. There was only Ride still playing and after the Savages, they seemed even more bland that at Primavera. But can’t complain. Not a bad day.

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