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.

So who did I manage to see?

Ella vs Mountain – sounded nice. But hard to tell as she was playing the tent in the hub and there was a lot of noise

Black City Lights – DJ and singer. Not my cup of tea

The Darlingtons – energetic midday set from these guys

French for Rabbits – nice kick-back with a beer on a sunny day type music

John J Presley – excellent set from one of my current favourites

September Girls – only caught the last two songs. But sounded excellent

Baby Strange – didn’t work for me.

Telegram – seen these guys before and again I was impressed by them

Esben and the Witch – listened to most their set from the street but managed to catch two songs. Sounded really good. Have to catch them again

Wytches – despite sound issues, another great set

Deathcrush – didn’t ‘get’ these girls. Lots of noise and shouting but nothing that grabbed me

Theo Verney – enjoyable set

Scott and Charlene’s wedding – don’t take themselves too seriously and seemed to be having a good time, as were the crowd

Barbarossa – not my cup of tea

Gavin James – hard to judge. Quiet music, but people were talking near me so I left

Femme – Seemed to be three girls dancing to a backing tape. I quickly moved on to the next venue

Serfina Steer – multi instruments uncluding a harp. Quiet nice laid back music

Syd Arthur – was looking forward to seeing these guys as I’d heard they were good. Just didn’t grab me at all

Public Acess TV – enjoyable set

Brawlers – energetic set that seemed to go down well.

Gnarlwolves – punk sound but nothing particularly interesting

N’Shukugawa Boys

N’Shukugawa Boys

N’Shukugawa Boys

N’Shukugawa Boys

Telegram

Telegram

Bo Ningen

Bo Ningen

Bo Ningen