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Latitude, Day 3

From Latitude 2011

Sunday started somewhat brighter than the previous day, although the mud was still as sticky as ever. We managed to meet up with Jessica and co for the first act of the day, a Belgian choir by the name of Scala. A bit like an evolved version of Rock Choir, performing covers of rock and pop songs, together with some more ethereal numbers - very pleasant indeed. Next up for me was Carl Barât, who performed some crowd pleasing Libertines hits as well as some of his solo material.

Time then for an ice cream break, in the rain, whilst waiting for the Waterboys to come on. This was a very competent set, but it did not really get the crowd dancing around as much as I would have thought, given the Celtic exuberance of their songs.

After a visit to the Literary Arena, it was time to head back to the Word Arena for Lykke Li, followed by a performance from the reformed OMD. This was one of the highlights of the festival, for me at least, and judging by the reception they got as they stormed through 15 of their 'hit singles', this hit the spot for many others in the crowd who wanted to relive their '80s synth-pop youth.

Back in the Obelisk Arena, it was time for Hurts, who I previously knew nothing about. We were treated to some more anthemic synth-pop, delivered with a very sumptuous, but slightly weird, staging. A couple of their songs were familiar from somewhere, and they clearly had their fans in the crowd. Interesting.

Not being too keen on the head-liners, Suede, I decided to watch the Eels for my final musical event of the festival. They put on a great show, running through a selection from their back catalog, and everyone went away happy.

Overall impressions from Latitude this year: an enjoyable three days, in spite of the wet weather. It was good to see live performances from some of the older bands who I had up to then only heard on record, but unlike previous year's festivals, I did not 'discover' any new act that I really wanted to add to my play list. Latitude still fills an important niche in the festival calendar, and continues to provide entertainment that appeals as mush to oldies like me as it does to Jessica's generation. It manages to do all this whilst being on a more manageable scale than, say, Glastonbury.

Latitude, Day 2

From Latitude 2011

The weather forecasters got it right. The rain arrived on Saturday morning and continued off and on pretty much all day. Luckily most of the Latitude site is well drained, so the resulting mud did not attain Glastonbury proportions, except in Tangerine Fields, where we had paid a small fortune for supposedly up-market facilities. But one of the good things about Latitude is the fact that all but a couple of the events are held in tents, so there is plenty of opportunity to keep dry.

I started my musical day with They Might be Giants, whose quirky songs some of you may recall from the '80s. Then into the Word tent to take in British Sea Power performing a lively set, which was hard to pin down stylistically, but was suitably epic in proportion.

Back outside again in the Obelisk Arena to see Seasick Steve, and the sun! A great performance of his own unique take on the blues, accompanied by ex Led Zep, John Paul Jones, on bass and mandolin. Some wonderfully dodgy home made guitars in evidence, but an amazing sound. Next up a band that I did not really know much about before hand: The Cribs. Not quite my thing, but entertaining enough anyway.

After some fine fish and chips, it was time to see Echo and the Bunnymen. I had not really been a great fan first time around, but on the basis of this performance I had to revise my opinion. They certainly have a few good tunes up there sleeve. I was not too bothered about seeing the day's head-liner, Paulo Nutini, on the main stage, and opted instead to see the Foals again (having previously been very impressed by their performance in Hyde Park a couple of weeks earlier). This time around their show was, if anything, even more manic than before and clearly a massive crowd pleaser.

We rounded off our evening with a visit to the Poetry Arena to see the amazing hop-hop poet, Kate Tempest, in action. She certainly knows how to string words together in a rhythmic stream-of-conciousness outburst that bowls you over.

Latitude, Day 1

From Latitude 2011

Well, day 1 for us at least. The Latitude Festival actually runs over four days and was already one day into its programme by the time we arrived on the Friday. No need to pitch a tent on this occasion as we had booked a pre-pitched tent at Tangerine Fields. So we just needed to inflate the air bed and don shorts and sunglasses before setting off to the arena, where we managed to meet up with Jessica and her friends without too much difficulty. We knew in advance that we would need to make the best of Friday's sunny weather, as the forecast for the rest of the weekend was pretty dire.

First up (for us) was a lively set from KT Tunstall. Not sure why she was not higher up in the bill as she has quite a strong pedigree on the festival circuit. Next on the bill was Bright Eyes: some nice tunes but spoilt by a rather pretentious performance from Connor Oberst.

Time then to move over to the Word tent where I took in an excellent performance from The Vaccines. Having now seen them at Hyde Park and Latitude, and listened to their début album a few times, I can confidently predict that they will be massive by 2012.

Back to the Obelisk Arena for the night's head-liners, The National. I was not really that familiar with their material up to now, but their set was enjoyable enough nevertheless, and the rest of the crowd seemed to be very appreciative. I have to say, writing this now, I can't remember as single one of their songs, but still, it was a good end to a good day.

Except, of course, that the day doesn't end with the main sage acts, as there is an abundance of other things going on at Latitude, including cabaret, poetry and later in the early hours, various dance stages crank up their sound systems to +11, to entertain the youngsters until dawn.

Get Rocking at the Boileroom, Guildford

From Get Rocking

At last our big day, and our chance to show our nearest and dearest that we are, after all, rock gods!

First off, the Boileroom is an excellent live music venue, with a proper stage and sound system, and able to accommodate an audience of up to 200. I don't think the four Get Rocking bands performing on Thursday night managed to drum up quite that level of interest, but the place was certainly full enough to generate a great atmosphere for those of us performing. We were not told in advance what the running order would be for the night, which was a cunning tactic on the part of the organisers, designed to ensure that all the supporters of all four bans would be there throughout the evening. On arrival we were informed that our band, Crossroads, was on third - not too bad, as we didn't have to warm up the audience and would have time to wind down while the last band played.

I'll leave you to make your own judgements about the artistic merits of the various bands, which can be sampled on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/GetRockingGuildford.

Our set can perhaps best be described as a mixed bag, with one or two technical problems on a couple of songs, but apparently according to my two totally unbiased fan club members (Alison and Jessica) the last three numbers were not bad at all (considering, etc, etc). The main thing from our perspective was that we had a blast being up there on stage and having a fun time playing. The entire set of six songs seemed to be over in a flash, and we all felt that we could have carried on all night if we had been allowed to.

The whole Get Rocking experience over the past five weeks has been one of the best activities in which I have ever had the opportunity to participate, and I only wish that I had been able to find something like this ten years earlier. I will certainly be looking for the chance to continue with live performing as part of a group in the future.

Amsterdam (again)

From i-conX

Same city, different customer this time. But still no opportunity to get into town for a proper night out, although at least this time we were next to the Amstel rather than the airport! Maybe next time we'll make it there?

Rock Choir, Woking

You've seen the 'Choir That Rocked' on TV. Now its time for the real thing, live on stage at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking! Whilst I have been plugging away at trying to become a rock god over the past few weeks, Alison has quietly spent the last couple of years contributing to the phenomenon that is Rock Choir. Usually, she would be singing with her local Richmond choir, but the organizers thought it would be a good idea to schedule their performance for the Sunday that featured the Wimbledon mens' final and Pulp's reunion concert in Hyde Park (see previous blog). So rather than drop out altogether, Alison opted to join in with the Kingston choir who were scheduled to perform on the Monday. Fortunately, because of the fairly rigid format of the Rock Choir franchise, this was not a problem as the choirs all tend rehearse the same song each term.

So it was that I found myself on a Monday evening in the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, to witness at first hand the power of Rock Choir. And pretty impressive it was too. The enthusiasm of the performers really comes across and they mostly seemed to be enjoying themselves enormously. Alison's choir leader, Jim, even managed to get us audience members up on our feet clapping and doing some fancy moves - which are an integral part of the Rock Choir formula - along with the performers. A good night out.

Pulp, Hyde Park

From Pulp

As I said in my previous blog, this is a week jam packed with musical events. Today was day three of the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, and featured the return of the reformed Pulp as the headline act. I got the the venue somewhat late in the afternoon, having hot footed it from my Get Rocking rehearsal in Guildford earlier in the day. Nevertheless, I got there in time to see a couple of the support acts.

As I arrived, the Hives were kicking off their set. Personally, I found their materiel rather uninspired and the attempts of their front man to drum up enthusiasm from the crowd only made things worse. After meeting up with Alison and Tim, who had arrived earlier, we watched a set by TV on the Radio, who I had never really come across before now. Very enjoyable for this sort of occasion anyway. We all agreed to give Grace Jones a miss on the main stage, and in stead head over to catch the Foals at the adjacent Pepsi Max stage. That turned out to be a good choice, and we were able to enjoy their evocative and atmospheric performance whilst sipping ice cold mohitos.

Finally back to the main stage for the head-liners. We pushed as far into the dense crowd as we dared and prepared to be entertained. When the band came on stage, the whole crowd went wild, and things were pretty manic from then on. One puzzling thing, to me at least, is that much of the audience was too young to have been aware of Pulp the first time around in the early '90s, and the band have not been in play for many years up until their recent reformation. So how come the crowd all seemed to know the words to the entire Pulp repertoire? Most of the band were looking their age, except for Jarvis, who had always seemed a bit middle aged anyway. Paradoxically, and in spite of his beard, he was now the most youthful looking, and clearly still able to prance around the stage and climb precariously on the speakers.

The staging was pretty impressive, with some spectacular lighting effects and giant bursts of confetti at various points in the set, which predictably ended with their classic: Common People. This was the cue for the whole crowd to go absolutely berserk. A great end to a great show.

Arcade Fire, Hyde Park

From Arcade Fire

Today marked the start of a week that is going to be a veritable musical banquet. First off was Arcade Fire, taking advantage of the summer arena set up in Hyde Park for the Wireless Festival and other events. We had seen them towards the end of last year when they played at the O2. That had been quite an impressive performance, although their stage act had not really caught up with the scale of the venue.

But first, a few words about the support acts, which were possible Arcade Fire's own choice. We got to see some high energy performances for the Vixens, Beirut, and Mumford and Sons. The latter have really grown in stature since we saw them last year at Latitude, and are now more than capable of entertaining a large festival crowd on their own.

As an aside, the people who run the Hyde Park arena seem to have got drink vending off to a fine art, with the use of impressive production line techniques to serve beer rapidly to the masses. Unfortunately, the same organisers seem not to have realised that what goes in must at some point in time come out. That point came at the break between the support acts and the head-liners, when the queues for the loos reached epic proportions, thanks in part to woeful under-provision of male urinals, which would have freed up the portaloos for the ladies. In the end, many could not wait, with rather damp consequences for the ground around the perimeter fence.

Arcade Fire were with waiting for, and delivered an intense set that the appreciative crowd aah-ing and ooh-ing along with the bands more anthemic songs. Although their stage act is not particular elaborate, they still mange to keep up the interest levels by the constant rotation of band members from one instrument to another. A very versatile bunch indeed.

Arcade Fire seem much better suited to the ambience of the Hyde Park venue, as compared to the O2, and we went home thoroughly entertained.