Tag: Electric Soft Parade

Leeds Festival 2002

After attending one day of the 2001 festival, we decided to go and complete the full Monty of all three days of the 2002 event. As stated previously we have never actually camped at a festival and this time stayed at the Hilton in the city centre. This allowed us to swerve the unrest involving burning down the toilet blocks that occurred at the end of the festival, because of this incident it was the last event to take place at Temple Newsam before moving to its current home of Bramham Park.

Uncle George, Gill and I undertook the three days while John Dewhurst and his then partner attended Day 1 and Day 3 while Tony Dewhurst was at Day 2 and Day 3. After a couple of drinks, we headed out to the site on the Friday and despite it being a large site it was chaotically busy. We encountered School of Rock and his pals who were in residence at the Bacardi Tent.

The first band we focused on was Slipknot who were fourth on the bill on the main stage. We obtained a decent vantage point and as it was the first time I had witnessed them their full circus glory was abundantly fresh and their potty mouthed antics and the ascending rotating drum kit a sight to behold and they created a decent racket to boot. Following them we caught the Prodigy and the Snuff band wannabees the Offspring and their hit ’Pretty Fly for a White Guy’. On other stages we witnessed, And They Shall Know us by the Trail of Dead and Spiritualized.

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Leeds Festival 2002 Line Up. Image Credit pulpwiki.net

The overall headliners that day were Guns N Roses who were playing the Leeds site only. In their inimitable style they were over an hour late hitting the stage, no doubt inflicting migraines on the organisers in relation to time curfews. By this point we were heading for the bus but could hear their bombastic sound in the distance.     

On day 2, we arrived deliberately early for a 4.00pm main stage slot by my band of the weekend the White Stripes. I had missed an opportunity to see them at the tiny Manchester Roadhouse venue the previous year which was a regret so made doubly sure I was there this time and it turned out to be the only time I managed to witness them.

We spent 20 minutes wending our way through the huge crowd right from the top of the hill to about Row 10 in front of the stage. They did not disappoint and were a compelling spectacle and created such an almighty racket for a two-piece. Jack White’s voice was nothing less than astonishing and was reminiscent of a young Frank Black when I initially saw the Pixies at Manchester International 1 in 1988. As we headed away from the stage we heard Sports Report on a radio playing at a burger van which informed us that PNE had won, so all was well in the world, and it was time for another overpriced cool beer!     

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White Stripes on stage. Image Credit guitar.com

We also caught The Vines, Electric Soft Parade, Feeder, Weezer, Pulp, Jane’s Addiction and the first track of the Strokes set with Julian Casablancas hobbling on in a cast after an accident at a recent gig. I wanted to catch the Reindeer Section, a super group consisting of members of Snow Patrol, Mogwai and Arab Strap. However, when we reached the tent, it was evident that their set was cancelled, and we saw a screechy much inferior band called Vendetta Red instead. The numerous white robed members of Polyphonic Spree squeezing onto a very small stage were also an interesting spectacle.   

The following morning in the lounge area of the hotel we encountered Grant Nicholas, so it was a ‘breakfast with Feeder moment’ prior to them setting off to the Reading slot. Other bands I witnessed over the weekend were Dandy Warhols, Ash, Sum 41, Hives, Haven, Jimmy Eat World, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Cooper Temple Clause, Rival Schools, Easyworld, Bobby Conn, Princess Superstar, Span, International Noise Conspiracy, Ben Kweller, The Streets, Spunge, No Use For A Name, Face To Face, Lo-Fidelity Allstars and Sick Of It All.     

I saw about 20 minutes of Muse’s grandiose set whilst standing on the hill queuing up for some tea. I made one major discovery when I witnessed the sublime British Sea Power for the first time in one of the side tents. They were in their first World War garb and foliage stage of their career, and they were terrific live, and I have seen them many times since.

The weekend ended with us walking to the transport pick up point and the musical accompaniment en route was the headliners Foo Fighters playing their finest track ‘Monkey Wrench’.

Preston Venue 23 The Mill – Part 2

For the three-year golden period of 2003 -2005 at the Mill, I was living a handy 15-minute stroll away at Lane Ends, and post gig would happily tumble up Tulketh Brow or Shelley Road in a warm glow after a top night of music.

I had a very noisy double bill of gigs at the tail end of 2003, the first being the old influential stalwarts Killing Joke who formed in Notting Hill in 1979. I was in attendance with super fan Tony Dewhurst who has seen them over 100 times. I recall Tony saying he had a chat with lead singer Jaz Coleman that night and there was a possibility Tony could be hired to write his autobiography, but the interesting offer never reached fruition. They produced a very noisy industrial set.

The second was the Irish punk band Therapy? and I recall them playing their cover of Husker Du’s Diana.

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Therapy? Promo picture. Image Credit conversationabouther.net

In between those two gigs, I saw Brighton band Electric Soft Parade who I had picked up on initially from their stellar debut album ‘Holes in the Wall’ which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. They were very accomplished and enjoyable on the night.  

Next up in April 2004 was to see Marky Ramone. Originally born Mark Steven Bell he was originally a drummer for Richard Hell and the Voidoids. When Tommy Ramone stopped drumming to become the manager in 1978, he stepped in as the new drummer and changed his name to Marky Ramone. The show consisted of a slide presentation talk with Q&A which was amusing as had a bone-dry wit and there were many Ramones tales to impart. The second part consisted of playing a selection of Ramone songs drumming behind of UK Subs, which was the weaker portion of the evening’s events.  

In April 2004, I saw a Cardiff post-hardcore band called Mclusky led by Andrew Falkous and they produced an urgent slab of noisy rock. After the band split up Falkous created the bands Jarcrew and Future of the Left, I was a fan of the latter band’s off-kilter sound. The support bands on the night were Papa Boon and My Code Name is Milo.

On a very warm Friday night during Euro 2004 we sauntered down to watch Longview, an indie rock band from Manchester. They had formed in 2002 and honed their craft with many gigs at the Night and Day café. They also had the German musician/record producer Ulrich Schnauss in their ranks from 2005 to 2010. Remarkably despite them being in existence for 12 years they only ever produced one album. I recall they were very melodic in the mould of Nada Surf with House of Love tinted vocals and were a perfect summer night band. Just listening to their music now and it still sounds remarkably fresh.

Five months later I saw Hope of the States, a post rock band from Chichester. They were good value and were supported by The Open. When the headline band subsequently disbanded the members ventured into bands such as The Northwestern and Chapel Club.

In March 2005 a group of us went to a multi punk bill and we saw Mere Dead Men (MDM) and Broken Bones who evolved from the band Discharge. Also, on the bill was the local punk legends Pike, one of seven times I have seen them. I recall they played a rarely heard cover of a Naked Prey track, which I think was ‘Train Whistle Blows’ from their lost gem album ‘Under the Blue Marlin’.  Naked Prey were from Tucson, Arizona and in the desert rock genre and subsequently were members of Green on Red and Giant Sand and you can hear distinct similarities in their sounds.  If I have got the name wrong of the covered track, I am sure Pike’s bassist and music encyclopaedist Jez Catlow will graciously correct me!

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Naked Prey ‘Under the Blue Marlin’. Image Credit Amazon.

In the gap between bands, we headed up to the local pub Moss Cottage, known as the Hogshead for an aperitif before returning to see the headliners Conflict, who formed in Eltham in South London in 1981. They were always combative souls and highlighted issues around animal rights, anarchism and class war. During their gigs in the 80’s in the particularly dark days of Thatcherism they regularly stoked up the crowd leading to riots and disturbances post-gig. Even 25 years on, they still cut an aggressive and spiky presence on stage.