Tag: Polyphonic Spree

2023 Gigs – Part 2

This week I will complete the tale of gigs in 2023. In April I returned to the comforting environs of the Sounds from the Other City festival in Salford. In the Manchester Islington Mill Club I saw a local punky trio called Ether Mech. We then headed onto Manchester Pint Pot (downstairs) where I encountered Is33n (pronounced i-seen), an artist who has been supported by the Brighter Sound musical enterprise. Also, I saw Caitlin LM who doubles as an artist and music producer, and she had a chilled electronic vibe.

Up the steps I traversed into Manchester Pint Pot (upstairs) where I witnessed Spencer Cullum, a folk musician originally from Romford who relocated to Nashville to learn the ways of the ‘steel pedal’, to me one of the most distinctive sounding instruments in the world of music. Also playing up there was the Brown Brogues, a noisy two-piece garage rock band from Manchester, their sound somewhat reminiscent of the Kills.    

Brown Brogues. Image Credit heymanchester.com

We then pottered on to Manchester Five Four Studios 2 to see DEK (full name Dream English Kid) who had an electronic shoegaze sound with the shimmering vocals provided by Hannah Cobb, and they have had support slots with KVB and Whitelands. I also just discovered rather excitingly that they derive from my hometown of ‘Proud’ Preston. Next door in Manchester Five Four Studios 1 I saw the composer and producer plus44kaligula.

Now, one of the inherent requirements if you are playing one of these festivals is not to be tardy when your time slot is due as the gaps between bands are sharp and the set windows are short. As we entered Manchester St Phillips Church a band called Max Fulcrum and the Win were doing the exact opposite of this requirement with a staggering amount of ‘faffing about’! The driving force of the large ensemble is Dominic Rose, previously front man of Fake Turins.

St Phillips Church. Image Credit manchestereveningnews.co.uk

There was I thinking they may produce a sonic racket in the mould of Polyphonic Spree or Arcade Fire, though when they finally started up, I was crushingly disappointed as they were a very limp proposition resulting in me heading for the exit whilst muttering darkly under my breath about time wasters!  The final gig that day took place at the hub of Manchester Bexley Square where an acoustic guitarist called Kid Katharsis took to the stage.

There were a couple of low level gigs featuring local artists at Manchester Albert Schloss and we also caught a singer/songwriter called Will Doolan whilst on a night out in Manchester Head of Steam in Didsbury Village. Additionally, I had a couple of bonus gigs at Manchester Thirsty Scholar whilst waiting for the train after attending other shows in the city.

On a steaming hot July Sunday, we headed to Manchester Castle for a novel late afternoon gig. In advance, we grabbed some late lunch at the nearby Blue Eyed Panda Chinese restaurant in Ancoats. Whilst there I was checking on periodically on score flashes on Carlos Alcaraz’s dramatic win in the Wimbledon final taking place that day. The venue was busy and as a result it was ridiculously hot in there.

The support was a band called Supermilk who were originally in 2017 a solo project of Jake Popyura before moving into a full band formation from 2022. They were very enjoyable and engaging in a live setting. However, I have just picked up the very sad news that earliest this year Jake announced that he has a rare and terminal neurogenerative disorder.    

Supermilk. Image Credit cloutcloutclout.com

The headline act was Fortitude Valley who we had seen for the first time a year earlier, though I didn’t personally enjoy their performance as much on this occasion as I did at that thrilling first sighting.  

In September, Gill and I traversed over to the fair city of Lancaster with Marcus and Tris. Our destination was Lancaster Library for an afternoon show to witness Erland Cooper who was previously in The Magnetic North and Erland and the Carnival. He is a multi-instrumentalist producer from Orkney and incorporates a lot of nature aspects in his tunes. He gathered some publicity when he deleted all digital files and buried the only existing copy of his first album on the island and provided some treasure hunt clues which resulted in two chaps discovering them 18 months later.

He provided some lovely music but at times it was veering rather closely to being pretentious and self-indulgent. The support was a cellist from London called Midori Jaeger. Prior to the show we caught something more primal across the road in Lancaster John O Gaunt with music from Grunge God and Sheena.

We returned that way a month later for the Lancaster festival and visited Lancaster Jailor’s Barrel which is near the train station. It was previously known as the Robert Gillow but changed its name during the pandemic when they discovered that he was linked to the slave trade. On stage was a local acoustic guitarist called Keith Mitchell. Later that day I visited Lancaster Tap House where I saw Keith Riddle.

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’.