Tag: The Coral

Electric Fields Festival – Part 2

This week I shall continue the tale of our attendance at the 2018 Electric Fields Festival in Drumnlarig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway. It was a three-day event, but we decided to head up there for Days 2 and 3 which were the Friday and the Saturday thereby missing Orielles, Ride and James amongst others on the Thursday’s roster.

I now had an extra hour on my journey with the initial leg from Manchester to Preston where I picked up Jez Catlow and Uncle George en route. We then decamped at the Booths Café in Fulwood and nursed a cappuccino whilst awaiting John Dewhurst finishing work. We all then dived into John’s transit van with the additions of his brother’s Paul and Tony who were also in attendance.

Now, fate and timing had dealt us a kind hand due to the fact that Paul’s sister-in-law Bernie had recently opened up a bed and breakfast in Dumfries located centrally near the train station. She generously offered to provide lodgings and fed and watered us for the weekend, a lovely lady she was!   

The Electric Fields ‘Red Stripe’ posse. Image Credit Tony Dewhurst.

On arrival, we had a skelp around some of the town’s hostelries before jumping into a cab down to the festival entrance point. We slid down the hill and it was a green tinged and pretty location, and the weather was thankfully behaving itself.

They had pronounced themselves as being encompassed within the boutique festival category, and the set up reminded me of the Connect Festival I attended at Inverary Castle back in 2007. They also had the huge bonus of a real ale tent which provided a welcome alternative to the frothy Tennents Lager!

It was quite a small site, and the acts played across two areas, the Main Stage and BBC Introducing Stage. I have struggled to find a day bill listing so am going to rely on my memory as to who I think played each day.

First up were Out Lines who are on Mogwai’s Rock Action label and are a collaboration of Kathryn Joseph, producer Marcus Mackay and Twilight Sad’s James Graham and they had recorded their one and only album ‘Conflats’ the year before.

There was then some psych-pop from Hallo Maud, MC rapping from Lady Leshurr, indie rock from Soccer Mommy and ex Coventry University students Feet, hip hop from Edinburgh’s Young Fathers and a perennial festival appearance from The Coral.

I witnessed a decent country folk set from Tracyanne & Danny who were a collaborative project consisting of Tracyanne Campbell from Camera Obscura and Danny Coughlan from Crybaby. There was a fun performance from the old troubadours Idlewild who I was witnessing for the seventh time and then Teenage Fanclub who fitted into the day like your old Arran sweater!

The most enjoyable set of the day was from Public Service Broadcasting. They were in fine form and the best I have seen them, and they had just recently expanded their sound to include sporadic blasts of joyous brass which only enhanced the sonics of their performance. There were then some predictable taxi shenanigans, but we eventually made it back to our digs.   

On the Saturday we attended a couple of pubs on the other side of the river to make it easier for a tax pick up. In one hostelry there were a posse of disgruntled Queen of the South fans, Dumfries football team, who had left the nearby ground in disgust when they were 4-0 down to Ayr at half time!

Idles on stage. Image Credit www.pinterest.com

I saw a portion of the Horrors set and some rock/dance crossover sounds from Makeness which consists of a UK based producer called Kyle Molleson. The latter has recently had his biggest tour so far with a support slot with Unknown Mortal Orchestra. I also caught a noisy performance from Brighton band Black Honey and a couple of tracks from Noel Gallagher & the High Flying Birds on the Main Stage.  

My favourite three acts of the day were on the BBC Introducing Stage with first up being Baxter Dury. He has chiselled out of a music career for himself and moved away from being famous just for the fact that he was Ian’s son. Next on were Sunflower Bean, a three-piece from New York who I thoroughly enjoyed with their swirly sounds, reminding me of Fleetwood Mac and The Orielles.

 The undeniable highlight was Idles who are a proper throwback band with their socially conscious ethos, passion and glorious intensity. They pour everything into each performance and must be absolutely exhausted afterwards. The only downside was that we had already booked a cab for a specific time which resulted in only catching two thirds of their show, and I never yet seen them again!  

The New Bazaar. Image Credit cdlh.co.uk

The day’s music wasn’t finished though as when we landed back in town, we headed to Dumfries New Bazaar. The pub’s main claim to fame was that it was the location of the formation of the aforementioned Queen of the South and there is a plaque to commemorate that first formal meeting on 26th March 1919. On the night we saw a local band called Nearly Not Guilty which wrapped up nicely the weekend’s entertainment.

Liverpool Venues 17 to 20

I return this week to the endless plethora of Irish bars in Liverpool where live music seems to be taking place on a seemingly constant basis. First up I shall cover the Liverpool Irish House, which is located on the busy vibrant Ranelagh Street, residing next door to Lanigans Bar.  

It has a large main room with the traditional wood surrounds, complete with the scarf and flag adornments dotted all around the walls and ceilings. There was wall to wall sport showing on the multiple big screens and they also have regular live music taking place there and, on my visit, I saw a chap called Seamus playing on a small stage in the corner.  

Over on Great Charlotte Street you wouldfind Liverpool Nelly Foleys which is an archetypal faux décor Irish bar which consists primarily of one sizeable room and has the seemingly obligatory cheap drink offers. It is an eminently forgettable establishment with the dark spectre of karaoke also on its roster. I have visited just the once and I saw a chap called Freddie playing there.   

Nelly Foleys. Image Credit nearer.com

Also, on that old main drag you have Liverpool Grand Central Smokie Mo’s, part of a brand chain that has had a suite of branches around Liverpool ever since they were founded back in 2007. They are named after the owner Maureen Blackwell, who was already an established leisure industry operator.

She also has been commendably responsible for setting up the Top of Town cards scheme which issued out over 35,000 cards to local pensioners to enable them to be eligible to purchase cheaper drinks. To link the establishments together, it is worth noting that Mo is the daughter of the aforementioned Nelly Foley.

They had previous sites in the Mount Pleasant and Mathew Street areas before the Lord Mayor opened a larger venue in 2019 within the Grand Central complex, the location of which had previously housed the Barcelona Bar and Quiggins.

The new establishment encountered financial challenges as the landlady was involved in a long running £1.2m rent dispute concerning water issues and dry rot which had been encountered in the old building. It escalated at one stage in 2022 to her being locked out of the entire site when she returned one morning from buying the staff breakfast at the local Greggs, resulting most importantly in the bacon butties going cold!

The Smokie Mo’s joints are known for their American-themed layout and décor, and they stage drag queen nights and regular live music nights. On the evening of my visit there was a male vocalist on stage called Paul Gillies who plays there regularly.    

Post pandemic there was a Grand Central Irish Village created within the auspices of the Grade II listed Grand Central Hall on Renshaw Street. This contains the two previously mentioned bars and also incorporates Roe’s Bar and The Liffey.

New Century Picture House. Image Credit reddit.com

It originally opened as a Methodist church in 1905 and still contains the 100-year-old pipe organ. It also housed the New Century Picture Hall cinema and from 1933 to 1939 it was the temporary home of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra whilst their bespoke venue was being repaired after a fire.

The rental dispute referenced above subsequently resulted in the bars moving out of the village alongside the Grand Bazaar food hall. Thus, the modern-day complex now contains an art nouveau Grand Central Hotel which has 46 rooms and an expanded Liverpool Dome. The Dome now has a 3576-capacity venue and stages Irish festivals, cabarets and champions league nights as well as numerous live gigs. Upcoming gigs on the roster include The Coral and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Liverpool Dome. Image Credit flickr.com

It originally opened in 2011. The refurbishments eleven years later included improvements to all aspects of the venue to cope with the increased capacity. My one attendance thus far was earlier this year as part of the Sound City festival, and I was impressed as it was a terrific old fashioned style venue.

The band playing was Corella who met whilst at university in Manchester and initially started to receive some attention when their single ‘Barcelona Girl’ gained some airplay on ITV’s Good Morning show. They have gradually moved up from the ‘trainee’ Joshua Brooks and Zombie Shack venues up to headlining New Century Hall later this year. They got an appreciative reaction from the audience and reminded me somewhat of the Beta Band.