05.29.07

It’s not for the cock, it’s for the blood, sweat and dancing.

Posted in G-Town, Gigs at 11:49 pm by Gavin Williams

Dot to dot festival

Dot to dot this year started off feeling pretty underwhelming to tell the truth. With members of this very blog stating they “hate indoor festivals” and wishing they were “shot in the face” after about two hours, it wasn’t looking positive at all. This was down to having to queue in the pouring rain and the venues being more packed than about a thousand sardines in a miniscule can.

However, when it picked up it really picked up and was amazing. What with the calibre of the bands increasing (that’s not to say the earlier bands weren’t any good as quite a few were really good and a couple were great) and both punters and bands alike being generally much more up for it, there were some excellent gigs. There’s too many to mention so here’s my personal favourite.

Dolby Anol

I entered Dolby Anol downstairs at Stealth not having a clue who they were but left being a massive fan. These two Glaswegians didn’t so much resemble a pair of DJs as a couple of over grown boys going hyper-active/crazy/mental on a stage. Both were jumping around with arms in the air, hugging each other and throwing out some serious shapes. The beautiful thing was that the packed dancefloor was going exactly the same. Pausing occasionally to fiddle with their laptops, Dolby Anol were all over the place- including surfing the crowd on several occasions.

They threw out a hot, colourful mix of highly danceable electronic music with pulsating beats, neon bleeps and spliced synths. It’s quite literally impossible not to dance to Dolby Anol as they are among the most fun DJs around. I think anyone in Stealth at about 11 to 12 will agree.

It’s poignant moments like this that make me glad that highly energetic, electro fuelled, insane-grinning inducing dance music exists and that people like Dolby Anol exist to play it.

http://www.myspace.com/dolbyanol

Late of the Pier

A big crowd assembled in Rescue Rooms for this local band who are beginning to get quite a bit of attention at a national level. The band finally came on to a rapturous applause and burst into their high energy blend of electro and rock.

“Space in The Woods” was played second in the set, surprisingly, but this only acted to jump start the crowd into flailing limb action.

The gig was insane, with band members jumping around, dancing and swapping various instruments, seemingly at random, from bed slats to little electronic devices that look more like an original Gameboy than a tool for whipping up an electro storm.

Like an alien bunch of techno teens, Late of the Pier have been beamed down from mars to show planet earth how to really have fun. This band make debating whether Hadouken! are geniuses or arseholes seem like the most pointless thing ever, which it probably is. Late of the Pier are immense fun, but in no way at all dumb or obvious.

It was hard to tell who was having more fun and going wilder: the band or the crowd. The synth player was in a world of his own, twisting, turning, skipping and falling over. He was amazing. At one point the bassist fell into an amp and got tangled and caught on it yet carried on bashing out the rest of the song while bent awkwardly like a crab at the edge of the stage. At another point the synth player smacked a microphone into the crowd before knocking over a keyboard. The gig was only so shambolic because the band seem to know their songs inside out so have the most fun ever knocking the shit out of each other while playing them.

Late of The Pier are amazing live and have to be seen to be believed. This was my personal favourite band and gig of the festival.

www.myspace.com/lateofthepier

Bonde Do Role

Bonde Do Role should not exist. The fact that they do, though, is fucking amazing. They sample such guilty pleasures as The Darkness, the Greese soundtrack and ACDC and shake them up with electronic beats and shout in Portuguese (I presume) over the top. This was yet another gig which both band and audience are going just as mental as each other. Bonde Do Role simulated shagging onstage, literally stuffed glowsticks down each other’s pants and merged with the crowd to pogo up and down while dancing. The girl singer, Marina, is like Lovefoxxx with even more seedy sex drive and the ability to go apeshit and still look cool. Needless to say the crowd lapped it up, throwing shapes and jumping up and down in unison.The gig came to a messy, chaotic climax when during the last song, a big stage invasion took place. With members of the crowd taking microphones and dancing at the front of the stage while band members weaved their way through the chaos, occasionally dancing with people, it was a perfect end to a great set.

How good were Bonde Do Role? Put it this way, for one punter the excitement was just too much to contain as he dived over the barrier, head first onto the stage and cut himself on an amp. He then got up with a stupid grin on his face and blood all over his clothes and body and proceeded to dance with blood flying everywhere. Something tells me he thought it was all worth it though.

www.myspace.com/bondedorole

Dot to dot was, after a slow start, amazing and it really opened my eyes to some great, great bands. Both bands and punters seemed to be enjoying themselves together and I think a great time must have been had by most, if not everyone, involved.

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