06.01.07

It’s not for the cock, it’s for the start of the festival season.

Posted in Gigs at 12:02 pm by Lauren

Late of The Pier @ Rescue Rooms

In true bank holiday style the Sunday playing host to Nottingham’s Dot to Dot festival never got any better than drizzly, weather wise. However, the depressing situation outside in no way reflected the calibre of music inside which ranged from pleasant to absolutely scorching and, much like the weather of a more ideal May day, it just got better as the day went on.

HighlightsÂ

1. we are THE PHYSICS showed themselves to be true showmen in their first ever Nottingham gig. The set was full of fantastic surprises from near perfect freeze frames to halting a song midway to push up the singers glasses. The group played like a well oiled machine oozing energy, choreography and a selection of fantastic tunes. They pulled one of the smaller crowds of the festival but played like they were the headliners. The audience was in no way afraid of showing their appreciation with one member literally hanging from the rafters until pulled down by a bouncer. This band take away the pretension flooding the indie music scene at the moment and just make good music and play absolutely amazing shows.

2. Late of The Pier for me were the band you saw if squeezing yourself into rock city just to hear The Cribs wasn’t your thing. I was so very, very wrong. I’m not saying that having room to rave it up with my nearest and dearest didn’t make the experience much better because it did. I am saying that I’ll happily bet my bottom dollar that the amazing show put on by Late of The Pier beat The Cribs hands down. Firstly, every member of this electro outfit has a truly unique performance style. The synth player was in a world of his own flailing his limbs like I’m sure only he knows how, the singer just seemed to desperately want the remove all boundaries between artist and audience lurching into the crowd, obviously enjoying it as much as everyone else and the other two were hitting, bashing and loving their instruments to keep the moment going. They managed.

The infamous slats, previously mentioned on the blog, were again on show making the stage look like some sort of space age battle ship and are just one of many qualities that set the band apart from the masses of electronic music around at the moment. Another being the vocals which are deep and calm providing a Joy Division/ Gary Numan feel to the music. Highlights of the set included future super hit ‘Space and The Woods’ and ‘Circular’. The set was a truly memorable and enjoyable experience, unbelievably the band are still unsigned but if they keep pulling off performances like that I can’t imagine they will be for much longer. Â

3. Finally, Blood Red Shoes who had played our fair city a mere twenty four hours previous, with a host of bands including the Rumble Strips, in the Rescue Rooms for the NME new music tour. The organizers of Dot to Dot had obviously reasoned that as Blood Red Shoes sat at the bottom of the NME line up an early set at The Social would be fitting for them. I wholeheartedly agreed with this until I found myself sandwiched between a rather large gentleman and an over enthusiastic photographer desperately trying to get pictures of the band in a room where people were bursting out of the doors.

Despite this the set was still an enjoyable experience. Having only heard the brilliant ‘ADHD’ I was unsure of what to expect from the band and was pleased to hear they are not a one trick pony. The pair pulled off a half an hour set full of their very own brand of garage style indie. Both have very different voices which blend together to create an aggressive, attention grabbing sound. The stage only became visible to me during the last song and it was worth the wait. Guitarist Laura-Mary was storming the stage with the sexy, confident presence women in music rarely use well. Drummer Steven seemed to be playing and singing for his life. Earlier claims of a worn out voice seemed unfounded as his singing, along with his drumming, seemed flawless. Judging from the packed out audience the hype around this pair is growing fast so grab a chance to see them at a small venue while you can.

Not so HighlightsÂ

Unfortunately the laws of Physics state that for every high there must be a low (or something) and Dot to Dot festival was no exception. For the whole blog team the low came from the eagerly anticipated Architecture in Helsinki. It must firstly be pointed out that this was not entirely their fault, the sound quality downstairs in Trent Uni was truly dire and the volume was half what it should have been. However, they showed themselves to be a patchy and uncoordinated live band with the songs sounding messy and incomplete. Vocals were also disappointing, sounding hollow compared to the enthusiastic screams on their recordings. From what I managed to see of their actual performance the band looked like they were having a great time but at no point was there any effort to get the audience as excited as they were. With the sound difficulties sorted that could’ve been different but sadly for Architecture in
Helsinki everything was working against them.

Tips for Next YearÂ

This was my first indoor festival, here are a few things I learnt that I will remember for next year!

1. Take a quality umbrella and a hooded top, being damp, cold and having frizzy hair is NO fun.

2. Avoid hyped up bands, even if you manage to get in it’s doubtful that you’ll actually get to see anything. Plus, it’s more than likely that there’ll be someone else just as worthwhile seeing and if not then at least the queue for curly fries will be small.

3. Eat curly fries.

4. Make a list of everyone you want to see in order on your phone, much easier than taking endless looks at the timetable.

5. If someone comes around with anything free grab and handful. Myspace badge anyone?

Other Top MomentsÂ

It’s not all about the live music, other great times had by inftc!

1. We Smoke Fags dedicating a song to the blog.
2. Metronomy naming John and Princess the nicest people they know in Nottingham.
3. Licking a glow stick that had been down Bonde Do Role’s pants.
4. Getting on stage with Bonde Do Role.
5. Two of Ratty Rat Rat asking if they can stay over at inftc’s house as the rest of the band had gone back to London.
6. Discovering Dolby Anol. Â
7. Seeing Get.Cape.Wear.Cape.Fly trollied at 3 in the afternoon.

    Can’t wait for next year!

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