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Post by oapdub on Aug 23, 2016 10:06:36 GMT
Hi BITF - was really nice to catch up with you properly and have decent conversations. We appear to have a lot of similar musical tastes. Here is a copy and paste of my review from the Green Man forum.....
Wow, what a weekend! First off have to say that we bought tickets with a little trepidation following a mixed time last time we came in 2011 due to too many people talking through bands and really bad (quiet) sound in Far Out. Delighted to say talking during bands was at a minimum this weekend and the sound in far out was great.
Overall the atmosphere was great, the layout worked well, food and drink brilliiant and crucially the crowd were top notch, friendly, respectful and up for a party!
To the music! Will bore you with the list of everything we listened to!
Flamingods - um, not for me. Thought they might be decent, I was wrong.
King Gizzard and TLW - great start to the weekend.
The Oh Hellos, Palace Winter, Phil Cook, Meilyr Jones - nice set of acts to bed us into the first day. Phil Cook particularly good.
Half each of Miracle Legion and Gun Outfit - both decent.
Suuns were mind meltingly good. Not a band whose albums I really listen to, but one hell of a live act.
Caught last half hour of Jason Isbell which was excellent, one of his Truckers numbers thrown in for good measure.
White denim are just one of THE best live acts around at the moment. Though seem to have carelessly lost another drummer and guitar player!
Lush were probably the biggest (and probably only real) disappointment of the weekend, and we went in with low expectations. They looked as bored as the crowd and we left after 4 or 5 songs and caught the last 30 minutes of Kiran Leonard who was prety good.
Vessels were OK, but we were flagging and decided to call it a night.
Sea Pinks and Fews started the Saturday in great form, Fews were genuinely bowled over by the turn out which is always nice to see.
Mothers had annoyingly played previous day!
Beak> were ace, but topped by one of my favourite sets of the weekend from Cavern of Anti Matter who were bloody excellent.
Magnetic North were wonderful and nice to lower the energy a little from most of the acts we saw all weekend. Only annoyance was the social gathering near us for the last 20 minutes (FFS people!) and the chap who kindly (!) put a brolly up in our eyeline meaning we saw little of the last 15 minutes.
Special note here to the DJ in the Far Out who played Give a Little Respect by Erasure and had the whole tent singing along. Really happy moment!
Jagwar Ma were epic, huge set and really excited by the new album based on what we heard. The whole tent was jumping around at points. Mega!
Battles were great, not the most enjoyable “listen”, but enthralling performance none the less.
Fat White family were ace as usual. Brooding menace to their sets and had crowd in palm of their hands.
To Sunday and caught half of Daniel Norgren who was good.
All Them Witches are a band I love and they played a top set, just a shame it was so early in the day really.
Genghar on main stage were nice if not mind blowing.
Black Peaches – Wow, just wow! One of the sets of the weekend and had a sizeable crowd in the walled garden dancing along for the whole set. Fantastic!
On to probably the best Sunday night I’ve ever had at a festival.
The Besnard Lakes – shame for them they clashed with Songhoy Blues (who had a huge drown looking at pics) so a smaller than deserved crowd saw a superb set from a criminally underrated band.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – I’ve seen them loads of times now, but they were great as usual. Another band to have carelessly mislaid a drummer though!
Ezra Furman – I think everyone has already covered it, but just the perfect festival set. The cover of Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher was THE festival highlight. There was a lot of love in the tent at that moment.
Grandaddy played the perfect set to finish things off and made up for me missing them at EOTR in 2012. Apologies (sort of) to the couple I swore at a bit too aggressively for shouting a conversation through 2 songs before I lost my temper. We all kissed and made up afterwards but not my style to be aggressive at all!
All rounded of by the fantastic firework display at the end.
So having bought tickets with trepidation we are now UTTERLY sold on the festival again and already thinking of getting early bird tickets for next year.
Top marks all round Green Man, you nailed it!
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Post by jamesf on Aug 25, 2016 10:18:55 GMT
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Post by kerry1 on Sept 1, 2016 6:37:00 GMT
Been a bit absent from here recently, a busy month for several of the wrong reasons, but want to wish the EOTRers a very happy festival, looking forward to your reviews when you're back.
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Post by riverlodge on Sept 1, 2016 12:05:40 GMT
Been a bit absent from here recently, a busy month for several of the wrong reasons, but want to wish the EOTRers a very happy festival, looking forward to your reviews when you're back. It's now officially Ezra-fest  |
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Post by born in the fifties on Sept 5, 2016 13:48:49 GMT
Hopefully, at some point in the next few days, some of us will post reviews of EOTR. These may feature Ezra Furman.
The bottom line here is that his Saturday night set on the Garden Stage was quite staggering, way way better than when I saw him a few months ago @ O2 Shepherds Bush with Mr and Mrs Raffles, and even 2 or 3 notches up on what was a stellar performance at Green Man only 2 weeks ago. I'm writing this now as I know there are still tickets left for him @ The Roundhouse on 31 October (with the added bonus of support from Charlotte Church's Pop Dungeon). I know a few of us have had tickets for this for a while; if you haven't, and you could make it there, I would highly recommend you book yourself in for what will likely be your best Hallowen night ever.
PS. Wayne, the albums don't give you the remotest clue how good he is; just trust us, this is the best live rock and roll there is right now.
PPS. I know he's playing other venues around the same time as London, so check those out too. I know someone who saw him at Green Man, who already had a ticket for Cardiff the night before, and immediately booked for the Roundhouse as well. And I've no idea how many of the dates River Lodge has got tickets for!
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Post by wayne77 on Sept 5, 2016 13:58:01 GMT
Funny you should say that cause I'm listening to him now on Spotify. As I have said before he's OK but (and I know I'm get shot down big style now) I'm more impressed with Jamie T's new album.
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Post by wayne77 on Sept 5, 2016 13:58:46 GMT
Been a bit absent from here recently, a busy month for several of the wrong reasons, but want to wish the EOTRers a very happy festival, looking forward to your reviews when you're back. It's now officially Ezra-fest Oh please hahahahahahaha |
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Post by Eddytheviper on Sept 5, 2016 14:00:14 GMT
Forgot to report that Reading festival was in one regard, unsurprisingly awful but also surprisingly enjoyable once you got into it.
Lineup was in parts excellent and Biffy Clyro were phenomenal. Plus, I didn't get hit by any beer / piss cups so thumbs up for that.
All in all, it were alright, probably my last time working there / attending though.
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Post by cmouse on Sept 5, 2016 20:38:14 GMT
Forgot to report that Reading festival was in one regard, unsurprisingly awful but also surprisingly enjoyable once you got into it. Lineup was in parts excellent and Biffy Clyro were phenomenal. Plus, I didn't get hit by any beer / piss cups so thumbs up for that. All in all, it were alright, probably my last time working there / attending though. So will you replace it with something else? EOTR was pretty damn good in spite of the Nuisance and the weather. Some issues with the security firm and access to some stages were a new one for this year, we couldn't get into the new larger tipi on Thursday even though you could see a lot of space, and those who left to go the loo couldn't get back in. There were queues for comedy and the odd weird entrance/exit system on stages that seemed a bit pointless really. Lots of people with kids currently venting on FB over being asked to leave some stages mid set. A few drunk arses kicking about but there are always some so nothing new there. Highlights for me...Ezra (of course), The Shins, I was happily singing through most of that set and Teleman before them. Scritti Politti was great too, didn't realise I knew that many songs! Field day were a joy, impressively good for turning up 5 minutes before they were due on with what kit they could fit into a green flag van and making up the set list as they went along. So many other good sets...Kevin Morby, Flamingods (far better here than a Latitude I thought), Broken Social Scene, Savages, Sam Beam & Jessica Hoop, M. Ward (both acts I probably wouldn't have chosen in advance but they were really engaging). We walked in and back out of 3 acts. Mothers and U.S. Girls I think and King Gizzard. One was just too damn depressing and the other seemed to be some very economical lyric writing skills repeated over a short sample...probably an acquired taste. King Gizzard just didn't grab us at all so we made room for the queue waiting to get in. The only real disappointment for me was Animal Collective, I was hoping for a slightly more engaging set but we both felt they were taking the p a bit and came across more like a crap jam session with the odd song thrown in. |
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Post by Eddytheviper on Sept 6, 2016 11:08:51 GMT
Contemplating my options now.
Was considering working at FN6 but from all reports it sounded like organisation was awful and it has put me right off. The official summary by my feet on the ground said it was "Chaotic".
Might just have to cut a festival out of the diary and have a holiday instead in the winter, how novel.
That, or Sziget. Let's face it, i'll find a different festival to do instead.
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Post by born in the fifties on Sept 6, 2016 11:26:00 GMT
Contemplating my options now. Was considering working at FN6 but from all reports it sounded like organisation was awful and it has put me right off. The official summary by my feet on the ground said it was "Chaotic". Might just have to cut a festival out of the diary and have a holiday instead in the winter, how novel. That, or Sziget. Let's face it, i'll find a different festival to do instead. Green Man? |
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Post by geof on Sept 6, 2016 11:37:37 GMT
Ok here goes.....the problem with an EOTR review is that it has to really start on Thursday....
Thursday:
I got drunk. No seriously, I don't like to hoist my own petard but I'm quite good at the drinking thing, generally I can hang it together with the best of them. Thursday was not such an occasion! And worst of all, I remember it. Well, most of it......there's a little hole around 7-8pm but after that (and there must have been those who didn't think there would be an after that for me at all) I remember all the way through till about 3am.
Yeah, 3am, I was spectacularly drunk!
Baywaves 7/10 - really good, melodic stuff - vocals struggle a bit (unsurprisingly, they are spanish and singing in English - love to hear them do a few in their own language)
John Joanna - 5/10 - made the wrong choice, should have gone for Teleman - but didn't.
The Shins - 8/10 - sounded great from where I was (face down in my tent - but really - at EOTR you can hear things amazingly well from from there)
Friday:
Amber Arcades - 5/10 - aka The Girl With The Mustard Trousers Whose Vocals Made My Hangover Itch. Music was good though
Slow Down Molasses - 8/10 - seemed completely different to last time, three guitars up front...The Cure meets British Sea Power thing going on. Bought vinyl.
Lail Arad - 7/10 - maxed out my quirkyometer but was very good. Two new songs at the end were stunning - so I didn't buy this album but I'll be looking out for the next.
Oscar - 6/10 - still good - still short a few great songs.
Eleanor Frienberger - 6.5/10 - good but not great though whatever "I lay in bed and I dreamed I never said that" was it was brilliant.
Margo Price - 8.5/10 - best so far by a country mile (sorry). Hands of Time is a highlight.
Whitney - 9/10 - the best just got better. First truly great set of the weekend. Takes all I love about Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver, leaves out the guff and channels it into lovely little songs.
Blue House - 7/10 - From a weird place between The Shins and Deacon Blue.
lionlimb - 6.5/10 - Vocals are a bit mumbly but good.
Karl Blau - 9.5/10 - the dog's bollocks. No Regrets, Fallin' Rain - everything is a highlight!
Shura - 8.5/10 - Blissful and simple pop by someone who can play (guitars, keyboards, everything it seems)
Cat Power - 8.5/10 - Marvelous, poised and chatty.
Big Thief - 7/10 - Suffered from playing their best tracks early on, but are damn good.
Weaves - 3/10 - not for me.
Saturday:
Wilco Shmilco listening thing - its a Wilco album so there are lovely bits and there is some noodly nonsense.
Julia Jacklin - 9/10 - She needs to take a little bit of the shrillness out of her voice but she is bloody good and has a whole heap of great songs. Quiet bits are mesmarising - possibly because it takes the pressure off of her voice......have to remember she's so new she hasn't even got an album out yet.
Laura Gibson - 8/10 - very late because of JJ which was a shame because I like her a lot too. Her voice is obviously more mature but then she's released four albums... but even though the latest, Empire Builder, is bloody good - it's JJ's debut in October I really want!
Anderson East - 9.5/10 - here comes that mutt with his gonads again! Edges Karl Blau out to be set of the weekend so far cos its so damn uplifting and dancey. Great covers. Buy Vinyl.
Lucy Dacus - 7/10 - solo with a guitar....bloody good but hard for me to fully engage after AE.
Basia Bulat - 9.5/10 - My lovely surprise of the weekend - I expected bloody good, I got stunningly fantastic. Though I'm still sure she's wrong about being Canadian though - this has Scandanavia written all over it. Lovely to chat too whilst I bought vinyl as well......and her Canadian accent is surprisingly convincing.
Cat's Eyes - 8/10 - on "his" songs they are bloody good on "hers" fantastic.
Goat - 6/10 - did nothing to counter my belief that psychedelic means "can't write songs".
Ezra Furman - 9/10 - This is either his breakthrough or mine. It is magnificent. Always going to be a bit whiny and there are still a few shouty-indie-by-numbers trotted out.....but one more album with songs like Lousy Connection and Haunted Head and he'll be ready to headline the main stage. (actually, let's be honest, he'd've blown any of the mainstage headliners this year away).
BC Camplight ?/10 - Full.
Sunday
Pinegrove - 7.5/10 - Brilliant, proper emo (which is not what NME says it is, in case you don't know). Get an extra half a point for the banter "This shirt is new, I haven't figured out how it works yet,"
Dr Dog - 9/10 - (they are really a 9.5 but they didn't bring any vinyl to sell to me) Awesome - set of the weekend for me. "Bring my baby back to me" and "Be the void" are the highlights.
Bill Ryder Jones - 9/10 - Another stonking set, closing Satellites is stunning.
Kevin Morby - 9/10 - Smartest band of the weekend? Or was that Anderson East? Another great set - more vinyl bought.
Broken Social Scene - 8/10 - as expected I like them lots more live than I do on record.
Devendra Banhart - 9/10 - another lovely surprise. Poised and jazzy - Gary rightly mentions Santana comparisons. A joy.
And then Joanna Fusspot sent me to sleep so I missed Teenage Fanclub! Grrrrrr
Pinegrove - 7/10 - another good set but banter wasn't as funny.
All in all - a line up that really didn't suit me.....I'd not heard of most of my highlights before they were announced and the bits I heard of the top of the bill (Animal Collective, Savages, Goat, Joanne Newsom, Bat For Lashes, Thee Oh Sees, Thurston Moore) did not convert me (especially Animal Collective - sorry, don't like to be judgmental but what is that shit, really?).
And the worst EOTR weather yet by a mile.
But still a fantastic weekend, with some fabulous music and some lovely friends, and, if the universe allows me, I will be back.
Still hungover from Thursday mind, ug.
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Post by born in the fifties on Sept 6, 2016 17:02:11 GMT
Another great EOTR, even if a somewhat damp one.
Firstly, some disappointments:
• The weather, obvs - although it was at least warm at night
• Not being able to be in 2 places at once
• The Tea Bus running out of Dorset Apple Cake on the Sunday
The Garden Stage remains the finest place to watch music that I know of. (They do however appear to need a bigger platform for drum-kits. More than one act struggled to keep everything on it).
Other highlights / lowlights:
• Geof’s Thursday night performance
• River Lodge’s Cherry Brandy Vodka (apparently a Waitrose special offer, no less)
• Coming across the considerably younger-than-me Mr Party (Ciaran) on Sunday as I was checking out the post-midnight secret set before moving on to the Forest disco to be told “I’m getting too old for this, I’m off to my tent”.
• No flap count at EOTR, but instead a discussion on distance pre/post prostate treatment (5 feet after??), followed by discussion on pee bottles.
• Food in general was excellent as always
And the bizarre/surreal:
• Tending the Alpaca Sol stall whilst its somewhat inebriate owners went to the bar to re-fuel and to buy me a drink
• Watching Futur Primitif in the rain stood next to Ezra with him holding an umbrella over the pair of us.
So, on to the top 10:
Beak> - missed them at GM as they clashed with Ryley Walker, so glad to catch them at EOTR. Not my usual taste, but GM and EOTR are particularly good at expanding it.
Bill Ryder-Jones – He was more cheerful on the Sunrise this year, but whatever adds to his melancholy doesn’t seem to affect his performance.
Broken Social Scene – was about to go for a power nap, but walked past just as they started and stayed for the whole set. Didn’t know them before, now need to investigate further.
Ezra Furman – already covered in my previous post, my absolute top festival set of the year.
Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts – caught the last half of the set after returning from watching comedy, pity I didn’t see the whole set.
Kevin Morby – I had very high expectations of this following the first-hand reports of his GM set, and the only disappointment was that he was only booked for 45 minutes. Now got a ticket for his Islington show in November.
Martha – saw them @ The Lexington with some other Billies in January, and they were great – but this was inspired. I can’t quickly think of another band that I want to see again more right now that I haven’t already got tickets for.
Money – before Jamie Lee apparently managed to demonstrate that he can be a grade 1 a***hole (anyone here see his secret set?), he and the band delivered a lovely set in the big tent.
Whitney – much better than at GM, seemed more relaxed – maybe helped by being on a stage with a bit more space for them.
Yak – just what was needed on the Thursday night with an early injection of energy to get the party started.
Lastly, for the 2nd consecutive festival, I stayed away from the main stage headliners, although I heard them all, if only their morning sound checks from our Happy Campers spot. Come Sunday night, while diva Joanna Newsome was wailing away, I managed to find the a part of the site which had some loud music and where everyone else was allowed to wail away – a small shed-like structure, which featured karaoke in a bath (if you took the mike, you got into the bath). So instead of whatever the harpie (or should that be harpist?) was doing, we were belting out such as Seven Nation Army and Disco 2000. Best moment though was someone lying in the bath to lead us through Radiohead’s Creep, which brought a whole new meaning to the lyric “I’m a wierdo, what the hell am I doing here”.
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Post by riverlodge on Sept 7, 2016 11:06:47 GMT
Ezra-Fest 2016 by RL
(firstly, and most importantly - Wayne Dowsett, you are wrong, and you need to get with it fast mate. going to EOTR is a positive step, but even geof now 'gets' Ezra. late is better than never....)
So. When Giles posted on fb last Wednesday night / Thursday morning that the Thursday tipi headliner was 'probably' Ezra, my head spun a bit. There was 10% disappointment at the fact that I knew I'd probably 'bin' the idea of watching (much awaited) James Mercer just to guarantee a spot, but 90% joy - three whole days of Ezra and the BF's, and gigs number 6&7 in quick succession!!! Anyway, it also ensured I was out of the door from work at 2pm and off. And even though the weather looked 'refreshing' for the weekend, the drive down the A34 and then through glorious - just harvested - Hampshire and Wiltshire was a joy. There was also an awful lot of 'joy' too in the BLM camp, even at 6pm. Only a small amount was due to my stylish check shorts and non aligned check shirt combo, most of the joy was at least 40% abv, to a Teleman (6/10 on sound) background.
Tried 'alcohol catch up' while putting up tent, then off to watch The Shins. A small splinter group of Happy Campers (actually, me and Ryan, so only small in headcount terms) decided it was boring so went to the tipi for Yak. Yak (7/10) were not boring, so had a good bit of a mosh. So did Ben (keyboard / guitar) from Ezra's boyfriends - we asked him how he was allowed to be doing that just before his set, and he quite understandably said he liked Yak. We wished good luck to him for the weekend, and hung around drinking, and taking in the "new" tipi (not sure about it tbh). I think more Happy Campers arrived, and some did not. Ezra's band were quite chatty during their sound check, and then quite wonderful in their set of covers / requests (9/10) even if "Sunglasses" now seems to be consigned to history.
Some things happened after that which I can't remember, including drinking in camp. I do remember some people crawling about (not me) & some falling over (possibly me).
Friday then happened. Slowly. I tried to fan-boy Ezra at every opportunity but missed the Rough Trade signing, missed the Piano set and although I did get to say a random "Hello I think you are amaaaaazing..." while wandering around the site, it probably embarrassed us both a bit. And I hate all the people who managed to hug him, told their life stories to him or stood under an umbrella with him. While this happened, half heard Amber Arcades (they were okay to get a Cafe Dish burger to, but no more (6/10) then saw half (of the set, not band) of Slow Down Molasses (6/10 meh) before heading to Weaves in the tent. I don't think Weaves should work, but somehow does - interest, attitude, great guitars and a fabby frontwoman with the kookiest voice, who ended up lounging on the front speakers. And loud in there (8/10). Then briefly heard a song from Dawn Landes (pedestrian) and Lail Arad (intriguing). Generally faffed about a bit, said hello to Jules from The Big Moon (doing postie duties, good on her I thought, little did I know) then heard the start of Dilly Dally (I should like this, so will try harder to listen to them) then over to Eleanor Friedberger at the Garden. To be fair this is the sort of borderline country that should bore me to tears, but in her (bang on trend, even if she didn't know it) double denim she was quite good in a twangy way. Anyway, 7/10 + 0.5 for the added Happy Birthday, a song which the crowd performed badly. Next, to the Big Top and US Girls - this was actually on my plan, but I struggle to explain why - it was like a mad squeaky disco in a bad taste clothes shop, with random interruptions by a cowboy. Chris couldn't explain it away either (so, 7/10 for clothes changes and general random concept). Saw the end of Tigercats (good - 7/10 - very 'Brighton band' even if they are actually in East London). For fellow fans of Allo Darlin', not positive news - after the set I asked Paul about them and his answer wasn't enthusiastic. At all. Then Anna Meredith was very good, impressive, self deprecatingly funny, sonically interesting. And also, loud. 8/10. Next M O N E Y - their set was everything that the Latitude one should have been, with a broader set list (Bluebell Fields) and dare I say it a better, fuller band. A few tears (mine). 8/10 for the set, but (even acknowledging that a lot of Jamie Lee is about edge of madness, and SWAGGER) certain of the alleged antics afterwards aren't nice - you may prat about, and not choose to perform, but do not disrespect or in any way threaten people. Then caught the last twenty minutes of Savages, which was wonderful. 8/10 for what I saw, and they look dead-cert for headliner status soon. Meandered about a bit, then caught Animal Collective. This had been on my must sees, but I was pretty disappointed. Okay, but lacked energy. Maybe it was me. But headliner? 6/10. Left early to go watch Mothers, who sounded really good and snappy live (8/10). Not sure after that, can someone remind me if I watched any late sets?
Saturday started. Early beers. I learned about "science". And that the ills of the world would be solved by exterminating scientists and doctors. And that religion doesn't help either. Everything made complete sense. Severely affected by beer inertia, until Laura Gibson played The Woods. I think the new album is sheer class, emotional desperation clothed in delicate beauty, and the band were super tight in support. 9/10. Also, good on her for not looking scared when me & Mark fan-boyed her afterwards to find out she was playing piano stage later. Mark: "it's okay, you can tell me - in fact, you must - I'm a steward." Faffed about a lot, again, listened to a bit of Anderson East (okay, not enough to mark them) then off to The Big Moon. Saw them support Ezra earlier in the year (they are with Spring King this Autumn btw) so knew we were up for a fun time. Absolutely cracking songs, a brilliant (imho) guitarist in Soph and just a real feel good, party band. And the postie dancers! 9.75/10. Another one of my must sees for Saturday was Lucy Dacus, which half clashed with Big Moon. So, inexplicably ran (yes, ran, beer in hand) from Big Top to tipi just as rain started properly. Saw last two songs (7/10), it was very lovely, wonderfully intelligent Americana, and can't wait to see her on tour "properly" with band. She also, patiently, chatted while watching Dr Dog the next day, and now knows where "Latitude" is. At the end of Lucy Dacus, it rained. quite rainily. And from inside the tipi we could see the queue to get in the tipi. So logically, staying still to watch Frankie Cosmos became essential. Watched Frankie Cosmos (actually, mostly watched Ezra watching Frankie Cosmos). Fan boyed Ben (Ezra boyfriend) who was nice about it but clearly went through the motions, Sorry Ben. Anyhow Frankie Cosmos were good, not just because they were in a dry tent - a genuinely interesting Brooklyn alt band, with a teeny front woman with a nice dry wit. Got a high five later. 7/10 (for the music, not the high five). Nipped off to see a bit of Jeffrey Lewis in the rain, he finished with a quite ridiculous, but excellent, guitar thrash. He then thanked the inflatable shark, which seemed desperate. Then a wee bit of Local Natives, which seemed a good antidote to the rain (my, hasn't he grown his hair though?) 6.5/10 but tbh my mind was starting to wander - to cherry bakewell vodka, and to Ezra. Back to camp for drink, food, drink, outfit for Ezra. Drink. Off to M Ward in our finery, which was actually very pleasant (the finery was awful, M Ward was pleasant - "groovy" springs to mind). Mr Souch invented "low key Dad dancing", and I got an "after you love" from some poor deluded bloke. M Ward got better and better. His 'very mature' guitarist however did a twenty second pogo, and was then clearly knackered and did not get better. 7/10. Obviously by now properly excitable, straight to the front for "position", expecting a boring wait. But oh no. First, found myself next to a beardy big guy in an orange hat with flowers on. Hello Ryan! Yay, guaranteed jumping around! Then, teamwork - yay, cider delivery from Ansdell / /Wheatland! There was a lot of excitement down the front, even before Marc Riley pulled out every hit to play in his warm up DJ set (9/10). Really good buzz and pre gig atmosphere. A cheeky wave from Ben from the stage too. Well, what can I say about Ezra? I'm actually not going to bother, it's well written into any half decent review. Every Ezra gig I have seen has been good, if not great, but this was the best - and by a distance (imho) best set / gig of this year. He is not a perfect musician (his band are), but he is fabulous, fascinating, often un-nerving, sometimes ramshackle, but emotionally and politically intelligent. Lifts you up, takes you down, back up again then slams you against the wall. All the while telling you things you need to hear, you must hear. And for me, he completely smashed it. (11/10). What do you do after that? Hug people and go to the tipi bar of course!! And wait for The Big Moon II yay!!! (BC Camplight may have been finishing, can't remember). I had predicted a late tipi set from The Big Moon, so I wasn't wrong - perfect party band. Beer, jumping around, good music from a super talented, super happy band (9/10). And they stayed after and nattered a bit. Fan-boyed Susie who was absolutely buzzing. Really wonderful to see a band enjoying it so much. Please someone remind me if I saw the next tipi set?
Inexplicably, Sunday took really quite a long time to start. Missed loads on my clashfinder. More science occurred. Eventually dragged myself out to Dr Dog at The Woods, where Clarence was rocking away at the barrier. Dr Dog were perfect for the situation, a really solid, funkeeee southern band. And eating grapes off a guitar amp. 8/10. Off to The Garden stage for a couple of chilled bands. Bill Ryder-Jones was solidly on my must sees, and didn't disappoint - completely beautiful, poignant but powerful songs and a lovely stage patter. Satellite was just divinely gorgeous (tears occured, slightly) and very likely my song of the whole weekend. 9/10. This was followed by a lurk around in the wonderful dry at The Garden, waiting on Stephen's big recommend, Kevin Morby. This was a good set, I was never a huge Woods fan but he has found something of his own that's really enjoyable. And a top outfit. Garden stage seemed loud to me? 8/10. Next - I have never quite "got" all the fandom (particularly from EOTR goers) of Broken Social Scene, but this was fantastic, wonderful sound, fully committed, completely enjoyable and almost euphoric. I'm nw a convert. 9/10. Anyone who saw them last year at Latitude then simply had to go to King Gizzard. Someone (Geof?) had said about them "it's good, but essentially it's just one song with pauses". So you don't go in for the nuance of every note. You go, to be just off the barrier, have your ears thumped with sound and to get thrown around as if in a tumble drier. Ace 9/10.
By now completely sobered by King Gizzard, and totally knackered. Food, drink, dry clothes occurred (8/10) then a couple of songs from Thee Oh Sees on The Garden (good, I should have seen more). Missed Sunflower Bean, it began to rain, Miss Fussy started on the Woods, I went for a lie down in the tent. And remarkably, Miss Fussy sounded almost okay from there - so my recommendation if she plays again, is that everyone has to take a sleeping bag and lie down? Felt really hungry, couldn't get a pizza delivered to my tent so went out for food and a last look around, with Teenage Fanclub in the background. Bed. The end. Festival score 9.99/10.
Teeny rain deduction.
One last thing. During the festival, I kept catching half snippets of odd conversations, or comments as I walked to or from the car park. You hear just what is said in the time it takes to walk past, but don't stop to try and get the preamble or the ending (that would be weird). My favourites overheard thus were: "please tell me you didn't piss there" (no idea how old the person was who being spoken to); "why would you poo in a tent?" (this wasn't actually said in an accusatory manner, more philosophical - nope, me neither), and finally "...this mental old bloke in a dress dancing down in the front" (yup, guilty as charged).
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Post by born in the fifties on Sept 7, 2016 11:58:13 GMT
Anyone else thinking that riverlodge really ought to change his forum name to "Fan Boy No.1"?
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Post by wayne77 on Sept 7, 2016 12:41:06 GMT
I think Ezra should get a restraining order!!!!
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Post by King Tut on Sept 12, 2016 22:19:36 GMT
should see more than 10 minutes of any band between beers.
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Post by riverlodge on Sept 13, 2016 7:17:16 GMT
should see more than 10 minutes of any band between beers. this is true, but assumes competence. and / or comprehension. |
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Post by jamesf on Sept 14, 2016 7:15:01 GMT
Not just Latitude that didn't sell out and seemed quieter, Bestival only sold 40,000 of 79,000 which is quite staggering as I would have thought they would be one of the ones that would be ok, not been just always seems to get good feedback. www.efestivals.co.uk/news/16/160914a.shtml |
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Post by mrsimonw on Sept 14, 2016 8:11:06 GMT
Not just Latitude that didn't sell out and seemed quieter, Bestival only sold 40,000 of 79,000 which is quite staggering as I would have thought they would be one of the ones that would be ok, not been just always seems to get good feedback. www.efestivals.co.uk/news/16/160914a.shtmlWow that's really bad for them. I would think Latitude shifted significantly more than 50% of their tickets? The line-up wasn't the strongest they've had - did they dial it back because ticket sales were poor, or were ticket sales poor because the line-up was weak? On other non-latitude festival news, Glastonbury have confirmed their fallow year for 2018. Wonder if that will have any impact on what the competition do... |
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Post by Moz on Sept 15, 2016 7:24:53 GMT
£238 for Glasters!!!! Fuck me!!
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Post by riverlodge on Sept 15, 2016 11:45:03 GMT
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Post by jamesf on Sept 19, 2016 13:28:47 GMT
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Post by Moz on Nov 30, 2016 11:11:29 GMT
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Post by riverlodge on Dec 1, 2016 13:52:34 GMT
have Metronomy been back at Latte since 07/08 (they may have, and I just didn't notice)?
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