The wristband, preserved for posterity.[/caption]If Friday was the entree, then yesterday was the full three course dinner. Maybe it was more like a gourmet tasting menu, as we had a variety of bite-sized courses, all of which were quite different and attractive in their own way.
Yes, we were back to The Concorde II for the "mini-festival" that was At The Edge of The Sea (ATEOTS). Now into its 9th year, ATEOTS is curated by David Gedge and a guaranteed way to see The Wedding Present. There are always a variety of bands playing, and this year was no exception.
Last year we wandered in late and realised that we had missed Cinerama - we weren't going to make that mistake again! In fact we nearly got there too early - M turned up at the railway station an hour early, but managed to spend some quality time in The Green Man waiting for D & me. I snuck in a pint as well, and then we headed to Brighton.
We got into the venue in time to see Ellie Ford play the harp and sing, she was brilliant and it was a great way to start the day. Then it was into the main room for Cinerama, David Gedge's side project. I had only heard one or two of their songs years ago on the John Peel Show, and I was looking forward to seeing them. Not knowing any of the songs was a bit of a drawback, but "Get Up & Go" and "Health & Efficiency" stood out for me. I think it gave the lyrics the chance to breathe. During the performance I looked around and actually the place seemed quite busy; it seemed like most of the people there had had the same idea as us, that they didn't want to miss Cinerama. Actually it was quite impressive, considering it was 4pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon...
Next up were The Sleazoids who were pretty good; they played tight and energetic garage punk, and the guitarist was a previous member of The Wedding Present. Their set was good, and I intend to look them up on Soundcloud when I get a chance...
We returned to the main room to see Scare Taxi, who are the new band of one of the former members of These Animal Men. They were okay, they made a good noise and they were tight, but it wasn't for me. Their finale though was a cover of "Tainted Love" which was brilliantly unhinged, and they were worth seeing for that alone.
Then it was time for Jade Inland, who weren't my cup of tea. By that time we were getting a bit hungry, and so we missed The Popguns and went to Yellowave Cafe for some vegetarian chilli (D & M) and some veggie nachos for me.
We got back in time to see Flowers, who reminded me a bit of Royal Blood, in that they were a tight power pop outfit, although Flowers are a trio rather than a duo, and obvs the Flowers vocals are completely different. But I stand by my assertion that the vibe is similar, and I'm willing to take on anybody who disagrees (aside: I'm not at all willing to do that).
The Charlie Tipper Conspiracy were okay but didn't float my boat, but I did admire Helen McCookerybook, not only was she a good singer but she kept time really well. A silly thing to notice I suppose, but considering that she was performing solo with an acoustic guitar, the songs she performed had various and interesting rhythms.
The crowd really thinned out from 6pm to 8pm, I reckon a lot of people left the venue to get a bite to eat. Actually it's probably worth saying that even aged 45 I felt like one of the youngest people there. Obviously there were a few 20-somethings at the venue, but really the average age must have been 45+. So people were being sensible and lining their stomachs, or taking a break. I could see that a number of people still at the gig were flagging (as was I) and I guess we were just holding on until Gedge was back onstage with The Wedding Present.
That came around soon enough, after a French version of the Laughing Gnome, and another raffle controversy - for the second year running, the main prize had to be redrawn, since the original winner wasn't present. The Wedding Present featuring the new bass player and additional keyboard players took the stage at 8:30 pm more or less precisely, as per the planned running order, and launched into "Going, Going". The opening tracks were enticing and languid, before launching into the usual Wedding Present fayre of heavy guitars and remorseful lyrics; not that I am denigrating that at all, that is what we love about TWP. I'm just pointing out that on this album Gedge held back for the first couple of tracks before giving us what we have come to expect. I don't own the album but on the force of this performance I think I shall buy it; stand out tracks for me were "Bear" and "Little Silver" in particular, and I also liked the closing two tracks for the mellow (comparatively) vibe.
They finished off with three poppy tracks which caused a bit of moshing, the last of which was the only one I recognised - "Brassneck". It was brilliant and probably worth the entire day's attendance, even if none of the other performances were any good - which wasn't the case.
Thinking back over the whole day, I kind of realised that TWP / Gedge is a noisenik; that is, a lot of the bands performing are loud and noisy and maybe aren't as directed and focused as TWP are. Seven hours is a long time to spend in a venue, and ten acts is quite a number to see in one day. I was quite tired by the end of it, but enthused by a couple of performances, Cinerama and The Wedding Present being the highlights I think, along with probably Flowers. The rest were interesting to see but I probably would only pay to see Sleazoids again, from the rest of the line-up. We'll have to wait and see who agrees to play next year, but these two years may have been enough for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment