A two day mini-festival at the Crescent in York, now that was a proposition too good to miss, so I didn’t, I was there for the whole caboodle and now I need to tell you what I thought of the bands and artists that appeared. Missing Kids were first and they have some great guitar work and incredibly tight drumming. I found them to be a bit shoegaze but with much bigger beats, certainly at the start of their set, but the riffage towards the end was very Strokesy. This is most definitely a good band. The second band to take the stage was Bleach Lab who produce dream indie-pop straight from the DNA of Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins). Their sometimes inward-looking songs are brought to life by their captivating and enchanting frontwoman Jenna Kyle. The bass was deep and thunderous at times with a dub feel akin to Jah Wobble.
Headliners for day 1 were Yard Act from Leeds, a band that on paper probably wouldn’t work, but on stage and on record there really is no stopping them. Instrumentally they have classic rock, prog rock, and a powerful and hypnotic Burundi style dual drummer sound, but with only one drummer. Guitarist Sammy Robinson is an understated axe genius from the same planet as Bill Nelson. Singer James Smith hits you like John Cooper Clarke on steroids. He makes the punky story tunes come to life and he has a superb interaction with the audience. Sir Elton John is a big fan too. Their debut album drops in January and based on this evidence it will be immense!
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