With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

Leeds Festival 2023 Day 1 – Friday 25th August 2023 August 26, 2023

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:38 am
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Main Stage East was my first hit of the Friday, and it was a powerful set from Reading band the Amazons. I sense a lineage through the best of 60s and 70s British Rock from the Small Faces to Bad Company. Their recorded stuff is good, but the band takes it to another fabulous level when they play live. A perfect way to warm up the Friday crowd, although more audience interaction earlier in the set would have made it even better. On this basis, I think the next Amazons album will be classy indeed.

Next, it was Hot Milk on Main Stage West. They have an underlying pop-punk sound with some incredible metal injections and old-school punk. The crowd was properly up for this and would have moshed until the sun went down. To be fair many of them probably will! Next, it was the Snuts on the same stage they are purveyors of pop-infused, anthemic, indie rock songs that are perfect for a sunny festival afternoon. A quick dash to the Festival Republic Stage to catch the Royston Club. A bit like Pulp spliced with the Housemartins with an injection of heavier sounds. Some great hooks and yet more sounds for summer. My first visit to the BBC Introducing Stage allowed me to catch TWST, clearly someone who embraces the strange, but in a very good way. She is a great performer with a touch of Barbie, Madam Misfit, Gwen Stefani, and a Disney Princess with attitude. She has a gorgeous voice that works on proto-power ballads and some awesome dance bangers.

Don Broco played the Main Stage West and for me they get better and better every time I see them. This was a thunderous set from a fantastically talented band. The crowd went batshit crazy for them. I love their positive message and confidence. Huge shout out to the drummer, he is not only good with the sticks. He has a great voice too. The Festival Republic Stage was packed tight for Scottish sensation Dylan John Thomas. He has some delightful, devilish, dervish-style songs that are filled with electro-folk and alt.country stylings. I feel that Mr. Thomas has a great knowledge of the history of Scottish music from the battle hymns of Bannockburn to Andy Stewart, the Proclaimers, Big Country, and Franz Ferdinand. The Main Stage East played host to Rina Sawayama, and she put on a spectacular performance. She has some excellent funky, poppy, hook-laden tunes constructed with dance in mind. Janet Jackson fans and anyone with a pair of disco trousers will have loved this supremely confident set. The costume change where Rina changed into a dominatrix in her boudoir red vampish corset-style outfit with tassles and then gave a mild BDSM routine with a whip, a riding crop, and light bondage. Probably not one for the kids but entertaining nonetheless!

I made another visit to the BBC Introducing Stage, this time for Grandma’s House. This trio is punk with a hard-hitting, well-played sound with what feels like a DIY ethos. I felt some echoes of early White Stripes and oodles of riot grrrl vibes. A short hop across to the Radio Xtra Stage for Lost Girl, she was damned good. Tons of sublime dance and R&B sounds and some boundlessly, energetic, and stylish dancing from two stupendous and perfectly syncopated dancers. There were some fine beats from the DJ, which included some magical African-style percussion. Lost Girl was signed to a label when she was 17, she is now 23 and has not been able or allowed to release any music. So, she has left and is now independent. I am looking forward to new stuff from her.

I just managed to catch the last three songs from on the Main Stage East from Steve Lacy. He first came to prominence as the guitarist in the alternative R&B band The Internet from 2015. He is a talented guitarist and vocalist and somewhat Princelike in his style and performance. He closed with “Bad Habit” which was a US number and a UK top 10 hit last year. I am so glad I got to catch even a small part of his set. Imagine Dragons were on the Main Stage West next as one of the joint headliners. Personally, I think whoever closes the night is the real headliner. But to be fair to them they played like headliners. “Thunder” and “Follow You” were highlights for me. Finally, it was time for Billie Eilish, and it felt like everyone on site had converged on Main Stage East for her performance. Like many headliners, she has had her own stage constructed, a huge ramp. She put on a fabulous performance and as expected the crowd loved her. She was like a feminist alt.Barbie with a hugely colourful outfit.

All photos by John Hayhurst of Snapagig.com

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Leeds Festival 2023 – The Preview August 2, 2023

Filed under: News,Observation,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 4:46 pm
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Let’s start with the Friday lineup for this year’s Leeds Festival. Firstly though, we have now come to expect this joint headline thing for Leeds/ Reading each day of the festival. I don’t see the point, are the punters getting more value for money? That is debatable, but maybe, but not a great deal. Surely the last act to play on that particular night is the main headliner, right? Anyway, enough of the mini-rant. The Main Stage East headliner on Friday 25th August is the towering talent, Billie Eilish. Earlier in the evening Rina Sawayama will undoubtedly put on a stunning set. Also, keep an eye out for the Amazons, they come highly recommended by my daughter. Main Stage West on the Friday looks a little “safe” to me with Becky Hill followed by Imagine Dragons. However, to balance that we will be given a stonking double whammy of the magnificent Don Broco followed by the rather awesome Snuts!

The hot ones hitting the Dance Stage on Friday are likely to be Shy FX and Eliza Rose in my opinion. The Festival Republic Stage will undoubtedly host a real screamfest when Lovejoy perform the headline set. Further down the bill, you will see the sublime Tom Odell and the rather wonderful Royston Club. My pick for Radio 1 Xtra Stage is the headliner K-Trap. Of course, the BBC Introducing Stage never lets you down and the one not to miss on Friday is the Goa Express.

On Saturday the Main Stage West hosts a very early highlight when it is opened by none other than the genius and all round top bloke, Frank Turner along with the mighty Sleeping Souls. I would consider selling my grandmother to get a ticket to see Frank Turner, but as she died many years ago, I won’t be tempted! You Me At Six will bring some good noise with them and Trippie Redd will bring some fine US rap ahead of what will be a truly rambunctious set by festival stalwarts and Leeds/ Reading favourites, Foals. Over on the Main Stage East try not to miss the arch wit and supreme talent of Yard Act, who will be opening proceedings on the Saturday. I reckon Yard Act have the potential to be headliners (or joint headliners?) in the future. Later on the Main Stage East, we get to judge whether Wet Leg are as good as the hype that surrounds them. Expect the Main Stage East to be closed with a highly charged and incendiary set from Sam Fender.

The Radio 1 Dance Stage has the Murder Capital listed early on for Saturday. Dance Stage? Really? But trust me getting to see the Murder Capital at a festival is worth the weight of all the illicit substances in your rucksack, you’ll probably feel healthier for losing that stuff too. The Festival Republic Stage features an incredibly eclectic and rather excellent bunch of acts for Saturday at Leeds. Make sure that you are in attendance for Yonaka, Lauren Hibberd, and Bilk at the very least. Check out the Last Dinner Party too. Are they an industry plant? many think that they are, but personally, I don’t. However, I am keen to see whether their performance will live up to the weight of expectations and plaudits heaped on them. On the Saturday I will try and catch as many acts as I can on the BBC Introducing Stage. But whatever happens, I will definitely be there for headliner Alt Blk Era.

Of the two Main Stage lineups for Sunday 27th August, Main Stage East looks stronger for me. Likely highlights will, I think, be Baby Queen, Holly Humberstone, Nothing But Thieves, and obviously indefatigable indie rock darlings, the Killers. Main Stage West is to be headlined by perennial super subs, the 1975. Last year they filled in for Rage Against The Machine and this year they will be covering Lewis Capaldi’s slot. Apart from the 1975, I reckon that Arlo Parks will raise the East Stage’s game in the afternoon.

MK will headline the Radio 1 Dance Stage. The Festival Republic Stage hosts a classy lineup on Sunday, including Mothica, Scowl, High Vis, and Fat Dog. Then the Radio 1 Xtra Stage will be nicely smashed by Malaki and Nippa. Once again the BBC Introducing Stage has a great selection. Standouts on Sunday for me will be Hannah Grae and Hotwax.

It is since I attended my first festival, which was Reading, and I recall a stunning set from Thin Lizzy back then (in 1975!!!!) I don’t believe that the lineup for 2023 looks like one of the best on paper, but on the muddy fields of Bramham Park, it will be a different matter entirely!

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Latitude Festival 2022- Day 1 – Friday 22nd July July 29, 2022

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:38 am
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After a relatively disappointing Day 0 at the Latitude Festival, I was looking forward to a more exciting day on Friday, officially Day 1. First up it was Larkin Poe on the Obelisk Arena stage, made up of sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell. One for fact fans out there is that the sisters are distant relatives of horror maestro and supremely talented author Edgar Allan Poe. They produce some fabulous southern blues rock, which fits given that they are from Atlanta and now reside in Nashville. Rebecca and Megan sure know how to rock and how to wow an audience. I would put them in the same lineage and rock Geneology as Canned Heat, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and maybe Lynrd Skynrd. Check them out, the most recent album, their fifth, ‘Self Made Man’ is rather good. Next, it was off to the Sunrise Arena for American singer-songwriter Penelope Scott. She is not a run-of-the-mill singer-songwriter though, she has deep lyrics and frankly some bloody hilarious lyrics. The dark-humoured and deep “American Healthcare” is a stunningly well-put-together song. The line “I did not become a doctor just to suck the devil’s dick” stayed in my head for ages. Penelope is an obscenely talented troubadour in the vein of Jonathan Richman combined with the wit and wisdom of Peaches. I haven’t seen an artist having so much fun on stage for ages. I am most definitely a Penelope Scott fan now!

Larkin Poe
Penelope Scott

The Alcove Stage was the setting for the next act that I encountered. The wonderfully named Sniffany and the Nits. This lot is a punk band from London who are very loud and sometimes hilarious. A bit like Siouxsie and the Banshees with the earnestness and seriousness stripped away. Ultimately though, and maybe it was just some muddy sound mixing, it was difficult to tell one song from another. Ripon’s magnificently talented Billie Marten was flying the flag for Yorkshire on the Obelisk Arena stage next. I last encountered Billie at a small gig in York some five years ago. Since then she has matured into a wonderfully voiced and eloquent songwriter. Her stage presence and audience rapport are spot on. Her album ‘Flora Fauna’ from last year is well worth a listen. I stayed at the Obelisk Arena for Mdou Moctar who blend Tuareg and Saharan sounds, especially the beats, with western rock. Moctar totally rocked the Arena Stage. This was a great performance from a truly great band. Almost 47 years ago the first band I ever saw at a festival was also an African fusion group. It was Osibisa at the Reading Festival in 1975. The Obelisk Arena had a great Friday line up so I remained for Rina Sawayama. She produces rich, dark, pop grooves which sometimes have a real hard rock edge. Rina getting the crowd at the most middle-class festival in the UK (and possibly the world) to chat “Shut the fuck up” was quite special. Some of the more synth-driven tunes are sublime slices of 21st Century R & B and pop hybrids. This woman oozes musical talent.

Sniffany and the Nits

Next, it was a quick dash to the BBC Sounds Stage for Maximo Park. This band has been around forever. Well technically maybe seventeen years which was when their debut album ‘A Certain Trigger’ was released. Amazingly they just seem to get better and better each time that I see them. The band is incredibly tight and Paul Smith’s social conscience is something to be proud of. But that doesn’t make them over-earnest and po-faced, Maximo Park knows how to entertain a crowd as well. I was keen to encounter Modest Mouse once again after a gap of quite a few years, so I ran over to the Obelisk Arena. In fact, I probably got into Modest Mouse quite late. After reading Johnny Marr’s autobiography I rediscovered them. They are a phenomenal band, especially live. Every song is a classic and frontman Isaac Brock is a man for these times with a world-weary philosophical view of life.

Self Esteem

A quick dash back to the BBC Sounds Stage to catch Self Esteem was next on the agenda. In 47 years of festival going this magnificent set by Self Esteem was undoubtedly one of the finest festival sets that I have ever experienced and I have seen some classics, notably Jeff Buckley, Nirvana, and Radiohead to name just a few. This was a truly spectacular and incredible performance from Self Esteem, a.k.a Rebecca, and her heavenly backing singers, booming bass player, and extraordinarily talented drummer. The latter being the token male in the band. Rebecca has a vocal range that many singers would be prepared to die for. It reminded me at times of Dame David at his operatic best. She has the power and presence of Lady Gaga and Madonna and works the audience into a perfect frenzy. I love that Rebecca brought on a fabulous group of LGBTQ people t the end of the set to dance on stage with her and the band. One Self Esteem lyric tells us that we “need to be more brave“, but it is clear that Rebecca is already super brave in attitude and performance. Self Esteem made Latitude 2022 a truly great festival and spectacle. Where did she get all those Boots Advantage cards? It was back to the Obelisk Arena after that for Maggie Rogers. After that mind-blowing set from Self Esteem, anything that followed was likely to be anti-climatic and less exciting for me. But Maggie Rogers was a gorgeous elixir to help ease that come down. She has a great R & B style voice and her band was magical. The audience lapped up every moment. Based on this I believe that her upcoming album will be something very special. It had been a long and emotionally draining day, thanks Self Esteem, so I headed off to my tent after Maggie Rogers. I really wasn’t up for Lewis Capaldi or Phoebe Bridgers. Although a good friend of mine told me that I missed a brilliant set from A Certain Ratio! I guess you can’t win them all, right?

All the photos, apart from the poster, were taken using my cheap Chinese android phone. The videos were all found on YouTube. If one of them is yours and you would like me to credit you or take it down please let me know.

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