Well, apparently they they’re coming to the end of a long tour, and are very tired indeed. You could have fooled me. This barn dance is packed to the rafters and good on Mumford and Sons for putting everything into it.
Standing two feet away from Marcus Mumford, it is clear to see the frontman is brimming with talent. Whilst subjecting the crowd with his cold gaze, not even breaking a string in the first song can put him off his stride, his voice is in tune and full of raw fire and passion. This band is tight, and all the back-slapping that has occurred during 2009 is deserved. This team of new hip and young folksters sure know how to spin a tale or two, and people seem to want to join the ride.
Now there is no getting away from it, M&S are taking an important step into the spotlight now that people are finally starting to listen after two years of touring and promoting. They have risen from the much talked about ‘anti-folk’ scene and brought their music to the forefront of the media gaze. They are plastered everywhere you turn now; Myspace, Amazon, iTunes to name but three. Banjos and upright Double Basses seem to be the new black and the big money-making machines are right behind that. Will the spotlight change them, now that they have signed to major label Island Universal? Who knows - it is clear that their debut album ‘Sigh No More’ is far more polished than their previous two EPs. However, does this mean we can automatically categorise them as being mainstream? I don’t think so. These guys thrive on breaking down genre barriers, and they are doing that tonight with foot stomps, hand claps and ‘yeehaas’ galore!
Standout songs include album title track and gig opener Sigh No More, the gloriously uplifting Little Lion Man, the almost euphoric Roll Away Your Stone and the emotional The Cave. A blistering set by a group of men on a mission.
What a breath of fresh air, I needed that.
Saturday 10 October 2009
Glade Festival steals the mantle
What: Glade Festival ‘09
When: 16-19 July, 2009
Where: Matterley Bowl, Nr. Winchester
Spread the word like wildfire, okay? This is the message Glade festival has been peppering out to all four corners of the UK since becoming a festival in its own right in 2004. Originating as one stage at Glastonbury Festival, interest in the open-air electronic music festival has shot through the atmosphere in recent years, and it appears that it has now found its home in the site of Matterley Bowl, near Winchester (formerly the home of Homelands Festival).
As you enter the made-for-electronic-music amphitheatre, you can feel the electronic vibe and grassroots history through the basslines shuddering the ground. However, Glade Festival has more to offer than Homelands ever did. With the now-iconic Glade stage, Avalon, Vapor, Carmageddon, the mesmeric Arcadia and Pussy Parlure still featuring, there is enough to keep you going all night.
Solent University do a sterling job this year on bringing the Solent Stage to the forefront of the must-see list of every punter. This success is a credit to the crew workers/students and lecturers alike. A truly professional job, here’s to 2010!
Underworld, Booka Shade and Squarepusher headline this year, bringing the largest crowds from the 16,000 or so ravers, but another act not to be missed is Venetian Snares – wow. With more chillout areas than ever before and fireballs and shooting stars galore, Glade Festival in 2009 is a new, futuristic wonderland in Electronic Music exhibition. There is something for everyone here, and it is this diversity that will keep ravers coming back year after year, forevermore. This festival is a serious party.
Laughing Gas, anyone?
When: 16-19 July, 2009
Where: Matterley Bowl, Nr. Winchester
Spread the word like wildfire, okay? This is the message Glade festival has been peppering out to all four corners of the UK since becoming a festival in its own right in 2004. Originating as one stage at Glastonbury Festival, interest in the open-air electronic music festival has shot through the atmosphere in recent years, and it appears that it has now found its home in the site of Matterley Bowl, near Winchester (formerly the home of Homelands Festival).
As you enter the made-for-electronic-music amphitheatre, you can feel the electronic vibe and grassroots history through the basslines shuddering the ground. However, Glade Festival has more to offer than Homelands ever did. With the now-iconic Glade stage, Avalon, Vapor, Carmageddon, the mesmeric Arcadia and Pussy Parlure still featuring, there is enough to keep you going all night.
Solent University do a sterling job this year on bringing the Solent Stage to the forefront of the must-see list of every punter. This success is a credit to the crew workers/students and lecturers alike. A truly professional job, here’s to 2010!
Underworld, Booka Shade and Squarepusher headline this year, bringing the largest crowds from the 16,000 or so ravers, but another act not to be missed is Venetian Snares – wow. With more chillout areas than ever before and fireballs and shooting stars galore, Glade Festival in 2009 is a new, futuristic wonderland in Electronic Music exhibition. There is something for everyone here, and it is this diversity that will keep ravers coming back year after year, forevermore. This festival is a serious party.
Laughing Gas, anyone?
Super Furry Animals interview/feature for Blissfields Festival
TANKS FOR THE MEMORIES
They may not DJ at festivals in their tank anymore, but Saturday night
headliners SUPER FURRY ANIMALS are still up for the free party vibe of Blissfields. Ian Easton checks out their armoury…
Not being ones to shy away from a good party, yet still absolved from the
tank-raving-festival days of the mid nineties, Welsh rockers Super Furry
Animals have had a splendid start to 2009. With positive reviews on their
9th studio album, Dark Days/Light Years, the quintet has a busy summer
ahead, with roughly less than a single working week off between now and
September.
So is there any chance of the band raving inside a tank at Blissfields?
‘Haha no! Back in ’96, we had a tank - or an armoured vehicle - for the
summer.’ Says Super Furries bandmember Cian. ‘We took it round various
festivals like Reading and some others that don’t exist anymore.
Glastonbury wasn’t on that year, but I think we did about six or seven
festivals that summer. We’d sort of park on site and then we’d get some
decks inside and drive around partying!’
Its fair to say that the Super Furry Animals have had their fair share
of festival experiences, both big and small, but what does it mean to them
as a band to headline an independent festival such as Blissfields? Cian
continues, ‘Festivals for me have changed a lot – Glastonbury being one of
the more notable ones. At independent festivals, you can’t make for a
better vibe, because it’s like a private party y’know? Everyone who is
there is up for it. It’s more of a family affair. Well, a musical family
anyway, haha.’
So, with a headlining slot at Blissfields in the midst of their busiest
summer for some years, this promises to be a great chance to catch the epic
Super Furry Animals on top of their game. Not to be missed.
Super Furry Animals are on stage at 9.30pm on Saturday night.
Their latest album Dark Days/Light Years is out now. Buy it from their
website www.superfurry.com
They may not DJ at festivals in their tank anymore, but Saturday night
headliners SUPER FURRY ANIMALS are still up for the free party vibe of Blissfields. Ian Easton checks out their armoury…
Not being ones to shy away from a good party, yet still absolved from the
tank-raving-festival days of the mid nineties, Welsh rockers Super Furry
Animals have had a splendid start to 2009. With positive reviews on their
9th studio album, Dark Days/Light Years, the quintet has a busy summer
ahead, with roughly less than a single working week off between now and
September.
So is there any chance of the band raving inside a tank at Blissfields?
‘Haha no! Back in ’96, we had a tank - or an armoured vehicle - for the
summer.’ Says Super Furries bandmember Cian. ‘We took it round various
festivals like Reading and some others that don’t exist anymore.
Glastonbury wasn’t on that year, but I think we did about six or seven
festivals that summer. We’d sort of park on site and then we’d get some
decks inside and drive around partying!’
Its fair to say that the Super Furry Animals have had their fair share
of festival experiences, both big and small, but what does it mean to them
as a band to headline an independent festival such as Blissfields? Cian
continues, ‘Festivals for me have changed a lot – Glastonbury being one of
the more notable ones. At independent festivals, you can’t make for a
better vibe, because it’s like a private party y’know? Everyone who is
there is up for it. It’s more of a family affair. Well, a musical family
anyway, haha.’
So, with a headlining slot at Blissfields in the midst of their busiest
summer for some years, this promises to be a great chance to catch the epic
Super Furry Animals on top of their game. Not to be missed.
Super Furry Animals are on stage at 9.30pm on Saturday night.
Their latest album Dark Days/Light Years is out now. Buy it from their
website www.superfurry.com
Laura Marling interview/feature, for Blissfields Festival
LAURA MARLING takes a break from recording her new album to make a
close-nit relationship with the Blissfields crowd. Ian Easton got her thoughts on her much anticipated headline slot.
From Laura Marling’s perspective, could 2009 possibly top 2008? A year that served up a Mercury Award nomination and a cracking debut album that succeeded in shooting her to the forefront of the folk media spotlight? Well, with the recording of her new album underway, the current darling and alpha female of the English folk resurgence is setting her sights even higher it may seem. Yet in the midst of all the limelight, she remains humble – an attribute that aided her rise to fame in the first place.
Whilst being very excited about her headline slot at Blissfields, LM concedes that she is not one for attending festivals herself, ‘I have to admit that I would never go to a festival by choice, they absolutely terrify me!’ she laughs, when I asked if she is attending any festivals as a fan. Saying that, she is excited about the crowd atmosphere at Blissfields, ‘It’s funny for me because I have to strain quite a lot to be heard. I have to shout a lot louder and play the guitar a lot harder, so it’s a little different. Although its worth adjusting to I think, for the benefit of playing to lots of people from around the country all at once.’
Off the back of a recent European tour with Andrew Bird and his band, the endearing-and-wise-beyond-her-years Miss Marling has set aside time from a schedule of recording, nitting and reading P.G Wodehouse books for this special headline slot. Sure to showcase some new songs from her as yet untitled new album, Laura Marling is set to enchant us with the darkly humourous songwriting style that was fundamental in her rise as the current ‘queen of folk’. This one’s a keeper.
Laura Marlng is on stage at 9.30pm on Friday night.
Her latest album Alas, I Cannot Swim is out now. Buy it from her website www.lauramarling.com
close-nit relationship with the Blissfields crowd. Ian Easton got her thoughts on her much anticipated headline slot.
From Laura Marling’s perspective, could 2009 possibly top 2008? A year that served up a Mercury Award nomination and a cracking debut album that succeeded in shooting her to the forefront of the folk media spotlight? Well, with the recording of her new album underway, the current darling and alpha female of the English folk resurgence is setting her sights even higher it may seem. Yet in the midst of all the limelight, she remains humble – an attribute that aided her rise to fame in the first place.
Whilst being very excited about her headline slot at Blissfields, LM concedes that she is not one for attending festivals herself, ‘I have to admit that I would never go to a festival by choice, they absolutely terrify me!’ she laughs, when I asked if she is attending any festivals as a fan. Saying that, she is excited about the crowd atmosphere at Blissfields, ‘It’s funny for me because I have to strain quite a lot to be heard. I have to shout a lot louder and play the guitar a lot harder, so it’s a little different. Although its worth adjusting to I think, for the benefit of playing to lots of people from around the country all at once.’
Off the back of a recent European tour with Andrew Bird and his band, the endearing-and-wise-beyond-her-years Miss Marling has set aside time from a schedule of recording, nitting and reading P.G Wodehouse books for this special headline slot. Sure to showcase some new songs from her as yet untitled new album, Laura Marling is set to enchant us with the darkly humourous songwriting style that was fundamental in her rise as the current ‘queen of folk’. This one’s a keeper.
Laura Marlng is on stage at 9.30pm on Friday night.
Her latest album Alas, I Cannot Swim is out now. Buy it from her website www.lauramarling.com
WE’RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER - Blissfields festival - published in festival programme
Blissfields Festival is paving the way for a hungry pack of up-and-coming independent festivals. Ian Easton examines what it means to be independent, and why Blissfields Festival is the leading example of that exclusive niche.
So, you have V Festival, Isle of Wight Festival, Download Festival and Reading/Leeds Festivals - what of it? These are branding festivals, moneymaking whirlpools displaying massive advertisements and keeping punters enclosed by intimidating and impenetrable fences. Do you want to be a cog in that corporate advertising machine?
Sneaking in through the backdoor across the country is a range of smaller, non-branding, independent festivals that are quickly becoming highly celebrated for being closer to the original grass-roots spirit of a music festival. That is where you want to be, and that is where you are. Welcome to Blissfields festival.
If you look at the short forty-year history of music festivals, you can see a changing trend over time. It may be hard to believe but Reading festival was once a blues and jazz festival, which only later morphed into a heavy metal festival. Festivals began as small gatherings of people, sometimes less than 100 strong. These gatherings took place in the countryside, keeping any brick cityscapes with concrete carpets at arms length. They brought with them a feeling of exclusivity for those attending, for they were of the select few who were there to experience those magical events in time.
There has always been independent festivals, yet it is the recent rise of independent festivals that may overtake the cult status of indie-turned-commercial festivals. Some say it is the spirit pooled together from promoters and artists wanting to bring something authentic to the forefront of festival-goer’s minds. Yes I say, this may be so, but what is it exactly that is bringing events such as Blissfields to the forefront of the independent festival infrastructure?
After only an eight-year existence, Blissfields produces that so sought after feeling of a communal counterculture. The winner of 2007’s Best Small UK festival award boasts some of the best independent artists on the market, and since 2001 fans and artists alike have been brought together by word of mouth and ingenuity. Blissfields is an independent music festival that has grown from a single nucleus of friends, an idea brought to fruition through a dream and success. How Blissfields has booked acts such as The Super Furry Animals, Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons in 2009 is a credit to its cult status and the fantastic name it has gotten itself over the last eight years.
So what does it mean to fans attending an independent festival such as Blissfields? It lets us distance ourselves from the transnational corporate festival machines raking in revenue. It lets us escape to something authentic, something grass roots that is truer to the original spirit of festivals of yesteryear. It is a return to true festival form in every aspect. These are positive times, with Blissfields paving the way and spreading the word about the independent festival again, at last. Never forget that right now Blissfields has a modest capacity of 3,000, giving it that illustrious and sought-after air of a private party. Those who are here should be honoured and excited, because who knows, in forty years time you could be saying ‘I was there!’
So, you have V Festival, Isle of Wight Festival, Download Festival and Reading/Leeds Festivals - what of it? These are branding festivals, moneymaking whirlpools displaying massive advertisements and keeping punters enclosed by intimidating and impenetrable fences. Do you want to be a cog in that corporate advertising machine?
Sneaking in through the backdoor across the country is a range of smaller, non-branding, independent festivals that are quickly becoming highly celebrated for being closer to the original grass-roots spirit of a music festival. That is where you want to be, and that is where you are. Welcome to Blissfields festival.
If you look at the short forty-year history of music festivals, you can see a changing trend over time. It may be hard to believe but Reading festival was once a blues and jazz festival, which only later morphed into a heavy metal festival. Festivals began as small gatherings of people, sometimes less than 100 strong. These gatherings took place in the countryside, keeping any brick cityscapes with concrete carpets at arms length. They brought with them a feeling of exclusivity for those attending, for they were of the select few who were there to experience those magical events in time.
There has always been independent festivals, yet it is the recent rise of independent festivals that may overtake the cult status of indie-turned-commercial festivals. Some say it is the spirit pooled together from promoters and artists wanting to bring something authentic to the forefront of festival-goer’s minds. Yes I say, this may be so, but what is it exactly that is bringing events such as Blissfields to the forefront of the independent festival infrastructure?
After only an eight-year existence, Blissfields produces that so sought after feeling of a communal counterculture. The winner of 2007’s Best Small UK festival award boasts some of the best independent artists on the market, and since 2001 fans and artists alike have been brought together by word of mouth and ingenuity. Blissfields is an independent music festival that has grown from a single nucleus of friends, an idea brought to fruition through a dream and success. How Blissfields has booked acts such as The Super Furry Animals, Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons in 2009 is a credit to its cult status and the fantastic name it has gotten itself over the last eight years.
So what does it mean to fans attending an independent festival such as Blissfields? It lets us distance ourselves from the transnational corporate festival machines raking in revenue. It lets us escape to something authentic, something grass roots that is truer to the original spirit of festivals of yesteryear. It is a return to true festival form in every aspect. These are positive times, with Blissfields paving the way and spreading the word about the independent festival again, at last. Never forget that right now Blissfields has a modest capacity of 3,000, giving it that illustrious and sought-after air of a private party. Those who are here should be honoured and excited, because who knows, in forty years time you could be saying ‘I was there!’
City and Colour, Bring Me Your Love - album review
If you had only heard City and Colour’s debut album, you could almost be forgiven for presuming that listening to too much of the new album would send you into an irreversible melancholic emotional daze. Your life would be filled with heartache and sorrow, bookended with beautiful prose and wistful metaphor. You would be completely misunderstood and looked down upon by a far too narrow-minded society. You would want to get impromptu tattoos on your neck and walk through town with your hood up claiming that no-one understands you or what your music means to you.
Ah, the classic teenage guise; Dallas Green’s Bring Me Your Love is the perfect soundtrack for such a state of mind. However, there may be a little more under the bonnet of this beat up Cadillac than just offshoot Emo acoustic songs to feel sorry for yourself to. Since embarking on his solo journey, City and Colour’s Dallas Green seems to have matured; Bring Me Your Love is a far-cry from 2005’s two-dimensional debut album Sometimes.
The songs still portray the same troubled and heartbroken man we have met before, but there is something different here. Something which was lurking in the shadows before has now come into the light and shown its face. That something is fantastic songs. Now, coupled with one of the most beautiful male voices of a generation, this gives us one heck of an album. Interweaving harmonies and luscious guitar melodies sprinkle this album with a consummate sheen of dynamic that was much needed and missing before. Standout tracks Confessions, Waiting, The Girl, and As Much as I Ever Could make this album stand tall in a room full of people on their knees. A classic in the making, this one’s a keeper. Now where’s my hoodie…?
Ah, the classic teenage guise; Dallas Green’s Bring Me Your Love is the perfect soundtrack for such a state of mind. However, there may be a little more under the bonnet of this beat up Cadillac than just offshoot Emo acoustic songs to feel sorry for yourself to. Since embarking on his solo journey, City and Colour’s Dallas Green seems to have matured; Bring Me Your Love is a far-cry from 2005’s two-dimensional debut album Sometimes.
The songs still portray the same troubled and heartbroken man we have met before, but there is something different here. Something which was lurking in the shadows before has now come into the light and shown its face. That something is fantastic songs. Now, coupled with one of the most beautiful male voices of a generation, this gives us one heck of an album. Interweaving harmonies and luscious guitar melodies sprinkle this album with a consummate sheen of dynamic that was much needed and missing before. Standout tracks Confessions, Waiting, The Girl, and As Much as I Ever Could make this album stand tall in a room full of people on their knees. A classic in the making, this one’s a keeper. Now where’s my hoodie…?
Jay Jay Pistolet, Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
A swift set from Jay Jay Pistolet was the warm up for Laura Marling tonight. The solo singer-songwriter only played five or six songs but still managed to keep the slightly-rowdy crowd quiet for a few of them. Through a vintage microphone (taped hurriedly to the microphone stand five minutes before) his vocals sounded straight out of a post-war vinyl recording, and the songs from his Happy Birthday You EP really captured my imagination on fireworks night.
The funny thing is that there was nothing new or even fresh about his approach to singing, or even his songs, but that does not necessarily mean it was poor or unimaginative. He has clearly borrowed the best parts from a lot of his folk peers, but moulded them into his own style, and I was left thinking ‘this bloke has something rather unique and special’. This snippet of a set was just the injection of acoustic-folk ballads I needed to get me into the mood for the main event.
JJP has an array of endearing onstage habits. In between songs he comes across so painfully shy that it could be confused with a form of autism or mental problem. His disheveled and shy demeanor caught the eye of most around me, and for someone who was relatively unknown to most of us there; he achieved a collective top-marks score!
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