Norwich Sound & Vision - full round up
Thank you Norwich Sound & Vision for everything you have done for us
Day 1
Norwich Sound & Vision has pretty much become the highlight of my gig going year. How can you not buy into a multi-venue, three day music festival happening in the city in which you live? There was no denying that the schedule looked a little scaled back on the previous years, but I felt certain that by the time it was all over I would have seen some memorable live music.
First up at Norwich Arts Centre were teenage duo Let’s Eat Grandma. They are only three years older than my own daughter so I am definitely onside and amazed at their confidence, stage presence and desire to create something artistic. They’ve tightened things up a lot since I first saw them last year, but I still feel they are some way from being the finished article and don’t quite yet have the songs that do justice to their rather dark and oddball charm. Next up we get something rather more conventional with Best Friends. The frontman was wearing a Thee Oh Sees tee which helped to win me over and they got better throughout their thirty minute high energy set of fuzz pop. They started to get the crowd going and whilst what they do is nothing new they did it well. Up to The Mash Tun next, for a blast of Bleach’era Nirvana from Tigercub. It was immediately obvious that they have made huge strides since I saw them supporting Royal Blood early last year. Tighter, heavier and with way more confidence this was an excellent set, with the new material sounding much more like their own, with Rich Boy off their forthcoming EP employing a particularly ass kicking groove. I reluctantly missed the very end of their set to rush back to NAC to catch Spring King and they made sure I didn’t regret that decision. Like Best Friends on steroids they had the audience in the palm of their hand – really tight hook laden punk pop anthems with added garage rock (never ever a bad thing) played to a crowd of young ‘uns, it was genuinely thrilling stuff. Easy to see why they are creating such a buzz and I will definitely be in attendance when they next appear. I should have gone home at this point, but instead I went back the Tun for Clarence Clarity. There are some excellent songs on his debut album and I gave the rather muddled live performance supporting Jungle earlier this year the benefit of the doubt, but I’m afraid I really didn’t enjoy his set this time around. A mash up of Prince style funk, with a ‘throw everything into the mix’ approach to the songs, any subtleties that the studio versions have were completely lost. He wasn’t particularly endearing as a frontman either and though the set was only thirty minutes long I got bored halfway through and was glad when he finished. Day 1 was over and Spring King were the clear winners, but I felt like the other two nights were going to have to step up to make this year’s fest into an event.
Day 2
First stop tonight was the gorgeous Octagon Chapel and immediately I knew that we were in for something special. The venue was packed for an evening of live music accompanied by screenings of images from the East Anglian Film Archive. Taking my place at the back shortly before Birds of Hell began his set, I witnessed something truly magical, something that I will never forget. Never have Pete’s songs had more poignancy, more emotional weight and more beauty. Never has his voice rung out more true and clear. Our Beautiful Boys is a song written for Nick Cave after the tragic death of his son, but here played against a backdrop of images of soldiers from the The Great War, it was simply beautiful. Two Brothers was stunning, and latest release Hometown Rage, featuring a sample of Pete's long dead grandmother singing, proves once and for all that here we have a truly original voice. I spent most of his set close to tears, thanks in no small part to the wonderful band backing him. Call Shane Meadows; we’ve found the soundtrack for his next feature film.
Rushing out as soon as the last note was played allowed me to arrive at the Tun for the brilliant PINS. One of the high points of NS&V 2013, I had been itching to see them live again and they did not disappoint. Tons of sassy attitude and confidence instantly won over an excitable crowd and it wasn’t long before the line between band and audience had disappeared. The females in the room were ushered up front for a rendition of the classic Girls Like Us before ending with a foot to the floor blast through The Misfits brilliant Hybrid Moments. A definite highlight of the festival, my only complaint being there is no way something this great should be happening at 8.15pm; this was headlining stuff. It was back to the Octagon next to take my pew for Mammal Hands. They really are a brilliant trio of musicians and the way they can weave such complex music with only drums, piano and reeds is a testament to their talents. As with Birds Of Hell, they played whilst some wonderful images of Norwich were shown on the screen and I was swept away in the soaring, hypnotic music for the duration of their set. If you’ve never seen this band live, please make the effort; their Animalia’album is also highly recommended.
Time to visit NAC for the next part of the evening and whilst getting my first drink of the evening (this festival lark appears to be good for my health) I had the pleasure of catching some of Mega Emotion’s set in the bar. I didn’t full engage with them but their 80’s influenced synth soundtracks were heavier than I expected and the robotic beat made me wish I could have spent more time with them. The main act of Friday was Manchester’s LoneLady whose Hinterland album has been getting plenty of spins round my house. Her blend of stark funk is firmly rooted in the early 80’s Factory sound, coming on like A Certain Ratio. I could be harsh and say she really only has the one song, but when that one song was good it was very good indeed, none more so than on Groove It Out. My only real issue was that she close to not speak to the audience at all. I can live with that, but the act was slightly spoilt by asking for ‘more bass in the monitor’ after which she may as well have said “Hi Norwich” to us all. The crowd had thinned out from its sold out peak by the end of the set as people headed back to the Tun to see Black Honey, so I headed off to see what all the fuss was about. I squeezed my way into the packed room and observed. What I saw was thrilling stuff, albeit not really musically my bag. They’ve been making real waves playing shows with bands like Peace & Superfood and as a live act they were brilliant. Izzy Phillips is a pocket rocket bundle of energy, completely having the audience in the palm of her hand. Her flares and platforms gave a touch of glam rock stomp to proceedings (she expressed her love for Slade after) and whilst for a few moments I feared we were heading into Muse territory, they ultimately completely won me over and made me feel like I shared the concerns of the mostly teenage and twenty something crowd. No wonder they are picking up so many fans as they took down names and e-mails for their mailings lists, selling merch, handing out free CDs and generally pressing the flesh immediately after their set.
Crikey, Night 2, something pretty incredible went down. No clear winner tonight, too many highlights, but the Octagon event, especially Birds Of Hell, is something I will never forget and PINS just about edged it as my favourite band of the evening.
Day 3
Saturday’s mammoth shift started off in the NAC bar at 2.30 to catch extremely youthful trio Midnight Zoo playing the Sonic Youth’s event. Like Let’s Eat Grandma a few days earlier they are some way from the finished article, and the rhythm section needs a little work, but Jesse Page Jarrett on vocals and guitar has got his Ian Curtis act pretty much down pat and in Soulless they already have one brilliant song in their repertoire. Expect much more from these guys. Next ,I went to work. That is, I headed up to the Millennium Library to help in an event which I have been fortunate to have had a hand in organising. It would be unfair of me to talk too much about the four acts because circumstances were such that I wasn’t always able to give them my full attention, but I will say that as soon as the charming George Cheetham played the first note of his first song I relaxed as I knew everything was going to be ok. The crowd continued to build during the excellent Cove Hithe and Dove & Boweevil before culminating in brilliant headline set from Emily Winng who was joined on her final number by Norwich Samba Band. The sight of over 200 people getting down in the middle of the country's busiest library and the place where I spend most of my working week was another moment of high emotion for me. Check out David Auckland’s excellent review elsewhere on this website for a more detailed account.
The evening began at NAC with a blast of some fierce electronics from Norwich face Neil James Earl, and a complete contrast from what he was doing with his band Long Balls. It was pounding and fairly punishing in a good way, and along with some visuals made a great change from the guitar dominated music of the past few days. First up in the main hall were French band Steeple Remove. Listening to their album hadn’t really prepared me for how muscular they would be live. I played a game of spot the reference with friends and we came up with Sonic Youth, Pixies, Stranglers, Hawkwind and early psych era Floyd, but basically it was space rock over a motoric groove and it was great. More please. Graceland’s debut gig a few months ago was exciting and incredibly accomplished. This set didn’t quite scale those heights, but the opening and closing numbers especially were powerful and I really like the jerky bass led grooves that remind me of other bands currently mining that early 80’s post punk sound like Shopping, with extra big riffs. In my book there was only ever one place to round out this year’s festival and that was back at the Tun for the brilliant SuperGlu. I raved about their debut Norwich gig some months back (their sixth ever, fact fans) and this show proved just how far they’ve already come. Frontman Ben, now with cropped hair and massive chops to complete his pre-fame Noddy Holder look (and again I mean that as a massive compliment) simply oozes charisma, stage presence and class. Rarely will you see a musician having more fun on stage. It’s not just The Ben Show though; the other Ben on drums, Krista and Alex make SuperGlu seem like a gang, a proper band of brothers and sister. Huge choruses to songs we’ve never heard have us singing along, the two songs they have released are received like number one hits and even a broken drum pedal and string only help to make them even more endearing. I could have spent hours in their company, they could have played the set through multiple times, and it was the perfect celebratory, upbeat mass sing-along way to round out three amazing days.
Thank you Norwich Sound & Vision for everything you have done for us. I admit I doubted you for a while, but once again you have exceeded my expectations. There’s still work to do of course; we can still make this bigger and better but this year really felt like the public is starting to catch on. The Octagon Chapel and Millennium Library events showed how the non-traditional gig goer is able to engage with live music. I made some new musical friends, and confirmed my love for some old ones. If there’s anything we can do to help guys, please just ask us, the people of Norwich, we will be only too happy to help.
@StuPres
