Splendour Festival: Wollaton Park, Nottingham (24th July 2010)
The third year of Splendour, and the first that I have attended, proved to be a magnificent occasion, or at least it did once I managed to obtain half-price admission despite being a Beestonian and not a Nottingham City resident, thanks to a generous/not-bothered employee at the box office.
First on my list was local girl Ronika. I should declare an interest here as I know her and have been to see her many times before. In the last year or so, her songs have become more sophisticated and the set list a lot more streamlined. The sound on the main stage was fab and Ron and the boys were obviously really enjoying being on such a massive stage.
I then ran over to the Rightfield Stage to see another local band, Fists, perform. They started out with a slightly countrified sound, but grew into a late-80s/early 90s type sound (think Pixies, Breeders, Belly, without them actually sounding like any of them). I personally think they have potential but need a bit more of a group dynamic on stage – at times it just looked like five people on stage who happened to be playing the same songs.
A quick run back to the Main Stage saw me catch about half of The Leisure Society’s set, and they quickly won me over; thinking of “folk” music these days puts one in mind of the awful Mumford & Sons, but The Leisure Society took the best bits of bands like the Divine Comedy and Belle and Sebastian (an easy comparison to make when there is flute, cello and a violin on stage). At first glance it would have been easy to write them off but they really let their music do the talking (despite the sound distorting, probably due to the number of instruments on stage!); I will certainly be looking out for them in the future.
Legging it back to the Rightfield Stage, I ran over to see hotly-tipped Nottingham youngsters Frontiers. They have attracted a lot of attention on the local unsigned scene, and it is not difficult to see why – they are good at what they do and obviously enjoy it. The most obvious musical comparison is with early Bloc Party, which in my mind is no bad thing (minimal basslines, and good interplay between the two guitars, held together with decent drumming). These boys have the potential to go far, and already have a good following (maybe I am showing my age, but they looked like a younger version of the cast of Skins).
Over on the acoustic Courtyard stage, where acts were unfortunately competing with the queues for the only permanent toilets on site, the highly-rated Nina Smith was singing, accompanied by a guitarist, percussionist and a beatboxer. She has a good voice and is clearly a good singer, but to be honest wasn’t particularly in the mood for acoustic vibes, and the stage set-up was not helpful.
With this in mind, I wandered back in the direction of the main stage to catch some of OK Go’s set. They are most famous for their treadmill video, shamelessly ripped off for the Berocca adverts on TV, but I think fondly of them for their 2003 anthem “Get Over It”. They were enjoying themselves and the crowd were starting to liven up (it was still only about 3.30 in the afternoon), and I was delighted to recognise one or two songs other than my aforementioned favourite. The singer mingled with the crowd, and prompted a singalong at the end and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun.
Just enough time to head Rightfield again to catch another bunch of well-regarded locals, Dog is Dead. Not really my kind of thing, but they do it well, with the most likely comparison at the moment being Vampire Weekend (both musically and in terms of the bounciness they generated amongst the crowd); however, they also utlised some wonderfully accurate five-piece harmonies, which reminded me of Fleet Foxes. Dog is Dead were also notable for having a loyal following who were bouncing along quite happily.
I saw Athlete at City Pulse a couple of years ago, and found them to be good but dull; this time around, I was pleasantly surprised to remember how much I liked some of their songs (particularly the early ones), but as the set wore on, I found myself harking back to last time. If they had played a half-hour set, it would have been perfect, but they had forty-five minutes and it was just too much for this reviewer (incidentally, just like last time, the bass player was on paternity leave). There is also a bit of a problem when your most famous song (and therefore set closer) is a morose number about how you worried that your newborn baby might die. Oh well, the rest of the crowd seemed to like them…
After a break for a tasty, if obviously overpriced, Chicken Balti with rice, naan and minty-yogurt, I sat patiently waiting for Fyfe Dangerfield, and watched him do his own soundcheck. Unfortunately, the soundcheck cannot have been that successful as Fyfe had problems with feedback and the piano distorted a little bit. It was a stripped-down set, with Fyfe on piano or guitar accompanied only by a violin and a viola, although he did use some basic backing tracks on the first couple of tracks. Apart from “Made Up Love Song #43”, he stuck to songs from his début solo album “Fly Yellow Moon”. I was fortunate enough to have a brief chat to Fyfe afterwards, he seemed like a thoroughly decent chap and he remembered my bandmates and I from an unsigned gig at Birmingham’s Flapper and Firkin in 1999 when he was in a group called Senseless Prayer.
Then, if you will, a trip back to the mid-1990s, with Terrorvision reprising their thang and getting their loyal followers going a bit mental, followed by Shed Seven (sandwiched with a quick trip to the main stage to watch Calvin Harris, from a distance, for about five minutes). I was never really into Terrorvision, and although they are undoubtedly good at what they do, I still don’t really buy it. Tony Wright is hugely popular for his verve and energy (as well as astonishingly lean and fit for a man of his age), but unfortunately his on-stage antics come at the expense of his vocals. Still, I know he and the band are both much-loved by their fans. The Sheds were much-maligned even in their heyday, as being one of the poor relations of Britpop; I would agree that they were far from the best band of their era, but crucially (and as their setlist proved), they had quite a lot of decent songs (although a couple of rubbish ones as well). Paul Banks is obviously an accomplished guitarist and the rhythm section were tight, but Rick Witter remains the band’s weak point, mainly because he cannot sing and hasn’t got a very good voice. Nonetheless, the songs were mostly good, although in an awful throwback to the Britpop-era some sections of the crowd were drunken laddish meatheads, which does spoil it for the rest of us.
Onto the day’s headliners, the mighty Pet Shop Boys; I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from them as although I like some of their songs, I wouldn’t go so far as to describe myself as a fan. Opening with “Heart”, the set then meandered a bit, to be honest, and was livened up by the graphics in the backdrop and the dancers sporting some amusing costumes; however, in direct contrast to Athlete, the Pet Shop Boys’ set got better and better as it went on, both in terms of the songs they played, the antics of the dancers and the playing around with the stage set. It was a real pleasure watching these guys, old musical pros and well choreographed dancing which really did add to the experience.
All the photos you see on this page form part of my photostream from the day; on the whole, a great day, well worth £15 of my hard-earned, and in a beautiful setting on my very own doorstep.
