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Saturday 15th May
Weather-wise Saturday was certainly an improvement as a good atmosphere was
building for the final foray. Those that were feeling a bit peckish knew there
was only one venue to go to – Digital’s Aussie Barbeque!
Blackchords, Digital Lovebox
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The beautiful promenade venue of Digital proved a popular first port of call at
noon
as hungry and expectant fans lined up outside in the unforgiving sunshine.
Inside, it was another underground venue, with your usual stage set-up
encompassing the dancefloor and a back DJ booth.
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The Blackchords for one seemed happy to be at the start of the proceedings.
Made-up of a moody, yet likeable frontman and some energetic guitarists, soft
progressive indie melodies were the order of the day as the Chords hit their
stride with some Coldplay-esque rhythms. The crowd were even treated to a new
song, ‘Raise My Hands’ featuring a feedback-laden opening, not dissimilar to the work of Verve when
they were known as just that.
Certainly one plus point for the band was the fact that the Aussie BBQ had not
yet got in full swing, so at least for now, they had the crowd’s full attention. Playing another recent song, ‘Broken Bones’, which took awhile to get going before hitting its stride late on, there was a clear camaraderie between the band members who genuinely seemed to enjoy
playing alongside eachother, which can be rare to see these days.
A short six-song set was ended with a quirky ad-libbed ending track, but also
included the impressively sweet ‘Pretty Little Thing’ in which the band really excelled and captured the interest of all the ensemble.
It was their third gig at the festival and on that performance, a very
successful one as everyone headed for the food.
7/10
Hungry Kids of Hungary, Digital Lovebox
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On-stage there’s quite some quirkiness to be found too – a random tambourine player smashes along to the infectious calypso beat in a
highly upbeat opener. ‘Let You Down’ follows and it does seem at this point that many have retreated outside for
chargrilled treats – more fool them, the performance here, the effortless inter-switching between
Kane and Dean on vocals and the energy that’s in the room was really worth witnessing.
The Kids treated us to some new tunes, mixed in with the hugely popular, ‘Scattered Diamonds’ – a toe-tapper of a tune which really got what was left of the crowd moving.
Though they may have turned up dressed as Gap men, they certainly know how to
rock a good tune in what was an enjoyable performance. At times, they may have
even drawn comparisons with fellow Aussie rockers, the Temper Trap, with some
seriously sweet melodies and those that did stay were thoroughly entertained.
9/10
Kamp!, Horatio’s
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The best thing here is that not many people had stuck to the idea of listening
to music here, whether that was due to the FA Cup Final taking place is highly
debatable, but still some seriously smooth synths as they played piano-led and
Eric Prydz-alike ‘Distance of the Modern Hearts’ and the very enjoyable, a-ha-like ‘Heats’ which certainly induced some passion from the lead.
Though they possibly could have been mistaken for Aphex Twin in some of the
styling of their tunes, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing and the intimate crowd were very much into their
private show. Particularly pleasing was also ‘Breaking a Ghost’s Heart’ which again borrowed faithfully from the forgotten 80s era of power ballads,
trance-inducing synths and raw emotion; a good performance from the unique
three-piece in an enjoyable set.
7/10
Zeus, NME Corn Exchange
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The NME venue was opening a bit earlier this evening, though there were still
queues, even for the opening performance! Sounding like they were straight out
of the swinging 60s, Zeus is certainly an interesting proposition. Interest was
high as youngsters scrambled into the venue and straight up to the front to
hear tunes like ‘How Does it Feel’ and the melancholic, Bowie-borrowing ‘I Know’ – which incidentally, was one of the best that they did perform.
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It’s unusual to do an encore in a 30-minute set but Zeus managed it. Still that
didn’t stop half of the crowd dispersing thinking that was all they were going to be
treated to. ‘Kindergarten’, seemingly reminiscing about the old days was a nice sing-a-long too in what
was a very likeable performance. The lack of commitment from the crowd didn’t seem to bother them either.
6/10
Bridezilla, Basement ACM
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Ironically enough, if I’d stayed at the Aussie BBQ just an hour or so longer, I’d have
had the chance to see this lot there, still the hard-working five-piece turned
up at what was a quite deserted venue with really just devout followers in
attendance – of course you didn’t have to queue long, which was a bonus!
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Bridezilla are quite an unusual group in that they feature a heavily classical
ensemble, Daisy Tulley on violin; Millie Hall, mostly on saxophone, but also
keyboard; alongside the usual guitarist/drummer ensemble. Though they didn’t treat us to the amusing dances of ‘Western Front’, we did get a little taste with a wisher away here and a wavey arm movement
there.
In terms of charisma, lead vocalist Holiday Sidewinder is a good frontwoman and
easily surpasses any less-than-flattering comparisons to Hole’s Courtney Love; guitarist Pia is somewhat static and enjoys hugging the wall;
Hall is emotive and Tulley simply steals the show with her divine Vanessa
Mae-esque violin work. Bridezilla played a selection of their famous hits
including ‘Brown Paper Bag’, ‘Beaches’ and ‘Magnetic Arrest’ in an accomplished, if slightly under-appreciated performance. Those that did
take the plunge were suitably rewarded though.
9/10
(c) ChrisOnline.biz 2010
