by
It's 11.30, the skies are looking ominous and I am wearing
yellow tinted 'geek rock' sunglasses and I am about to go to a festival with
only 2 bands that interest me and a cold… things couldn't be much better.
Sara turns up a few minutes later and we get her press pass and arrange to
meet her friends in the festival (yes, I was surrounded by 4 girls but more
of that later). We go through the VIP section (separate article material)
and out to the main area and scour for Sara's friends…
We get into the site just before the second band come onstage (we just
missed openers Hawksley Workman & The Wolves)… and that is
Bellefire! I have drawn the short straw and get to see their entire
set… of 15 minutes! The girls (minus Cathy) come onstage in their seductive
fashion in their skimpy outfits and I feel pity for them… there are 50
people watching (if that) and it is a bit nippy to say the least but the
girls belt out their 3 songs (including previous singles 'All I Want Is
You' & 'Perfect Bliss' with gusto and thank the crowd and U2 and
numerous other people I don't remember for the opportunity to play… bless
their cotton socks!
I wander off the second they have gone to check out the surroundings. Legal
highs are available along with legal bongs (can they be legal?) and much
vodka and cider is available for those looking to get out of their face the
old fashioned way. After a long conversation with the Greenpeace contingent
(a good 30 of them are here looking for new members) I head back towards the
general direction of the girls awaiting the next band…
I meander over to the main stage to watch Aslan (isn't that the lion from the Narnia chronicles?) The festival programme announces that the Fleadh audience will respect and enjoy every note of this phenomenon! Steady on, methinks. I found them to be neither good nor bad. They were just on the stage, with a slightly unnecessary amount of smoke billowing from a machine at the back.
First band I have wanted to see come onstage in the Mojo Marquee and my how things have changed for Jesse James. It has been 10 weeks since I saw them as virtual unknown openers for Reel Big Fish (see the review here) and since then thanks to satellite television, the brass infected sounds have spread much further around the shores of this country. The band play almost the same set with the skank-along class of 'The T-Shirt Song' and 'Shoes' (which I believe is to appear on their new E.P 'Hotwired. Onstage banter is frequent with all 3 brass players wearing sombreros and the decleration by Dan that 'Everybody thinks I'm a buttercup'…. erm, OK? The set is drawn to a slightly early end when drummer Ben damages his wrist ligaments. The band leave to a loud applause and I am glad, the amount they have improved is immesurable and so I look forward to seeing them for a third time in a month or two.
Damien Rice stands onstage amidst glowing red lights, lifts his guitar and begins to play. Sadly no moment of great epiphany meets my ears, just a whole load of expletives and sorry tales that did not paint pretty pictures in my expectant mind. That is until he introduces Lisa Hannigan to the stage. At first she just meanders up to a microphone at the side of the stage and gently provides beautiful harmonies, but during a song sung in french (no idea what they were saying but it was gorgeous all the same) their voices meet somewhere in the middle, resulting in sun drenched echoes of beauty. Rice hands over the lead to Hannigan and bends down and uses his guitar like a drum, accompanying Hannigan's glorious cover of an old Nina Simone song.Please, i want more of this beatific voice but sadly it is not to be. Rice is back up at the microphone, pouring out a competent yet (for me only, judging by the rest of the crowds enthusiasm) slightly contrived and just a bit naff cover of Radioheads' Creep Nothing floating my boat here. In fact I think it's sunk.
On the main stage, Cornershop come out to quite a crowd and like many of the acts before them are competent but not exciting. Past singles such as 'Things I Learned From Rocky…' & 'Brimful Of Asha' are played out and they are appreciated, but not yearned for. It's a shame as I expected them to be one of the better bands on the bill but it wasn't to be… I need drink and go searching…
I wait expectantly for Gemma Hayes to arrive onstage. She's the main reason I wanted to come to this festival, so I find a good view point and wait. Finally, she begins her set with 'Making Waves' from the 4.35am EP.It is a good start but from there on in, something goes wrong, terribly wrong. 'Hanging Around', her first single from her recently released debut album 'Night On My Side', kicks off like a bunch of kids playing with drums and tambourines in playschool. The sound man has clearly fucked up, but I'm not sure if those on stage actually notice. I begin to regret trying to convince Colin that she is actually really good. I can feel his distaste from ten paces. Ho hum. Things can only get better. But sadly they don't. She seems a bit distracted,only being able to ask the sound man to alter everyone's vocals, which just makes the whole set seem more like a rehearsal for a! recording rather than a live experience. At the end I walk away, hoping that it is just a lapse.
After aquiring pizza and garlic bread (which I promptly munched) from a local vendor (playing some cool stuff on her radio I have never heard before by some spanish lady), the fatigue factor, thanks to my illness, is kicking in and I decide to sit and watch the main stage from that point on. Next up to bat is Paul Kelly, an Australian singer song-writer I have never heard of… but damn he was good! Sounding like a less offensive version of Kevin ''Bloody' Wilson, he was only the second thing I appreciated today (that is music wise… on other fronts there were many other things to appreciate *grin*). His change of guitar every song is a little frustrating, but bearable and he went off to the loudest applause of the day, and greatly deserved it was too! After turning down 3 previous offers, I now take the chance for someone to buy me a drink and I settle ready for the next act…
Nothing about today is leaping out and grabbing me.
At one point my mind drifts so far away that I realise that I'm thinking
about the huge pile of washing waiting for me at home. Not the sign of a
fun packed day.Vodka. Need Vodka. Its obtained and a discussion ensues about
why exactly Bellefire were put on the bill (aside from the fact that they're
Irish,duh) It was a short discussion, about as short as their skirts
actually (meow!)
Heh, there is nothing more I can say that this review already
covered. It was, from what I can make out, the same set list and apart from
our own ickle Sara getting covered in cider while bouncing around in the pit
and the decleration of the band that 'Who needs a new album with songs
like these?' The band do what you expect… they play 90's indie the way
they always did, with gusto, enthusiasm and a touch of class… wish they
played 'Dizzy' though!
It is at this point that I wimp out and decide to go home… as it is I won't
get back till after 10. I bid my farewells and head for the exit and leave
the rest of the night to our beloved Mrs. Lovejoy…
Next up is Joe Strummer. We dance like fools
and sing very loudly.He is ace... not much more to say than that really. We
raise our glasses towards the dying sunlight. I fought the law,and the
law one Hurrah!
A veggie burger is obtained and I munch away happily waiting for the
Pogues to shower us with their whiskey spilling chaos. And they do
exactly that. The people around us seem to be having a fantastic time. But I
feel like I've walked into a room where everyone knows each other, but I am
a complete stranger. We decide to go home early. Not cos they were bad,we
just felt slightly out of the loop.
I did spend much of the day feeling let down. Many of the acts that we saw
seemed to be playing with little to no intrest in what they were doing. But
riding the tube late that night, I see people wearing Pogues t-shirts, and
with what I imagine to be lager induced smiles on there tired faces.Perhaps
it was just me?
