DAY 3
A relatively early start was on the cards for Saturday at The Great Escape. I had to sleepwalk over to Republic of Music at around noon to ensure that I didn’t miss TOWNS.
I love this band. They put a contemporary spin on 90’s shoegaze and early Britpop, but with much more genuinity and innovation than the hoards of modern day rip-off merchants who simply steal ideas from the past. It had been a while since I had seen the prodigal sons of Weston-Super-Mare take the stage and they were definitely worth dragging myself out of Hangoverville for.
TOWNS are loud. There is a constant theme of washing cymbals, thunderstorms of feedback and screeching guitars; a key ingredient throughout. The performance was second to none. A lot of thought had gone into the set listing, every song perfectly complemented the previous, and they were delivered with great artistry and professionalism. They opened with forthcoming single ‘Just Everything’, which erupted to life after an elongated introduction of the aforementioned noise and the standard of quality remained exceedingly high. There is absolutely no room for fillers with TOWNS, every song could justifiably be released as a single and the live show is immaculate.
I pretty much spent the whole day drinking until Novella played at Audio early that evening. They were giving out free beer. FREE. BEER. This complicated the reviewing process somewhat. I remember they were good, by no means amazing, but good. The three girls upstage also had matching haircuts. Journalism is fun (I’m so sorry.).
After a few hours to cool off and a sobering walk up to The Hope, I caught the latter half of Tall Ships. I’d seen these guys about a year ago when they were touring the ‘There Is Nothing But Chemistry Here’ EP and fell in love with them from the offset. Tonight made me fall out of love for them a little. They were playing some new material (which sounds more like their old material, apparently) and I couldn’t really get into it, as the hints of emo-ism were too prevalent. However, ‘Chemistry’ and ‘Tectonic Plates’ were exactly as I remembered, so only half a broken heart will have to suffice.
Remaining in the same venue, I finished off my Great Escape weekend with O. Children. I’d seen a lot of this band last year and they have come a long way since then. I think they’re trying to ditch the goth vibe, as they didn’t play their two biggest hits: ‘Ruins’ and ‘Dead Disco Dancer’. Or maybe they were just trying to squeeze in more material from their soon-to-be-released second album, who knows? The new songs sound great live though, especially ‘PT Cruiser’, and I’ll be looking forward to hearing a lot more of them.
Dear Great Escape,
I had a lovely time at your festival. Thanks for having me!
Your Sincerely,
Half-The-Human-I-Used-To-Be
Catch of the day: TOWNS
Picture of Tall Ships property of Matt Simmonds http://soundsgoodtometoo.com/2011/05/14/great-escape-review-1-tall-ships/
