This is a bit of shameful situation really, a confession, that this whole week was going on, is still going on as I write, five miles from me as the crow flies, and all I managed was one measly night. But what a night it was. As my co-conspirator said – beautifully curated.
I work Liverpool a lot as a photographer, and even so, this was my first time in the Baltic triangle, Camp and Furnace and the surrounding warehouse spaces. A rainswept and dreary night, with utterly fantastic musical things going on, once you get away from the smug, navel-gazing Beatles legacy that used to stifle innovation. That encapsulates Liverpool really. Thank fuck for what’s going on now, here in these warehouses, and down the road in Seel Street.
First up for me was Natalie McCool. Having seen Natalie before, in the more genteel setting of the Kazimier gardens, and on that occasion playing a stripped down set, I had to check with my gig-mate Robin that this really was the same person. I mean, it looked like Natalie but the loud guitar driven sound threw me. I like her in either guise but this was impressive stuff, power driven but still with delicacy.
Bird are from the Wirral, and are truly a fantastic representation of what can come out of Merseyside. Loud these days, and with presence. I’ve been following them from their early days and the way they have moulded the band, steered away from twee whilst retaining the magical madrigal spirit, has resulted in growing recognition and deservedly so. Their album will surely be in more than a few end of year lists, I’ve got friends across the world who rave about them.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/catshoe/15519012419
I cut loose to go catch Haley Bonar from Portland, Oregon. Well mannered alt-Americana; keening and with hints of Cajun. She charmed us, and told us that she busted her butt to get here early enough to go to the Beatles store in town, that it made her shed a tear. OK, I know what I said before as a cynical local, but she does indeed have a point. For me, it started out a tad too restrained, but they grew into it, and the session stretched into something jam-like and much heavier, it just got better and better. New fan alert over here, and I wasn’t the only one, judging by those around me in this cafe setting, discussing at the end of the set which of her musical merch was about to get purchased.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/catshoe/15681151926/
Back to the headline stage now for All We Are. What they were was flashing funkadelica. It was very well done, energetic but sadly not this reviewer’s bag; it never quite ignited for me, although it was well suited to the warehouse rave vibe that seemed to be setting into the Furnace stage.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/catshoe/15519478768/
And on to the main event, the real reason why the warehouse was now packed and sweating. CHVRCHES felt like a bomb dropping when they released that first video of them performing to a slightly perplexed invited audience in Glasgow. Since then I have seen them multiple times, in the UK and the US. Despite Lauren Mayberry’s apparent diffidence, they just get more confident and more compelling every time they play. I love the recorded music, but this massive brick space was the place to see them, with the sub-bass reverberating through your gut, and a lightshow to frighten mere mortals. The audience was theirs, even to the extent of Lauren commenting with genuine modesty when people mouthed back the words to barely released new track ‘Dead Air’ (from the new Hunger Games soundtrack). Being a mortal photographer in the photo-pit, I’d been slung out into the alley after our allotted ‘first three, no flash’, and so had to re-enter the venue via a one-in-one-out queue at the main door. It was odd and impressive to be in the back of the crowd, and fun to wriggle back to the front in time for the encore, to see Ms M apparently encased in a tube of light that flashed and sparkled where her elbows caught and interfered with it.
Once more out into the rain, and whilst most of the crowd were heading off, I headed into a much smaller stage for one last midnight set.
I’d caught Lizzo at Sound City back in the summer. She has to totally be one of the best live acts I’ve seen in an age, if fun-serious rap is your thing. Forget the pop froth of that ‘Batches and Cookies’ single, this was meaningful, even when she insisted “this is going to a party. A dance party!” If you get half a chance, just do, just go, and dance dammit. As she said to the largely indie white male audience “How many y’all been to a rap gig? What, none of you? No-one? Well, this is one for your bucket list then”. And it was.
FULL PHOTO GALLERY HERE https://www.flickr.com/photos/catshoe/sets/72157648685538689/
