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ventaSo, carrying on with our attempt to go to London one-dayers to replace the fun of a major summer festival, we have Citadel.
Bands: W H Lung, Her's, Sea Girls, Gang of Youths, Shame, (Goat Girl), (Sam Fender), La Femme, Jess Fostekew, Andrew Maxwell, Hawkwind, Chvrches, (GOAT), Tame Impala.
When Citadel was first advertised, it didn't seem like a line-up that was a massive draw. The headliner was Tame Impala, which doesn't win either of us over. But the thought process basically went: it is Gunnersbury Park, that is easy walking distance. It is basically our local festival, we should go. Also: Chrvches.
I hadn't realised, but Citadel - like Community - also seemed to be sharing infrastructure with another festival. In this case Lovebox, which was on Friday and Saturday in Gunnersbury Park. I realised this at about the time I was trying to get from the M4 to my house on Friday night, in a car, and ended up driving through a bunch of randomly milling Lovebox-goers, Ubers, cars, taxis, etc. It took... a while.
Anyway. We bumbled on down on Sunday morning, and got searched by humans and sniffed by dogs, and got let in. And the immediate thought on entering was: Woah! This is a festival!
From the lineup, we knew there were at least 6 stages. But more than that... there was stuff. Yes, there were waltzers, and other fairground rides, which doesn't surprise me so much. But there were table-tennis tables. And an open-air yoga class going on. And weird wooden structures for no obvious reason. And some of the people playing volleyball on the makeshift court had to go and ask the croquet-players if they could have their ball back. And there were families with kids. And this is what I want from a festival. And it was beautiful sunshine, and everything looked brightly coloured and fun.
Later in the day, it was still hot (have you noticed, London? it's hot) and there were very big queues for the taps. I went and stood in one. A fairly motley volleyball match was underway, and a couple of blokes with radio mics were commentating it and counting the volleys. ("And a great contribution from the lady on the end. And that's blocked... blocked! By someone who thinks this is a competitive sport, not a co-operative bouncy-bouncy..."). They later - as the volleyball bounced off the table tennis table - suggested that all sports should be played in close proximity, because it would enliven cricket no end if there was a risk a javelin might suddenly land on the game). There was also a massed hula-hoop session just over there. A few blokes had stolen a space hopper from the space-hopper racetrack and were playing keepy-up with it. And dammit this is what I want from a festival.
Anyway. We had swung down early, mostly to catch the opening set from W H Lung. They were only on for half an hour or so (which, for them, is about three songs, tops), and were playing in a weird little wooden stockade sponsored by Rekordelig. Fortunately drinking pink pomengranate and echidna "cider" wasn't a requirement of listening, so we found a patch of shade and soaked up strange and unusual, electronic dance... stuff. And it was really good, like a sort of noir The Egg. Try it: Nothing Is
ChrisC has been banging on about Gang of Youths for a while now, and I've not been especially won over. However, live they were flippin' awesome, playing to a properly enthusiastic crowd and and ending with a huge singalong. They're moderately straight-up rock, most of the time, at times making me think of the Gaslight Anthem, but they've got the songs and they don't half put on a show. Try it: The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows (more upbeat songs are available ;)
We caught the very end of Shame, on the main stage, who also seemed to be giving extremely good value, hurling very London post-punk noise at the audience. Then I think this was the point I ambled off to be entertained in the queue for the taps, before hitting the very end of Goat Girl.
I was delighted to find the silver Airstream that turns up to Glastonbury and vends "Buddha Bowls" (vegan curry with rice, greens, and various other bits). So I took my cardboard container of very worthy food and sat at the edge of a tent (tents have roofs, hot sun is hot!) that contained Sam Fender while I chomped my way through it.
Now, in the run up to Citadel, the organisers had declared that if England made it to the World Cup Final, they would be showing the match on the main stage. And - while I can see their point - I very much wasn't really down with as it would massively change the afternoon's vibe. As it was, they had a large screen, and a decent crowd to watch France vs. Croatia. Around half time we wombled over to the main stage and was immediately delighted by the frantic French dance-pop from La Femme. A guy in front of us was dancing with great enthusiasm and singing along to every word. A couple of songs later, he turned round, shrugged (Gallicly) declared "Football!" in an apologetic tone (and with an outrageous French accent) and shot off back towards the screen. La Femme really were a lot of fun, though. I don't seem to be doing a good job of finding a YouTube link that really conveys the oooomph they had live, but you could try: Sur La Planche 2013
We trundled off to a far-flung corner of the site to see what was going on there - various science and arts areas, aimed at kids, seemed to be full of kids, and Sunday Papers Live was in full swing. We squoze into the tent for the UK News section of the Papers (delivered by Jess Fostekew and Andrew Maxwell. Both of whom commented on how hot it was in the tent (which was a very nice tent, really, very shady, lovely drapery and pot plants, actually more of a pavilion) which just went to show that they hadn't tried standing in the sun recently.
I wasn't really very sure what to expect from Hawkwind, and went along mostly out of curiosity. I think they were generally less space-age and weird than expected, possibly even less proggy than expected. I felt a bit cheated :) Fortunately, I had all the avant-garde nonsense I required delivered by GOAT later.
Chvrches - whom I really, really like - were definitely the main appeal for me. The Citadel posters made it look like they were co-headlining with Tame Imapala, so I was a little disappointed to find out that they had a much shorter set. And... to be honest, I was a little disappointed overall. Either the sound was dicey, or I was standing in a bad place - the bass seemed to be way way too loud and drowning out everything else. Plus the audience gave the impression of being... a bunch of people waiting for the headliner, who frankly weren't giving the band the attention they deserved. Although, as I've observed at a few gigs recently, moving a few yards in an audience can get you a completely different set of people and (sometimes) a completely different gig experience. So maybe I was just in a bunch of people who don't like fabulous Scottish electronic pop.
Anyway, Chvrches weren't quite all I was hoping for. And the front person has a slightly wonky stage persona, switching between cool professionalism and randomly trying to explain the offside rule. I never quite worked out where that came from. I still really recommend them, though! Try it: Keep You On My Side
By the time Tame Impala got on stage, the bar queues had finally calmed down enough that I could contemplate joining one, so got myself a nice pint of Atlantic from the Sharpe's Brewery bar. And took it along to Tame Impala, and accompanied it with some halloumi fries (which are lardtastic - one portion pretty much finished two of us off). And you know what? Tame Imapala were actually rather lovely, with a bit of a shimmery, Flaming Lips vibe going on.
The band came off stage, we all streamed out of Gunnersbury Park, and ChrisC and I turned north and walked home in about 40 minutes. Sadly, people who were relying on tubes and such apparently had a deeply unpleasant time that culminated in a lot of people being stranded, locked out of Acton Town when it shut for the night. Which, I rather fear, makes it less likely that this will happen again next year. If it does, I totally recommend it as a day out!
Bands: W H Lung, Her's, Sea Girls, Gang of Youths, Shame, (Goat Girl), (Sam Fender), La Femme, Jess Fostekew, Andrew Maxwell, Hawkwind, Chvrches, (GOAT), Tame Impala.
When Citadel was first advertised, it didn't seem like a line-up that was a massive draw. The headliner was Tame Impala, which doesn't win either of us over. But the thought process basically went: it is Gunnersbury Park, that is easy walking distance. It is basically our local festival, we should go. Also: Chrvches.
I hadn't realised, but Citadel - like Community - also seemed to be sharing infrastructure with another festival. In this case Lovebox, which was on Friday and Saturday in Gunnersbury Park. I realised this at about the time I was trying to get from the M4 to my house on Friday night, in a car, and ended up driving through a bunch of randomly milling Lovebox-goers, Ubers, cars, taxis, etc. It took... a while.
Anyway. We bumbled on down on Sunday morning, and got searched by humans and sniffed by dogs, and got let in. And the immediate thought on entering was: Woah! This is a festival!
From the lineup, we knew there were at least 6 stages. But more than that... there was stuff. Yes, there were waltzers, and other fairground rides, which doesn't surprise me so much. But there were table-tennis tables. And an open-air yoga class going on. And weird wooden structures for no obvious reason. And some of the people playing volleyball on the makeshift court had to go and ask the croquet-players if they could have their ball back. And there were families with kids. And this is what I want from a festival. And it was beautiful sunshine, and everything looked brightly coloured and fun.
Later in the day, it was still hot (have you noticed, London? it's hot) and there were very big queues for the taps. I went and stood in one. A fairly motley volleyball match was underway, and a couple of blokes with radio mics were commentating it and counting the volleys. ("And a great contribution from the lady on the end. And that's blocked... blocked! By someone who thinks this is a competitive sport, not a co-operative bouncy-bouncy..."). They later - as the volleyball bounced off the table tennis table - suggested that all sports should be played in close proximity, because it would enliven cricket no end if there was a risk a javelin might suddenly land on the game). There was also a massed hula-hoop session just over there. A few blokes had stolen a space hopper from the space-hopper racetrack and were playing keepy-up with it. And dammit this is what I want from a festival.
Anyway. We had swung down early, mostly to catch the opening set from W H Lung. They were only on for half an hour or so (which, for them, is about three songs, tops), and were playing in a weird little wooden stockade sponsored by Rekordelig. Fortunately drinking pink pomengranate and echidna "cider" wasn't a requirement of listening, so we found a patch of shade and soaked up strange and unusual, electronic dance... stuff. And it was really good, like a sort of noir The Egg. Try it: Nothing Is
ChrisC has been banging on about Gang of Youths for a while now, and I've not been especially won over. However, live they were flippin' awesome, playing to a properly enthusiastic crowd and and ending with a huge singalong. They're moderately straight-up rock, most of the time, at times making me think of the Gaslight Anthem, but they've got the songs and they don't half put on a show. Try it: The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows (more upbeat songs are available ;)
We caught the very end of Shame, on the main stage, who also seemed to be giving extremely good value, hurling very London post-punk noise at the audience. Then I think this was the point I ambled off to be entertained in the queue for the taps, before hitting the very end of Goat Girl.
I was delighted to find the silver Airstream that turns up to Glastonbury and vends "Buddha Bowls" (vegan curry with rice, greens, and various other bits). So I took my cardboard container of very worthy food and sat at the edge of a tent (tents have roofs, hot sun is hot!) that contained Sam Fender while I chomped my way through it.
Now, in the run up to Citadel, the organisers had declared that if England made it to the World Cup Final, they would be showing the match on the main stage. And - while I can see their point - I very much wasn't really down with as it would massively change the afternoon's vibe. As it was, they had a large screen, and a decent crowd to watch France vs. Croatia. Around half time we wombled over to the main stage and was immediately delighted by the frantic French dance-pop from La Femme. A guy in front of us was dancing with great enthusiasm and singing along to every word. A couple of songs later, he turned round, shrugged (Gallicly) declared "Football!" in an apologetic tone (and with an outrageous French accent) and shot off back towards the screen. La Femme really were a lot of fun, though. I don't seem to be doing a good job of finding a YouTube link that really conveys the oooomph they had live, but you could try: Sur La Planche 2013
We trundled off to a far-flung corner of the site to see what was going on there - various science and arts areas, aimed at kids, seemed to be full of kids, and Sunday Papers Live was in full swing. We squoze into the tent for the UK News section of the Papers (delivered by Jess Fostekew and Andrew Maxwell. Both of whom commented on how hot it was in the tent (which was a very nice tent, really, very shady, lovely drapery and pot plants, actually more of a pavilion) which just went to show that they hadn't tried standing in the sun recently.
I wasn't really very sure what to expect from Hawkwind, and went along mostly out of curiosity. I think they were generally less space-age and weird than expected, possibly even less proggy than expected. I felt a bit cheated :) Fortunately, I had all the avant-garde nonsense I required delivered by GOAT later.
Chvrches - whom I really, really like - were definitely the main appeal for me. The Citadel posters made it look like they were co-headlining with Tame Imapala, so I was a little disappointed to find out that they had a much shorter set. And... to be honest, I was a little disappointed overall. Either the sound was dicey, or I was standing in a bad place - the bass seemed to be way way too loud and drowning out everything else. Plus the audience gave the impression of being... a bunch of people waiting for the headliner, who frankly weren't giving the band the attention they deserved. Although, as I've observed at a few gigs recently, moving a few yards in an audience can get you a completely different set of people and (sometimes) a completely different gig experience. So maybe I was just in a bunch of people who don't like fabulous Scottish electronic pop.
Anyway, Chvrches weren't quite all I was hoping for. And the front person has a slightly wonky stage persona, switching between cool professionalism and randomly trying to explain the offside rule. I never quite worked out where that came from. I still really recommend them, though! Try it: Keep You On My Side
By the time Tame Impala got on stage, the bar queues had finally calmed down enough that I could contemplate joining one, so got myself a nice pint of Atlantic from the Sharpe's Brewery bar. And took it along to Tame Impala, and accompanied it with some halloumi fries (which are lardtastic - one portion pretty much finished two of us off). And you know what? Tame Imapala were actually rather lovely, with a bit of a shimmery, Flaming Lips vibe going on.
The band came off stage, we all streamed out of Gunnersbury Park, and ChrisC and I turned north and walked home in about 40 minutes. Sadly, people who were relying on tubes and such apparently had a deeply unpleasant time that culminated in a lot of people being stranded, locked out of Acton Town when it shut for the night. Which, I rather fear, makes it less likely that this will happen again next year. If it does, I totally recommend it as a day out!
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Date: 2018-08-16 07:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
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