venta | Entries tagged with festivals

It's July. Near the end of July, in fact. Oh no, wait, by the time I posted it: August. At the end of June it was, of course, Glastonbury.

tl;dr - very hot, no mud, singalongs are fun, there's a lot more than just bands, The Cure still rock.

Word-free version can be found on Flickr.

Wednesday

( ...and Wednesday too )

Thursday

Beans on Toast, Will Varley, Frank Turner, Elvana, Old Dirty Brasstard

( Thursday, I don't care about you )

Friday

The Vaccines, Bjorn Again, (Lewis Capaldi), The Wombats, (Fontaines DC), Bastille, Matthiel, Life, SOAK, Morcheeba, George Ezra, Billy Bragg, Tame Impala, Interpol.

( It's Friday, I'm in love )

... which is why I have no write-up for Glastonbury Saturday :-)

Sunday

Babymetal, Kylie, (Miley Cyrus), Ten Tonnes, (Miley Cyrus), Blue Aeroplanes, Vampire Weekend, Josefin Ohrn & the Liberation, The Cure

( Sunday always comes too late )

Current Music: The Best of PWEI
Crossposts: https://venta.livejournal.com/553806.html

I am not sure where my time has been going of late. One place it absolutely hasn't been going is on me reading or updating LJ. As mentioned a few times, I use this place as my online memory and means of resolving future arguments about what we did at festivals, which means I have some catching up to do.

This year, ChrisC and I ventured up to Camden for Camden Rocks - the successor to the multi-venue Camden Crawl. Yes, Camden Rocks was at the beginning of June. Yes, I am very behind with my writing up, do be quiet.

Mutant Monster, The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, Brand New Friend, (Albany), (Bang Bang Romeo), Projector, Sick Love, (Pet Needs), Rascalton, Desperate Journalist, Frank Turner

( Saturday )

Rews, Eliza & the Bear, Shvpes, A, Janus Stark, Toffees, St Agnes, The Last Internationale, Ash, The Wonderstuff

( Sunday )

Current Music: Toffees - Down in Style
Crossposts: https://venta.livejournal.com/553645.html

Aye up. It's festival season already...

( Wales Goes Pop! )

( Tomorrow's Ghosts )

Current Music: Disintegration - The Cure (30 years old today!)
Crossposts: https://venta.livejournal.com/552477.html

( Glastonbury Replacement #2: Citadel in Gunnesbury Park )

Crossposts: https://venta.livejournal.com/551267.html

There is no Glastonbury Festival this year, which has left ChrisC and I without our usual summer holiday plan. We lightly considered a variety of alternatives, didn't come to any very serious conclusion, and ended up buying a bunch of tickets to various one-day events around London.

( Glastonbury Replacement #1: Community Festival in Finsbury Park )

Last weekend - or, no two weekends ago - was the October Whitby Goth Weekend. After a few-year break in tradition, the October weekend is back to happening in October, which saves on confusion.

( You could be there - on a dark October night )

And that's that for another year. The bands were... decent, I'd say. But for the first time in ages I felt like I'd managed to be in the right place at the right time to catch up with various groups of people. Talking nonsense in the pub (or club, or Spa foyer, or front room) with friends is one of my most favouritest things to do, and this WGW seemed to involve a lot of laughing. So if you talked nonsense with me at any point: thanks.

Crossposts: https://venta.livejournal.com/547035.html

It's time for the annual mega-bulletin from actually-not-at-all-muddy Glastonbury. Food-related reports will appear in a separate post, just for

lathany. Photos are on Flickr (though heavily overcast skies mean a lot of rather flat-looking snaps this year...)

If you're not familiar with my Glastonbury write-ups, they're mostly for the reference of my future self. They go on and on.

Wednesday
3 Daft Monkeys

( Haven't you always wanted a monkey? )

Thursday
Andrew Maxwell-Morris, New York Brass Band, Elle & the Pocket Belles, Rusty Shackle, Napalm Death, [Mik Artistic], The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, Oh My God! It's the Church

( A heavy bassline is my kind of silence )

Friday
Hacienda Classical, The Pretenders, Rews, Black Honey, Nothing But Thieves, First Aid Kit, The Young 'Uns, Kris Kristofferson, [Royal Blood], Ride, [Clean Bandit], The Flaming Lips
( I know a girl who goes to shows )

Saturday
The Bootleg Beatles, Afriquoi, British Sea Power, The Egg, Ralph McTell, singer-from-She-Drew-The-Gun, Steve Knightley, Billy Bragg, Kaiser Chiefs, The Avalanches, The National, Father John Misty, The Foo Fighters
( You get a tan from standing in the English rain )

Sunday
She Drew The Gun, [Marsh Fires], [Sound of the Sirens], Noble Jacks, [Cassetteboy], Dropkick Murphys, Beans on Toast, Perhaps Contraption(?) Barry Gibb, Blaenavon, Chic, [Courteeners], London Grammar, [Ed Sheeran], Metronomy
( How long until they build a wall and call it a private city? )

Crossposts: http://venta.livejournal.com/544332.html

Right, this weekend was wall-to-wall gigs. I'll start and write about them, and then at some point I'm going to go back and cover gigs so far this year. Very briefly, partly in the interests of sanity and partly because my memory is terrible. Probably best avoided if you don't like reading about gigs.

( DIY Popfest, Saturday @ The George Tavern )

( DIY Popfest, Sunday @ The Shacklewell Arms )

( Los Campesinos! @ Koko )

Crossposts: http://venta.livejournal.com/542515.html

So yesterday, at a gig, I discovered that my last LJ post tagged "gig" was January 2016. Err... Last year was a weird one, on account of not being able to walk for much of it, but I managed more gigs than that. I think my post-fu has been weak.

So! I'm attempting to lurch back into it. Not least because I won't have the least what bands I've seen otherwise.

( So, to Whitby to see the Goths! )

Crossposts: http://venta.livejournal.com/542392.html

It's time for the annual mega-post reporting on Glastonbury. If you dislike words (or dislike an excess of words) then try the nearly word-free version on Flickr instead.

Also, a disclaimer: my legs are still not working properly. I was aware before I set off that this year was going to be quite a minimalist festival for me. Usually we rack up miles and miles each day walking backwards and forwards across the site, and I just wasn't going to be up to that. In addition, the weather was unfriendly and it was one of those years when everyone finds it difficult to get around; walking in thick, sucking mud is surprisingly hard work. Accordingly, there is much less serendipitous weirdness below than in other years.

Wednesday
( The West Country's always been good to me )

Thursday
Tankus the Henge, The Smyths, Mr B. The Gentleman Rhymer

( Smiling makes the day go quicker )

Friday
James, Blossoms, Christine & the Queens, Beans on Toast, Billy Bragg, a couple of not-quite-sure people on Leftfield, Two Door Cinema Club, Editors, Explosions in the Sky, Bastille, Sigur Ros.

( I'm doing my face with magic marker )

Saturday
Palace, [Inheaven], Anna Meredith, Odissee & Good Company, Hurts, Madness, John Grant, Chvrches, Mercury Rev, Adele

( You could be laughing 65% more of the time )

Sunday
She Drew The Gun, Tired Lion, [Matt Corby], Mystery Jets, Bat for Lashes, Jeff Lynn's ELO, Fishermans Friends, [Bootleg Beatles], PJ Harvey, Jake Bugg.

( Hey you with the pretty face, welcome to the human race )

And that's that, for another year. I intend to do a separate post about food. And I intend to get tickets and have a much more reportable festival next year ;)

Next stop in this summer's festival whirl: Derbyshire's finest tiny festival, IndieTracks

Friday

[Fever Dream], The School, Cinerama

( Your first was a masterpiece, your second was just genius )

Saturday

[Chorusgirl], [Rory McVicar], Evans the Death, The Free Fall Band, Mammoth Penguins, Desperate Journalist, Tigercats, [Colleen Green], Steven James Adams, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

( When I was your age I had toured with Blondie )

Sunday

The Catenary Wires, [Bill Botting], Colour Me Wednesday, The Tuts, Laeitia Sadier, [The Luxembourg Signal], Euros Childs, Martha, The Go! Team

( We can sit by the daffodils, we've got some time to kill )

Earlier this year, there were news stories about how this year's festival line ups would look with all the all-male bands removed. (Clue: the answer is 'a bit shit'.)

( My Indietracks experience )

Current Music: The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs

I promised, a few days ago, that I would do a separate post about the food I ate at Glastonbury. In some ways, this wasn't a great year to do it. Hot weather and a slightly dicey stomach meant I probably ate rather less than usual - in ordinary years, the net effect of being surrounded by amazing food stalls is that I have about five meals a day.

I endeavoured to take a snap of everything I ate, but be warned! They really are snaps. Food photography is hard, and due to feeling like a massive idiot taking photos of my food, I tended to get it over with as quickly as possible. There are also a few where I only remembered half way through a meal, and it's pretty much impossible to make a half-eaten dish look nice.

( To The Food! )

Right. It's been a week since I got back from the greatest performing arts festival in the world / that shithole in Somerset (delete as applicable). I've just about caught up on sleep and sorted out the photos. So!

(As usual, a band in [brackets] is one I either saw very little of, or heard vaguely in the distance while I was doing something else.

Also as usual, this entry is far too bloody long. Read at own risk.)

A lightweight, largely text-free version of what I did can be found on Flickr.

Wednesday

Big Beat Junk Band

( Like the legend of the Phoenix, all ends with beginnings )

Thursday

Wilco Johnson, New York Brass Band, [Gecko], Rory Mcleod, [Showhawk Duo], Beans on Toast, Mik Artistic, The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing

( Come rain or shine I'll deal with it )

Friday

Charlatans, The Egg, Bastille, Other Lives, Stornoway, Stealing Sheep, [Mary J Blige], [Motörhead], [TOY], The Libertines, Mark Ronson, Florence & the Machine, [Super Furry Animals]

( The storm has broken, heavens opened )

Saturday

Frank Turner, Everything Everything, [Burt Bacharach], Thee Faction, Paloma Faith, Todd Terje, Suede

( It’s a lovely sunny day )

Sunday

[Rival Sons], SOAK., [Unknown band], Cassetteboy vs. DJ Rubbish, Patti Smith, Alvvays, Django Django, Future Islands, New York Brass Band, Unknown-band-in-Engine-Room, [fka twigs], Idlewild, FFS, Slamboree, Gaudi

( You don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows )

Monday

Monday was shamelessly lazy; we walked about a bit as the site began to be dismantled, packed up our tent, and observed that both the human and avian recycling crews were moving in to deal with the shocking mess left behind. Our coach departed smartly at 4pm, but bad traffic meant it took until nearly 10pm to get back to the O2.

I really should have taken Tuesday off work :)

Some time back, a festival was announced on Blackheath. OnBlackheath, in fact. We looked at it and thought, hey, look at Sunday's line-up. Frank Turner! The Levellers! And err... probably some other people. The tickets were Â£60+, and we decided that weren't that excited.

Then ChrisC spotted a deal somewhere, selling tickets for less than half price. He grabbed a couple quickish, and then we realised... everywhere was selling them cheap. Possibly everyone else had decided it was too pricey, too, and stayed away in droves. Would it end up being cancelled at short notice?

In the end, no. Blackheath is a very long way away from our bit of London, but a tube, a train, and a bit of walking got us there. And wow. You may remember me describing Latitude as the most middle-class festival every. Not so! OnBlackheath had celebrity chef demos, and a stall advertising and demonstrating the latest model of Neff oven... Probably not that surprising, given that it was sponsored by John Lewis. Rock and roll, man.

Obligatory list:
Rhys Lewis and the Relics, [Athlete], Stealing Sheep, Levellers, Steve Mason, Imelda May, [Red and Pink], [TOY], Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls, Radiophonic Workshop

( You sound middle-class, but I'll let it pass )

Current Music: Pog - Between the Station and the Sea

Wait, what, it's August and Venta hasn't been to a folk festival in Whitby?

Of course I have, I just haven't found time to write it up here. Regular readers may assume that it was quite a lot like last year. Only a lot, lot windier. Dance displays at Capt. Cook's monument were all about trying not to get blown off the cliff and out to sea.

Unexpectedly, we managed a whole four days of dancing without injuring anyone seriously (unlike the Wallingford festival this weekend where our very first dance failed so badly someone ended up concussed).

However, as anyone who's ever been to any kind of festival knows, it's not a terribly restful sort of a holiday. Since getting back, I've mostly been either at work, asleep, or one-but-wishing-I-was-the-other.

Normal service will be attempted shortly. (This is also the first entry I've attempted on a phone, so humorous typos are Swype's fault. Anyone know a decent Android app for LJ?)

Once again, I have been off and Done A Thing I want To Write Up, and then not found time for the writing. As I've mentioned before, I have to keep track of festivals or ChrisC and I have arbitrary arguments about which bands we saw, usually about ten years after the fact.

So, off to Derbyshire for the music-, steam-engine-, beer- and owl-fest that is Indietracks.

Friday
[Spearmint], The Chills, Allo Darlin'

( I'm so happy I could throw things around )

Saturday
Ace City Racers, [Skeletal Shakes], The Royal Landscaping Society, MJ Hibbett and the Validators, [Thee Ahs], ONSIND, [Linda Guilala], [Dorotea], The Blue Minkies, Alpaca Sports (acoustic), Spook School, [Joanna Gruesome], The Popguns, Dean Wareham, Gruff Rhys.

( Though this band is awful I like them an awful lot )

Sunday
[Axalotes Mexicanos], The Swapsies, The Thyme Machine, [No Ditching], The Wendy Darlings, Bordeauxx, The Hobbes Fan Club, Cosines, Flatmates, Martha (acoustic), [Sweet Baboo], The Just Joans, [Mega Emotion], Withered Hand, Hidden Cameras.

( I could stay for ever, hanging out )

Hello. It's July. And at the end of June you know what happens, right? I go off to the world's greatest performing arts festival, and then drivel on for pages and pages about it.

So here we are, Glastonbury 2014. If you are allergic to words, you can find the pictorial version on Flickr.

Wednesday

( Can't get a gig at Glastonbury this year )

Thursday

Gaz Brookfield, The 1975, Metronomy, Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer

( There's a festival in Pilton where I need to sink a beer )

Friday

Kaiser Chiefs, Alabama 3, [Blondie], Rodrigo y Gabriela, [The Young 'Uns], [De La Soul], Kevin P Gilday, Abe Nouk, [Fishermans Friends], The Tuts, Foster the People, Interpol, [Elbow], Lykke Li, Arcade Fire

( What do you want for tea? I want crisps )

Saturday

Nick Mulvey, Balina Whalers, Prof. Elemental, The Riptide Movement, Warpaint, Courtney Barnett, Clean Bandit, [George Ezra], Manic Street Preachers, [Goldfrapp], Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, Metallica

( Thou shalt not question Billy Bragg )

Sunday

Billy Bragg, English National Ballet, CC Smugglers, Attila the Stockbroker, [Billy Bragg], [Soak], [White Lies], Public Service Broadcasting, Dolly Parton, Jake Bugg, Bombay Bicycle Club, [Kate Tempest], Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit, Kasabian

( Theirs is a land with a wall around it, and mine is a faith in my fellow man )

Current Music: Foster the People [BBC Glasto coverage]

It's that time of year again. At least, it's one of the many times of year when I bugger off to Whitby. This one was goth flavour.

( Friday. No cheese at all. )

( Friday's bands )

( Saturday. Just enough cheese. )

( Saturday's bands )

( Sunday. Too much cheese. )

Still, in summary: brief but fun, good company as always, some decent bands.

( footnotes )

Current Music: Portasound - Sacrifice

At the weekend I went to Indietracks, the tiny indiepop festival held at the site of a preserved steam railway in Derbyshire. I've never been before.

And, do you know what? I really, really enjoyed it. And as a result, I'm going to write about it in excruciating detail. Read at own risk.

Friday

The Tuts, Bis

( This is the good stuff, this is music for girls )

Saturday

[Northern Spies], Finnmark!, Jupiter in Jars, Tunabunny, [Pale Spectres], The Understudies, Milky Wimpshake, When Nalda Became Punk, [Secret History], [McTells], [The Wave Pictures], Cars Can Be Blue, [The Pastels], The Brilliant Corners, Camera Obscura

( Oh, the thing that you do, you make me go, oooooh )

Sunday

The French Defence, Seabirds, Good Grief, Alpaca Sports, [Flowers], Lardpony, Kid Canaveral, Making Marks, [Fear of Men], Martha, The Lovely Eggs, Helen Love, [The Still Corners]

( Jumping up and down to your favourite tune )

Current Music: Various Artists - Indietracks 2013

Wow, it's a festival whirl round these parts at the moment. First Glastonbury, then Elton John developed appendicitis and caused his headlining (and very expensive) show in Hyde Park to morph into a free gig, and then last Friday was a day out at Latitude. Next stop, Indietracks.

( Latitude! )

Current Music: When Nalda Became Punk - A Farewell To Youth

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Sometimes you make me feel like I'm living at the edge of the world
Get your rocks off, get your rocks off, honey
And what costume shall the poor girl wear
And will give myself completely to the moving and the strange
I remember t-shirt weather
Insane in the membrane, insane in the brain
These are the good times, leave your cares behind
The beats, yeah, they were coming out the speakers
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger or so they say
I dreamed of you on my farm
And watch the trains go by
"What next?" is the question
Don't believe me? Just watch!
They come from many places, they come down for the day
(no subject)
Swanwick Junction, I've missed you
Your smile is like a breath of spring, your voice is soft like summer rain
She's not ready to face the day yet, she goes back to bed with a book
Just don't let the music stop
When the ship goes wop (with a wiggle between) and the steward falls in the soup tureen

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