‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – ‘LATITUDE FESTIVAL’, HENHAM PARK, SUFFOLK 21-23.7.23
‘Latitude’ is one of the very best annual music and arts festivals in the whole of the country and has been enriching people’s minds since 2006.
Each year, in the middle of July, 45,000 people venture to the picturesque grounds of Henham Park, near Southwold in Suffolk, in order to catch the many music artists that are appearing, as well as a whole plethora of other goings-on, whether you are a toddler or someone who has been receiving your pension for a number of years, there will be something for you!
This report is for Saturday 22nd July. If you have not read yesterday’s ‘Latitude’ reviews (Friday 21st July), then maybe click HERE first before reading those found below.
SATURDAY 22nd JULY:
THE MYSTERINES (OBELISK ARENA 12:00pm – 12:40pm)
We kick off our second ‘Latitude’ day at 12 noon at the main Obelisk Arena to see The Mysterines, who formed back in 2015 and consists of Lia Metcalfe (vocals, guitar, tambourine), George Favager (bass guitar), Callum Thompson (guitar and backing vocals) and Paul Crilly (drums, Roland drumpads and backing vocals). We encountered this Liverpool based outfit in March last year for their Resident instore performance in support of their debut album ‘Reeling’ (Review HERE).
Although The Mysterines set was allotted a duration of 40 minutes, they actually only played for 34 of those. They kicked off with ‘The Last Dance’ which almost immediately saw Lia play her guitar with a violin bow, which certainly caught my eye. I also noted that there were five people on stage, alas I’m not aware who the mystery addition was. One thing was certain and that the volume was immediately noticeable as being louder than yesterday. ‘Hung Up’, ‘Old Friends Die Hard’, ‘Dangerous’ and ‘On The Run’ took us up to the mid-point of their set and by now I had decided that The Mysterines “alternative rock band” moniker was possibly selling themselves a little short. Put it this way, if you are a fan of Patti Smith, The Runaways, Courtney Love and good old back to basics rock’n’roll, then The Mysterines will be for you!
The lads were clad in black, whereas Lia was sporting a pink and black dress, as well as wearing a gothic looking cross on a chain around her neck, this cross being the same style as the one tattooed on her middle finger of her left hand, and her vocal delivery had an American twang. Paul’s drums were kitted out with two circular plastic side facing cymbal sound limiters. This was most unusual and I am endeavouring to recall if I have ever seen this live before, and I don’t believe I have.
The sleazy gritty slices of rock kept on coming…‘Reeling’, ‘Begin Again’, ‘Under Your Skin’, ‘All These Things’, and finally ‘Life’s A Bitch (But I Like It So Much)’. Of these, I would cite ‘Begin Again’ as a typical example of their on point drumming accompanied with slices of jerky guitar, along with Lia’s slower drawn out lyrics across the top. Whereas ‘All These Things’ certainly had the vibe of Tom Petty. At 12:34pm that was our lot.
Sadly, I couldn’t locate any information to indicate any future concert performances in Brighton or even the south of the country.
The Mysterines setlist:
‘The Last Dance’
‘Hung Up’
‘Old Friends Die Hard’
‘Dangerous’
‘On The Run’
‘Reeling’
‘Begin Again’
‘Under Your Skin’
‘All These Things’
‘Life’s A Bitch (But I Like It So Much)’
SCHOOLS CLIMATE ASSEMBLY TALK WITH CHRIS PACKHAM, HAMZA YASSIN & GUESTS (THE LISTENING POST 1:15pm – 2:30pm)
We are here at ‘Latitude’ for the bands, but there was one non-music event that I certainly wasn’t going to miss and this was billed as Schools Climate Assembly with Chris Packham, Hamza Yassin and guests. This was taking place at The Listening Post, which is a large rectangular tent. I ensured that I arrived in time and so entered the packed tent half way through the ‘Yevonde: A Colourful Legacy’ event. This was about Yevonde Philone Middleton (1893-1975) who was an English photographer, who pioneered the use of colour in portrait photography.
I wanted to listen to the ‘Schools Climate Assembly’ talk mainly on the account that I view Chris Packham as a legend, not just because of his obsessive interest in nature and conserving it, but also for his love of punk rock. In fact, he even made a point to travel and interview my partner Jordan Mooney (RIP) for a documentary on the subject – see a clip HERE.
This ‘Schools Climate Assembly’ discussion lasted an hour from 1:15pm to 2:15pm with a meet and greet afterwards. I truly wanted to meet Chris and let him know who my partner was, but as there were so many people there, I knew that there wouldn’t be time to review the next music act, so I left after the talk.
On his arrival to the stage Chris held up a sign that simply stated “There is no Planet B”…message received! Generally speaking, this was the basis of the interesting thought provoking messages for the next generations from the folk on the stage. Chris was joined by 33 year old Sudanese-born wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin, who is known for his work on the BBC’s ‘Countryfile’, as well as winning something called ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, which I have thankfully never seen. Hamza has a degree in Zoology from Bangor University and has forged a career in wildlife film-making, taking inspiration from North Wales and Scotland, where I believe he said that he lives. His next book ‘Be A Birder’, will be published on 14th September 2023. Also on stage was 38 year old Jayde Adams who was compering the event. She is a British comedian, actress, writer and opera singer from Bristol, and who also took part in that BBC dancing thingy! Also on stage was ‘The Elephant In The Room’, who played a non-speaking role and simply moved a non-lit cigar from one hand to another.
Suffice to say that there was large applause on numerous occasions during the 60 minutes, as the punters showed their agreement with what Chris and Hamza were saying about what had to be done. This was an eye opening future look into the way our planet is going. Both men name-checked David Attenborough on several occasions as one would expect. At one stage, 62 year old Chris was asked “What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done Chris?” and his reply was “Not enough”. A classic line! He went on to talk about how the younger generation should use their votes. He then randomly pointed to one of the two little lads sitting next to me, who were aged about eight years old, and said unfortunately that as they were so young that they would be able to yet vote. Much to my surprise and everyone else’s, the young lad replied that his dad (who was also next to me) was the leader of the Green Party! I looked at his dad! Oh my word, the bloke sitting on the grass in this tent with his wife and two lads WAS actually Adrian Philip Ramsay the co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. A position he has shared with Carla Denyer since 1st October 2021. Chris Packham’s new book ‘Earth: Over 4 Billion Years In The Making’ is out now.
schoolsclimateassembly.org/elephant
THE LIGHTNING SEEDS (OBELISK ARENA 2:35pm – 3:35pm)
It was now back to the music, and I made my way up the hill in order to catch the 58 minute 12-tune set on the Obelisk Arena from The Lightning Seeds which ran from 2:35pm to 3:33pm. The Lightning Seeds were last in Brighton last November when they played at the Chalk venue (Review HERE). The band are originally formed in Liverpool back in 1989, but what first intrigued me about them back in the day was that their frontman, 64 year old Ian Zachary Broudie, had previously been a member of the near legendary Big In Japan. A band who, back in 1979, recorded just one John Peel Session consisting of a trio of tunes, that I still have somewhere I believe, and were fronted by Jayne Casey (Pink Military, Pink Industry), and at various times also had in their ranks Bill Drummond (Lori & The Chameleons, KLF etc), Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood), Budgie (Slits, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Creatures, Dave Balfe (Lori & The Chameleons, Teardrop Explodes), among others.
The Lightning Seeds are, like last night’s headliners Pulp, very much known just by their frontperson, Jarvis for them and Ian Broudie for ‘The Seeds’. But there are others listed as being band members, these being Martyn Campbell, Riley Broudie, Jim Sharrock, Adele Emmas and Tim Cunningham. However, there are only five band members on the Obelisk Arena this afternoon, so I suspect that saxophone and clarinet player Tim Cunningham wasn’t required today. Despite the rain, there is a very good attendance, which must have pleased Ian and his chums. He clearly means business today as he has his Gibson guitar ready to go and there’s a Bigsby arm on it. (When he pushes the arm of the Bigsby down towards the top of the guitar, the bridge rocks forward causing the strings to loosen, lowering their pitch. When it is released, the strings return to normal pitch). The others are taking care of another guitar, bass, drums and keys.
The set begins with the repetitive ‘Change’, “Don’t ever change (never change)” and is swiftly followed by ‘Ready Or Not’. One of the anthems is next, this being ‘Marvellous’, “ Things could be marvellous”, which like many of their set is unmistakably a Lightning Seeds composition, with its Scouse tones, that can remind you of The Beatles. After ‘Sense’ we had ‘Sunshine’, with its ironic line “Sometimes the sun shines”, as it is still raining! Both ‘Sugar Coated Iceberg’ and ‘Perfect’ came and went until we got onto their decent rendition of The Byrds ‘You Showed Me’, which certainly had the vibe of the Happy Mondays about it. After this track, things got a little bouncy with ‘Lucky You’, with its ironic lyrics “You can’t stop the rain; It’s gonna fall on every roof”…yep it’s still raining.
I hadn’t noticed before, and it may only be on this live version, but their delivery of the bouncy hit ‘The Life Of Riley’, starts as though they are going to play David Bowie’s ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’, “The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We’re Gonna Have a Party…”. This tune received the loudest cheer thus far, but was shortly to be beaten. Their penultimate number was my favourite Lightning Seeds number, ‘Pure’, on the account that its guitar riffs are rather similar to New Order’s 1985 classic, ‘Love Vigilantes’, “I want to see my family; My wife and child waiting for me”. Talking of New Order, everyone knows that the best ever England football World Cup anthem is ‘World In Motion’, well The Lightning Seeds signed off with possibly the second best one, in the form of ‘Three Lions’, for which Ian stated “God bless the Lionesses!”, and the crowd merrily sang along in the rain.
The Lightning Seeds setlist:
‘Change’
‘Ready Or Not’
‘Marvellous’
‘Sense’
‘Sunshine’
‘Sugar Coated Iceberg’
‘Perfect’
‘You Showed Me’ (The Byrds cover)
‘Lucky You’
‘The Life Of Riley’
‘Pure’
‘Three Lions’
THE BIG MOON (OBELISK ARENA 4:10pm – 5:10pm)
I remain in place at the Obelisk Arena in the rain and await the arrival of The Big Moon, whose previous headline concert in Brighton was last September at the Concorde 2 (Review HERE). The band formed in London back in 2014 and still consists of Juliette (Jules) Jackson (vocals and guitar), Soph Nathan (guitar and vocals), Celia Archer (bass, Roland keyboards and vocals) and Fern Ford (drums, drumpads and backing vocals). Thus far they have released a trio of long players, 2017’s ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’, 2020’s ‘Walking Like We Do’ and 2022’s ‘Here Is Everything’, and each time their albums gain a higher chart placing, 66, 19, 9.
The Big Moon’s 59 minute set kicks off at 4:11pm, with a “We are Big Moon, thanks for standing in the rain”. Although the message sounds nice, I picked up on a slight minor sarcasm in the tone. Something which cropped up in one or two other statements throughout the set. They even admitted that having played so many festivals, that they are running out of things to say. After a number of tunes, we were told that they “were going to do something cute now”, that being an acapella shared harmony between the front trio for the beginning of ‘Formidable’. At times even Fern joined in, and so all four were singing at the same time. They even sound the same and I was beginning to wonder in fact whether they aren’t secretly sisters!
The sound quality was crisp and clear and so it was easy to understand every word penned by singer-songwriter ‘Jules’. They played a number of tracks from their current ‘Here Is Everything’ album, these being ‘Wide Eyes’, ‘2 Lines’, ‘Daydreaming’, ‘This Love’, ‘Sucker Punch’, ‘Ladye Bay’, and ‘Trouble’. It’s all very inoffensive commercial radio friendly Fleetwood Mac style material, that today was enjoyed by folk of all ages, but certainly nowhere near the enthusiasm of what had gone before with The Lightning Seeds set. None of The Big Moon built up a bead of sweat today, it’s as though punk never happened, up there on the Obelisk stage during their set. The Big Moon are clearly on many people’s radar, as bore by the fact of each album doing better than the last, but to be honest I found them really boring, with nothing to offer me. I was standing there near the front and the sickly sweet notion of The New Seekers popped into my head, and also the word “flouncy” kept cropping up in my mind. My meaning being “away with the fairies!”. That’ll be as a result of too many festival appearances for The Big Moon then!
The Big Moon setlist:
‘Wide Eyes’
‘Don’t Think’
‘Barcelona’
‘Take A Piece’
‘Sucker Punch’
‘Daydreaming’
‘This Love’
‘Ladye Bay’
‘Formidable’ (acapella intro)
‘2 Lines’
‘Trouble’
‘Cupid’
‘Your Light’
DON LETTS WITH THE REBEL DREAD BAND (BBC SOUNDS STAGE 6:10pm – 7:10pm)
I’m really pleased that I re-read the list of acts appearing at today’s ‘Latitude’, before setting off this morning. I had read Don Letts and naturally assumed that it was another one of his Rebel Dread DJ sets he has played a few times in Sussex over the past few years, one of these being in Lewes at The Con Club back in 2018 (Review HERE). But then I noted that it actually said Don Letts With The Rebel Dread Band. Hmmm a band I thought to myself, well then that’s certainly kicked Paul Heaton and guest plus The Kooks into touch for me, I’m off to the nearby BBC Sounds Stage for a reggae injection!
This was to be the debut live performance by this supergroup of sorts. Don Letts was on lead vocals (including a megaphone), Tiece was also on vocals, Gary Powell (of The Libertines) was on drums, Jake Wherry (of The Herbaliser) on bass, Diamond Duggal was on guitar, Gaudi (who we are told by Don is “the Italian Stallion” and that he produced their forthcoming ‘Outta Sync’ album) was on keyboards, backing-vocals and dubs, and Nils Edstrom was at the controls – that’ll be the guy on the laptop that wasn’t named then!.
‘Outta Sync’ has benefitted of three years of production work and today’s performance is going to consist of all 11 tunes from the album being performed in the correct running order, not that anyone knew that at the time as the album won’t be dropping until 29th September. I managed to get a photo of the setlist and I matched it up with the forthcoming album tracklist. We were to get a surprise at the end as well, so this 62 minute performance began at 6:10pm and successfully concluded at 7:12pm. The big top wasn’t seriously packed, but I reckon if people had realised what was going to occur, then many more would have joined us, as the seven people were bringing some sunshine to today’s proceedings, with their choice selection of reggae rock tunes.
They open with the album title track ‘Outta Sync’, after which Don states “I’m not going to say much in between songs, as everything I have to say is in the songs already!”. I note a small gap in proceedings in between each tune, whilst drummer Gary Powell, consults a magic box by his side. Maybe this is for some kind of backing track, but I couldn’t hear anything that I wasn’t observing live. Tune two was ‘Something Coming Off’, which benefited from the joint vocals from Tiece, who was taking the place of Hollie Cook (Sex Pistols’ Paul Cook’s daughter), who sang this on the album. Hollie also turns up on tune 8, (‘No Fooling Me’) of the album. Tune three was ‘The Universe Knows What You’ve Done’, and on the record, you will hear the late great distinctive vocal tones of Terry Hall. Don’s vocal delivery is not that much different, but he tends to offer spoken word and his own sweetly melodic topline. Each tune appears to give out its own little story.
I then noticed that past the stage right (our left) there were the two people signing the set for the deaf. This impressed me, especially as the album isn’t out yet! The setlist I had says ‘Touch’ next, but that’s not on the album, but ‘Crooked Face’, ‘Yes’ and ‘Situationist’ were definitely on there with the latter featuring Zoe Devlin Love on the album. The fans were merrily dancing inside the big top despite the rain outside, but it was sunshine all the way inside. Clearly Gaudi was busy at the back as there were some decent dubs and cut-up vocal stylees, so much so that it felt like a reincarnation of Big Audio Dynamite, which is something Don eluded to when he stated “I’ve not done this shit for 40 years, but you won’t see Don Letts bricking it”. This being in reference to lead vocals singing.
‘The Doorman’ was up next and this too features Terry Hall on the album, and so this was more than likely the ska track of the set. This was followed by the reggae summer sound earworm of ‘No Fooling Me’ which Don (almost) sings and Tiece offers up the Hollie Cook vocals. However, both of these were eclipsed by ‘Wrong’, which seriously reminded me of Black Uhuru when Sly and Robbie were on the case with them. This was my choice track of the set. Turn up the bass!! After this we had ‘Civilization’ which on the record also has a certain Honor Letts on it. The final album cut was ‘Present Dilemmas’, which on the album also has Wayne Coyne. Both the last two tunes were in Bob Marley territory and thus hopefully the album will get picked up by the masses. They left us with the Big Audio Dynamite tune ‘E=MC2’. It has been an enjoyable set and I’m glad that I was present for gig 001. Although Don at times did look a little awkward out at the front, the only preference I would have had was that they set had been longer and thus give the posse time to deliver expanded dub versions of some of the tunes!
Don Letts With The Rebel Dread Band setlist:
‘Outta Sync’
‘Something Coming Off’
‘The Universe Knows What You’ve Done’
‘Touch’
‘Crooked Face’
‘Yes’
‘Situationist’
‘The Doorman’
‘No Fooling Me’
‘Wrong’
‘Civilization’
‘Present Dilemmas’
‘E=MC2’ (Big Audio Dynamite tune)
SHE’S IN PARTIES (BBC MUSIC INTRODUCING (LAVISH LOUNGE ARENA) 8:00pm – 8:40pm)
I’m now off on my way in the rain to the BBC Music Introducing stage or as it is also called ‘Lavish Lounge Arena’ (hidden in the woods) on the account of their being a number of settees for punters to relax in, and also that the stage is decked out as a lounge, complete with a rack of annuals that included ‘Danger Man’ and ‘The Man From Uncle’. I rather fancied having a quick shifty through those, but I wasn’t here to read picture book stories, I was hear to review band-on-the-up She’s In Parties, who were last in Brighton when they took part in ‘The Great Escape’ of which they played three times, one of these being at The Hope & Ruin on 11th May (Review HERE).
This She’s in Parties set was set to be rather special as we were actually live on the radio! BBC Radio Suffolk no less! I was on my best behaviour and only did a few loud “whoops” in between tunes as opposed to shouting anything naughty! This recording is currently available to listen to for around the next 20 odd days, so you can hear me whooping from after track one if you wish, (and hear the band) by clicking HERE.
I suppose that I had better review the performance as no doubt it will be deleted by the BBC before next month is out. But what I will say is that the recorded sound on the BBC recording and that of actually standing at the front of the band actually differs. On the radio the keyboard work is more prominent as opposed to the live version. Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed with synth sounds I am, and thus, the recorded matter is even better than I remember it. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the seven song set, I seriously did but it’s terrific on the BBC live version.
So why did I choose the hazy and ethereal quartet known as She’s In Parties over The Kooks (who they give a namecheck to, as in we can’t believe you are here watching us instead of them), well then, any band that takes their cues from the likes of Slowdive, Cocteau Twins and The Cure, and harbour a sense of nostalgia, but they avoid feeling derivative, and take their name from a Bauhaus tune are certainly fine by me!
She’s In Parties, who played their first show in 2021, offer up an idiosyncratic amalgamation of twangy shoegaze guitars and dream-pop belies their relatively young years. The band who have thus far dropped a handful of singles is led by early 20’s Irish-born frontperson Katie Dillon (vocals, Korg keys, Fender guitar), alongside Herbie Wiseman (Fender guitar and bv’s), Charlie Johnson (Fender Precision bass) and Matt Carman (drums). I believe that this Colchester based band has real potential and that Katie has a real (Irish) charm about her. When she sings, she becomes very animated, especially on song three, their latest single ‘Summer Haze’, (which benefits from some Korg action), which followed ‘Velvet Teen’ and opener ‘I Follow You’. ‘Angelic’ follows with its repeated “She’s angelic” line, before totally psyching out! There was much foot tapping and shoulders twisting to be had here!
She’s In Parties can be mellow when they want to be and when required hit you with a barrage of sweet noise. Those that made the effort to climb up the ever increasingly muddy wood, will know exactly what I mean by that. We were accordingly rewarded, but the set at only 7 tunes wasn’t long enough for me to be honest. They signed off with ‘L Word’, ‘Cherish’ and ‘Home’, the middle of these being the choice tune of the three. By 8:30pm they were all done. I really hope that they make a beeline to Brighton very soon, see you at the front “whoop!”.
She’s In Parties setlist:
‘Velvet Teen’
‘I Follow You’
‘Summer Haze’
‘Angelic’
‘L Word’
‘Cherish’
‘Home’
FLAMINGODS (THE ALCOVE 9:15pm – 10:00pm)
I make my way through the trees to my third performance at The Alcove, which is located in another part of the woods. On offer this time are Flamingods, who have filled the tent and I reckon it’s time that they make a welcome return to Brighton as I don’t believe they have been here since 2019’s ‘Great Escape’ and ‘Mutations’ festivals.
Now here’s a thing, the name ‘Flamingods’ has just been one that I have very occasionally heard bandied about over the past decade but have failed to look into. Then a few months ago Radio Reverb DJ Lamp played their ‘Dreams (On the Strip)’ single which dropped back in May and I almost stopped the car in order to totally concentrate on the song. Once I had pulled over I made a note of what Lamp had said (“that they were from Bahrain”) plus the song title and found out that it’s the lead track from their forthcoming ‘Head Of Pomegranate’ album, which is set to drop on 13th October. I then checked out their previous pre-covid album ‘Levitation’ which came out in May 2019, it was fantastic! Thus the band were a must see act for ‘Latitude’.
During their ‘Latitude’ set, frontperson Kamal Rasool informed us that he has been playing music “with these guys since they were 16”. On investigation this was back in 2010, and these guys being Karthik Poduval, Sam Rowe and Charles Prest. They have a real multicultural look and vibe and offer something rather unique in their sound, which is a massive plus and a reflection of where they grew up, Bahrain. Thus they dip into psychedelia, new wave, electronica and punk whilst notably taking influence from their unique cultural heritages. Kamal moved to London to study music and he recruited his friends from Bahrain who were also studying in the UK, and so Flamingods were born.
Their ‘Latitude’ set commenced at 9:18pm and concluded at 10:07pm. In that time they gave us 9 compositions, which thankfully included the aforementioned ‘Dreams (On A Strip)’, as well as 4 others from the forthcoming platter, and 3 from the previous ‘Levitation’ album. The instruments on offer were drums with Roland drumpads, Korg MS2000 keys with another keyboard above it, with further keys on the opposite side of the stage. There was a 5 string bass guitar, a guitar, an Arabic style bugle, and finally a violin bow was played across a flat instrument which gave off the Eastern vibe. Interestingly, throughout the whole set, they all kept on changing places with each member swapping instruments in between tracks, and thus evolving as the set went on. Kamal stated that they have done from day one and is the only way they know how. Interestingly, Kamal also told us that it was exactly 10 years ago today that they played ‘Latitude’ and this was their fourth or fifth time here.
They opened with ‘Born Lucky’ and ‘Adana’ (both from the forthcoming LP) and immediately you can hear the influence of Bahrain. They were, like almost every other tune this evening, very hypnotic. ‘Marigold’ was next and this was very much in Moon Duo and Krautrock territory and was one of the set highlights. ‘Rhama’ was next and we were informed that this was about connecting with cultural roots. The brilliant synth backing beat of ‘Dreams (On A Strip)’ rang out and was played for us. I was very happy indeed and my body told me so as it made me tingle. This was my first ‘Latitude’ tingle of the day and as a result of their Euro sounding synthbeat.
We were also told that this was their first run of gigs of the year and also that their forthcoming album was recorded in Atlanta. Both ‘Tall Glass’ and ‘Olympia’ were aired and reminded me of the band AK/DK with the quick keys and heavy drumming. ‘Gutterball’ from the forthcoming platter was up next and I could immediately hear a similarity to Tubeway Army’s ‘We Are So Fragile’ and this too was a set highlight. They left us with ‘Nizwa’ and I for one could have easily relived the whole experience all over again, or as my final notes read about this set “Yes!, Yes! Yes!”. I had just witnessed my favourite ‘Latitude’ performance!
Flamingods setlist:
‘Born Lucky’
‘Adana’
‘Marigold’
‘Rhama’
‘Dreams (On A Strip)’
‘Tall Glass’
‘Olympia’
‘Gutterball’
‘Nizwa’
GURRIERS (TRAILER PARK 10:30pm – 11:30pm)
Well where do you go after that….to the Trailer Park stage, for my only performance there across the three days and my last live experience of the day. It’s like a film set of a 1960’s glitzy trailer park that has seen better days, and is located within the woods. I noted that this was a particularly popular hangout for late teens, who no doubt were drawn there for all the fun of the fair. I’m here to finally get my first injection of Gurriers, who are yet another act coming at us out of Dublin. They are another act that were last in Brighton back in May when they played ‘The Great Escape’. They performed three sets, one at The Folklore Rooms, one at The Prince Albert and the other was at Alphabet (Review HERE).
This young exciting outfit consisting of Dan Hoff, Emmet White, Ben O’Neill, Mark MacCormack and Pierce Callaghan, have already been making waves and they formed on the cusp of a global pandemic, and already embodies the emerging Irish genres of post-punk, noise rock and shoegaze, that the likes of Thumper, Fontaines D.C. and The Murder Capital have been flying for a while.
We are given 11 tunes, the last of which ended at 11:16pm, but their slot could have finished at the allotted 11:30pm, but I reckon that might have been the case that they simply didn’t have any more material at this point in time. Things were about to get ‘wild in the woods’ as we were positioned (as we often are) at the very front, but those revellers behind us were intent on having a fabulous time. This was the most boisterous crowd that I encountered throughout our three days here, despite the light rain. Gurriers were performing, for all tense and purposes, in an adapted caravan and I was endeavouring to keep under the overhanging awning in order to keep dry. I could look up into the tall trees surrounding us and watch the light raindrops falling down towards us, as well as green circular lights being beamed onto the top of the canopy. It looked like Captain Scarlet’s sworn enemy Mysterons had arrived, and we were to be taking over……but by Gurriers music!
My notes read “miss them at your peril” after they had energetically and successfully delivered ‘Nausea’, 2020 single ‘Boy’, ‘Des Goblin’, ‘Dipping Out’ and ‘Prayers’. I couldn’t really take many notes as we were being knocked about all over the place, but when folks did fall over, those around them immediately lifted them to their feet. It was all fun with no malice. ‘A Little Life’ and ‘No More Photos’ followed before we arrived at one of their set highlights, that being the current single ‘Top Of The Bill’, which did remind me of Fontaines D.C. as it was more melodic than that had gone before and the vocals sounded like Grian Chatten. ‘Sign Of The Times’ was up next and this benefitted from a decent bass riff which was accompanied by the relevant drumming pattern. I felt sorry for the bassist as he was shouting out the vocals at the top of his voice and yet he wasn’t given a microphone, maybe he shouldn’t have had one, but it certainly looked as though they should give him one.
The February 2023 single, ‘Approachable’, was their penultimate number and saw the vocalist jump off the four foot high stage and have a mosh with the revellers for some fun in the wet. They left us with ‘Come And See’ and that was our lot. They were yet another must see Dublin act! I hope that they head our way soon.
Gurriers setlist:
‘Nausea’
‘Boy’
‘Des Goblin’
‘Dipping Out’
‘Prayers’
‘A Little Life’
‘No More Photos’
‘Top Of The Bill’
‘Sign Of The Times’
‘Approachable’
‘Come And See’
The ‘Latitude’ live performances for Friday 21st July can be located HERE.
The ‘Latitude’ live performances for Sunday 23rd July can be located HERE.
Also playing live at ‘Latitude’ today were the following:
