Paul Klotschkow
The overall atmosphere of today was definitely more subdued than it was yesterday. Maybe the wind and the rain is making people feel glum? Or it could be that the more likely cause is that a lot of people over did it last night, and everyone is suffering from a collective hangover at the start of today.
When I pop in to the main hall of Rock City early on, local youths Lovvers are attempting to wake-up the small throng of people who have gathered to see these punk rockers. The lead singer with his cocky swagger gives it his best shot, but a cup of coffee may have a more desired effect.
I have such a headache...
The rain is really annoying and is one of the reasons why I don’t want to keep moving between venues all day. This is why I decided to camp myself in Nottingham Trent’s Student Union for the majority of the day and cocoon myself away from the outside world.
The Most Serene Republic open up proceedings on the main hall in the Students Union; they player rather melodic alternative rock. I should say that the ‘tried’ to play, because their set is hampered by technical difficulties all the way through. From the monitors not working through to the microphone breaking in two. Not a promising start to the day, but the band put on a brave face.
The Shortwave Set are next and they are pleasant enough. The most interesting and exciting part of their set arrives at the end, when they conjure up a storm of noise that swirls around the room.
I have heard a lot of hype regarding the next act due on but have never seen her live, so this is quite exciting. When Ida Marie gets up on stage with her band it looks like she hasn’t been home from the night before, donned out in sunglasses, trilby, and leather jacket. She is definitely the first highlight of the day, and her energetic set ends with her entangled on the floor amongst a heap of microphone stands and leads. She clearly enjoys playing and the crowd clearly enjoy her performance.
There is a break in the list of acts I want to see, so I take the opportunity in the easing off of the rain t take a bit of a walk. I find myself in the Rock City basement watching The Lost Boys. I can only manage a couple of songs before I have to leave and decide to explore The Rig.
Hairdressers Muk were doing some free-styling upstairs in the Rescue Rooms!
I find that Rock City’s sister venue has been turned in to a youth club for the weekend. The highlight of which has to be the huge game of Rock Band that is taking place, with one girl singing Jet’s Are You Gonna Go My Way at the top of her lungs, whilst her friends attempt to hit the instruments in time, funny stuff. Stepping in to the rig felt as if I was stumbling upon some secret world that I should never had discovered. I feel that if I had spent any longer in there, the youngsters may have turned on me.
Back upstairs in the main room a man in a red velvet jacket performs a comedy spoken word monologue before Example makes his entrance. Example appears to be dressed like an extra from Miami Vice and his attempt at hip hop makes Goldie Lookin Chain look like serious artists.
I head back to Trent’s Student Union and go straight to the upstairs bar, where I find Oppenheimer. Their short, snappy, fuzzy, electro-pop gets the modest crowd smiling, and at one point someone in the audience starts breakdancing!
Lo-fi folk-blues duo Two Gallants (above) are on stage next downstairs in the main room of the Students Union. It takes the audience a couple of songs to warm up to the bands homespun charms, but once they do they are transfixed. Two Gallants play with a combination of class, dignity, and enthusiasm that outshines many of the bands playing this weekend.
The final band I see at this years Dot to Dot are Spiritualized (above), and boy, they don’t disappoint. By this point, the main hall at the Student’s Union is stuffy and sweaty, and it is packed to the rafter with people who ache from standing around all day. Luckily, Spiritualized make everyone forget and transport the crowd to another world. Light beams out from the stage as soothing show-gazing gospel and brooding garage rock radiates out from the band. Spiritualized finish in a storm of noise as the lights go berserk and it looks like a spaceship is about to crash land in to the venue. This is sheer genius and they can not be topped, so I decided that I should finish my weekend here and head home.
Lizzie Goodman
Sunday’s Dot to Dot bonanza again kicked off at 2pm, and again glided smoothly into the wee hours of the rainy bank holiday weekend. At four pm a sticky Rock City, whose floor has been becoming increasingly like a human fly paper, paraded southern Bluesy Rockabilly duo Peggy Sue and the Pirates (below). The two multitalented, beautiful young girls raw talent and pure voices shone with a new Soul element, and their choice of improvised instruments (at times simply hitting speaker cases with drum sticks) was a real treat to watch. Peggy Sue and the Pirates despite their entrancing voices, however, seem to have partly bought into the slightly ridiculous pretentious middle class art school vibe, of putting on a cockney accident and using strange chants, they appear to hit somewhere between Adele and Kate Nash.
Throughout the day the Rig had retro clothing stools and handmade jewellery available to temp your slightly bohemian side, or failing that games consoles to appease your inner geek. Dublin’s Fight Like Apes a strange blend of Punk, Metal, and damn experimental music graced the tiny space of Rock City’s basement for some old school fun. The band was very entertaining, and the female singer’s use of strange lyrics, and pure charisma made them an interesting watch. Next however, due to Stealth’s tetchy bouncers’ ignoring my queue jump wrist band I missed the majority of the bands and DJ’s I had planned on reviewing.
The Bodega Social Club had a whole different fresh vibe to it, and was understandably rammed for modern day folk band Noah and the Whale, who with their array of lovely wooden instruments and beautiful voices charmed the squashed audience. The night concluded with the UK’s own, energetic electro headlining producer Kissy Sell Out, whose mixing skills were incomprehensibly impressive. All in all Dot to Dot festival was sticky, sweaty, and smelly with a less impressive line-up than previous years, but it still managed to be a fun and varied event.
Ceri Gorton
With the weather taking a not unexpected turn for the worse, everyone seemed intent to hunker down in their chosen venue and stay there, keeping warm with Red Stripe and crowd surfing. Like last year, when the storm-dampened crowds chose to brave the outside world, it was only for the most popular bands. Never being one to shirk a pragmatic trend, I joined the gathering of cravats and striped t-shirts at the Trent Union for the afternoon.
Its far too wet out to leave my comfy seat..
Charismatic doesn’t even come close to describing vocal firebrand Ida Maria, whose narcissistic onstage presence was impressively riotous, particularly for 4.30pm on a Sunday. While there was an arrogance about the first few tracks of Ida’s swaggering, half-sung set, it was a nonetheless visceral, hedonistic experience. With a voice that sliced elegantly through her favoured guttural guitar licks, Ida was at her most striking when she flung aside her top hat and sunglasses. Rifling her jet black hair and insisting on her amp being turned up seemed to further awaken her from detachment. After some foreplay with her guitarist, in the guise of a waterfight and riff-off, her Brando-esque magnetism peaked (appropriately) during her performance of Stella. While she undoubtedly won us over with her deliciously primal exploits, I couldn’t help but agree when I overhead the typically English suggestion that “she should just calm down a bit” as the band left the stage.
After five hours in the Union bar, The Bodega beckoned for my most hotly anticipated act of the festival: Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit. Having played all three days of Dot to Dot, these wryly traditional country folk musicians lit up the packed room with an energetic collection of barnstorming tunes, led by guitar-, banjo-, and violin-playing frontman, the cherub-faced Johnny. Signed to the same label as Ryan Adams, and lauded by The Observer, Mojo and Q, this is a band blessed with a talent that can rise above the sound limitations of the venue and drunken shouty festival-goers to deliver an exciting hoedown of a finale. After two days, dozens of bands, and more pints than I care/am able to remember, we decided to head home while the going was so damn good.
Checkout what went on the day before here...
Photos by Chris Harris and Dom Henry (c)
The Dot to Dot Festival 2008 took place on Saturday and Sunday 24-25 May spread over the following venues: Rock City, The Rescue Rooms, Stealth, The Bodega and Trent Students Union.
