BRISTOL BIG JEFF: CUTTING FROM THE EDGE (JUNE 2011)
I enjoyed a night of beat poetry when I performed improvised beat poetry at an event organised by some ex UWE students before seeing a poetry performance from Kate Tempest and her band, the Sound of Rum. Literally every time I have seen her perform, I have pretty much felt like reading out my wedding vows there and then. Sad I know, but she is so skilled when it comes to lyrical dexterity, taking on issues like sexism and social politics in a manner that makes me go weak at the knees.
There are, admittedly, a number of artists that have made me cry or feel intense emotions that recently, like Josh T Pearson, who reduced the 6ft 4inch giant of me to a rubble. His lyrics are just so powerful, all about break up of his marriage. Read my full review HERE.
There was also The Simple things festival with a line -up which featured ultra angry Gonjasufi (I don’t think anyone told him that Bad Brains weren’t really the order of the day, as he told anyone who doesn’t like loud music to F*** OFF! Nice.) A drool-inducing set from Jon Hopkins, whose performance was so intense it caused me to have wrong things going on in my trouser department! I probably shouldn’t have said that, but hey certain sonic intensities and flashing lights do things to me. There was also the extremely well dressed Daedalus, playing in a room which made it feel like we were all being baked alive – quite claustrophobic.
I went on a bit of a quietish alt-country tinged week, with the NME tour featuring Anna calvi, who has got one of the best voices out there on a major recording label, positive indie popsters Grouplove and Big Deal, who were like The Slow Club crossed with The Lemonheads. The next day was Shelby Lynne, who is better known as Alison Moorer’s sister. She sung passionate country for about two hours, full of regret and emotions leaving everyone spellbound with her tales jealousy, love and the death her parents, (her dad shot their mum and himself).
But the week after brought on a heavier turn, with the likes of Fucked Up, Rolo Tomassi and Atari Teenage Riot (reviews of all of which are available HERE), all of which could be in my view contenders for gig of the year. I mean Fucked Up put on the kind of show that remind me of why I got punk and rock’n’roll music in first place. It was sweaty fun, with Fucked Up’s singer spending a majority of the show in the audience giving people bare (sic) hugs, (literally the sweatiest hug I have ever received). He is the kind of person that is intent on spreading positivity.
Rolo Tomassi are a band I am never going to miss live, with their proggy mathcore jazz metal mix. And Atari teenage Riot, well sounded like riot and took me 5 hours to regain relatively normal breath. I also got to say hello to Yuck who were awesome in a kind of Dinosaur Jr meets Pavement nerdyness.
The night after was Warpaint and Connan Mockasin. Warpaint were much better than I expected but this was all about Connan Mockasin for me. I am a massive fan, and buy every record this guy releases because in my view he is a genius and one of a few people who can honestly pull off the 60s rare groove feel.
June brings a myriad of festivals. I can hear the dinosaur that is Glastonbury wheezing about how it is the greatest festival out there. Sure,it is a lot of fun (apart from last year when I got mugged) but, as per usual, the mainstage is ultimately the Radio 2 fest. So, it is the smaller stages that have some of the more exciting live acts, such as Foolsgold, Little Dragon, Twilight Singers, Jimmy Cliff, The Pierces and some of the lesser known stuff.
Speaking of dinosaurs, has anyone seen the line-up for Hop Farm? Hop Damn digity, they have only gone and got the Eagles, 10cc, Lou Reed, Iggy and the Stooges, Patti Smith, Chrissy Hynde, Bryan Ferry and Prince! I am going to have to whore my body out for this one, you see most of those are on my list of to see before I die. Bristol has the We The People festival, full of more dance related acts, like Streets, Doom, Gaslamp Killer, Example, Dels amongst so many others.
Also there are the secret warm up shows, like Erasure at the Fleece, the Fleece is getting a lot of very good bands at the moment like Mono and Boris which I am very excited about.
