Bingley Music Live (Day Three)

And thus we come to the final day of the music festival. The trains were different times, as expected, but this did mean I missed several of the opening acts, but the weather was beautiful (at least in Bingley, Bradford not so much), the grounds re-strawed and the drinks flowing freely.

It was a much quieter atmosphere for the most of Sunday morning with the earlier acts not getting as big a crowd as on Saturday, which was a shame for some of them who were corking. I imagine there were many hangovers being nursed that lunchtime.

Before I move onto my words about each of the acts I want to elaborate on what I said in my previous post. After being highly critical of the previous day’s performance artists for interrupting one of the acts inappropriately, today’s were much better, a pair of grannies, or should I say people dressed as grannies, riding motorised shopping trollies playing out modern dance music and pretending to grind on spectators, whilst also doing some synchronised dancing. It sounds weird written down and, trust me, it was weird watching it but it worked and they were the best artists of the three days, from both set-up to concept and though it is weird the idea of people getting paid for doing this, the crowd loved them. They’re called ‘Granny Turismo’ and can be found at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Granny-Turismo/293834726359. Very funny and even worth missing most of one act to watch.

Main Stage

Marsicans + L Marshall
Sorry, I missed you both!

Citizens!
Citizens! delivered some catchy, indie tracks with some nice strong bass and synth effects. Their tracks sounded great even if the keyboard riffs were a little repetitive at times but kept the crowd up to and including their final hit ‘Trademarked Long Song’. (5.5/10)

Clement Marfo and the Frontline
This was the first act of the day that I really wanted to see having enjoyed their previous singles. They gave a very energetic performance and it was a shame not that many people were up at the front to see them. They had the songs that got everyone going, from their three singles to other tracks and the lead singer certainly got the crowd going with his enthusiasm and love for the music. He got down into the crowd on final song ‘Mayhem’ which was really cool even if it gave security a few nerves, and their sound was clear and the mix on top form for this act. Even with the smaller numbers involved there was still a mosh pit. It was certainly one of the most well-rounded performances of the night and the only time they really slipped up in their set packed with singable, bounce-able hits was when he referred to the festival as Bangley. (8/10)

Katzenjammer
I didn’t see them on the main stage, but caught them on the other later – see below.

Hard-Fi
Another act that I really wanted to see, Hard-Fi perhaps didn’t quite match up to the energy of similar band ‘The Pigeon Detectives’ and their mix was much more muffled compared to the clear one that Clement Marfo had, but the lead singer with his look of Hugo Weaving from the Matrix delivered a cracking set including hit ‘Cash Machine’, cleverly mixed in with some Aloe Blacc “I Need A Dollar” and Simply Red “Money’s Too Tight (Too Mention)” instead of the ‘hole in my pocket’ bit, and the energetic ‘Suburban Knights’, which was preceded by a spot-on acoustic cover of Pet Shop Boy’s ‘Suburbia’. Though the set was peppered with tracks I wasn’t familiar with – including first album title track ‘Stars of CCTV’ – they were all delivered with great gusto so it didn’t matter, but big hits like ‘Hard To Beat’ and set closer ‘Living For The Weekend’ delivered the goods. The crowd weren’t perhaps as into this act as others, but it was a good set from the London lads and the only group to whip out a mouth-powered keyboard. No ‘I Shall Overcome’ though. (7/10)

Maverick Sabre
Another artist I’ve enjoyed the singles of, ‘Maverick Sabre’ perhaps wasn’t the live act I was expecting. Very soulful and talented with his backing singer Chantelle, he didn’t really grab me until he kicked up the pace with his singles ‘No One’ and ‘I Used To Have It All’. The crowd, though, loved it, but I felt the first half of his set was a little bit samey for my liking. But after about half way through he seemed to gain his footing and got the crowd involved and some speedier versions of his songs came across well. (6/10)

White Lies
Another band I wanted to see, ‘White Lies’ started off on a potentially bad foot by starting with two of their most famous songs, ‘Farewell to the Fairground’ and ‘To Lose My Life’ which were delivered brilliantly, the latter weirdly, but effectively, slowed down in the chorus. Like ‘James’ before them, starting off with the only songs you know is a dangerous move but they pulled it off to a degree and, though the band with their songs about death could never be called uptempo, they kept the crowd and though they weren’t as good as I’d hoped, other big single ‘Death’ was excellent though, it was still an enjoyable set and well brought to the festival crowd and the band was tight, and sounded great. (6.5/10)

Nero
Onto the final headliner and, though I dabble in this sort of music, this was a little bit too clubby for my liking. With a set almost rivalling that of last year’s ‘Chase and Status’, with a huge DJ booth and projected images on the screen as before, and some live singing from a singer, it didn’t grab me as much as C&S and quickly got quite repetitive. A lot of the crowd began dissipating at this stage just leaving the younger end in the mosh pit. For fans of the genre it was great but as an end to the festival it was a bit of a let-down to my tastes, but it was another box ticked for a festival that has to please a lot of musical tastes. (5/10)

Raise the Roof Stage

Nico Cara
Didn’t see – sorry!

Me and My Friends
Sounding like the soundtrack to Nandos, this was some well put together music with some neat strong clarinet, drums and base. Definitely the soundtrack to the sun and a great set to hear arriving at the festival. (6/10)

Coco and the Butterfields
Didn’t play.

Juan Zelada

The first act on the stage that I wanted to see and he didn’t disappoint with some great summery tunes including the electrifying ‘Breakfast In Spitalfields’. Very Paul Simon in his delivery, the summery tunes were well delivered by the live band, including ‘What Do I Know’ and ‘The Blues Remain’ which sounded as good as the live version but with much more energy from the trumpet, guitar, drums and two keyboards. Zelada also threw in a nifty cover of Muse’s ‘Hysteria’ as the penultimate track which was a cracking interpretation. (7.5/10)

Ellen and the Escapades
Sorry, missed them!

Yes Sir Boss
Sorry, missed them!

Katzenjammer
A very catchy East European group with an eccentric stage presence and some catchy on-stage tunes. An acquired taste though and not sure why they got two bites of the cherry, but fun enough summer tunes. (6/10)

The Idiot Bastard Band

A band including Ade Edmondson, Roland Rivron and Phill Jupitus was always going to be special and though they didn’t match the energy of Saturday night’s headliners their mix of comical songs – including an Ian Jury and a John Hegley number – were well received but they never really went beyond calm, casual delivery so didn’t really set the crowd alight. Some great material, delivered with a smile, with some genuinely funny lyrics but not the energetic headliner it could have been. (6.5/10)

Musicians Centre Stage

Den Miller + Lunar Coup
Sorry, missed you both!

Joseph Tilston
Tilston brought some enjoyable, laid-back music to the stage with some neat added violin. I only got to hear a smattering of his set but enjoyed what I heard. (6/10)

Tom Savage and the Hash Mafia
The Hash Mafia delivered some smooth guitar-based indie tracks with some attitude. Clear, well put together tracks, they also threw in a great cover of ‘I Wanna Be Like You’ from Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’ which really captured the sunshine. (6.5/10)

It was also at this point I noticed that someone had painted a pentagram on the kid’s den building thing, to which someone had added a peace sign on top. I don’t know whether that was more amusing of the singing of ‘Killing In The Name Of’ next to it the previous day. Or the man with two ciders who got chased by a clearly thirsty wasp all the way from the stage down the hill and back again. I’m not sure.

Foxes Faux
‘Foxes Faux’ were a great, uptempo band specialising in barn-dance type music. There were a few people up to dance but more should have been to their fast-paced, catchy, great sounds. (6.5/10)

The Simon Pollard Band
Delivering some fiddle-based tunes, I only caught the end of the set but what I heard was great from a clearly party-based band. (6/10)

Eskimo Fandango
Again I didn’t get to hear a lot of them but their rock tunes were good to hear but I didn’t get a big enough taste for them to stand out. (5/10)

The Coopers
Sorry, missed you!

In Summary

Overall Sunday night was a great range of artists. I didn’t get to see as many acts on this day as I would have liked, mainly down to tiredness and wanting to be in one place for a bit, but also as there were several artists I wanted to hear all the sets of. The headliners weren’t as good as the previous nights but the acts lower down the rank were great.

Overall

Well that brings my mammoth three-part review to an end for another year. Though I don’t think the headliners were as strong as in previous years – it is all down to taste though, of course – and I feel some of the lower down artists could have been higher up.

The expansion to three stages was, overall, a great idea and though it did mean I missed a few bands that I would have liked to have heard more of, it did allow me to see a wider range of artists and the ‘Raise The Roof’ stage in particular was a joy.

Any qualms, though, can be set aside the bargain £45 price for 61 bands which, including a chance for smaller bands to get a crowd, was great. Throwing in a fantastic kids area, a wider selection of non-burger-based-food and some great weather, and it’s difficult not to have enjoyed the three day festival. Did making Friday paid-for and expanding to three stages pay off for the festival? Yes, it did. Another great year and line-up and roll on 2013!

(I saw at least some of 47 acts, missing 13, 1 didn’t play)

Highlights

Main Stage: Driving Lolita, Stooshe, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Space, The Pigeon Detectives, Clement Marfo and the Frontline, Hard-Fi, White Lies

Raise The Roof Stage: Sadie and the Hotheads, Skinny Lister, Miles and Erica, The Milk, Lilygreen and Maguire, The Lancashire Hotpots, Juan Zelada

Musicians Centre Stage: Ballyhoo Eventide, Control Is Dead, Dan Audio, Tom Savage and the Hash Mafia, Foxes Faux

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Bingley Music Live (Day One)

And so the end of the summer is once more heralded by the return of Bingley Music Live, the three-day music festival lite that takes place in Bingley’s Myrtle Park about this time each year. Often punching above its weight in terms of the acts they pull in, this would be the fifth one of the six that I’ve been to, having thoroughly enjoyed all of the others.

Having steadily grown in attendance and scope of the acts over the past few years but little else, this year’s BML has changed dramatically as if the organisers sat down one night last year and went “how can we make this even bigger?”

So out has gone the free Friday night – I presume the larger numbers of people coming on a unticketed night was becoming too much of a security nightmare – and in comes two extra stages and a whole host of other attractions.

Last night’s visit to the new look Bingley was a new experience and one that requires a little getting used to. The main thing I always enjoyed about Bingley was that there was just one stage and you could just get yourself a good spot in the park and not miss any of the bands, free from the distractions and schedule planning needed to ensure you see your favourite bands, ones you want to see or, as I would like, to see a little of everybody. With one stage this was simple, with three, even if the scheduling on Friday night was friendly to at least capture a little of each band, it’s much trickier, and I’m not sure if I prefer it.

One benefit of the change, though, is that there’s always something to do. Even if the main stage is being prepped for another band there’s always something happening on the other stages.

Aside from the stages and the music, which I’ll come to shortly, the side-attractions have also exploded in number from almost nothing to many. Last year if you wanted to do something when a band wasn’t on it was either go to the bar, toilet, get something to eat or realise you were too old to hang around the kid’s play park area.

This year there is a lot to do elsewhere in the park. In front of the Musician’s Centre Stage is a small skate park for “the yoof” to play on, next to an area for smaller children with a wooden box to paint on, straw bales to sit on and other little toys and games to play. In the small compound next to the Raise The Roof stage is some more high-class food, away from the cheap and cheerful burgers of the main area, with Zouk and a small tent selling real ales now present, alongside one selling paella and another Chinese food. That’s not to say all the food in the main park is your traditional burgers and such, as to compensate for the doughnut and burger stands, there is Pizza Express.

And if the mud gets too much for you, and Friday night was a little damp, there is also a beauty area, offering treatments “from £3 to £16.50”. I doubt I will explore this area as it will take more than £16.50 to work on me, but it’s a further indication that BML is turning from a low-expectation end-of-summer festival to a major event.

Elsewhere on the compound there are far more toilets than below, a bigger bar (though queues on Friday night were some of the longest I’ve ever seen at the events, suggesting they might need to speed up to handle demand) and for the first time some cash machines, which is always good when you run out of cash for food or one of the stylish t-shirts, but they do charge you so only good for an emergency.

Back to my experiences of BML2012 and I arrived just before 5pm at the compound. The rain was drizzly and, though it never poured down, would continue to be similar through to 7pm. Though, at the time of arrival the main park was pretty mud-free, the entry paths were particularly muddy and made for a slippy entrance. Ticket checking was swift and quick but weirdly my bag wasn’t checked, even though I stood awkwardly for a few seconds next to a security staff member with my bag, expecting him to check. If this was common throughout the event it’s no surprise that I saw many people during the four hours of Friday night with smuggled in bottles of alcohol and, more worringly, the smell of the good old wacky backy.

(Though the best moment involving smuggling in was someone heading over to a bag in the corner of the RTR stage, obviously thrown over secretly earlier, to get a bottle of something, only to be immediately grabbed by a security staff member and having it confiscated. Clever but not clever enough!)

I headed over firstly to the new Raise the Roof stage, located at the top of the park. The most beautifully decorated of the stage, it had a very rustic, antique feel with old living room lamps, lampshades and clocks stacked up artistically on stage, with retro bunting strung around, giving the impression of a more laid-back, lounge feel, supported by the nearby real-ale tent. A steel deck platform stood in the middle of the compound, one assumes for dancing later. Though the main stage had its share of great acts during the night, it was this stage that I would keep coming back to.

After checking this area out I headed over to the Musician’s Centre Stage just across from it, thankfully the music not really bleeding through, which was smaller and less distinctively decorated and was the quietest of the stages during the night, with the smaller bands on it.

Heading to the big area, the main stage wasn’t much different from previous years but now had some great stack lights at the back which were operated very well throughout the night and really added to the atmosphere.

Scattered between the three stages, beauty area and parks were a few other things. There was a stall to enter a raffle to win prizes and an area where performance artists could do their thing. One I saw involved a rather butch looking man with short hair dressed in a tutu, geeing up the sizeable crowd near the MC Stage while his partner balanced himself on top of three wooden chairs and then did a handstand. To any onlookers it looked like they were superglued together but, no, they pulled apart after their show was finished. It was weird, wacky but strangely entertaining, even if the two people as part of it suddenly turned French as I asked them some questions at the end when they’d been speaking perfectly good English previously. Hmm.

As the night progressed Myrtle Park did become much muddier. I stayed away from the Mosh area, which I imagine was the worst, but the main areas outside the other stages were fine, it was just the paths between them. The staff of the event, though, were very proactive with straw to keep areas dry but this is the muddiest I’ve ever seen the event in the five I’ve been to, obvious by the amount of people covered in mud on the way home.

Below, in stage order, are my thoughts on Friday night’s acts.

Main Stage

Driving Lolita
A very energetic and catchy band, fusing punk, with rap and rock. The songs were powerful and memorable and really got the crowd going but for an opening act the lead female singer was pretty explicit which, as I’ve mentioned in previous years, sits awkwardly with a festival I see as more of a family event. Or maybe I’m just getting old. I really enjoyed their uptempo music and their engagement with the crowd was excellent and they were just what BML2012 needed to start it off. An appropriately titled song called ‘Put On A Show’ was the highlight for me but it was, overall, an enjoyable set. (7/10)

Stooshe
A surprise appearance this low down the ranks due to their acceleration to the big team since, I assume, being booked, Stooshe have certainly gone up in my estimations since I first saw them on TV and dismissed them as Nicki-Minaj wannabes. Though they performed their music to a backing track, and their set was a disappointingly short 25-minutes, what we did get in that time were some perfectly sung pop hits with their voices pretty amazing live. We got ‘Love Me’, though without the rap, and my personal favourite tune from the set ‘Wind Up Yo Waist’, which irritatingly isn’t on their debut album, as I loved the Jamaican-tinged sound. Album track ‘Kick Chase’ made an appearance, a catchy tune that won me over, alongside their current single ‘Black Heart’ bringing their set to a close. It was a very good performance with some good crowd engagement and they showed off how good they could sing. Fun. (8/10)

Kids In Glass Houses
I didn’t catch much of Welsh band KIDG due to me being elsewhere but they were the first band on the main stage that didn’t particularly grab me. They were tight as a band and had the sound but their songs didn’t particularly stand out or hook me in, but I’ll perhaps check them out at home and see what their sound is like there, but on the night I wasn’t that excited. (4/10)

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
It’s always a bit worrying when an artist hitting 71 is on the books for two reasons: firstly, will they be any good so many years after their hayday and will the audience of today enjoy it? Well I needn’t have been worried in this case as Motown Martha blew me away on the night. Starting the set off with ‘Quicksand’ and going through hit after hit, her voice, especially considering her age, was incredible and soared through the park, even if her speaking sections were a little waivy. We got treated to perfect renditions of ‘Only Your Love Can Save Me’, ‘Jimmy Mack’, ‘Heatwave’ and ‘Dancing In The Street’ and she was a sprightly on stage as any of the younger acts. Her efforts to get the crowd singing along were perhaps a little in vain, as it was a considerably younger audience on the night, but she pulled people in nonetheless and I saw lot of younger kids dancing to the catchy Motown sound, supported by some great backing singers and band instruments. She did struggle with people throwing ‘candy’ on stage (I dread to think what that was) which was a little disrespectful of the crowd, but not entirely unexpected. An incredible set and something I’m glad BML2012 included as it was a different sound to the rest of the gig and something to expand people’s tastes a little, plus she sounded on top form. (8/10)

The Charlatans
As with last year when the Fun Lovin’ Criminals were a let-down headliner after the energy of Skindred, so is it the case this year with ‘The Charlatans’. After the energy of Martha Reeves we got the more sedate Mancunian wailings of this band, kicking off with 1997 hit ‘North Country Boy’. Though a lot of people around me where enjoying the music I was not convinced with the vocals muffled and slurry and, though the band were tight and working well, the songs just didn’t grab me and I left early as it wasn’t particular worth staying around for, which was a shame as they have some good tracks, but they just didn’t come across on the night. (4/10)

Raise The Roof Stage

Spirit Of John
I missed this band – sorry!

Matt Belmont

>After a delayed start and a lot of banter with the crew, they finally got on with it, bringing some very enjoyable acoustic-esque music to the crowd with some muted drums, keyboard and large bull fiddle. A nice, relaxing start as the first act I saw but their delayed start for being late cost them a truncated set list. (6/10)

Sadie and the Hotheads

>An up-tempo seven-piece band that were far more laid-back than their band name would suggest. A very jazz-lounge style band with two lead female vocals that complimented each other well, their considerable set-list of tracks weren’t earth-shattering but the jazzy, cool style won me over. An ode to a debt collector with its spoken intro and ‘Let’s Fall In Love’ were two highlights of their set and, with some moments of genius including an assortment of whistles employed by the drummer at key moments, they were an enjoyable addition to the line up. (7/10)

Skinny Lister

Definitely one of my favourite bands of the evening, mixing in acapella sea-shanties with squeezebox-driven hits, including the catchy ‘If The Gaff Don’t Let Us Down’, their songs were very danceable and singable and the stage presence of the band was on top form. They even threw in some ballads like ‘Colours’ which off-set the perky, raucous shanties perfectly. (8/10)

Miles and Erica
More worth seeing than the Charlatans on the main stage that I had to leave their set for, this two-piece act of male singer and guitarist (Miles) and female singer and fiddler (Erica) was a great end to what was the strongest stage of the day. A fun, calming end to the night, perfect as the light-faded and the atmosphere switched, Miles was a great storyteller between songs and their tunes, though sometimes a little quaint, were fun to hear and the addition of the fiddle was great. Though Erica didn’t get as much singing time as her bandmate, she had a beautiful voice, and tracks such as ‘Cake’ and ‘Plans In The Sky’ were great to hear. It’s just a shame I didn’t stay for their entire set. (7/10)

Musicians Centre Stage

Small Words
I missed this band – sorry!

Ballyhoo Eventide

Surely one of the best names in music history, Ballyhoo Eventide worked off some great call and response vocals from the two lead male vocals with their differing styles complimenting each other, and the vocalist playing a guitar with one broken hand deserved some credit for that. They performed a handful of great rock tunes and I’d certainly like to hear more from this band after the festival. (6/10)

All Too Human
It’s always great to see a band on stage employing some keytar but, other than that, I wasn’t as taken by this band as the others with the vocals a little off to my ears. (3/10)

Barefoot Beware
I missed this band – sorry!

In Summary

Overall the first night of Bingley Music Live 2012 was great. The weather could have been better but equally it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The addition of the two extra stages worked, with more bands on stage than there would be normally and thus more choice and less time to stand around and wait, and these complimented by a wider selection of food and attractions so there’s certainly more to do than ever before. I can’t help feeling that a little magic has been lost in just being able to enjoy one stage and catch every bit of every band but it’s a trade off that works more in the favour of the new set-up.

With a few bugbears in the area of having a poor 3G signal which meant that even if I wanted to Tweet along as the electronic screens say I couldn’t (though whether this is my phone I don’t know) and the length of the queues for the bars, it wasn’t a perfect night but it’s a welcome return for Bingley Music Live and they still have their eye on the ball with the sound, lighting effects, information such as train times and stage times, and a general feeling of friendliness, and I look forward to the acts over the next two days.

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