I enjoyed Primal Scream but it felt a bit doing-it-by-rote and even old fashioned compared to some of the other bands I saw. Automatic were great, and Special Interest tore the place apart. Tropical Fuckstorm didn’t disappoint either.
The Horrors were okay. It was so loud in the tent that I had to take a step back, then bumped into some friends and we went off for chats etc. So, not compelling.
Amyl and the Sniffers were wonderful, but it did feel a bit like being at a Rock against Racism gig for an oldie like me. I love that punk is now being made and played again but it was so huge and exciting at the time, so life changing, that for me, revisiting it feels a bit like a re-tread. But it pleases me enormously that young’uns are appreciating and enjoying it. (I liked Special Interest more than Amyl/Sniffers actually.)
FWF were excellent. Lias in nothing but a pair of Spanx (I guess because he wouldn’t get away with being naked these days) that were slurred with the beer that was sprayed all over him when he climbed into the crowd. Not so whippety-thin these days for sure! And Saul certainly looks much better than he did back then (mind you, anything would be an improvement on the walking corpse look). Anyone who has been watching FWF over the years can see that they’ve arrived in the solid-confidence part of their career. They played a new track, which sounded good to me. Looking forward to hearing more of what they’ve been working on.
The issues with the sound (blown speaker) was very distracting.
My biggest gripe was the fact that it was really hard to find information about running orders and changes. I tried downloading the app, which borked my phone and anyway the signal in the park isn’t great. They have boards up with maps, but no boards with stage times. Sometimes, but not often enough, they project the information at the back of the stage, but that’s no good if the drum kit is obscuring it, if you want to know information about a stage you’re not currently looking at, or if you want to know who is playing later or elsewhere while a band is currently on stage. It was the same last year, and annoyed me then, but I assumed it was something that was overlooked because it was the first year, and would be sorted out for this year.
It annoyed me so much that I might actually write to them about it. I certainly wasn’t the only person who complained about this.
www.brixtonbuzz.com
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