The Sick Fix, Swindled, Blow Dry, Retropxssy, Toy Parlour, Soaked, Bugbear and Screens at the Blue Posts

This gig was part of a nationwide set of gigs at small independent venues meant to fill the gap left by this being a fallow year for the Glastonbury Festival. It was called Everywhere At Once and was in over 500 venues across the country.

The particular one I went to was in a venue which was new to me - the Blue Posts in Soho. It was running Friday night and all day Saturday. Having tickets for Two Door the day before I could only go to the Saturday line up. Which appealed to me as headlining was Sweet Unrest. Or so they were when I bought a ticket. By the time it came round they had been replaced by ART. 

Another problem I had was when this gig started. My ticket said 7:30 but in view of the number of acts I knew it must be earlier. The pub website said nothing. I looked at the event details section on the ticket site and that said doors open Saturday at 12:20. So I turned up at 1pm. The barman seemed to think 7:30 but asked another member of staff and they said 3. Too late to return home, so I went to the National Gallery for a couple of hours, culture vulture that I am.

Returning mid afternoon I found the actual venue for all these bands above the pub is, if anything,  smaller than my living room. There is no stage - bands just played at one end. Fortunately opening act Screens were only a trio. Lead singer Joe came up and introduced himself as I was pretty much the total audience. Friendly guy, close to my stature, next to a very tall guitarist - an unlikely looking pairing. Drummer obscured at the back. A short set - Joe said they were a new band all having played in other bands previously,  so hadn't built up a following yet. Standard indie fare. I thought this might set the trend for what followed, but no...

Next up were Bugbear, another conveniently compact trio. But they were, to my ears, dreadful. Art school project is how I would describe them. Pretentious lyrics and lacking melody. Just no.

But note from photo that not only is there no stage, but the whole venue has leopard skin pattern carpet. The O2 it is not!

I didn't think I had heard the next act before, but as soon as they came on stage I realised I had. The lead singer of Soaked, as you can see below in the hat, is quite distinctive in appearance. And in personality. They had just added a band member so were playing as a four piece with the skinny drummer I believe formally being a guitarist. He sounded pretty good, and started a trend over the evening of drummers playing shirtless. The place was like a sauna, and although it professed to have an air conditioning unit at the end of the room, that appeared to be for decoration only. At one point between acts I went and sat under it. I realised it did have a function. While it produced no cold air, it did drip water....

Soaked were loud and enthusiastic. And stuck around all day to support the other acts. I will leave it there.

Toy Parlour were a chunky, hairy four piece, which stood out from the basic collection of skinny kids who made up the vast majority of this gig. While visually not the most appealing, the lead singer actually had a very decent voice and they were probably the best act so far, although the lead singer did look quite pissed off at playing in the sweatiest place on earth to an almost empty room.

I would struggle to convey how much I disliked the next act. With no real sound foundation for it, I had assumed I was in for a day of indie bands. I didn't expect this young woman to rap to a backing track. Given the paucity of audience members, she eschewed the "stage" and took up the middle of the room, engaging anyone who looked engageable, which was basically the members of Soaked. In the first place I don't appreciate rap, but this was much worse because it was so in one's face, and she was so ... gestural

Including at one stage falling to the floor and having a squirm. At another leaving the room dramatically (and disappointingly returning😃)

That performance finally over (I would have given up on it were I not trapped - she was between me and the only exit!), up stepped Blow Dry. The lead singer, at least, was Australian. She had some decent banter. While falling into my general category of indie, they just didn't seem very good.

Another four piece band which because of the nature of the space meant two of them in the limelight so to speak and the lead guitarist and drummer very much in the shadows. Although this image doesn't show it too well, the guitarist was a very heavily tattooed young man, including almost all his back  which looked to me like a tattoo deliberately large and dark to cover up a previous tattoo! 

At least I knew I was on safer ground when it came to Swindled as I had seen them before and thought they were good. But also thought, since they were from Sunderland, that I wouldn't be seeing them again any time soon. But lo and behold here they were. Now when they first turned up I did think that at least, unlike the previous time I had seen them, they would be playing in t-shirts. But no, when it came to the performance all but lead singer and drummer had changed into suits. Utter madness. The place was hotter than a Finnish sauna (or the Victoria line which I would soon have to endure too). To make matters worse, they are a five piece. It was a squeeze to put it mildly.

Honestly, they were really good. Easily the best act of the day. Lead singer has very decent vocals, they look good and have real personality. What the fat bloke in glasses on guitar at the back (I hope he won't take offence) lacks in looks he makes up for in being super nice, funny and friendly. The drummer didn't join the shirtless drummers of the day but almost did so by unbuttoning his shirt to the waist (With much internal joshing about him lacking chest hair). 

They just came over as a very nice bunch of blokes. Which made it frankly embarrassing that they came all the way down from Sunderland (and would be driving all the way back that night) to play to an audience that had now dwindled to single figures. I could see in the lead singer's eyes that he was trying not to look at how few people there were before him. The trouble with these small gigs is that very often the audience is made up of friends coming to see a band. So I think the previous act had some friends who then disappeared. And this lot from Sunderland were clearly not going to have an entourage, leaving the place more deserted than ever. And tiny as the venue was, it was never full.

At the end, as I was standing at the front as always, I just felt the need to apologise to them for coming all this way to play to an empty room, as if somehow it was my fault! Although of no consolation,  I commented how much I had enjoyed them, and having seen zillions of bands over the years, I certainly rated them highly, even if not their target demographic.I think they appreciated that tiny bit of positivity, and felt it was the least I could do. 

(And given I have a mate who lives in Newcastle I would love to see them up in the north-east sometime, just as a surprise!)

Last up, for me, was the Sick Fix from Manchester. They venture down quite often - I think this was the fourth time I had seen them - so the boys recognise me to talk to. Tonight they had slimmed down to a trio as one of the guitarists was sick. Well, it saved on space!

Now the nice bit for me beforehand is I got chatting to their manager (who it turned out was also the drummer's granddad!). So I learned a little about the boys. I also found out that they were under age - the bouncers downstairs wouldn't initially let them in to play at their own gig!

Grandad did much of their sound check himself, in the absence of the boys who had disappeared to get some food. And then their short actual sound check involved the lead from Soaked charging in rather for his own benefit - Leo could barely get to his own mic!

But then off they went. How to describe the Sick Fix? Bit like the Libertines. Loud, brash, punk like, exhilarating, fun. Certainly some arrogance (as their manager was the first to say), but that comes across as casual swagger. Lead singer Leo is the character, outgoing, chippie, think Liam Gallagher but a bit more upbeat and less of a tosser. What is often termed "attitude". But I also had a nice chat with them afterwards. Always seem to talk to Leo.

Unfortunately as will be evident below, as it got darker outside they decided to use even less light inside, so these photos are more crap than they should be, sadly for what in their own way, are quite a photogenic band.

Ted on drums, the manager's grandson, discarded his top fairly early on - well drummer is the most strenuous role. 

Leo followed suit soon after. I told you it was like a sauna!

Then at the end, grandad/manager summoned them (well principally his grandson) forward to do some photos "for social media"

I hope he doesn't mind, but I pinched this one from their Instagram account. Once again I felt bad at them travelling all this way for little gain but an Instagram photo. But I really enjoyed them, and told them so. Especially Ted on drums, and not just sucking up to his grandad. I was told that unfortunately he really knew how good a drummer he was. And apparently a decent guitar player too. I suppose well placed arrogance! But I was intrigued that I hadn't noticed what a great drummer he was from previous gigs, possibly because with three guitarists ahead of him he was just noticeable. But I genuinely feel he makes the difference to them.

Another act I will definitely see again if and when they venture back to the capital. So I had not exactly had much fun most of the day, although did have a few enlightening chats with the promoter, but ended with two very enjoyable sets, so I won't complain. There was another performance to come from ART headlining, but I decided to quit to get home for England v Panama. Maybe not my best ever decision, but at least this place was a lot easier to escape from that Crystal Palace. It seems it helps when the crowd is 25 rather than 25,000....

Two Door Cinema Club, the Vaccines, James Marriott, the Royston Club and Garage Flower at Crystal Palace Park

Sandwiched between gigs with an audience in tens was this one at Crystal Palace in front of 25,000 on one of the hottest days in the year. I did, of course, arrive early enough to get to the front

A different arrangement to when I last came here. The stage was built up much higher than before, which meant from my angle at the front I couldn't see the back of the stage

The openers had not even been on the bill until the last moment. Unfortunately, on what must have been their biggest ever stage, they started with a technical failure on one of their guitars and so half their set was just the bassist strumming away while a technician got them going. I can't say they blew me away. Bunch of northern lads playing rock. Had a slight sixth form school band feel.

A four piece band. They had a drummer apparently but because of the high stage, I never saw him!

The guitarist whose guitar failed

Next up were the first band people had come to see, and judging by the number of Royston Club t-shirts I had seen on the crowd coming in, a lot of kids had come to see the Royston Club. Not least the three lads standing next to me at the barrier. This was no surprise to me having recently seen their sell out show at the Roundhouse. Excellent show - proper rock band who seem to have become popular through word of mouth. I think I first saw them as a support band and have watched their audiences grow in front of me (or behind me in this case!) They sound great and are interesting lyrically too. 

The one member of the original line up that I hadn't heard of was James Marriott. My three young friends filled me in that he was a you tube influencer that had somehow turned into a rock star, before the lads escaped.

Now there is an interesting dynamic about going to a music festival - the same was to apply to the much lower key one I attended the next day - as opposed to a standard gig with a "name" headliner and unknown supports. At such a standard gig the audience just grows until the headliner comes on. Its the same audience but just joined by more people. At a festival often the audience almost completely changes from one act to the next. There is a core of folk like me in for the long haul, but most people are really only there for one act and are only interested at being at the front for that. 

This phenomenon was particularly stark here. The Royston Club are what I would describe as a lads band. The atmosphere is somewhat akin to a football match, with chants of "Royston, Royston" going up between songs. A large percentage of lads, including the three next to me, evacuated before James Marriott entered,  to be replaced almost entirely by young women, not with boyfriends. I don't wish to be unkind (well I don't care actually) but they did look like the kind of girls who would mostly have a "relationship" online. They could (and did) sing along with every line of every song (until he played a new one), like some religious rite.

He made an observation along the way that someone told him at a festival "only to play the bangers" which is sound advice. But you have to have a banger to play. To my ear, he had none - utterly banal stuff. Totally did not for with the rest of the acts, but maybe the organisers had their commercial heads screwed on the right way. He brought his own audience. And with his departure so went most of the girls.

James Marriott did a lot of posing like this between songs to the adulation of his female fans.

Main support came from the Vaccines. Unlike the aforementioned Mr Marriott, the Vaccines only seem to have bangers. Not quite true as lead singer Justin Young ventured that they hoped their best work was ahead of them. But a new song really didn't go down like the classic tracks from their debut album What did you Expect from the Vaccines? Now fifteen years old. Gosh.

And finally Two Door Cinema Club. Much as I had enjoyed both the Royston Club and the Vaccines, Two Door are just a different class. One can hear that just on the vocals of Alex Trimble. Terrific voice. Justin Young of the Vaccines sounds fine for the Vaccines anthems - strong but what I would describe as monotone. Whereas Alex Trimble has wonderful range. The songs are a step up in quality too. I also quite like that they don't look like a rock band. Alex's ginger beard makes him look more like an American evangelist preacher. Certainly not a sexy look. They trade on what they sound like. 

Above me was the big screen fr the crowd. Not much use to me, except to show crowd scenes, or see the drummer who was out of view

And throughout the gig that had a rotating trio of sign language folk who sand danced and gestured their way through the festival for the aid of anyone hard of hearing

I did allude to how hot it was. I have never attended a festival without a jacket knowing that even if it is hot mid afternoon it will be chilly by late evening when the sun goes down. But not today. It was still warm at night without the need for solar assistance. An awful lot of bare chested lads right to the end. Indeed earlier it was so hot they had a member of security literally hosing down the crowd.

Just behind me, well off to the side, a separate mosh pit developed

Of course one other side effect of this being so close to the longest day, and a 10 pm finish, was that the stage lighting didn't really kick in to impressive mode until pretty much the end

My plan of waiting for the encore and circling back to get a head start on going home was thwarted by there being no encore! It was made worse by there being almost no stewarding either. It was as if they hadn't expected that a crowd of 25,000 would actually have to leave. 

In particular, unlike most festivals I have been to, there was almost no one with a loud hailer directing people anywhere, or attempting to disperse people through different exits. Instead the crowd were "kettled" on numerous occasions with no information (and obviously no access to water despite heat and overcrowding) making the journey home especially and unnecessarily unpleasant. A major black mark for organisers Festival Republic. For most gigs I attend I am normally bombarded with email requests to review them with"How did we do?" headers. Nothing here, which I take to mean, "We know we are shit and cut corners but we don't give a toss - you already paid us."