All Points East - LCD Soundsystem

First festival of the season for me - opening day of All Points East festival at Victoria Park.

Now let me explain one thing about this entry from a pictorial viewpoint. It is disproportionately skewed to the beginning of the day, when I arrived on my own and could go where I liked and had nothing better to do than snap some shots. As it developed I met one friend my own age, and then the mates I was expecting to meet up with turned up in two batches. From which point we never got anywhere close to a stage.

So let me begin this unrepresentative whirl in the Western Arena, opening with a dance act - Confidence Man. This was actually rather good fun. Beat driven dance music, keyboards and drummer at the back dressed in black beekeeper outfits, with a  front male/female duo in white. 

I didn't think you could buy shorts that short any more

Drummer in black bee-keeper costume

And after a couple of costume changes the bloke returns and strips to the waist . I have to say all a bit gay, but an enjoyable set to open a festival, all very watchable (about more later).

So that over I left the rather humid tent for the fresh air and a look around. At this stage not many people about, well it was about 3pm on a Friday.

Note on the right a rather cool idea - the bar is mocked up as two-storey street. The shop fronts don't have shops - just youngsters in t-shirts selling vastly overpriced drinks. My can of cider was £5.50, or £11 a pint!. The horrible wine the lads bought later was £24 a bottle.

Main stage before the acts began

 So now back to the Western Arena to meet up with my first friend, another lawyer my own age, to see Superorganism. A large and very art-house collective - an art project that got out of hand. Weird images behind. In the humid tent the last thing you want to wear is an anorak, but that was their opening choice. They soon disrobed, after ringing their little bells for a while.

They actually had one or two, (well three to be accurate) good songs. Lead singer was this American girl.

I stayed in the tent because my friend recommended Hercules and the Love Affair. Indeed as I stayed I got the spot dead centre at the front. In the theatre these would be premium seats. So was looking forward to what I might see. I could not have been more disappointed. It was nothing. Another dance act, but in contrast to Confidence Man which opened, nothing to look at. Just two middle aged guys twiddling behind a sound deck. Frankly, there is just no point to an act like this. Yes you might say, but the Chemical Brothers are the same. But no, apart from their music being far more exciting, with them you have a whole illuminated art show. This had just some dull projections behind, well behind Superorganism in interest.

I didn't even wait to the end, but headed off to meet up with David and his friend from Germany who were lurking towards the back of the main stage area awaiting Glass Animals with a restorative beer.

Frankly I can't give any real review of Glass Animals. We were way back and mostly just chatted over their set. A pity as I might have liked them if had given more attention. Particularly liked their geeky lack of pretension.

 But we had to wait at the back for our last two gang members, who were only ever going to catch the last two acts, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and LCD Soundsystem.

Again being at the back and with two new chums to chat to I didn't give Yeah Yeah Yeahs the attention they deserved either, an American indie band with a female rock lead singer who didn't need the shrill hard vocals that I find many women employ in such groups. Her voice just worked very well over the music, and she came across as a nice person too.

 And finally to LCD Soundsystem. Worthy headliners. Although I knew they had been about a long time, I had never seen them and was surprised at how mature (yes, euphemism for old) they looked. But they were very tight, a band who just sound ever so good. Loved the whole set. They also eschewed an encore but just played straight the way through. A lot of their songs are quite long anyway, so wouldn't suit standard encore. They finished with "All My Friends", justly their most popular song. I would say their defining feature is an insistent dance beat with unconnected vocals over the top. That isn't a criticism; it works really well. But if you think about it afterwards the songs don't really relate to the music, they are superimposed.

And yes, this is how far back we were. And it was very tightly packed in front and behind.

Coventry - play off semi finals

Of course, one is a bit of a fair weather fan if you only turn up to watch your team at the end of the season to see them get promotion. Yup, that is me. So off I head to watch us play in first leg of the league 2 play off final against Notts County. Actually only reason I went was because my oldest friend, with whom I had a season ticket at Coventry back in the Seventies, and now lives in Sheffield, was going so I gave it a try. Getting home from an evening fixture at the tout of town Ricoh is just not feasible. But Simon said I could stay at his, so I got a train to Chesterfield and he picked me up from the station, and then we walked from a parking spot we had booked. Like other out of town stadia, they are of course very environment unfriendly as they really require a car journey where previously one would get a train.

Now we have been having an unsasonably warm May. Aprt from this night. When we had a monsoon. If you can have a cold monsoon. Soaked on way to ground, and the pitch was waterlogged in one quarter, with standing puddles. 

Crowd was 17000, big for league two but only half the capacity. A good first half, when we hit the post, was undone in the second by an early County goal. Despair only just averted when we scored from the penalty spot. Never a penalty, but we deserved it on balance of play.

Now to get ahead of the narrative, the second leg in Nottingham a week later was played in good conditions. And we won 4-1 in an utterly compelling game, Coventry going two up in the first half and playing amazingly well, then conceding just before half time to goal caused by a ball bobbling around in the air amongst County's big men, Second half they were all over us and it seemed only a matter of time before City crumbled. Indeed they scored from a  goal wrongly disallowed for offside. But then with 20 minutes to go we had a breakaway goal from Biamou (which was a little offside and suddenly the tide turned. They were deflated and we eventually scored a fourth and could have had more. Relief. And Wembley ahead.

So back to Sheffield. Stayed night with my mate, and had a tour of his wonderful garden - amazing what you can have in Sheffield, especially when retired.

 He has his own orchard and a pretty much a bluebell glade at the bottom of the garden. Any way, I had agreed, to make use of the time, to meet up with another mate of mine in Sheffield. SO we had Sunday lunch together at a smart trendy pub restaurant called the Pointing Dog (or known locally as the Dogging Point I understand). A lovely smart place for Sheffield's middle classes to gather (you know the ones which vote Liberal Democrat in what is otherwise an incredibly depressing socialist republic of rundown estates). Unfortuately while a lovely place for a drink on a warm day, the food is really very mediocre. The charcuterie option was fine - see below - but the roast, well didn't taste like it had been roasted, more boiled.

But the food wasn't the point, it was just really nice to see James again after about a year. And a further year of training for the triathlon left him looking ever so well and buffed. Maybe this exercise lark is actually good for you. Who would have guessed?

So then back to Sheffield station to await my train back to the Metropolis. A nice day so I waited as long as possible on the square outside and took a few photos.

It is all quite photogenic with its large water sculpture. I think all aimed at screening the immediate view of Sheffield behind it, which is basically an eyesore. Nice try, but really only works for a few minutes on leaving the station.

Blossoms at the Forum

This was a really good gig start to finish and I think all three of us felt that.

Opening act I am afraid I didn't catch the name of, but they were pretty good.

There was a second support, the Touts from Northern Ireland. So Irish that they were almost unintelligible. But this was basically a punk band, maybe the descendants of  Stiff Little Fingers. Not everyone's cup of tea, but suited me and I think if you like punk/new wave you would have to say they were very proficient
.

 Then onto Blossoms. A new album to promote, Cool Like You. I had been listening to it for a week and was getting very happy with it. On a par with their debut. This was a triumphant gig. Just a lot of great songs.

Lead singer Tom Ogden did a nice solo spot for My Favourite Room, which he then just merged into a medley of nice guitar songs he knew.