British Sea Power pull out the hits at The Great Escape
The Great Escape 2009 review
Friday 22nd May 2009
Starting a little later on the Friday, The Moi Non Plus get the festival going again for me. Similar in style to Friendship of the previous day, they work up a progressive noise, sampling guitar lines and abrasive drumming. The well constructed tunes have an electronic feel that is far removed from more hyped mainstream indie. With free drinks in mind I move on (yep, that said FREE) over to Audio again for their BBQ dj set from the Mystery Jets. Good tunes and a bit of planning for bands to see later.
Starting the evening again at the Sallis Benney Theatre, The Veils are first on. Finn Andrews moody vocals captivated the packed out room even with a nearly silent backing singer. Full of emotion, its hard not to get transfixed, half expecting him to burst into tears by the end of each song. Micachu and the Shapes take to the stage after, changing the mood completely. The catchy off-beat discordant pop with more influences than you can count...or just none, eather way its good. Using cow bells for melody, brilliant use of odd percussive sounds, odd effects and a custom built guitar create a unique sound to her music. The almost painful 'Guts' throws a few people off with its jarring chords, but all in all pretty fantastic.
A bit of a mysterious disappearance from the Mystery Jets leaves a long gap in the running. Not such a problem, as it allows an extra long set from British Sea Power. As usual for them, the stage is turned into a forest, with leafy branches attached to any available space. With clumps of Isle of Aran wool attached to belts and hair - in tribute to their most recent work creating the soundtrack to the film 'Man of Aran' – they take to the stage. Starting the set with an obscure b-side, then testing out some new material 'Glitter' and 'Once more now' they don't dissapoint. Building up from the spacey start they start pulling out hits from their most recent studio album. 'Remember Me' 'Waving Flags', 'No Lucifer' and 'Atom' build up a great atmosphere in the room. Impeccably performed the set ended with 'Carrion' and 'Lately' when Noble decides to tear up the branches throwing them (and himself) into the crowd.
With queues growing, finding a venue in the centre of town that still has room gets harder as the night goes on. If you're not patient enough to wait in a line its about jumping from one place to another to find something else to watch. Hector's House provides with the chintzy pop of Polly Scattergood. Hoping to catch Crystal Antlers play before the last train, it was a little disappointing but not a bad way to end the night.
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