Day 1 Thursday
Real Estate
I smoked some fine bud before getting on the bus. First band to see was New Jersey's Real Estate. Real Estate was the first band in this recent wave of lo-fi, feel good, super chill surfy-indie bands (many of these other bands were also at the festival, including Surfer Blood and Best Coast) that I've been really into and I was really excited for this show. They played in a bar above a club on a small stage that would normally serve as a small dance floor and dj area. It had a weird waist high barrier around it which was strange for a concert, but it all worked out. I was right up front for their set. I got a slight shout out from the bassist after he asked the crowd if anyone likes seinfeld. There was no reaction and I started cracking up to that and he noticed and gave me a point and said something like "this guy knows what I'm talking about." Anyway, they were great. I'm always surprised by how much a really mellow band like them can rock out and bring an intensity to their sound when they are amplified live. Check out my favorite of song theirs, "Fake Blues."
Between them and the next show I had about a half hour to kill, so me and my friend Lake, who also attended the festival, each killed a really cheap bottle of wine during this time (2 for 5 pounds!). Lake's bottle had a cork, so he had to push it in.
The Dodos
The Dodos were playing in a proper concert venue known as Komedia, which is where I saw Why? a little over a month ago. There half hour set was cut a bit short due to them talking awhile to set up. They didn't play my favorite songs, such as "Walking" and "Fables", which was a bit disappointing. However, what they did play they played well. Their drummer was impressive to watch live.
These New Puritans
These New Puritans were a band that I discovered in the process of checking out bands I hadn't listened to prior to knowing they were playing the festival. I thought there newest album, Hidden, sounded really cool. They have kind of a dark, electronicy experimental sound, utilizing lots of different instruments and such. They were playing in the club I find myself at more than any other due to their usual dubstep wednesday (rusko this wednesday!) Unfortunately, the band and got off to a late start and I really wanted to see Surfer Blood, so I bailed out after a few songs. They sounded really good, especially the 7 minute opener "We Want War."
There was a special guest last minute addition to the Great Escape festival which was The Cribs. Apparently a lot of people wanted to see them so there was a long que, long enough where by the time I got in, Surfer Blood had finished playing. I got to hear a little of them from the line but was obviously dissapointed I didn't get to see them. Oh well, you can't see them all. Surfer Blood is another feel good summer band I recomend people check out.
The Cribs
The last show of the night was The Cribs. The reason I know any music by the Cribs is a slightly interesting story. Back when I worked in Borders, circa senior year of high school, I had a really awesome manager who had very similar taste in music as me. We use to constantly talk about music, who we were listening to at the moment, etc during the work day. One day we decided to do an album swap ordeal, where he bought an album I recommended and I bought one he recommended. I had him purchase Bloc Party's "Silent Alarm" and he had me get the Cribs "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever." I thought it was a decent album. The Cribs are kind of likely a slightly better Franz Fernidad. Not an amazing band, but decent. They ended up putting on a good show and it was cool to see Johnny Marr, the former guitarist of the Smiths, playing with them (he joined the band for their latest album). That makes it the second time I've seen Johhny Marr, as he was playing with Modest Mouse when I saw them upon for REM a couple years back. I tried to find youtube video's of the festival and the cribs have one of the 3 videos I was able to find for shows I went to.
Day 2 Friday
I had pretty ambitius plans for this day, thinking I could logisticly see 7 bands. This would not be possible, but I saw some great shows.
Best Coast
I arrived in Brighton a little later then I meant to so I was in a rush to find the bar Best Coast was playing at, called Horatios. Before I left I looked up the venue's location but would soon learn that google maps can not understand the concept of a pier. As I was power-walking back and forth round the random location google maps made up, I asked the bouncer of another club where this place was. Turns out its at the end of the Brighton pier, which is a long ass walk. I made it for about half of Best Coast's set and they were really good. They are yet another lo-fi beach/sunshine/summer band with a sweet sounding female vocalist. She was really short so it was hard for me to see her and get a decent picture.
Rural Alberta Advantage
I was so pumped for the Rural Alberta Advantage. I downloaded there debut album "Hometowns" a little over a week ago to check them out and I fell in love. I have listened to that album non-stop since my first listen. The have a unique sound, combining strange nasely vocals with pretty female harmonies and deep drumming that's brought right to the forefront of the mix. Really cool lyrics as well. In trying to compare them to other bands I came up with them being some kind of weird combination of wolf parade, deer tick, and clap your hands say yeah. They put on what was my favorite performance of the festival. I may have fallen in love with their keyboardist upon first sight. Here's a couple better pictures I found of her.
Nothing tugs at my heart strings more than an incredibly cute girl in an indie rock band...
Anyway, I shook the hand and talked to the singer for a few minutes after their set (I was too shy to talk to the girl). He was a really nice guy and very apreciative. He told me they have about 7 or 8 new songs done and are hoping to record a new album this summer. I can't wait. Check out this band. I present you two songs:
The Morning Benders were supposed to perform right after the RAA at the same bar, but apparently there show got cancelled. Lake and I were wondering why a pretty normal sounding band (guitar, bass, drums, keyboard) was setting up with only a keyboard and a laptop. It took one second of that band playing for it to become apparent this was not the Morning Benders. The band that played was a god awful electronica/disco band. I was right up front so I felt guilty about leaving because I had to walk right in front of the band towards the door. To be polite I tried to at least stay for their first song but it became unbearable so I booked it.
Had the Morning Benders played I would have had very little time to get over to my next stop, the Japandroids. While I wished they're show hadn't been cancelled, this gap provided ample drinking time. Between Best Coast and the RAA I had about 20 mins where I bought a bottle of wine and pounded down about half the bottle. I didn't want to miss any of the RAA nor waste a good bottle of wine, so before that show I decided to hide it. I found a police cone to hide it under on a sketchy street behind the bar that did the job perfectly.
Japandroids
On the first night when I was waiting in line for The Cribs, I noticed the person in front of me holding a signed copy of a Japandriods CD, so I struck up a drunken conversation with this very friendly couple about them. Japandroids had also played earlier that day and they were telling me there were tons of technical problems that were really pissing the band off and caused them to play a short shitty sounding set. So for this show, where everything went smoothly, they were constantly apologizing for last night and putting their all into this show to make up for it. The Japandriods are a kick ass live band. I saw them on their own towards the beginning of last semester. That was a great performance but the one thing that pissed me off was how lame the crowd was. The Japandriods are noisy garage punk and everyone at that show just stood as still as possible despite their energy on-stage. This was not the case for this show, which had the craziest crowd I witnessed during the festival, complete with moshing, crowd surfing, and all that good stuff.
Wild Beasts were one of the bands I was most looking forward to. Very experimental/trippy with some strange opera like vocals. Before them at the same venue was another band I was hoping to see just based on what I had heard about them, The Fiery Furnaces. The plan was to catch the end of their set and make my way close to the stage for Wild Beasts. As it turns out, Wild Beasts must be a lot more popular than I expected, because there was a massive que. After waiting in line for about an hour I still wasn't very close to the entrance and security informed everyone that the venue was at max capacity. I was pretty pissed and for about 10 minutes seriously entertained the idea of attempting to just run by security at the gate and trying to get lost in the crowd. I was about a beer or two away from having the guts to do this, but couldn't in the end. While I was in line, there was a shitty cover band on the street playing cheesy hits and I have some video of them playing "Sweet Caroline." For some reason, as of late, youtube has stopped allowing me to upload videos, so you will never see this video. This song always reminds me of Boston for some reason, I think cause they always play it at red sox games.
I had some down time to get more drunk while I waited for Pretty Lights, so I enjoyed some delicious 9% Carlsberg Special Brew, drinking on my lonesome by an old railroad track. How poetic.
Pretty Lights
Pretty Lights is a kickass DJ who makes and mixes a wide variety of genres, from hip-hop to funk to electronic and even a little dubstep. All his albums can be downloaded for free on his website, which I highly recommend doing (http://www.prettylightsmusic.com/#/downloads). It's pretty safe music to throw on in any kind of party atmosphere with a diverse crowd. I was wasted by the beginning of his 1am set and had good fun dancing along. The live drummer made it that much better.
Day 1 Saturday
Broken Social Scene
After what had happened to me with Wild Beasts, I had planned to go into Brighton really early to make sure there was no chance I would miss one of my very favorite bands in Broken Social Scene. This plan did not concur with the decision to take a nap that evening. I still got into the city relativly early, but not nearly as early as I planed and for this I paid a price. There was a massive que for Broken Social Scene so I was nervous as soon as I arrived. After waiting in line forever and moving inch by inch towards the door, my heart was sucken with terrible news. "We are going to let 10 more people in and then no more, the venue is at max capacity." After those 10 people I was about 10 people away. I didn't know what to do. I decided to just keep waiting and hoping for the best. So I waited. And waited. And I heard BSS start. And still, the line didn't budge. The bouncers repeatedly told the few of us still waiting in line that we were wasting our time and that they would not let anyone else in. At this point I noticed a group of kids that had left the line and were congregating outside the entrance. I immedietly knew they were thinking of rushing in so I left the line and told them I would be down to do it with them. After a few minutes of debating no one wanted to be the first person to make the bolt and security asked us to move away from the door, likely catching on to our plan. However, I was determined no matter what to try to get into this show. I stood off to the side and studied the security guards intensenly, waiting for my oppurtunity. After a few minutes, my heart once again sank when the guards finally allowed some more people in from the que, past where I had been standing before. I was furious at this point for making the decision to leave the line. I decided to just cut everyone still waiting and get back to it and was able to sneakily do so with no one mentioning anything. After about 10 mins I got in. I got to see the last 25 mins of there set, which was incredible. They were extremly energetic, had great stage presense, and of course sounded amazing. It's unfortunate I couldn't see there full 45 min set, but this was better than nothing. They are playing in Boston during the late summer and I really want to go. I found a video on youtube of them playing their new single "World Sick."
I had a lot of downtime between Broken Social Scene and my next gig, the Born Ruffians. After buying yet another bottle of wine (oh how I love the blush) I first attempted to see this cool icelandtic folk band known as Seabear. I couldn't properly find the entrance to this venue for awhile so I eventually said fuck it. I did find the exit, but the asshole bouncer wouldn't let be in, for some reason I had to go through the proper entrance, which was a real bitch to get to. I hate no tolerance type shit like that, there's just no reason at all he couldn't have let me in... oh well. I roamed around the streets swigging my bottle, likely causing parents to hold their children a little closer...As I was walking around I watched this young band that had set up shop on a street corner in fron of a pile of free CDs and a money collecting guitar case. They were pretty cool, but the interesting part about this wasn't them. There was this drunk asshole who kept consistently walking right up to the singer and shouting nonesense into his ear and also trying to freestyle over their music. According to the singer, he was told "you'll never have as much skill as me!" by this guy. I was able to get some video which I was able to upload onto facebook.
Other notable events that occurred while roaming around Brighton. A homeless crackhead was walking behind me when he pinched me quite hard on the back. I turned around with a "wtf?" look and he asked me what my bottle was. Then he asked if it was JD. After I informed him that the bottle was wine (how the hell do you think a bottle of wine is a bottle of Jack Daniels?) he told me to fuck off. I was kind of confused by that response...lets just say I crossed the street. Later I encountered these other 2 homeless guys that were set up with there sleeping bags and such in a doorway that asked me for a cigarette. I didn't have any so I offered them some of my wine and we talked and drank for a bit (the guys were Swedish). They said I was a really nice guy when I left which made me feel good. I also just rememberd that I gave another homeless guy money on the first day because he specifically said to me "I'm just trying to get stoned." I like to give money to homeless people who are honest about what they are using it for. If I was homeless I'd be getting drunk and fucked up all the fucking time, it's a pretty miserable condition to be in. Anyway, I took some night time pics of Brighton during this time.
Born Ruffians
The Born Ruffians are a band I've heard a lot about and have had them played for me on a few occasions. I always enjoyed them but wasn't too familiar with their music. There was a small que but I got in for the majority of their set which was really good. A funny moment occured towards the end when they still had time for another song during their time slot but the sound guy put the lights on and started playing music. The band all put their hands up all "what the fuck," which got the crowd to all turn around and loudly boo while staring at the sound guy. It worked and they were able to play another song.
Once again I had some downtime, so I finished my bottle of wine and drank some beer (I was constantly hiding bottles of wine in alleys ways and such while I was inside venues). I ended up getting the most wasted of any of the 3 nights on this night.
Sleigh Bells
I went into this club a good amount early to continue drinking. I was really drunk and got hit with a wave of exhaustion so I was sitting at a table at the end of the bar doing that head bob falling asleep thing that often happens when your in an incredibly boring class. Before the band came on I stood up, slaped my self in the face a few times, and was ready for Sleigh Bells. Their debut album just recently came out and recieved a raving 8.7 review from pitchfork. I had downloaded a couple songs prior to the show and wasn't sure what to make of them. They are a strange band, kind of like an industrial more noisy yeah yeah yeahs. Their set was really good however. I'll need to give their album a few spins to decide if they are worth the hype, but the live show certainly improved my impression of them. I found a really shitty quality video of the last song they played, where you may notice some members of the crowd jumping on stage and dancing with the singer. I was probaly a few people in front of this person right up front during the show, so had the video quality not sucked so bad you could probably see me.
And that was it. I got back Saturday night and ended up drinking vodka and smoking spliffs with some friends until about 8am. I then proceeded to sleep until 8pm. It's currently 7:15am and I'm sipping on some beer trying to figure out a way to fix these nocturnal sleeping patterns. An all dayer might be in store.
Wow, that post was way longer than I expected. I guess that's becoming the norm these days. Anyway, I doubt anyone really gives much of a shit about any of this, but regardless, I had an amazing time and I hope you enjoyed reading about it.
40 more days till home!
