20
Jul
Is watching local bands at a festival a bit of a waste?
Choosing which music festivals to go to has always been a decision I’ve taken based on the quality of the headliners. If you’re going to part with three figures on a weekend of mud-dodging, it makes sense to put it towards seeing bands who don’t visit your hometown every other week.
However, it recently occurred to me that I probably wouldn’t have trekked to this year’s T in the Park if Admiral Fallow, Washington Irving and The Seventeenth Century weren’t on the bill – and all three played several hours before the big-name attractions.
When I look back at the mammoth Balado line-up, I don’t regret giving Eminem or Kasabian a bodyswerve. Instead, I think about what I missed on the smaller stages where, if time was no issue, I would have checked out at least a dozen other promising local acts such as LightGuides, Meursault, Pearl And The Puppets, The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, Be Like Pablo, Lou Hickey, North Atlantic Oscillation, MOPP, Three Blind Wolves, Alex Gardner, Kid Adrift and Astral Planes.
And it’s the same story at THE WICKERMAN FESTIVAL on July 23-24. The acts at the top of the bill – The Charlatans, Ocean Colour Scene and Teenage Fanclub – are the ones the organisers have clearly spent most money on to bring in the punters. Popular they may be, but it has been at least a decade since any of them wrote a tune the crowd could sing along to.
So once again I find myself looking at the smaller stages for thrills and there are plenty to be found: Galleries, There Will Be Fireworks and Panda Su are Pop Cop favourites; Unicorn Kid, Kitty The Lion, Midnight Lion and Mitchell Museum are all fresh from acclaimed T in the Park slots; while Withered Hand, Woodenbox With A Fistful of Fivers and Rachel Sermanni are well worth a look too.
Regular readers of this blog will know I’ve never been one for getting carried away with unsigned Scottish musicians without ample reason, but it seems like these are the ones who are increasingly giving our established music festivals a sense of purpose. But if that becomes the primary reason for buying a weekend ticket, is it really worth the money?
Wickerman Festival, Dundrennan, Dumfries & Galloway, July 23-24 (tickets)
There Will Be Fireworks – We Sleep Through The Bombs
Panda Su – Eric Is Dead (Jonnie Common remix)
2 Responses to “Is watching local bands at a festival a bit of a waste?”
July 21st, 2010 at 08:44
I didn’t even look at the main stage line up for t this year as it has been awful for years. Or could it be the case that following the local scene irrevocably altered my taste and I now cannot find the energy and imagination I crave in more established bands?
Probably a combination of the two.
I will say one thing, T is more expensive than Glastonbury, I read somewhere it is the most expensive festival ticket in the world. So it is definitely not value for money.
July 29th, 2010 at 11:22
It’s certainly not worth the money. As much as I hate having to ‘justify’ the large ticket price by seeing an artist of great stature, I couldn’t go and see local bands all weekend, it’d be totally uneconomical.
I’d rather pay the £5-6 to go and see said local band at a smaller venue in glasgow/edinburgh than having to trawl through to balado on a £200 ticket. Sure it’s a bit more hassle, after all, all bands are at t in the park over two days, but i’d still rather see a band more intimately in town.
My main use of t in the park was to see bands I wouldn’t bother going to see otherwise. This year I saw Casablancas, Ash, Jay Z, blah blah. All acts that i would never fork out the cash to see at the ABC/SECC, but acts who i’d quite like to see live regardless.
That said, this year instead of seeing Kasabian (who i think are pish), I went to see Make Sparks. In previous years i’ve been to see the odd handful of bands at unsigned tents who i particularly enjoyed (no kilter, twilight sad etc etc). So that said, I would go and see local bands who i particularly wanted to see, or REALLY enjoyed their music. Which might be the case for some of you guys more into the local scene than me.
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