Day two of Birmingham's best music event (since I've been here) and I ended up getting there a little late. Unlike the night before there were less crazy dance moves and a lot more breakages - seven bands to see in one night as opposed to the first night's five is not an easy task. However, I've always said that seven is my lucky number and after this night there's still no reason to doubt that...
Opening up the second evening in spectacular fashion - Victories At Sea brought all their best material with them. I missed their first song but as soon as I got in I knew that this night would be of a whole different calibre to the night before. I was certainly not expecting them to be as good as they were. Their closing track was absolutely electric. A really enjoyable set and if that was just the opening band, what was to come of the rest of the night?
The next band Best Friends I was particularly interested in. I'd heard their name in passing a couple of times before and so was excited to actually see and hear them first hand. They looked exactly like what their music sounded like - a cross between grunge and indie with a little bit of psychedelia on the side. Despite the bass pedal breaking just before they started the set (breakage number one) they played well. The bassist took the phrase "long hair, don't care" to a whole new level. He was in a world of his own, slapping his bass and whipping his hair about - great showman.
Wide Eyed were up next - perhaps the most mysterious band of the weekend. They played through the entire set without saying one word to the audience expect a quick "Ta!" right at the end. No pauses for applause really and little to no smiling. Quite a shoegaze, psychedelic and mellow sound about them though - a very good set.
I really couldn't put my finger on where the next band His Clancyness came from but after doing my research on them I found out that they're from all over the place - Bologna, Italy or Ottowa and Canada to be exact. Anyway, they had a great set, good interaction with each other and the crowd and a lot of their songs had nice builds. Their set up was awesome, the lead singer had a beautiful guitar and the bassist (although a quite small presence) held it DOWN, great set.
One of the main reasons that I came for tonight was for Sky Larkin. In fairness, I'd only heard two of their songs prior to coming but they were a good couple at that. The Leeds trio played a fabulous set, especially considering that the floor tom fell over twice during both "Matador" and "Motto" (breakage number two). I loved how 'into it' the drummer got, even putting on his sweatband midway through the set, while the other two played through the set with effortless style.
Next up, the band with probably the hugest crowd response of the weekend, formerly broken up - Distophia. They had fantastic banter throughout their set both internally and with members of the crowd. This gig was actually their 10th anniversary since releasing their first album and after being broken up for a while this was their first and last gig in a looong time. In spite of guitar malfunctions mid set (breakage number three) they played a powerful set and had the crowd leaping the entire time. Two brave lads down in front even started what I can only call a semi-mosh pit (which I just couldn't resist) towards the end of the set.
And finally, the creme de la creme of the entire weekend, the main event - Yuck. They were absolutely fantastic! They killed their set, playing 3 or 4 songs from their next album and even coming back on stage for a two song encore! Super professional band just doing what they do best. They were so good that even the projector resting on one of the speakers couldn't handle it and fell down mid-set, shattering a little (breakage number four). A damn good ending to a damn good weekend. THANK YOU THIS IS TMRW.
Overall Rating - 9/10
Here are some pictures from the night...
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