Concert Review: Does It Offend You, Yeah?–Heaven, April 4, 2011

On Monday evening, we headed down to Heaven in the Arches under Charing Cross Station.  There isn’t much that would get me to a dive of a club on a Monday evening but seeing Does It Offend You, Yeah? perform live would.  Once inside, we got a spot right near the front and prepared ourselves for an evening of mayhem as DIOYY are known for their chaotic live gigs.

Tripwires were the first support band.  The club had taken quite a while to fill up and I correctly predicted that they would start the support bands late.  Tripwires sounded a bit like Suede and the Britpop bands of the mid-nineties with endless reverberating guitars and the deepest possible basslines. 

I really wanted to like them but their guitars drowned out their vocals. It sounded like the sound levels were all wrong and the instruments were competing for prominence but the free track on their website sounds the same.

Hounds were up next. This four-piece from Essex were really energetic and ripped up the stage.  They have a pretty heavy sound and like DIOYY, they make use of samples and mac-effects in amongst thrashing drums and guitars.  They reminded me a lot of The Prodigy at their loudest.

Hounds were really entertaining too. In the middle of their set, the vocalist explained that they’d been supporting DIOYY across their many gigs in the UK and they knew who it was the crowd wanted to see.  Just once, he said, he wanted to hear the crowd go wild just for them and so he whipped up the crowd into a frenzy as we cheered on their next track. 

Canned frenzy or not, it is clear that everyone was there to see the main act, Does It Offend You, Yeah?  The last time I saw them was at Exit Festival in 2010 and I was looking forward to hearing some of the brand new tracks from their new album Don't Say We Didn't Warn You.

The moment finally arrived and the band burst onto stage.  They launched straight into “Wrestler” which is one of my favourite tracks on their new album and followed up with “With A Heavy Heart (I Regret To Inform You)”.  Lead singer James Rushent asked which fans had been around since the beginning (which elicited a big whoop from me) and they played their first ever recording “Battle Royale” featuring the sublime guitar solo from Matty Derham. 

The next three tracks are amongst my favourite DIOYY tracks and the crowd went crazy.  First up was “We Are The Dead”, the first download released from their new album plus my old favourites “Attack Of The 60ft Lesbian Octopus” and “Weird Science”. 

The band were then joined on stage by rapper Trip to perform on their track “Wondering”.  It was a great opportunity to see him perform with the band and he gave a great performance.

I love the photo above.  If you click on it for an enlargement, you can see all of the bands members, including Trip, grinning away.  It is possible that this was taken when James Rushent was grilling the crowd on whether they had illegally downloaded the new album.  Not many people admitted to doing so which is strange when you consider how many users were commenting about it on Last.fm after it leaked. 

Next up was “Survival of the Thickest” the iTunes-exclusive bonus track from their new album.  It is a great track that reminds me of the classic Space Invaders game.  It was around this time that the band were informed that they needed to get off stage shortly.  James Rushent put the blame on the previous bands not being ready on time but we all knew they were due to appear on Radio 1 at 10pm anyway.  They seemed to rush through the next three tracks which were old favourites from their first album, “Let’s Make Out”, “Dawn of the Dead” and “We Are Rockstars”.

The band then disappeared off stage, reappearing for the obligatory encore after the crowd bayed for more.  They played a raucous version of “The Monkeys Are Coming” and then, just like that, they were gone.

I really enjoyed the show and I loved every single track that they played.  I know they couldn’t have played for too much longer as curfew was at 10.30pm but I was hoping to hear far more tracks from their new album.  I guess that settles it then: I’m going to have to see them in concert again, and soon!

Concert Review: Editors - Royal Albert Hall, London, March 26, 2011

Each day in the United Kingdom, six teenagers find out that they have cancer.  Cancer often spreads rapidly in teenagers on account of their growth spurts and it is the leading cause of non-accidental death in the UK.  Teenage cancer patients are often put in wards with small children or the elderly where they are not amongst their peers and not necessarily treated by experts in teenage cancer. 

Teenage Cancer Trust provide ten specialist units in NHS hospitals across the United Kingdom.  With bright and colourful surroundings, the units are designed to be comfortable for both patients and their families.  They can interact with their peers, play computer games, watch TV while being treated by specialists in the field of teenage cancer.  The Teenager Cancer Trust aims to build enough units by 2012 so that every teenager in the UK will have access to the specialist care that they provide.

Each year since 2000, Teenage Cancer Trust has held a series of fundraisers at the Royal Albert Hall in London.  Roger Daltrey of The Who explains that music is everything to teenagers and the whole music business is built on the backs of teenagers.  But your life drastically changes when you are diagnosed with cancer.  Teenager Cancer Trust exists so that the lives of young people with cancer are not defined or limited by their cancer.

The 2011 Teenager Cancer Trust gigs at the Royal Albert Hall ran from Monday 21 to Sunday 27 March and included acts such as Biffy Clyro, Roger Daltrey, Tinie Tempah and Beady Eye.  We went along on the evening of March 26 to catch Editors supported by I Am Arrows and Wolf Gang. 

I Am Arrows

I was initially pleased to see a band I recognised in the supporting line up as I had seen I Am Arrows performing at Wembley.  Unfortunately, they gave a lukewarm performance which was worsened by frontman Andy Burrows (formerly of Razorlight) grumbling at the crowd and condescending that no one there knew their music.  Obviously Andy Burrows doesn’t realise that many music fans go to live events to discover new bands and three of my greatest music obsessions of all time started with me discovering them at live concerts (PJ Harvey, The Parlotones and Kawasaki 3P). 

Wolf Gang

Whereas I Am Arrows had been dull and boring, Wolf Gang were energetic and upbeat.  They had a great attitude too and played their hearts out.  Unfortunately, they weren’t very good at it.  Fronted by Max McElligott, Wolf Gang are meant to sound like David Bowie or Talking Heads but just sound like a really bad, early-eighties tribute band with a dodgy sense of style.  Top points for trying though and at least they smiled and seemed happy to be there.

After two such disappointing opening acts, we were more than ready to get on with the evening’s programme.  First though, we watched a touching and informative video presentation on teenage cancer and the noble work that Teenage Cancer Trust does.  One of the young adults featured in the video came up on stage to tell us about his experiences.  He explained that thanks to Teenage Cancer Trust, he did not lose a year of his life when he was in hospital and he would not change his cancer experience as it made him a better person.  A very brave young man indeed.

Editors

Finally, the moment we had all waited for arrived and Editors were on stage.  They opened with “Camera” and “Bullets” from their first album The Back Room and in mere seconds I realised why the Royal Albert Hall is famed for its excellent acoustics.  The band sounded incredible and Tom Smith’s baritone voice carried perfectly in the hall.  “Bones” was next, followed by “An End Has A Start”, one of Editors’ best known songs, and the crowd really got going. 

We were then treated to “Two Hearted Spider” which is one of Editors’ new tracks.  It was absolutely incredible and on this basis alone I will rush out and buy their new album when it is released.  Thankfully there is quite a decent video of the performance up on YouTube and I’ve been able to savour the moment again.

I was quite unprepared for the showmanship and performance by Editors on the evening.  Tom Smith is electrifying and commanded the whole stage, which he would need to as he both sings, and plays keyboard and the piano too.  Chris Urbanowicz and the band are incredibly talented too.  We were only a couple of rows from the front and the setting felt intimate, almost as if we were on a personal journey with Tom Smith and the band, as if we could touch the emotions in each of their tracks. 

Next up was “You Don’t Know Love” from In This Light And On This Evening, my favourite of their three albums.  I recognised the song from the opening note and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Tom Smith played the piano and then the stage was set for the next track, “The Racing Rats”.

“No Sound But The Wind” and “Lights” followed and then “The Big Exit” and “Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool” from the latest album which I really enjoyed. The latter featured great visuals on the screens and was quite menacing.  We were again treated to a new track as “The Sting” was up next and is another solid track. 

“Munich” followed and then the rest of the band exited the stage to leave Tom to perform a short acoustic set.  He opened with a cover of Spacemen 3’s “Walking With Jesus” and then played “Weight of the World” from their second album An End Has A Start.

The band then came back for just two songs: “Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors”, another one of their massive hits, and “Bricks and Mortar”.  They walked off the stage but somehow I knew that they would return as I simply hadn’t heard the track I had been waiting for.  The crowd at the Royal Albert Hall did not disappoint that evening and cries of ‘encore!’ erupted until the band returned to the stage (oh, who am I kidding, all bands come back for an encore these days).

Editors played a solid four-track encore, beginning with “In This Light And On This Evening” which is my favourite track on that album and the track I had been waiting for.  The rest of the crowd were evidently waiting for “Papillon” which was up next and the crowd went crazy.  The band then rewarded true fans by playing “You Are Fading”, which has previously only been available on a special edition 2-disc version of The Back Room, before closing with “Fingers in the Factories”.

All of a sudden, it was over and we began to file out of the Royal Albert Hall.  I waited a day before writing my review because my initial judgement was that it was the best concert I have ever been to and I wanted to be sure. My friend mentioned that Tom Smith lost his words during “The Racing Rats” and he noted a couple of other mistakes but neither of us really cared.  It was a fabulous concert for a great cause and after a day’s wait I can confirm that it is indeed one of the best concerts I have ever been to.

Article first published as Concert Review: Editors - Royal Albert Hall, London, March 26, 2011 on Blogcritics.

Concert Review: Muse – Wembley Stadium, London, September 11, 2010

 

Back in September, I went to see Muse at Wembley Stadium.  I’m not sure why I never posted this review but I suspect it had a lot to do with how disappointed I had been in my photos from that evening.  Nevertheless, I did make some detailed notes about the gig and have decided to swallow my pride and go ahead with the posting it!

It is notoriously hard to get concert tickets in London as they sell out within minutes of going on sale.  It is well known that many of those tickets are bought in bulk by ticket touts intending to sell them online or outside gigs for hugely inflated prices.  In 1995, I paid £100 for £30 tickets for Glastonbury and in 2004, I paid £80 for £25 Pixies tickets.  I consider, therefore, that I have paid my dues and I will never, ever pay ticket tout prices for a gig again.

Which is a problem.  Music has always been a passion of mine and attending concerts has always been an important measure of that passion.  Earlier this year, there were but four bands that I considered to be among my favourites that I had not seen in concert; excluding the bands I did see at Exit Festival they were Radiohead, Muse, Collide and Editors.  At the end of 2008, I was really disappointed when I had gone online as booking opened to buy Muse tickets and they sold out within minutes.  I did not want to be disappointed again in 2009 and joined up to Muse’s fan club with the specific intention of getting tickets this time.  It worked.  I might have only managed to get nose bleed seats half a stadium away from the stage but at least I was finally able to watch Muse at Wembley on September 11, 2010.

 

I Am Arrows

I Am Arrows were the first support band of the evening.  They played quite a short set and it could not have been easy for them being first band in a line-up when the crowd was obviously there for the headline act.  They struggled at times to get the crowd really going at all and they seemed lost in the stadium setting but they redeemed themselves with their last two songs.  They played a cover of the Tears for Fears classic “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” which had everyone’s hands in the air and they finished off with their most well known song “Green Grass”. 

 

White Lies

White Lies were up next and immediately seemed more comfortable in the stadium than the previous band.  Their sound quality seemed improved over I Am Arrows too but this might have been down to their confidence. White Lies are one of those bands that I’d heard of but had never taken the time to listen to before last night but I was impressed enough to go out and get their music.  Although White Lies are known to dislike the comparison, it is impossible not to notice the similarity between Harry McVeigh’s lovely baritone voice and that of Tom Smith of Editors.  They played an energetic set and played some of their new material as well as the old favourites “To Lose My Life” and “Farewell to the Fairground” which finally seemed to get the crowd going for the evening.

 

Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro were the last supporting act of the evening.  I’ve been listening to Biffy Clyro quite a lot over the past year and reviewed their album Only Revolutions back in March.  I’ve linked to the review so that you can see what the band did look like because they looked nothing like that now.  I was expecting a rather polished rock band but what we saw on stage was just a mess.  To be fair, there was obviously something wrong with their sound because on about the fourth song, vocalist Simon Neil seemed to make a complaint of sorts and the sound immediately improved thereafter.  Which is a real pity because I could barely recognise “That Golden Rule”, “Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies” and “Bubbles”.  Thankfully, they seemed to get it right for their massive hits “Who’s Got a Match” and “”Mountains” and I enjoyed hearing “Born On A Horse”, “Shock Shock” and “Many of Horror” too.  They closed with “The Captain” which certainly seemed to please the crowd.  Keeping in mind that there probably was some kind of problem with their sound initially, I would still say that Biffy Clyro need to get their act together as this was not the calibre of performance I would expect from a band opening for Muse.

 

Muse

It is not easy to describe a Muse concert without making gratuitous use of superlatives.  Perhaps it would be best to start at the end as Muse played their closing chords: the electricity was in the air and all around me and I stood still, in awe of the fantastic concert that I had seen, more than a little stunned that it was over.  If I were limited to but one single word to describe the concert, it would have to be “perfect”. (Note well: when you live on the other side of London and you have two tubes and a train to catch before you even enter Kent, there is in fact no time to stand in awe of the band you have just seen at Wembley, no matter how great they are.  It is best to keep this in mind to avoid sprinting through stations and literally catching the last tubes and trains of the evening).

Muse began their set by bursting onto stage and belting out "Uprising", "Supermassive Black Hole" and "MK Ultra". I was absolutely thrilled when they went on to play "Map of the Problematique" next as it is one of my favourite songs and they had not played it at the Wembley gig the evening before. "Bliss" and "Guiding Light" followed and then, to my utter delight, they played "Hysteria" preceded by the full version of "Interlude".

I won't list all of the songs that followed but my highlights were their cover of the Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley classic "Feeling Good"; the platform lifting away from the stage and carrying the band into the air during "Undisclosed Desires"; and their cover of the old Animals classic "House of the Rising Sun" which lead into my very favourite Muse song "Time Is Running Out".

 

During their first encore, the bank played “Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture)” and a giant, inflatable UFO came from around the back of the stage and floated across the stadium.  That was incredible and mind-blowing enough but then a trapeze artist dropped out of the balloon and began to perform acrobatics in the air.  It was fabulous to see!  They played “Stockholm Syndrome” too in that encore and disappeared off the stage again. 

 

I have to say, I was pretty confident that they would return for a second encore and was thrilled when they returned with “Take a Bow”, “Plug In Baby” and “Knights of Cydonia”.  All too soon, it was over and all we were left with was a feeling of exhilaration and scores of white orbs that descended over the crowd.  Seeing Muse at Wembley was honestly one of the best experiences of my life!  The only complaint I have about the whole of Muse’s set was that they didn’t play “New Born” (which they played the night before) but I do think hearing “Map of the Problematique” was an acceptable trade.

Concert Review: Groove Armada – O2 Brixton Academy, London, October 15, 2010

The year 2010 has been a massive year for Groove Armada.  They released their sixth studio album Black Light to great acclaim and followed up with an explosive string of concerts and festival appearances across Europe, America and Australia.  Groove Armada have finally come into their own and what do they do?  They announce that they are retiring and that the current tour will be their last as a live band.  It is no surprise then that we made our way to the O2 Brixton Academy in London to see their penultimate performance with mixed feelings of sadness and excitement.

We took our seats upstairs in the circle balcony and it was all really nice as we listened to a DJ duo churn out a set of pleasant but down-tempo house tunes.  It all sounded rather ‘cocktail hour’ and I wondered for a moment if I was in the right place.  Any doubts I may have had were erased when support act Retro/Grade hit the stage.  They launched straight into a manic hour of banging techno tracks that soon had the audience whooping and cheering and definitely set the tone for the evening to come.  Retro/Grade describe their sound as falling into that space between disco and house music and they have done a great job of modernising the early Italo disco sound.

After reaching such a frenzied state with Retro/Grade, the wait for Groove Armada to come on to stage was almost excruciating but eventually Tom Findlay, Andy Cato and SaintSaviour bounded onto the stage and launched straight into “Look Me in the Eye Sister” and “I Won’t Kneel”.  The effect was incredible. SaintSaviour’s vocals are more impressive and powerful live than I could ever have imagined and it was thrilling to hear them start the evening with two of my favourite songs from the new album. 

 

SaintSaviour steals all of the attention on stage with her energetic dancing, crazy outfits and amazing voice but she was not the only star vocalist of the evening.  Up next was MC M.A.D. who entered the stage to massive applause from the audience.  MC M.A.D. is the distinctive ragga voice behind some of Groove Armada’s biggest hits and he has fantastic charisma and stage presence.

Seeing Groove Armada live with this line up at this point in their career was an absolute treat.  It was an incredible show and with the help of SaintSaviour and MC M.A.D., Groove Armada delivered some of their biggest hits including “My Friend”, “Paper Romance”, “Cards To Your Heart”, “Fogma” and “Madder”. 

All too soon the band left the stage, returning only for a short encore.  It was a bittersweet moment as I realised that this was it, the moment where the live stage career of Groove Armada finally came to a close.  (I must confess to being in denial though and I somewhat hope that they’ll be back in a year or two).  That feeling of melancholy did not last for long though as they gave the most incredible send off when they finally broke into the opening chords of “Superstylin’” to manic cheers from the audience.  A fountain of silver and white balloons fell from the air as MC M.A.D. belted out this most favourite of Groove Armada songs and the crowd went crazy.  As the band left the stage, all you could hear was the popping of the balloons and the effect was not unlike hearing a fireworks display.  It was a thrilling, life-affirming moment and an absolutely fitting send of to a brilliant band.

Article first published as Concert Review: Groove Armada – O2 Brixton Academy, London, October 15, 2010 on Blogcritics.

Festival Review: Exit Festival 2010, Novi Sad

Before going to Exit Festival 2010, someone told me that it is the most beautiful festival on the planet and it is not difficult to see why she thought so.  Exit Festival is held each July in the Petrovaradin Fortress which sits on a hill overlooking the river Danube and the historical city of Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city.  Thirteen stages plus food and other entertainment arenas are spread out across the sprawling expanse of the fortress and a great variety of musical tastes are represented including punk, hardcore, dance, reggae, indie and salsa.  Exit Festival 2010 took place from July 8 to 11 and close to one hundred acts performed each day.  The festival is unusual in that the acts begin after sundown and run right through the night until dawn the following morning so don’t go to Exit Festival expecting much sleep!  I felt sorry for the campers trying to sleep during the day with day time temperatures hovering in the mid-30°c range and was truly happy to be staying at a friend’s apartment in the city.

It would take a very long review indeed to mention all of the bands that we saw but these are the highlights and disappointments of Exit Festival 2010.

Friday

Fusion Stage, Friday July 9: Kawasaki 3P

 

The problem with seeing such a brilliant act so early in a festival is that it is inevitable that you’ll land up comparing everyone else you see to that act.  This is what happened with Kawasaki 3P.  We were trying to make our way to the Main Stage to catch Atari Teenage Riot when we walked past the Fusion Stage and saw the Croatian punk/ska band Kawasaki 3P explode on to the stage.  There was no way we could tear ourselves away as the energy and fever of this band was infectious and we landed up watching the whole show.  I had not even heard of them before the show but their manic trumpets, electric guitars and drums kept us dancing and it was a great performance.  My highlights of the show were “Puta Madre” and “Ni Da Ni Ne” and I think I may have developed a lasting crush on vocalist and trumpet player Demirel Pašalić.  Kawasaki 3P are one of the few bands that have impressed me so much live that I have rushed home and bought their music.

 

Main Stage, Friday July 9: Placebo

I am a Placebo fan, there is no denying that.  I have loved them from the moment I first heard “Pure Morning” back in 1998 and I have since bought all of their albums.  I had really highly expectations for this concert and Placebo were one of the main bands that drew me out to Novi Sad in the first place but their gig was disappointing.  Their songs sounded drowned out to the extent that I could only recognise “Every You Every Me” not from the distinctive introductory riff but from the lyrics.  After the show I asked my Serbian friend what she had thought as she was not too familiar with their music and she confirmed what I was thinking, that every song had sounded the same.  Perhaps they had thought there would be a language barrier  but the band also didn’t do too much to engage the crowd and in the end it was an unremarkable gig (which is not something I ever thought I would say about Placebo).  Despite a generally disappointing gig, there were highlights in “Battle For The Sun” and a cover of Nirvana’s “All Apologies” which ran into a fantastic performance of “Bitter End”.

Fusion Stage, Friday July 9: Does It Offend You, Yeah?

None of the locals that I spoke to on that first evening had even heard of Does It Offend You, Yeah? although I have been a fan of theirs since 2007 when I saw them at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park.  After their gig, however, everyone I spoke to had heard of them (even if they weren’t at the gig) and this gig will go down as one of the stand out moments of the whole festival.  They came on stage at 2am and absolutely rocked the small Fusion stage.  Their sound is best described as new rave or indie electronic and the show was raucous with front man James Rushent working the audience like a charm.  If I had to pick, I’d say my highlights were “Weird Science” and “Attack Of The 60 Ft Lesbian Octopus” with special mention going to “Battle Royale” for the guitar solo half way through which will forever remind me of Exit Festival 2010.  Their new material sounds incredible too and I am looking forward to the release of their new album Don't Say We Didn't Warn You in October 2010.

Fusion Stage, Friday July 9: Obojeni Program

It was nearing 4am in the morning and the sky was beginning to lighten by the time Novi Sad locals Obojeni Program came on to stage.  As tired as we were, we had to stay to watch this most loved band of the local scene.  This post-punk outfit have been around since 1980 and they are one of the only bands that have performed at every Exit Festival since inception. The lead singer Branislav Kebra has the most incredible voice and the highlights of their performance were “Pop” and “H1”.  I may not have heard of the band previous to seeing their performance but it left a great impression on me and is another band that I will be seeking to purchase in the near future.

Saturday

Main Stage, Saturday July 10: Klaxons

 

I had mixed feelings about the Klaxons gig.  They are officially my favourite band and I’ve waited a long time to see them in concert again after they spent the last couple of years touring the world and recording their new album.  Klaxons were known in the past for their raucous live gigs complete with crazy costumes but they often hyped up the noise factor at the expense of their vocal and instrumental performances.  It was some surprise then that they appeared on stage looking almost boyish in normal jeans and t-shirts and singing their songs in a very pleasant manner.  Their older material from the Myths of the Near Future album sounded close to the original recordings (although unmistakeably live) but it was their new material that got me wondering whether the mighty Klaxons have been tamed. 

We first began to hear new material such as “Valley Of the Calm Trees” two years ago.  It was wonderfully off-beat and psychedelic, as was the Klaxons trademark. It is no secret though that their record company sent them back to the recording studio after their first recording sessions and demanded that they record an album that they could sell.  A lack of costumes, good behaviour and some relatively low-key new material has me fearing the worst though but I’ll just have to wait for the new album to find out.  The highlights of the show for me were “Magick”, “Not Over Yet” and “Atlantis to Interzone”.  The gig was great but I really do hope the Klaxons don’t lose what made them unique in the first place.

Fusion Stage, Saturday July 10: Beast

 

I had not heard of Canadian band Beast before but they were another band that stopped me in my tracks as I tried to walk past the Fusion Stage.  I am a long time fan of Skunk Anansie so I don’t say this lightly but Beast are like Skunk Anansie, only better.  The band have a powerful rock sound and vocalist Betty Bonifassi was larger than life as she commanded the stage and the attention of the audience.  She is a great performer and she also tackled some pretty serious issues such as equality without coming across as preachy.  I’ll certainly be looking out for them in future.

Main Stage, Saturday July 10: Lollobrigida

Croatian dance punk band Lollobrigida were another act I had not heard of before but my Serbian friends insisted that we could not miss them.  The deserve mention simply because of their outlandish and provocative show.  These uber-feminist icons are massively entertaining on stage and you just needed to look at the lead singer Ida Prester’s praying mantis broach to know that these girls are man-eaters.  They encouraged a stage invasion and soon there were several very excited female fans on stage with them strutting their stuff in similarly minimal outfits.  Lollobrigida had perfect command of the main stage and worked the crowd up to a fever pitch and it is obvious why they earned their prime spot after years of playing the smaller stages.

Explosive Stage, Saturday 10 July: The Exploited

We went along to see veteran punk rockers The Exploited more out of curiosity than anything else.  Sex Pistols had performed in 2008 and had given a really disappointing performance and we wanted to know if The Exploited would be any better.  I can tell you that the Explosive Stage was absolutely jam packed and the band gave a powerful and, well, explosive performance.  They were loud, energetic and the crowd went crazy.  Unfortunately, I’m not a fan their particular brand of hardcore punk music.  I thought the music was without rhythm or any merit whatsoever and I was considering going to the first aid tent to get treatment for my bleeding ears.  Personal preferences aside though, I could recognise that it was in fact an excellent performance and I know that the crowd was not disappointed.

Fusion Stage, Saturday 10 July: Kulture Shock

Just after midnight on the Saturday night we found ourselves back at the Fusion Stage and I was soon coming to realise that this was my favourite stage of the entire festival.  Many of the bands I had seen here were completely unknown to me at first and yet I had not been disappointed by any of them.  Hailing from Seattle in the USA, Kulture Shock is a gypsy punk band with a Bosnian lead singer Srđan Jevđević.  The band were really quite good and they gave a fabulous performance.  Their combination of mayhem rock and violins give it a definite gypsy or ethnic folk sound.  I wasn’t familiar with their music before the show but their powerful and emotional song “Sarajevo” certainly stood out for me.

Sunday

Main Stage, Sunday 11 July: Pendulum Live

Pendulum are fast becoming one of the most played bands in my music collection.  Their new album Immersion is getting loads of radio play on both dance and alternative stations in the UK and they are famous for their riotous live gigs.  I expected pandemonium from the band that makes The Prodigy seem tame and I was certainly not disappointed.  My highlights were the lightning fast performances of “Salt in the Wounds”, “Immunize” and the massive hit “Watercolour”.  I also enjoyed the cover of The Prodigy’s “Voodoo People” and my old favourite “Slam”.  It was a great performance and Pendulum certainly whipped the crowd up into quite a frenzy. 

Main Stage, Sunday 11 July: Faith No More

Faith No More were the primary reason for me travelling to Serbia to go to the Exit Festival.  I have been a fan of theirs for over twenty years and never in a million years expected to see them in concert.  The band were famous for absolutely hating each other and were renowned for their infighting and physical confrontations.  If one band was not going to do a Pixies, I thought, it was Faith No More.  I was greatly surprised and excited when they began a reunion tour last year.  Having missed out on their dates in England last year, I bought my ticket to Exit Festival the minute I realised that Faith No More and Klaxons were on the same bill. 

With that qualification, I can honestly say that it was the worst concert performance I have ever attended.  Things began to go wrong when the band arrived on stage 35 minutes late.  Exit Festival had been impeccably managed up to that point and schedules had mostly run on time.  No explanation was given but it seemed that the crew were being overly pedantic regarding the set up of the equipment and repeated sound checks were taken.  At one stage there were isolated jeers and hisses from the crowd and I was worried for a moment that this would prevent the band from coming on stage.  They eventually did arrive with no explanation and little apology but they made it pretty clear that they were pleased with the football result.

So tens of thousands of fans had missed the World Cup final between Spain and Holland in order to get a good place for Faith No More and not only are they late but they rub their faces in it too?  Not cool.  Nevertheless, it would have been forgivable if the gig was any good but it wasn’t.  As much as it pains me to admit it, this was perhaps the most disappointing live performance I have ever attended.  There were songs like “From Out of Nowhere” and “Midlife Crisis” which I recognised not from the distinctive introductory guitars and baselines but from the lyrics themselves. These are songs that I have loved for over twenty years and which I know by heart.  Mike Patton alternatively growled, shouted and screamed his vocals and any hopes I had of hearing his distinctive, beautiful voice live were pretty much dashed.

My Serbian friends agreed at a point that the concert was pretty rubbish but then the band turned it all around by singing a Serbian folk song which won the crowd over.  Their rendition of “Ajde Jano” went down like a dream with the crowd and they repeated it during their encore.  Most of the people I spoke to loved that and they loved Patton’s drunken antics as he sat on top of the stage cameraman and climbed up the extended camera boom in a mad stunt.  One friend argued that it showed respect to sing a local song like that but arriving late, insulting the audience, downing rakia on stage and obstructing the camera view for the fans in the back do not spell respect to me.  Respect would have been to perform the music and the songs in a vaguely recognisable manner too but I believe this crazy pattern has been repeated in other performances around the globe.

There were a lot of mixed experiences at Exit Festival but there were also some great surprises and discoveries.  The performance by Kawasaki 3P was the best experience of the weekend for me but Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Obojeni Program and Pendulum deserve special mention too.  In terms of facilities, refreshments and organisation, Exit Festival seemed to be a huge improvement on the festivals I have attended in England but I believe that the numbers were down this year and it can get a lot busier. There is something about this festival and the town of Novi Sad that captured a part of my heart though. I would certainly recommend the festival and hope that in time it puts the town of Novi Sad on the international tourist map.

Article first published as Festival Review: Exit Festival 2010, Novi Sad, Serbia on Blogcritics.