Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Dot To Dot Festival Nottingham Review




Dot To Dot has been a big event in my yearly calendar since 2013; its an excellent festival that exists to champion exciting new, up and coming talent. Previously I've been lucky to see acts including Wolf Alice, Black Honey, Swim Deep and Lucy Rose among others at the event and 2016's line up was impressive as ever.

This year rather than hit the Bristol leg of the festival as I have done before (I'll always choose Dot To Dot over its Bristol rival Love Saves The Day) I visited mates in Nottingham and we set out to enjoy Dot To Dot in its home city.  

After picking up our wristbands early at Rock City to beat the queue and a browse through the records at Rough Trade, our first band of the day was Nottingham's own Crosa Rosa at Rescue Rooms who set the mood for the rest of the day with their grunge and psyche laced rock. 

Next it was over to Rock City for another Nottingham based band, Babe Punch. The punk-grunge five piece played an enjoyable and memorable set of songs that kept the crowd's attention throughout. The band showed a lot of promise, and I think in time they could be something special. 






Babe Punch


After lunch and some time to look around Nottingham's vibrant centre, we headed back to Rock City to catch Sundara Karma. Although their set didn't appeal to me as much as other acts of the day, their laid back summery tunes were a welcome contrast to the louder, faster music of the festival. It wasn't my cup of tea but the band clearly have big appeal, with a strong turnout of their fans dancing and singing along to every word.

Back over at Rescue Rooms we saw the excellent Estrons who delivered a tight and energetic set. Having been impressed by their ear worm of a single Make A Man, I was keen to hear the song live and new material from the band and I wasn't disappointed. Singer Taliesyn Källström commanded the stage with her confident and lively performance and on the strength of the music they played, there's sure to be a lot to look forward to from this band in the near future!





Estrons

Next up, it was time for one of my most anticipated acts of the festival back over at Rock City (as you can probably tell by now we practically lived at two venues for the day). Rat Boy aka Jordan Cardy has taken the British Indie scene by storm over the last year and has built a reputation for his anarchic live shows, and I'm pleased to say his set was just as rowdy, unpredictable and fun as expected. Combining elements of musical styles as diverse as Britpop, hip-hop and ska, Cardy and his band have created a distinctive musical identity for themselves and judging from the crowd's response he has truly struck a chord with the subject matter of his songs.



Rat Boy









 

 

Back (one again) over at Rescue Rooms I was very excited to see The Sherlocks, one of the country's most promising new bands. I've been a big fan of them for a while, and it was fantastic to see them perform such a solid set worthy of a more accomplished band. Singles Last Night and Escapade went down a treat and the quality of the songs in the band's repertoire is sure to lead to big things for them. I can't wait to hear what they do next.





 The Sherlocks


The penultimate act of the night was New York two-piece Diet Cig. This band seemed to split opinions amongst my group, with my friends admitting that they found singer/guitarist Alex Luciano's stage persona to be grating. However, having a weakness for female fronted indie rock bands I enjoyed the set and found Luciano's hyperactive stage presence endearing and entertaining. While not being familiar with the band before their set, I was very impressed by the punchy, fun music they had to offer which left me with a huge grin on my face (even if I did feel like I'd gorged on E numbers by the end of it!)



Diet Cig

Being at the front for Diet Cig meant we secured excellent spots ready for out most anticipated act of the festival; Manchester punks Spring King. After Diet Cig's set finished, dozens of excited Dot To Dotters poured into the room to join us. Since they released their first single and EP back in 2014, the band have attracted a die hard and ever increasing fan base and its not hard to see why. They have consistently put out fantastically catchy and well written songs that have become instant classics amongst their followers. The half hour break before their set was peppered with audience members singing the band's songs in anticipation, and as soon as Spring King started playing I doubt there was a single person in the room who wasn't jumping and singing along. Their excellent set came to a massive climax with a performance of their single City which left everyone on a high and clamouring for more. Judging by the quality of the set Spring King are set to be the break out band of the year and with their debut album out next month they're set for huge things in the near future. As the cherry on top of the cake I even managed to grab one of their set lists! 


Spring King



2016 was another fantastic year for Dot To Dot, and I'm already looking forward to next year's festival. I can't recommend it highly enough!



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