July

20/07/02 - 21/07/02
It just gets better

What a brilliant weekend. OK the sun didn't shine for the entire weekend, but the smile never left my face. Here are some thoughts on the festival: Torquamada were the first band to play, and they turned out to be the most Spinal Tap-esque of all the bands playing. Corporate Marketing Ploy played instead of Cat on Form, and were very punky. Reuben continue the resurgance of accessible British rock. KTB sounds increasingly more jazzy. Lapsus Linguae (or Lapsus LinGates), were my band of the weekend, blending in a classical music style and intertwined melodic lines with a punk rock attitude. Dustball played like rawk monsters. TROT had a mad mosh pit. The Vessels were quietly impressive. Fonda 500 got everyone silly dancing, and sang happy birthday to Robin Goldrush. Simon Fonda is a star. oh and rapping the Fresh Prince of Bel Air during Superchimpanzee. Goldrush just perfect under the clear night sky. A complete contrast to last year, the Trailerpark tent was the best tent during the wee small hours with the projections and the nu skool breaks. Trademark are the thinking man's Pet Shop Boys, even singing songs about square waves and fourier series. Toulouse just bring pop back to Oxford music, starts off the theme of Sunday of quirky song lyrics (along with Chris T-T and Luke Smith). Finlay were sort of Pavementesque. Chris T-T perfect for a sunday afternoon, sang songs that were quite observational. Marconi's Voodoo returned with the moshing dinosaur, played one of the maddest set of the weekend, as usual. Smilex could compete with the Voodoo though, Lee attacking the audience, inciting everyone to start throwing every thing, except underwear, at him. Luke Smith, still the Truckers favourite, just plinkity plonked his way through his set, it felt more like listening to someone in a front room, very personal, rather than at a festival, but with pantomine style yelling. NPB won over lots of new fans, performing to people lazing around in the sun. Initially it felt like the stage was swamping them a bit, but they grew, and added some coolness to the rural setting. South Sea Company Prospectus from playing the barn last year, to closing the festival this year. It's been quite an amazing 12 months for the band, but it's perfectly suited to the setting, the electronic noises just filling the sky. Gig Count: 63

19/07/02

And we're nearly there... So on the eve of the festival, here was the final gig of the round of warm up gigs. Unfortunately Lapsus Linguae were stuck in somewhere in the endless roundabouts of Milton Keynes, so we were down to only 2 bands. 65 Days of Static opened with a bootleg intro track, featuring songs with 65 in the songs somewhere (bootlegs are always a good thing). They were instrumental, frequently all 3 members were on guitars and bass, with the drum machine in the background, a rather impressive sight. It's been a while since The Rock of Travolta have gigged, and we find out why tonight. The new material sounds a bit more metally, but the melodic guitar lines that we love them for are still there. There is no danger of the band ever starting to take themselves too seriously, the backdrops still show them taking the piss out of themselves. Gig Count: 62

18/07/02
A New Direction For Gigs?
Like those old Smash Hits competitions, win a gig by your favourite band in your front room, but with the twist of the gig being in the lead singer's front room. It was such a simple idea, with only one down side, pissing off the neighbours. It added up to one of the most surreal gigs of the year, second only to Joe and Garo playing a few acoustic songs in a garden one night earlier this month.
We were promised Robin and Joe, but we got Richard Walters instead. He was great though, playing covers of Longpigs, and Candyskins, among his own songs. Just the gentle way to start, without the neighbours (who were only warned that it was a party) knowing how loud it was going to get.
Playing to an audience of only 20 or so, Dustball used this opportunity to play some of their new songs. One was a moderately slow one, and the best one featured their trademark loud, quiet style. It worked really well having this tiny gig, there were moments you couldn't get anywhere else, like asking for more beer from the bath. Who's up for a tour of selected backgardens then?
Gig Count: 61

17/07/02

The Trucking Fun Starts Here! Truck really should be a week long festival, but then I suppose the warm up gigs would turn it into a fortnight long 'Trucking period'. Anyway Trailerpark has officially started the Trucking fun. Only a couple of gigs old, Toulouse turn out to be that melodic pop band that's been missing in Oxford for so long. Basically it's just a backing band adding to Jimmy Crosskey's songs, but it works, producing some great songs with humourous lyrics. South Sea Company Prospectus have taken a break from playing live for a bit, and they return with new songs, including one tha featured vocals from Richard Walters. The whole dance/rock corssover thing worked especially well down in the Cellar, just loud enough to blow your ears off. Black Nielson played the Trailerpark Truck warm up almost exactly a year ago, and they have progressed so much from then. They are now more confident and are just creating some of the best material currently on Truck Records. Gig Count: 60

15/07/02
Country Hoedown again!
Or not. Back to that country music thing. This alt-country term for music is getting dangerous now, it's turning into a term that is all encompassing, and meaningless, a bit like indie. The Beauty Shop sort of sounded like country music, well they had the jaunty near country type songs anyway. But they were good, lead by a very charismatic lead singer. Part of the beauty of this 'alt-country' thing though, is how different the bands could be. While the Beauty Shop were a 3-piece band, Major Matt Mason USA stripped it down to the simplicity of just a single guitar. However, how country was he? His songs dealed with life in general, a bit like the songs of Fountains of Wayne, and nothing about dead relatives. So not very country at all.
Gig Count: 59

10/07/02
Wow - The best gig of the year
It was another odd experience watching Goldrush. It's finally feeling like they're going somewhere. Later praised by Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, 'In 5 years' time there'll be no Oasis, only Goldrush', the band won over many new fans tonight. After a slow start, when it seemed the band might be overwhelmed by the large venue, they quickly settled down, and performed as if it was just any other gig. It's quite a sweet symmetry, from a band who used to play Flaming Lips covers a couple of years ago.
If there was any disappointment tonight it was Bob Mould. He started off by playing electronic type music straight from the 80s, but as the set went on, he went back to older material, that were more rocky and punky, but it still seemed like a struggle for him to fill the stage.
But what can you say about The Flaming Lips? It was amazing, everything you wanted from a show. From the video backdrops with videos of rockets and japanese girls to the teletubbies (that worked so well with the song), to 3 giant disco balls that spun around, and lots of giant balloons floating around the audience and showers of confetti. Oh and a couple of band members dressed up as rabbits, and the roadies in 'beardog' and frog costumes. The star of the show was Wayne Coyne, the ultimate showman. Even when he appeared at the side of the stage during the support acts he received cheers. The audience would react to any movement from him. But he made the evening. He managed to make the show at the Astoria seem like an intimate show, when he talked to the audience it felt like he was talking to you. There seemed to be some link between him and us, like during Feeling Yourself Disintegrate he sang with his monkey puppet, while members of the audience held their own puppets (itv monkey, sooty, a teenage mutant turtle amongst others) and sung back. He understood how we felt, explaining how most of the songs they played were old songs (mainly of the wonderful Soft Bulletin) and only a few off the new album. The roadie dressed as the frog probably summed up the whole evening, during the encore he kept on crowdsurfing into the audience, no matter how hard the bouncers were trying to pull him back.
Gig Count: 58

08/07/02
A bit of everything for everyone
From Cambridge, The Stars of Aviation were like the mellow end of the Super Furry Animals, and were great in a gentle sort of way. Formerly known as Pug, The Plume have moved away from their jazzier sound, and are now sounding a bit more like Radiohead. Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia have been recording their album in the last few weeks. While the transition to the new material is pretty smooth (well they've been playing quiet a bit of it in their sets anyway), there seems to be more of a focus with their new material.
Gig Count: 57

06/07/02
Masses of Hair and Limbs
Winnebago Deal seemed louder than before, and with the recent excitement about the band, they have become more confident. Cutting down the live band to the neccessities, just guitar and drums, you couldn't really notice it at all. The lead singer ran the width of the stage, and throughout most of the set it just seemed like random limbs extruding out from masses of hair. Similarly Icarus Line were also a bit like that, but there was just something missing in their live show. With the style of the Hives (identical ties and shirt - everyone's doing it now that it's no longer clever or funny), a lead singer who looked like a young Iggy Pop, and sounding a bit like At the Drive In, they took all these influences but didn't do anything that exciting with it. It was more fun just watching the violent mosh pit.
Gig Count: 56

---

If you can't see this page with the navigation lists at the side of the window try clicking here.
Photos, interviews and reviews are generally © nunununa 1999-2004.
If you want to get in touch e-mail me here