The final day of Glasgow's new alt-heavy festival. Today we have, amongst others, Black metal, shoe-gaze, noise rock, post-metal, metal-core, black-gaze and possibly one of the most extreme metal bands in the country right now.
Line-up:
SLOW CRUSH: Shoe-gaze of the highest order form Belgium. Not too much shoe-gazing, to be fair, they're a bit too energetic for that.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/qpXrUsO-vYY https://www.facebook.com/slowcrushband
CIVIL ELEGIES: Local noise-rockers, angry young men back on stage after something of a hiatus. Good to see them back. Many thanks to Grant for sending me a copy of the desk sound for the video, as I screwed up my own recording.
FRONTIERER: Utterly ferocious extreme tech-metal. Bodies flying everywhere, on stage and off. Great fun.
ENDLESS SWARM: Grind/power-violence with a sense of humour. Didn't seem to matter that they were playing in bright sunlight
LITURGY: 'Transcendent black metal' from New York. That's in America, y'know.
CLOUD RAT: The Hug & Pint was totally rammed for these noisy, grind-y folks. One in, one out at the door, with a long queue waiting to get in. I'm guessing that a lot of fans didn't make it down the stairs. I did, though.
ROLO TOMASSI: I've been going to gigs since the dawn of time, and this is the first time I've actually managed to see these metal-core veterans. Not by choice, I must add. Our paths have just never crossed until now.
VOID OF LIGHT: How, I wondered, are they going to fit six quite large chaps on to the Hug & Pint stage? Well, to be fair, it was tight, but they managed it. Apart from Simon who, as usual, spent a lot of time amongst the crowd. Crushing post-metal, by the way, if you didn't know. Very foggy.
DEAFHEAVEN: Black-gaze veterans, very popular with the Glasgow crowd. Shy and retiring frontman NOT included. Sadly, the vocals are a bit lost, probably due to where I was when I recorded the video. Similar problem with Rolo Tomassi and Slow Crush.
DAWN RAY'D: Folk tinged black metal. With a violin. Not something you see every day. To be honest, I didn't see much of it here either, because it was VERY dark.
There you go. All done now.
Has it been a success? Most definitely. Was it perfect? Of course not. There have been issues, but nothing that can't be dealt with before next year's fest. If I may make a few suggestions:
1. Install a raised stage in the main hall. Just an extra 30cm or so would make a significant difference.
2. Fit some curtains in the Radical Glasgow room! Seeing a doom band in daylight was just weird.
3. Re-think the venue for the market area. I may be wrong, but I believe it was poorly attended, with most of the vendors sitting all day staring at the walls. Is there a suitable room in the main hall?
