Gnarwolves – Big Deal Clothing Stage:
Here to bring punk back to Liverpool, Gnarwolves perform a variation of songs with each one flowing into another.
Being the first act to play at this festival’s first year would be a little
daunting, however, having a few fans in the building who sung along to the
words of Community, Stability, Identity
may have helped the Cornwall born trio a lot with confidence if they needed it.
Good set filled with favourites, these guys are on to something good. 3/5
Sonic Boom Six – Monster Energy Stage:
A different sound is what an all day festival needs but having
constant sound issues and a less than interested audience are just a couple of
things that made Sonic Boom Six’s set possibly hit close to rock bottom. Laila
K’s high voice began to become too whiney and why people stuck around we don’t
know because most wouldn’t have tolerated that painful sound. With everything
that occurred, this band from Manchester did put up a good fight but in the end
they left the audience feel like they wasted their time when they could have
seen someone with more capability to hold a crowd together. 1.5/5
Tantrum To Blind – Big Deal Clothing Stage:
Stood high upon the Big Deal Clothing stage were Swedish four
piece Tantrum To Blind who are always
full of liveliness. As frontman or in this case frontwoman duties go, Mel Mohlkert will not let a barrier stop
her from showing this quality. No obvious faults are heard and we – including
TTB – enjoyed every minute, however, there’s one critic to be made; why did the
organisers put this band on a balcony stage when they have enough drive to
support themselves on the headlining stage! 3.5/5
Marmozets – Hard Times Clothing Stage:
Yorkshire-based Marmozets
have been popping up on line ups for the past year or so and remembering the
average age is only 18 this “poppy but heavy” band have the energy and
commitment that can raise bars on the British music scene and that is overly
impressive. Filling the room with hooks, and the mixture of both clean and
dirty vocals from Becca MacIntyre made our jaws drop. These
guys and girl are destined to be huge and more performances like that will definitely
make them huge in the UK in no time. 4/5
Yashin – Monster Energy Stage:
In the middle of a busy schedule of headline shows, Scottish
lads Yashin took to the stage and
blasted out New Year Or New York
before keeping long time fans happy with the initial screams in Down, But Homeward Bound. It was odd to
see Yashin without Andy McShane but
it was for good reason as he and his wife were bringing their little baby girl
into the world. As one of the main sing-along; Stand Up was introduced and as Kevin
Miles took refuge on the keyboard, Harry
Radford brought his mum on stage and the amount of proudness she had on her
face was heartwarming. Ending their set with Runaway Train was meant to show who is boss and it may have worked.
You can see the power, ownership and heartiness in them and by looking past the
‘faces of the band’ you get to see the main reason as to why this band are
awesome. 4/5
Don Broco – Monster Energy Stage:
A couple weeks before their first headline show at London KoKo,
crowd pleasers Don Broco opened with
the massive Priorities while letting
loose of ‘the walk’ to the praise of the audience. The musical connection
between Dreamboy and Thug Workout must have been thought out
because the way the two intertwine is impeccable. With signature dance moves
and the push up squad going strong, Don Broco have got playing live down to the
very last inch. The way they connect to everyone whether it’s in Yeah Man or checking if people are okay
after the wall of death, Bobby D and
co know how to throw a party. 4/5
Straight Lines – Big Deal Clothing Stage:
Bored to death! That was the feeling that was given off from
the people watching Straight Lines. Even though they’re good musicians and
the vocals were pretty much perfect, there wasn’t any WOW factor that you get
with other bands and there seemed to be no energy within the set as well as a
sense commitment issues. They lacked band-audience connection, which caused a disbandment
of the already minor-sized crowd. The singles were performed brilliantly;
nevertheless, what let them significantly down was the absence of communication
and banter with us as an audience and fans alike. 3/5
Bury Tomorrow – Hard Times Clothing Stage:
Even with an incredibly late start due to technical issues, Bury Tomorrow continued on stage.
Playing a wide range of their discography with a full crowd singing along made
the starting faults a little less then memorable. Dan Winter-Bates had them eating out of the palm of his hand as he
clambered over photographers to get to the crowd. What was calm as an ocean has
rapidly evolved into this wild atmosphere. Red faces, t shirts soaked of sweat,
this set ended on an incredible high. 3.5/5
Written By: Sarah West
