Monday, 20 May 2013

Radstock Festival 2013, Liverpool O2 Academy

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

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