Soundcity 2019 is upon us and what promised to be a change in dynamics for the festival brought with it some trepidation as to what might unfold but it was an unwarranted feeling as the festival lived up to all it has been before and became a little more.
We got right into the deep end with Shame at the New Bird street stage led a set that was cluttered with equipment failures, amps crashing on the stage and electrical faults but through it all managed to provide a full-on musical tour de force due to front man, Charlie Steen, carrying on obliviously and keeping the audience entertained throughout. The finale seeing Charlie climbing onto the shoulders of the audience at the front of the stage and crowd standing whilst screaming out
Only Sun at Constellations is an indie rock band from High Wycombe. The energy and infectious lyrics and music leave you worn out just watching them. Akin to members of a college fraternity, with their loud shirts and youthful appearances, there is no doubting that the band could manage to elevate the audience no matter what their mood. Another great finale to which a fanatical member of the audience manage to clamber on stage, equipped with her red tambourine, to dance and commence to take selfies of herself with the band.
We decided to head over to the Baltic social for some food and stumbled across Parliamo from Perth in Scotland. This was their first time in Liverpool, yet they took to Soundcity like a duck to water with their dance infused rock and roll. Although the amount of feedback emanating from their equipment was enough to make most of the audience squeal every time it shattered their ear drums.
No Hot Ashes brought their heavy funk sound to Liverpool. Although the band have gone through a transformation over the last year or so and now there is a more pop infused sound especially with tracks like “Smooth” and “Hey Casanova” With songs like these and “Extra Terrestrial” and “Car” give an instant hit to the audience even if it’s the first time hearing them.
The Greenland street tent was a welcome addition to the festival. A pop up marquee that was host to all manner of weird and wonderful acts. The 2 hour Shaft funk disco in particular had many drunk and sober festival goers dancing and strutting their stuff. A great little place whilst traversing between venues.
Mabel is no doubt an up and coming star. You can hardly ever turn on the radio without hearing “Don’t call me up” playing. It was a mainly young audience that had come to see her perform at the New Bird street stage. With her entourage of dancers and DJ she went through her set of hits. The aforementioned single and also “One Shot”, “Ring Ring” and a cover of drakes “Passionfruit” Although her dancers were very animated the same couldn’t be said of Mabel who was quite static in her performance. In her defence, the space on the stage probably didn’t give much room for anything else.
Gwenno feat Both Sides Now at District was a far throw from the mainstream antics of Mabel. An immersive and interactive set that invited the audience to don wireless headphones and listen to 2 channels of experimental chanting and instrumental musings. Not for the faint hearted or the easily confused.
SoundCity became a more immersive festival this year. Branching out to more mainstream artists but without losing what fans of the festival rely on, being able to see new artists that they may never come across otherwise. The festivals move back the city was the right choice and now it is evolving and growing. The amount of people buying tickets is testament to that. There was a real buzz and vibrancy around this year’s event and with the addition of the outdoor stage at New Bird Street added another dimension. Hopefully this evolving will continue but also not become to mainstream as to alienate the fan base that Soundcity has generated over the many years. It would be a shame for this festival to become just another clone of every other one out there.