Friday, September 16, 2011

Southsea Fest preview

One of the great things about living in the Portsmouth area (aside from the close proximity of my favourite venue and the exquisite joy and pain of supporting the local football team) is Southsea Fest; this annual event, now in its 5th year, turns Albert Road into a showcase of new and interesting music with various pubs and venues along the thoroughfare becoming stages for the day. As festivals go it ticks all the boxes; there's a variety of bands to suit most tastes, the beer is reasonably priced and neither rain nor mud can interfere with your enjoyment.

Over the past few years I've enjoyed stumbling across many bands that I'd not previously heard of (no, really), some of whom have gone on to great things whilst some have stayed in the shadows. I've bought CDs, stuffed my pockets with stickers and signed up for mailing lists. I've also seen a large mouse be interviewed for TV and ended up looking after a three-legged wooden pig for an hour, but those are stories for another time.

Moving swiftly on, I've perused the line-up and picked five of the many, many fine acts playing tomorrow that I'd like to see, as follows:


Dry The River
2210-2300 @ The Globe Inn
A five piece from London that produce a mellow alt-folk layered with violins and very distinctive vocals.



Clock Opera
2120-2150 @ The Wedgewood Rooms
I'm fairly sure I caught these as a support for someone awhile back. I can't remember who they supported, or when, but I do recall that they made a very good impression.



Trophy Wife
2210-2240 @ The Wedgewood Rooms (Club NME stage)

I caught a snippet of Trophy Wife's Bestival set at the Bandstand last weekend, excellent synthy indie (with guitar noodlings) from Oxford. 



Jumping Ships
1400-1435 @ The Edge of The Wedge (BSM & Alcopop! stage)
To be honest I don't really know all that much about Jumping Ships. I know they're from Brighton and I know that they create a spikey indie pop noise; I've been to Brighton, I like spikey indie pop, and I like the way Jumping Ships play it.




Apollo's Arrows
1420-1450 @ Southsea Social Club
Apollo's Arrows hail from just up the road, a Southampton trio that produce a powerfully delivered alternative sound (I'm sure there's more than a sprinkle of At The Drive-In in there). Nice.



The fun starts tomorrow at midday, if you've not yet got your ticket then you might be lucky enough to get one on the day (I'd advise getting there early though, the event's Twitter feed was this morning advising less than 50 tickets available from the Kings Theatre and the Wine Vaults). 

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