After a musically packed opening night, returning to Hidden Door on Thursday evening gives more time to explore hidden corners and marvel at the variety on show, from quirky cabinets of curiosities to walls of graffiti and vast towering installations.
While the musical programming is a great showcase for contemporary British sounds, it’s the choice of venue and the art that adorns it that really sets Hidden Door apart from other festivals.
On the aural side of things tonight, Scottish band Isabella Strange may not play with bags of musical sophistication but there is plenty of welcome wit and grit on tracks like ‘Slick Git’. At first the Kim Gordon-esque vocals need cranked up a touch but fuzzy rocker ‘Sally’s Day’ is a promising moment.
Next up it is time for Yuxi Jiang’s ‘The Circle Unbound’, a dance piece based on flowing robes and powerful moves which draws a perhaps larger than expected crowd to the echoing Crane Room.
Back at the main stage, Sister Madd‘s cutesy indie pop would have probably got them an NME cover in 2007. Their newest song ‘Performative Exercise’ is also their best, a funny and feisty takedown of people who run marathons to get away from their troubles.
Equally tight and punchy is Tilly O’Connor who performs as Tina Sandwich alongside her impressive band. Her crisp indie pop sounds a little like The Beths or a more filled out version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
For hype levels though, it seems to be Witch Fever who have pushed the crowd to the next level. Even as Tina Sandwich are finishing up, a crowd are already queueing up to get into the Jack Daniels stage for the Manchester doom punks. With their subterranean riffs they wouldn’t be out of place at Download festival but their asap singer’s chattiness makes a change from the typical metal band demeanour. Even so, they still manage to summon a mosh pit for a couple of tracks showing off new songs ahead of their next album due out on, well of course, ‘Halloween’.
Best of the fest though are Dublin’s Sprints. Their debut album was an impressive collection but live it absolutely rips, unleashing catchy tracks like ‘Don’t Call Me Beautiful’ and ‘Up And Comer’.
Singer Karla Chubb’s rasp is passionate and powerful and her band mates tear into the tracks with abandon. Even the pro-trans, pro-Palestine political commentary feels more committed and authoritative than any of their peers.
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