Around 4,000 punters converged on the scenic estate near Largs in Ayrshire where the benevolent son of the current Earle of Glasgow is the Festival Director (although many stages are delegated to other more specialised bookers and organisers). Many but not all revellers camp, some come with live-in vehicles, and although the majority are here for 3/4/5 nights there are day tickets available as well. Children and dogs are permitted. There are numerous stages, bars and activities set up across the bottom, and in some cases even near the of the ‘Neverending Glen’ and the largest arena (The Landing) holds maybe 1000 people.
Thursday is more of an arrivals day but Esperanza played in excellent set in the Smugglers tent.
The first act BM saw on Friday was Chiang May Railway Club, apparently their first gig – they dealt in slightly gothy Americana and are definitely worth checking out. Later on Motopia played only their third or fourth gig maybe, singer Mairead quite obviously excited to be playing the event – in a surprise for those not already in on it (well Louisa was already very modestly standing in the crowd) the band were joined by the She Drew The Gun singer for a Mairead/Louisa duet on two numbers, including the electrifying ‘Resister’ – the first real moment of the weekend for BM. Later on Ayrshire/Paisley rapper Bemz gave a very good account of himself at the Square Stage, bantering with the now pretty pepped-up crowd.
Saturday saw several emerging female and LGBT artists playing The Skinny magazine-curated Pyramid Stage, beginning with KLEO, an artist Glasgow-based whose releases BM has reviewed but never seen live, and she did not disappoint! Singing while accomplice Joey Mousemat dealt with the sounds at the back, KLEO played a blinder. Singing (often heavily processed but perfect mic technique), dancing, giving her trademark robotic movements and interspersing the tracks with deadpan public announcement recordings, she got the “I may be an alien” schtick down to a T. Tracks like the doomy but glitchy ‘TWDN’ (“spending all our money on things we don’t need”) showcased the high production values, sophisticated songwriting and just the ability to write bangers. She has been doing this for a few years now and really deserves a bit more recognition – so good to finally see her live.
Another artist who developed her music in her bedroom with a laptop and has had to work out how to get it across live is Leith resident SHEARS. Armed with electronic machines, a keyboard and a massive twisty cymbal-like thing which she clearly enjoyed hitting (who wouldn’t!), she battered the audience into submission with heavily processed but very poppy electronica. Tracks like ‘Blurry’, ‘Carbon Copy’ and at least one brand new one went down very well with both the cognoscenti and random revellers attracted by the racket. One chap persuaded her to don some ridiculous visor sunglasses, which may be risked her footing on the stage but she was a trouper, which just added to the “what could happen next” feeling you get at the best festivals, ie ones where people are allowed to do their thing without corporate branding or sponsors etc.
Next up was (now) Danish-based Amunda, performing the vocal with assistance on the sounds and beats – self-declaredly now into her “Love Era”. Tracks like ‘Mess Me Up’ and ‘You Walked Away’ showcased her incredible vocal range, propulsive songcraft and amazing dancing, several times in the middle of the crowd, who by this time (ok it was 9pm now) were beginning to seriously lose it. Last track was her version of something recorded for the 2021 Hen Hoose album (at least that’s what BM thought she said, don’t see ‘Rolling Thunder’ on the tracklisting, no matter), after which she left the stage to rapturous applause.
More mentalness was to come though, as last on was Glasgow sibling duo comfort, who played a frankly extraordinary set as the sun began to set over Cumbrae Island in the background. Natalie (music/vocals) and Sean (drums) absolutely killed it, playing a selection of brutally-framed tracks which explored gender identity, body image and “normality” in general. ‘One Size Fits All’, ‘Real Woman’ and in particular ‘What’s Bad Enough’ are desperately good, and Natalie’s delivery of these was intense to say the least, and let’s just that the crowd responded – you really had to be there, which is a bit rubbish to write in a review but there you go – BM hopes to see and here a lot more about Comfort in 2023 and beyond…
BM then headed over to the Landing Stage where Coco Bryce was midway through playing to what looked like the biggest crowd of the weekend, a heady cocktail of techno, pure rave and God knows what else – time for bed, well tent anyway…
Sunday started with a trip up to the Viewpoint Stage where Edinburgh rockers Delta Mainline were waking up some people and tangling with others’ hangovers around 1pm. They may have had the loudest guitar amps of the entire weekend and were putting them to good use with some juddering flange effects and some psychedelic howling vocals – heavy man, and sounding like distant cousins of Hendrix, and also Helicon.
Alice Faye at the Pyramid Stage gave us some great jazzy piano and vocals with some interesting subject matter as well. ‘Bitter-Minded Lover’, ‘Everybody Knows’ and others including at least one she still had to finally name were witty, knowing and showed great technique.
Following this on the same stage was Edinburgh’s Acolyte, project of poet Iona Lee, joined here by Ruairidh on bass, Daniel on drums and Gloria on keyboards. Iona may have been acting a bit but her somewhat aloof onstage persona and wry patter was let’s say a bit different from the “Hello Kelburn” of most other acts, although she did relax eventually. The performance was quite theatrical, with some spoken word from IL and some singing.
As the rain teemed down at intervals ‘Warm Days in December’ seemed apt, while ‘Spider’s Web’ was decidedly spooky and gothicy. For some reasons BM was getting Twin Peaks vibes but as the beats were cranked up with tracks like ‘Make Believe’, the crowd responded by starting to dance and even IL had to crack a smile – the set ended with a ridiculous techno version of a Yoko Pwno collaboration ‘Black Cat’, the vocals dissolving into a flurry (furry?) of cat noises – hilarious and strangely moving, this lot have some mileage…
And the final act that BM witnessed, as another shift and a drive home beckoned, were Glasgow’s quite wonderful Bin Juice, who despite the rain cause mass pogoing and mayhem with a succession of guitar-driven bangers. A power three-piece, could they be Scotland’s answer to Wet Leg? Mibbies…but either way, songs like ‘Hungry For Toes’, and ridiculously catchy ‘Chippy Tonight’ (making “extra salt and vinegar” sound sexy, this could yet be the feelgood hit of the summer…), BM finally exited during a song about one of their grans – who are “always right”, well of course – just priceless!
Honourable mentions too for The Laurettes, The Mickey 9’s, MY BABY, Azamia, just too many acts to see and cover, even for BM!