Another year, another Wickerman – this time the eponymous big fella clad in a kilt as some sort of Homecoming tribute.
204’s lineup is an eclectic one, and the subject of much debate with the headliners of Del Amitri (safe Scots choice) and Dizzee Rascal (the ‘controversy’) – well the contrast couldn’t be greater.
But as with all incarnations of Wicker, the biggest appeal is to dip in to Scotland’s burgeoning indie scene and sample the mix of upcoming acts across the stages along with a sprinkling of old international stagers – even if it is just for one song.
Arriving late as usual, first up is Call To Mind, who, we discover, have an ethereal take on post-rock, while Junkman’s Choir is much more folky than recalled (I’d expected Ayrshire raggle punk).
Our Future Glory are a Dundonian trio and – casual racism alert – could be expected to draw comparisons with Young Fathers. Below the surface this assumption couldn’t be wider of the mark – big on rock, albeit of an electronic hue, with impressive vocals. Soulful, one might say.
Algernon Doll also make an impression on one song – this afternoon, Matthew they’re going to be Dinosaur Jr. Unfair perhaps, their ebullient fuzz-rock racket does draw comparisons with Urusei Yatsura on further listening. No bad thing at all.
From the Solus Tent to Summerisle go I, as indeed do Finding Albert. I’ve already used the word ‘anthemic’ about bands in the wee tents, so were do we go with a band big enough to play the main stage just down the road from their hometown? They even have the cojones to throw in an ‘I Will Survive’-style piano trill. Stars in the making?
Back under canvas we go for Moon Kids, a band firmly entrenched in Britpop and Beatles, bringing a Dodgy/Oasis vibe to the now-sweltering tent.
There’s a “TBC” on the Summerisle stage, who turn out to be Prides. ‘The Seeds You Sow’ from the Island-signed trio is indeed, yes, anthemic, in a bouncy kind of way.
Atom Tree rather recommended to myself by photographer David, on the strength of their set at T in the Park. Well worth catching as well, like electronica from a bygone era, with hints of Robert Rental, but with ethereal (cliche alert repeat) vocals. See also “4AD rebooted for the 21st century”, “electro-Cocteaus”, etc.
Machines In Heaven always seem to be a bit grumpy and teutonic despite being from Glasgow’s East End (“Bearsden”, muses a passer-by). This kind of adds to their schtick though, grumbling bass and squealing guitars making for a right old doomfest in the brightly-lit tent.
The Pukes are an unexpected surprise. They’re in the Scooter tent of course, but they’re a punk covers act with a difference. Pukes stands for Punk Ukelele Orchestra, and there are 6 women (and a few guys) with tiny guitars, thrashing out classics from the late 70s. ‘White Riot’ is there but it’s more about waiting for what’s coming next – ‘Holiday in Cambodia’, ‘Part Time Punks’, and the Exploited’s ‘Sex & Violence’. Hell, they even throw in a couple of their own tunes, similarly strummed in, er, double triplicate, and at breakneck speed.
As ever my running order and scrawled notes gets a bit skewiff – the next act I’m quite sure wasn’t in the Scooter but the New Piccadillys probably should have been in the Hamburg Star Club anyway. Making Beatles Cavern-era tunes their own, as you I‘d expect from former members of beat kings The Kaisers, they sadly don’t do their version of ‘Judy Is A Punk’ in the three songs I catch.
Tijuana Bibles are more straight-on rock than expected; someone mentions Reef which is harsh, but they do rather tread a tightrope between indie-rock and the blues abyss on the other side.
Martha Reeves… well, another legend ticked off the list. It’s pure nostalgia as I conveniently arrive just in time for ‘Jimmy Mack’ and its B-side ‘Third Finger, Left Hand’ wheeled out by the lady herself and two backing singers giving a hand to the ageing vocal chords. Seemingly unable to hear her vocals, she is still not afraid to go for notes that she seems unlikely to reach.
With ‘Dancing in the Streets’ checked off, there’s time to catch a little of Copper Lungs, and the Dundonian guitar combo turn out to be better live than their (still decent) EP would suggest.
Augustines are next on the main stage and handily for us tourists, start with ‘Nothing To Lose But Your Head’, a song that is remarkable in that its verse is bigger than its chorus. In fact, it doesn’t have a chorus, does it? Or the other way around. I gather from our pop correspondent that they are quite the upcoming stars, so a coup – like La Reeves – to get them all the way to the Solway Firth.
Colonel Mustard & the Dijon Five are a massive party on legs. On Glaswegian reggae-infused ‘Bouncy Ball’ their Jamaica is Jamaica Street as they pepper their audience with frisbees, balls (of course) and an inflatable alligator. ‘How Many Manys’ channels the Stones and Mondays before ‘Ginger Girl’ degenerates into (of course) a mass taps-aff movement. And a final tip of the hat for their choice of exit music – ‘Thank You For Being A Friend’. You could sum them up as a Celtic Alabama 3, and in fact, could argue that there’s no real need to see the real thing on the main stage.
Dante, it turns out, are another act better live than on record, and their recorded stuff is pretty good. Seán McLaughlin, who is also a member of The Birthday Suit leads an impressive clutch of musicians, and overall the band falls into the folk-rock bag. Live, you might opt for “rock-folk” if that made any sense, certainly here they’re far more guitar-oriented, though the fiddle is still integral.
Speaking of Homecoming (as we were several hundred words ago), there is a VisitScotland stage, with some Gaelic folkiness – as well as a history lesson in the form of posters round the walls of the tent. Shame that there doesn’t seem to be a running order as the singer I catch was very fine (young and from Wigtownshire, with an oriental guitarist and a squeezeboxer, as far a I recall). Later on a massive ceilidh act will take the stage, but it’s not kitsch, simply fun. But fun is what Wicker is about.
It’s always interesting to get others’ opinions, though usually us writers will take these and fashion them into our own, uncredited of course. Anyway, someone says they were expecting droney rock from Dundee four-piece Vladimir. From their PR I also anticipated something doomier, given the Joy Division references. Certainly they are as loud as advertised. And their closing number features subterranean bass, angular guitar and metronomic drumming coming in in sequence, while their take on ‘Born Slippy’ is novel, the tune rendered almost unrecognisable save for the lyrics. But for the most it’s more standard indie rock, delivered in angsty and almost angry fashion, as if they were on Factory Records had they been run by Alan McGee. while. Why so angry? “They’re from Dundee.”
Speaking of Britpop… sorry, I know we must never speak of Britpop. But Shed 7 are on the main stage. “It clashes with something” is one reveller’s excuse for avoiding a band who to be fair had a string of hits in the 90s. On arriving mid-set it seems like Rick Witter is suffering a touch of the Vandellas, bellowing out ‘Getting Better’ (I think) like a lobotomised warthog. Happily, turns out the singer is crowdsurfing and engaging in unwise audience interaction – handing the mic to the punters, who of course being of that certain age are word, if not note, perfect. ‘Chasing Rainbows’ however is interminably long, so, pausing only to check out Sonic Boom Six in the Scooter Tent (almost uncategorisable, dance rock pop hybrid), we instead hit the Solus Tent
Young Fathers aren’t from Dundee, but they also have a bit of righteous anger about them. Ok, they’re from Leith (and thus may well be Hibs supporters). But the impetus behind their set is more a force of nature, propelling their (vaguely) hip-hop-pop-electro hybrid with Law joining them for much of their set, including a moodily stunning ‘Dead’.
The Beat are a tribute act with a with a difference – one crucial original member in Ranking Roger, who in his trademark skanking jog still manages to outrun his son, as they whip through (oddly) an offbeat-free ‘Rock the Casbah’. Apart from that, and one that Roger Jr. wrote, it’s the hits – ‘Big Shot’, ‘Best Friend’ – delivered almost as if they were the original lineup.
I’m pretty sure that Roddy Woomble has played the main Summerisle stage here several years ago, but that was with Idlewild, and with the band reunion pending, Roddy is on a solo visit – a very low-key one too, tucked away in the acoustic tent with some trad pals, and concentrating on some decidedly non-rock material save a folky take on ‘You Held The World In Your Arms’).
All a far cry from Woomble’s band ‘Captain’, which in their poppier moments United Fruit could be said to channel. bathed in stark white light they endeavour to keep the pop to a minimum and blow us away with their powerful, hook-ridden rock.
Of course, as with any festival, there’s a choice of headliner, and while far away on the Summerisle stage Dizzee Rascal is fairly wowing the crowd (and proving the naysayers wrong about his booking, we prefer the more sedate Broken Records, who are joking about Dizzee drowning out their quieter songs. Despite selecting the Edinburgh six-piece over the London MC on the main stage, the audience want to party by this time of the night and the band oblige a rousing version of ‘Home’.
That’s not it of course – the party goes on all night, so headliners are far from being the last act of the night. The band before Esperanza has the acoustic tent rocking for their own material anyway, though their cover of the Magnetic Zeros’ ‘Home’) is just pure crowd-pleasing party stuff. Esperanza themselves keen the tent dancing long after we hit the semi-inflated airbed.
More Friday Wicker photos by David P Scott here. And even more shots here.
Featuring my photos from @WickermanFest. MT: “@isthismusic: Festival review – Wickerman Festival 2014 (Friday) – http://t.co/fDSO6S1EPb“
@_FCPhotography_ @WickermanFest @isthismusic Cheers Fraser!
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@WickermanFest review by @isthismusic http://t.co/YaJiQcBuE9 “A massive party on legs…You could sum them up as a Celtic @TheAlabama3.”
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