Sunny Sundae Smile
Ah, the Leicester Summer Sundae weekend. What a marvellous bundle of fun that was. I suppose you’ll be expecting some kind of a festival write-up then?

Well, lots of high points. And here were a few of them...

- My Argos tent standing proudly erect in a most waterproof way, despite the fact that it took me about three hours to put it up.
- Excellent social moments with weddingpresent, mellowdoubt, duchess80, lazyodelay and beattiedee. edit: Whoops, almost forgot, the excellent martinv as well!
- Somerfield wheat beer in cans.
- Cracking performances from Camera Obscura, Brakes and The Boy Least Likely To (to name but a few).
- No queue whatsoever for the luxury showers during the pouring rain at 7:30am on Sunday morning (funny that, eh?). A far cry from spending four days without washing at Glastonbury during the late 1980s.
- Some marvellous new bands discovered, such as Joan As Policewoman, Don’s Mobile Barbers and the monumental ¡Forward Russia!
- Seeing a Francis Bacon masterpiece hanging in Leicester Art Gallery.
- Nearly getting run over by Joan As Policewoman’s van speeding around the corner five minutes before they came onstage (where’s a policewoman when you need one, eh?).
- Weston’s Perry. Even nicer than Kopparberg.
- Finding a side door and an unguarded staircase to sneak in for The Proclaimers when the stewards were announcing “house full” at every apparent entrance to the hall, and the rain was bucketing down outside.
- Incredible camping luxury on my £9.99 airbed.




Hmm, as an all time first/last, I think I’m going to give a score out of ten for each band. This is just my way of quantifying how good/bad they were; not a newfound pattern which you are likely to see repeated in the near future. And if you’re wondering how I managed to see so many bands, it’s because they almost all played for about 30-35 minutes, not because I was there for about three weeks or something.

Here we go then...

Storm Thieves (0/10) were dismal in the crappy tent, so instead I passed the time waiting for the proper stages to kick into life by going to the supermarket. Merla (1/10) weren’t much better on the indoor stage, but the weekend was to improve dramatically. James Morrison (3/10) seemed like a hugely sweet and likeable bloke, it was just a shame that his songs were so rubbish.

Liam Frost And The Slowdown Family (7/10) were absolutely fantastic, and I don’t expect them to remain as relative unknowns for much longer. In contrast to young James earlier that afternoon, Richard Hawley (8/10) came across as an arrogant, irritating and obnoxious man, but his songs were excellent. Seth Lakeman (3/10) did very little to win me over in any way but A Hawk And A Hacksaw (6/10) were very enjoyable in a novelty sort of manner. I had never heard The Delays (2/10) before (I struggled to see anything worthwhile about them), and the day ended on a slight downer as the normally excellent Elbow (5/10) seemed well below par on this particular occasion.

On Saturday, however, things really took off. In traditional fashion, openers Onion (2/10) were rubbish. However, in contrast Djune (7/10) sounded great, and I wish I’d caught a little more than just the second half of their set. Moving forwards, Don’s Mobile Barbers (9/10) were an extraordinary discovery. They sounded like Hefner playing Galaxie 500 songs; definitely my kind of band. I even bought one of their CDs afterwards. And the momentum continued... Joan As Policewoman (8/10) had something of a Goya Dress feel to them, and sounded like the sort of band that Kristin Hersh probably likes. I thought they were brilliant, even if I was nearly involved in a tragic road accident with their van five minutes beforehand.

What can you possibly say about Brakes (10/10)? Astronomically on form, and unbeatable in every way. The Young Knives (5/10) seemed to be pulling the right strings, but sorely lacked the right songs. Isobel Campbell (6/10) had some very good material, but perhaps wasn’t quite convincing enough in delivering it. ¡Forward Russia! (10/10) were stunningly fucking brilliant, and could well turn out to be the big find of 2006.

In sharp contrast, Arctic Monkeys tribute band Little Man Tate (0/10) have been rehearsing the inane expressions, the gormless song-delivery and the art of being unable to converse using a single word which is more than five letters long. The second worst band in Britain. Seeking respite indoors I discovered that Vashti Bunyan (1/10) was rubbish, but in a substantially less painful way. Calexico (5/10) were nice, but they hinted at (and I suspect were capable of) far better. So out of the rain, and The Proclaimers (6/10) did pretty much what you’d expect them to do, in a generally enjoyable way. After that I stayed out of the way of the weather to watch Phil Jupitus And The Blockheads (7/10), and a most vibrant experience it was too.

After a trip to the art gallery on Sunday morning, New Cassettes (6/10) gave a bright start to the bill, before Red Cars Go Faster (5/10) proceeded to do themselves a few favours on the main stage. The Long Blondes (5/10) sounded like a band with a mountain of potential, but the single thirty-five-minute-long song which they played (with occasional beaks when they pretended they were about to start a new one) probably isn’t the most beneficial direction for them to be moving in. This band must try harder. Morning Runner (7/10) did sound like they were trying much harder, but sadly I couldn’t see the evidence first-hand as we were listening to them whilst hiding from a storm in the beer tent.

Sunday’s peak was provided by a heart-stopping performance by Camera Obscura (9/10), senselessly placed in a tiny tent when they really should have been one of the stars of the billing (as the ludicrous overcrowding – and the people that couldn’t get in – demonstrated). They were amazing. As was Jose Gonzalez (8/10) who followed immediately afterwards on the main stage. Guillemots (7/10) also really won me over; especially with their “Everything’s not working” made-up-on-the-spot song during some technical difficulties, which was possibly the brightest moment of the whole weekend.

Things wound up in marvellous fashion. The Boy Least Likely To (8/10) were tremendous, far better than I ever could have expected, and I will be seeking them out at the V Festival next Saturday. Buzzcocks (7/10) were, well, Buzzcocks; and there’s something really nice about seeing a bunch of ageing rockers turn into a parody of themselves without actually losing any of their dignity or their entertainment value along the way. And then I missed Belle And Sebastian because I had to get the train home.


In case you hadn’t guessed, pictures will follow. I am pleased to anounce that this week will see the return of the Friday Photos at long last. The only big difference is that now they will be every fortnight rather than weekly, so that hopefully I won’t run out of pictures again within about a month or something.

In other news, it seems that the seminar I was a little nervous about giving a few weeks ago “Using Google as an advanced research tool” must have gone down rather well. They’ve asked me to repeat it in November.