Photo:
Really, it can’t be overemphasised how fucking cold it was last night. I make a mental note to acquire some sort of amphetamine so I don’t have to bother sleeping tonight, before realising that the only drugs in Dorset are spliffs and Calpol. Oh well.
The Gigwise day kicks off with a trip to Yankee art-rockers (literally, not slangily) My Brightest Diamond, a band whose name I like so much that I keep on listening to them in the hope of liking their music as well. It doesn’t work. Crashing grungy tosh that would have sounded derivative in 1992, there’s too much good stuff around to waste spending any more time in the Big Top tent today.
Such as last year’s crowd pleasers, the Swedish collective I’m From Barcelona. Unlike the Prozac psychosis that is The Polyphonic Spree, this lot are genuinely entertaining and manage to make an entire field full of children and hungover adults cheery. The bounciness of ‘Treehouse’ and ‘Chickenpox’ are too much for some cynics who stumble off muttering things about “too camp for this time of the afternoon”.
Staying in Sweden and the Garden stage and this is the first time I’ve seen The Concretes since they carelessly mislaid singer Victoria Bergsman. While Bergsman has, to my knowledge, done sweet fuck all since her backing vocals on ‘Young Folks’, her old band show off the fruits of their 10 years together with warbling duties from former drummer Lisa Milberg who, despite showing all the stage presence of a Twiglet, has a voice that provides a more than adequate replacement for Bergsman’s honeyed tones. ‘Firewatch’ especially lures the crowd into belying their Dorset calm and throwing all manner of Swedish shapes.
Over at The Local tent, run by a North London folkish night with a mouthy Lancastrian at its helm, Camden five-piece My Sad Captains distil the very essence of summer and spit it back at a packed crowd. Grumpy bastard vocals stop the whole thing from descending into hair twirling hopscotch territory, while recent single ‘Bad Decision’ gets my 2008 predictive vote for the Noisettes award for most re-released single.
Back on the Garden stage and Joan Wasser, aka Joan As Police Woman, is so high that the chances of her floating off seem to increase with every passing minute. Sporting tights the colour of Heinz tomato soup and vast sunglasses, she grins spacily out at the crowd, expressing her confusion at discovering that peacocks really do exist whilst smiling hugely. In between the cor blimey crazy behaviour, she turns out the most ravishing renditions of ‘Real Life’, ‘We Don’t Own It’ and ‘Eternal Flame’ she’s done yet. Playing an entirely solo gig, the fact that she can play the godawful ‘Christabel’ and still keep the crowd’s rapt attention speaks volumes. An utterly captivating performance.
Later on in the evening I went for a mooch around the secret gardens, a trip that never gets boring thanks to the enchanting amounts of fairy lights and toys pinned to trees. The now infamous piano, on a stage of its own in a hidden glade, attracts equal amounts of awe and embarrassment, with self-conscious renditions of ‘Chopsticks’ being applauded rapturously. In the healing fields next to the Garden stage, an astrologist takes a group of us on a sky walk and shows us different constellations and the patterns between each one.
Walking out into the final reaches of the campsite, we’re confronted by a clear sky and enough shooting stars to grant the wishes of everyone you’ve ever met. As Architecture In Helsinki’s glorious ‘Heart It Races’ floats across from the Big Top stage, it’s clear that there really is nothing to beat the great moments at this enchanting festival.
