I was gutted to have missed Liverpool Sound City last year and promised myself it wasn’t going to happen again. Prompted by friends who were lucky enough to see the excellent 2014 line-up, I splashed the cash for an early bird ticket in December. Not sure how moving the festival out of the city to a dedicated docklands festival site was going to pan out, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
Looking at the provisional listing I felt mildly pleased that I had bothered. The Vaccines and Flaming Lips were suitably interesting headliners, and Belle and Sebastian are a big name, well respected band if that sort of music floats your boat. Some of the smaller bands had also caught my interest, such as Yak and TGOASTT, Slaves and the chance to see Gaz Coombes made the outlay seem worthwhile. Then came the bands I didn’t know, but was going to take the time to look up like Stealing Sheep and The Dum Dum Girls. All in all a good line up I was pretty happy with for a medium-sized, city-based festival. Then everything changed.
The second wave announcement on 27/2/15 was a game changer. The internet went wild and anyone who had found £50 for an early bird ticked in the cash-strapped post-Christmas lull must have been jigging round the room doing their own particular victory dance, because the line-up went from good to Interstellar-brilliant in one fell swoop. The addition of acts such as Peace, Fat White Family and The Cribs brought the talent on show to a whole new level, whilst some of the up and coming bands such as The Vryll Society, Spector, The Bohicas and Blossoms meant the organisers had managed to put a barrel full of the bands I love into a single weekender I could probably walk to if I had to. I wasn’t sure I hadn’t strayed into an alternate reality. Bearing in mind, you always come away from a festival with at least one new favourite band, so things were looking amazing. My only two worries were that something might stop me from actually getting there and that timings might present me with some pretty hairy choices, but, Hey! Nothing is ever that perfect, right?
So here are my Liverpool Sound City must-see acts:
Fat White Family – Sunday’s Late Night Warehouse party is going to be sleazy and pretty special with these boys calling the shots.
The Vaccines – Friday’s headliners know how to belt out a good indie tune or two and are sure to be a mammoth crowd pleaser.
Peace – Already feeling the Liverpool love from 2 sold out nights at The Kazimier, a forthcoming O2 Academy date booked for September, the punters are going to go crazy for this.
Gaz Coombes – Currently hot property with his new, highly acclaimed album showing that the former Supergrass front-man can more than hold his own as a solo artist.
The Vryll Society – Currently making waves all over the country, these boys are going to bring their exciting brand of psychedelia to the fore on their home turf.
Yak – One of the most exciting new bands bring their blistering mix of indie and post punk to Liverpool, their raw, frantic sound making them one to catch.
Blossoms – Well received in their recent gig at The Kazimier, the band go from strength to strength, giving a live performance you’d be sorry to miss.
Spector – Electronica with vocals redolent of Editors at their best, this provides a break from the guitar-based bands and another musical strand to check out.
Slaves – Love them or loathe them, Slaves make a lot of interesting noise for two blokes from Tunbridge Wells, so they just manage to sneak into my top 10 Sound City must-sees.