Musical Treats 2012

The whole of Latitude - Going into it, I thought: "Wow, this is a bit steep for a fest".  It was also for a stag do so there was something different about it. We didn't get all rowdy. My friend is a gent who wanted to spend a weekend watching bands with his friends. That's my kind of stag event. Latitude had many highlights, from bands to classical geniuses. Yeah, it's a pretty posh festival but I'd rather have that than some pill-popping twats in festival hats.

Sharon Van Etten, Josh T Pierson, Battles, M83, Perfume Genius, Bon Iver.. It's hard to really put a list together. We were there for almost a week and we saw, and enjoyed, so much.

Dot to Dot - Nottingham - Stag Do #1 (that also featured Kylie and Cheryl) - Although I didn't really drink (mostly because Matt, as the groom-to-be, was quaffing some seriously strange combo drinks) it was a fuzzy affair. We didn't see as much as we normally do but TURBO WOLF were easily the best band of the day. Combined with a seriously shitty hotel, no use of the uni halls for larger band and the fest closing really early, D2D was not as good this year musically. It was great, company wise though. As a get together in Nottingham, it was splendid.

CANAL SIDE FESTIVAL - We pretty much stumbled upon this when we went to Nottingham for Kylie's birthday. It was a varied, fun little fest in a large bar with many floors. It was really nice. Lots of odd bands.

SUMMER SUNDAE - as it turns out, it is the last one. Shame as it was easily the best one that I have ever been to. Tune Yards, Japandroids, PiL, Bowerbirds...there was a lot of good stuff going on. Unlike 2011, there was no major POP headliner so the crowd was more fun and the bands were a little more left field.

OTHER GIGS:

SKAM @ The Musician/Firebug - SKAM are a local band that have had a brilliant year. I have known the drummer for a good while, sharing many a tea and pop culture gag with him so it's excellent to see him and his rocking outfit get press, more gigs and radio/TV time. Soon I won't be able to talk to him without going through his agent.