BELFEST 2002

Olympic Lifts - Limelight
Kidd Dynamo - Auntie Annies
Go Commando - Katy Dalys
Hornby (Somedaysbetter) - Empire
27th November 2002


As this is the first year that I have been in Belfast while BelFEST is taking place, I was actually quite excited by the whole thing. Wednesday was the big kick-off, and although the accompanying CD wasn't ready in time, sixteen bands playing for free across town seemed like an enticing prospect.
I only managed to see four full sets, the first of which wasn't Somedaysbetter as planned, but was in fact a solo set by their mainstay Hornby. I've never seen them as a band and I was looking forward to it, but Hornby was fine anyway. Alone with an acoustic guitar, his instrumental set was very impressive, more in keeping with the spirit of John Fahey than anything else and certainly different from the post-hardcore feel of Somedaysbetter. A pleasant opening, but one which not very many people were out in time to see.
Panda Kopanda sounded fine for the first three songs, but then I had to leg it down to Katy's to catch Go Commando. I was hugely impressed with them at < a href="http://www.oocities.org/slowthrills/gigs/radio2.html">the Radio 2 showcases and tonight's set is quite similar. Again they've stepped up a few gears - a lot of the songs have been around for a while but they sound fresh again and they even bring an old Tunic song back to life. They also have the best sound of any band tonight, and probably one of the more appreciative crowds as well.
Due to not ordering drinks with the military precision a night like tonight demands, we stay in Katy's longer than expected, thereby missing Clone Quartet and the first song of Kidd Dynamo in Auntie Annies.
Tonight Kidd Dynamo is back to Colin Campbell on his own, and although his set seems brief it is my favourite part of the night. The songs are so strong they stand up without a band and again the crowd seem to be on his side. Surely it's only a matter of time before he gains greater recognition.
Scheduling clashes mean that if you watch Colin you miss Riffmaster General in the Limelight and that is exactly what happened. A lot of people were singing their praises when we arrived in time to see Olympic Lifts, so I reckon they deserve a mention.
Oddly enough, this was the first time I had ever seen OL on home turf, so to speak, and although I had seen a lot of London shows I wasn't sure how people took to them back home. Thankfully they went down a storm and bags of energy and good tunes helped combat a very loud front-of-house sound which didn't really do them justice. No new songs, just a lot of the best stuff from the debut album 'Do One' which helped win over a few sceptics in the crowd. The Limelight wasn't as packed as I was hoping for, although that may be due it being an after midnight show in the middle of the week, but this first night was pretty successful.

Little Hooks/ Robyn G Shiels - Empire Music Hall
2nd December 2002


A few days later, and this is really the next show to take my fancy. Conceived as an acoustic show to be headlined by Joss Mills (aka Boyd Lowe ex-Backwater) until he cancelled a few days previously, the bill was now one act light.
If the truth be told, this was a bit of a non-event. Hardly anyone has arrived by the time Robyn Sheils has taken to the stage but he didn't seem that fazed and played a hugely impressive half hour set. I hadn't seen him live for ages and their seems to be a lot of new material. For those of you who haven't heard him, his music is quiet and gentle on the surface but there's a lot of darkness and emotional depth to it. Those of us who bothered to get into the venue early saw the nearest thing this country has to Mark Eitzel or Will Oldham, the rest of you missed out.
I was pleased that I hung around for Little Hooks and while I'm not sure if they're part of a bigger band or not, tonight they were a very impressive acoustic duo. Tons of spot-on harmonies and erm, little hooks, remind me of Simon and Garfunkel or a less fey Kings Of Convenience. I don't know anything about them apart from the fact that they're from Derry, and I am almost convinced that one of them is Ruari ex-Cuckoo. Whatever, they're certainly worth further investigation.

The Embers - Auntie Annies
3rd December 2002


As they were third from top on a four band bill, this was The Embers first chance to play to a crowd of people who hadn't heard their music but, thanks to some soundcheck confusion, it didn't go as well as they had hoped. While I have no doubt that they are one of the most promising bands to emerge in the last year, tonight's showcase left them frustrated and a bit disappointed. I'm not going to be as negative as I still really enjoyed their set and the odd technical hiccup didn't detract from impressive songs like 'That Would Be the Life'. Although the Embers sounded less polished than the two bands that followed (Morph and Urban Circus I think) they kept me interested throughout their set. There's plenty of life and promise in this lot believe me.

Barry Peak/ Roque Jr - Empire
4th December 2002


Hmmm, Roque (pronounced Rocky) Jr were the certainly the funniest act that I saw at Belfest. I think this was intentional but I can't be sure. They're essentially a duo - one guy being an OTT frontman, the other guy wearing shades and shoegazing. The music is fairly simple - short fuzzy songs over a cheap drum machine - and they use the most reverb on vocals I thnk I've ever heard! They lose points for describing themselves as "an Irish version of Royal Trux" - I've seen RT four times and I would never have thought of comparing Roque Jr to them - but the big finale where the singer unbuttons (rather than rips open!) his shirt to reveal a Roque Jr logo on his tshirt had us rolling about. If nothing else they were entertaining.
Barry Peak is on a bit of a roll at the moment. On paper he's out of his depth with this rockier line-up, especially as he has played very few shows on his own. Formerly of Backwater and currently of Torgas Valley Reds and Go Commando, one surprising fact about tonight's set is that it is a completely separate collection of songs. It also bears little similarity to the show he did in support of David Grubbs recently, clearly he is on a prolific streak normally associated with the likes of Robert Pollard!
Naturally you assume that the slower songs will suit the solo performance better, but he actually builds up to a crescendo on the last song with minidisc beats and guitar effects. 'Motion Sickness' (a slow one) is probably the stand-out song and a duet of 'Move Over Darling' with Tanya from Go Commando is a welcome surprise.

Overall, the solo acts at Belfest impressed me more than the bands did, and Barry Peak, Kidd Dynamo and Robyn Shiels take the honours. Some of the bands struggled with poor sounds or suffered from lack of soundcheck and/ or practice, but worst of all the accompanying CD did not appear in the shops until the festival was nearly over and then vanished with little fuss. The main reason for this was that the festival suffered from lack of sponsors this year - which is a shame because there were some healthy crowds at the venues on some nights. Let's hope there is enough support for it to continue in some form in 2003.

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