H2003 BEACHED FESTIVAL.
SOUTH BAY BEACH, SCARBOROUGH. 10/ 08/ 03.
The H20 Beached Festival, held on South Bay Beach in Scarborough, is the East Coast�s biggest free live music event. It was born back in 2001 and was originally going to be a one off event. After much encouragement though it returned last year and was headlined by The Libertines. This year the event was bigger than ever and lasted two days.
I couldn�t make it on Saturday to see bands such as The Dead Pets and Spear Of Destiny but I did manage to get to the event on Sunday.
Chikinki are a five piece from Bristol. They mix guitars with electronics and rock �n� roll with drum �n� bass. They make dance music but credible dance music. Dance music that is actually quite good. They write high-voltage anthems of lust, despair, excess, paranoia and euphoria, sad alt-folk ballads and body-popping beatbox grooves. Live these guys were good, not fantastic, but they were certainly worth watching.
Colour Of Fire have improved lots since I last saw them. Their set seemed to be tighter than ever. They were very professional and there was little messing around between songs. That is obviously a good thing, especially as the band will be playing at the Reading and Leeds festivals in just over a week from now. Those appearances will hopefully shoot Colour Of Fire to fame and increase their fanbase. They do already have a small army of fans but a few more can�t do any harm. These guys are going to be huge.
This was the biggest event I have so far seen the band play at. They pulled it off well. They actually seemed more comfortable playing to a big crowd on a big stage than what they do playing to a smaller crowd on a smaller stage. Stuart and Owen are the stars. The other two members take a back seat and seem really shy on stage.
Their mix of indie rock seemed to go down well with the crowd, many of which I doubt had ever even heard of the band up until now.
Their new single �Cut It� is released soon. If the forthcoming festival appearances go well the single may even go top 40. Their debut single �Decisions Decisions� was not performed tonight which was alittle odd I thought and alittle disappointing. I was really looking forward to them performing it. Ah well. Apart from the absence of that track, overall the set was fantastic, definately the best set I�ve seen by them yet.
Electric Eel Shock formed around six years ago in Japan. I hadn�t of heard of them until recently when I read reviews and heard tracks played on the Radio One Rock Show. I liked what I heard so when I found out they were playing for free at the Beached Festival I knew I had to go see them no matter what.
They were amazing and one of the best bands I have seen all year. They were so full of energy and put on a fantastic show. They were clearly enjoying themselves. So were the crowd. We were stood on the front row next to friends of the band Yumi Yumi, who also played a set earlier in the day. Yumi Yumi along with the rest of the crowd were going crazy.
Considering there are only three of them, Electric Eel Shock make a hell of a lot of noise. Their tracks all seem to have a �Rock �n� Roll� theme. They are amazing musicians, especially the guitarist and drummer. Very entertaining to watch too. The drummer was naked apart from a sock placed over his penis. He was really funny bless him.
When they finished the crowd kept screaming for more. After some confusion, (Electric Eel Shock aren�t fluent in English), the band returned for an encore.
By this stage the festival time table was running very late. The whole thing was due to finish at 11pm. Headline act The Quireboys didn�t come on stage until about 11.10pm. The UK Air Guitar Championships were due to take place at the event. Either I missed them some how or they didn�t take place at all. I�m not sure. Maybe they were cancelled due to lack of time?
Anyway, The Quireboys came on stage to some intro music and the crowd went wild before the band launched into the first of many classic rock anthems. There seemed to be lots of dedicated fans in attendance who sang along to nearly every song. I�m sure even more fans would have turned up if The Quireboys could actually be assed to advertise the gig on their website.
The band seemed to be really enjoying themselves though, apart from the miserable keyboard player. Frontman Spike even brought his son along. The played a greatest hits set that concluded at about 12.20am with the track �Sex Party�. They were really good but I preferred Electric Eel Shock. They should have headlined. I can�t complain though. There is nothing else like this around. Can�t wait for H2004.
BY MR MARTYN. AUGUST 2003. |