As the summer months are upon us and festival season has begun in earnest, ticket holders for camping festivals like Reading or Leeds, all start following the weather forecasts with a little more frequency. Are they going to get fair skies to compliment the £200 worth of music they’ve shelled out for? Or should they prepare for a Bear Grylls survival weekend? Like with all things reliant on weather over the British summer, nothing is certain.
Maybe thats why day long urban festivals like Dot to Dot have become so popular? They offer a great lineup of venues and rising stars at a fraction of the cost, (a ticket for Dot to Dot was only £20) without the risk of a wash out. Indeed the overcast conditions in Manchester didn’t affect the enjoyment to be had over the 14 hours of exceptional music that Dot to Dot offered it’s attendees.
Over the last few years there has been an explosion of the early summer “pop up” festivals dotted around the urban centres of the country; but few manage to capture the imagination in the same way as Dot to Dot. The festival, which started in Nottingham in 2005, was one of the first crop of these modern urban festivals and is still showing the competition how it’s done. The festival takes place in Bristol, Nottingham and Manchester across this years Jubilee bank holiday weekend.
It’s line up is a music lovers dream, with artists being selected based on talent rather than fame, meaning that it’s 5 stages are not filled with 'has beens' and 'also rans.' Instead festival organiser, Anton Lockwood, gives festival goers the chance to see the futures headlining stars: “Dot To Dot 2012 sees us welcome some of the most hotly tipped new acts in the world, including some stars of SXSW. This is what Dot To Dot is all about!”
For once, there is more than hyperbole to his claim as over the course of the weekend you’ll get the chance to see [edit] radio favourites like Pulled Apart By Horses, The Drums, Wavves, Willis Earl Beal and Neon Indian (Manchester only). The best part is that you can see all of these bands for the recession busting price of £20! which is insane value for money.
[edit] radio will be heading along to Manchester to check out the festival and all it has to offer, we suggest that you do too. It’ll be the best thing you do all Bank Holiday.
Buy your own ticket from Alt-Tickets or for more information about the festivals venues head over to the Dot to Dot Website
It’s early Monday morning, and you need something to get you ready for another day at whatever institution you’re a part of. It’s cold and dark outside, so you try to find a way to either revel in or escape the bleakness. Out comes your mp3 player, fingers snaking onto it’s buttons, slithering across the album covers of old favourites or whatever is in vogue.
Suddenly you remind yourself, “Didn’t Pulled Apart by Horses have a new single out this week?” YES! They did, it’s called V.E.N.O.M, I’d better listen, otherwise it might seem that I’m slipping behind the taste curve. I need to have an opinion about it.
The snake masquerading as your fingers suddenly strikes as you press play.
Sinking it’s teeth into your eardrums, as the newest sounds from the Leeds based post-hardcore quartet, coil themselves around your cochlea and squeeze. Smothering your sleepiness with the sort of primal energy that was once only the domain of The Stooges. Where the raw power being offered up is better than any cup of liquid crack Starbucks could ever fucking serve. Blowing the cobwebs off your morning and a music industry that seems so eager to reward dullness.
I don’t know if it’s me that’s sick or the industry itself, but if this is the venom, then I’d rather die than be given the antidote.
V.E.N.O.M is the first track from the bands forthcoming album, Tough Love, which will be making it’s way into stores on 23rd January.
