Camp Bestival 2009 - Part 3

Saturday. After some early non musical fun and games we head for our first musical adventure on day two. In the Big Top Alessi's Ark are incredibly late, having got stuck in traffic. They arrive just fifteen minutes before their allocated time finishes, set up in what must be the fastest time ever and then race through a very short set. Alessi is full of apologies, apologising for being late and apologising for clashing with Alela Diane on the Castle Stage. The brevity of the set means that the band never really get the chance to settle as they quickly tiptoe through songs such as The Dog and Asteroids Collide, Alessi’s face animated in her expressions, her voice adding a sugar coating to her soft country rock sound.

To display Camp Bestivals musical diversity we jump from Alessis’s Ark to Goldie Lookin' Chain. From chart success with Guns Don’t Kill People Rappers Do, to celebrity Big Brother shenanigans, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that Goldie Lookin’ Chain were no longer a going concern having faded into obscurity. However it seems that Adam Hussain, Maggot, Eggsy and crew are still one big gang, bringing their energetic stage stalking track suited comedy hip hop to a big appreciative crowd. Funny and as puerile as ever GLC tackle everything from Michael Jackson “He’s dead now - he did do some bad things though,” to farting “I put farting powder in Adams coffee,” as they race through a set of tracks old and new. Their tongue in cheek lyrics, colourful leisure wear and comic banter go down well with the audience, with plenty of hands raised in the air (see picture above) Hit singles may now be a thing of the past, but Goldie Lookin’ Chain can probably make some money from a career out of festival appearances such as this for some years to come.

Musical journeyman Frank Turner returns to the UK from touring the States with The Offspring to bring some good old fashioned singer songwriter ideals to the Camp Bestival main stage. Frank seems to spend his whole life incessantly touring, building up a loyal fan base from it. New single The Road, played with jaunty enthusiasm seems to celebrate this fact with its lyrics of fear of staying in one place and the irony of “only being shackled to the road can ever I be free.” Turner is a troubadour with strong principles and his heart on his sleeve, a man who seems like he's grown wiser after taking some kicks, but getting back up again. On the eloquent Long Live The Queen he sings the words of someone who he has lost “You’ll live to dance another day, it’s just now you’ll have to dance for the two of us.” It's poignantly beautiful. There are hints of Billy Bragg in Frank Turner, if Billy if had decided to play acoustic punk rock with a folk twist. Turner is obviously a grafter, and we’re sure that this will pay dividends for him in the long run.

Last year at End Of The Road Festival Bon Iver played the most absorbing and enchanting set we witnessed in 2008. A year on and Justin Vernon, who effectively is Bon Iver has become more accustomed to playing to big crowds, and as a result his set loses some of the humble magic that made it so special a year ago. With a slightly smoother sound and a little bit of chat Bon Iver play through tracks from For Emma, Forever Ago, our album of the year last year, plus a rockier version of Blood Bank and a cover of Yo La Tengo’s I Feel Like Going Home. Skinny Love finds Justin on scratchy guitar and three drummers driving the song home, whilst on Re:Stacks he plays solo, the music meshing with the lyrics to portray exactly how the song sounds “it’s the sound of unlocking and lifting away". Creature Fear ends wrapped in warped noisy derangement and final song Wolves (Act I and II) sees Vernon using the crowd as backing vocals, gradually building in volume as they sing “What might have been lost,” over and over again. It’s good, but it lacks the emotion and awe that we have seen before, although the audience give rapturous applause after every song.

The evening is then left to PJ Harvey to play her headlining set in the Big Top. Earlier this year Harvey astounded us in Brighton (review here). At Camp Bestival she performs a totally different solo show which she states will consist of her own personal favourite songs, performed stripped down, the way they were originally written. From the stunning gutsy blues of opening song To Bring You My Love to the stark ending of Silence the performance feels more like a recital than a euphoric festival set, but it works perfectly. The audience are very respectful listening in almost near silence as Harvey performs everything from well known tracks such as Down By The Water to B Sides such as Nina In Ecstasy which Polly described as “a very small quiet song.” Some songs are played on piano, others on guitar. A new track samples the old tin pan alley song Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by fifties group The Four Lads, looped whilst Polly sings with a bizarre musical minuture harp type instrument. It's an odd yet intriguing piece.

The set confirms Harvey as a major and unique talent, her voice ranging from an unsettling girlish tone to a powerful strong woman. This show had a feel of being something rather special. It may not have been right for those who want a big singalong, clapalong, lowest common denominator headlining set, but for those who want something born out of pure integrity and quality PJ Harvey ticked all the right boxes. A superb way to end a great day.

PJ Harvey @ Brighton Corn Exchange

With a brief “Good evening ladies and gentlemen,” and a warm smile, PJ Harvey takes to the stage of Brighton’s Corn Exchange for the first night of her European tour. Despite Polly’s extensive back catalogue this is no greatest hits show. Instead the music played is derived from the two albums that Polly has created with her long term friend and collaborator John Parish. Parish himself and several other members of the less than youthful backing band sport trilby hats and look more like a jazz ensemble than a rock band, but rock they do; creating a dark, off kilter and often fantastically disturbing noise. Polly meanwhile is dressed in a black dress and for some unexplained reason plays the whole gig with a small handbag over her arm. Maybe she’s going to dance round it later.

Starting with Black Hearted Love the music tonight is stunning, powerful and varied. From the simplicity of ukulele fronted The Soldier to the sad and lonely spoken word of Cracks In The Canvas every song played outweighs the recorded versions in its punch. With Parish and band focussing on the instrumentation, Harvey is left to concentrate on vocals and dramatic theatrical performance. Every song she presents is like a new character in a book. Sometimes she stands motionless singing in a ghostly, scary falsetto. Then at other moments her slight and frail looking body is prowling the stage like a wired aggressor, delivering a guttural bluesy howl as she rasps with an evil glint in her eye “Now its my time to laugh, I’ll stick it up your fuckin’ ass,” before the whole song cascades into a frantic dirty wig out. It’s incredibly physical and superb to watch; and certainly never gets boring. For the encore she envelopes the microphone to elicit a roughly bristled tone as she sings “How could I have worn inappropriate clothing?” Then, taking a step back she opens up with powerful clarity “I dreamed, I dreamed, April, that I’m walking, that I’m watching.” It‘s a vocal that resonates with electrifying power. It is no wonder that the audience great her with ecstatic applause.

PJ Harvey is not only a superb vocalist, but a spectacular and engrossing performer who completely immerses herself into her show. She is one of the most creative and darkly exciting live artists Breaking More Waves has seen in a long time, and quite easily the best gig we have attended so far this year.

PJ Harvey & John Parish - A Woman A Man Walked By

A Woman A Man Walked By from PJ Harvey and John Parish is an album that is easy to admire but not always easy to love. Born from Harvey’s desire to continually progress and evolve musically, this album is a testament to creative freedom. It is singularly strange and curious, notable for the lack of bass on many of the tracks and full of songs of random scuttling sketchbook instrumentation. Harvey is well enough established that she does not have to be overly concerned about commercial concerns. This really is an album that sounds like the cliché “I’ll play the songs that I like, and if anyone else enjoys them that’s a bonus.”

Twelve years after their first and only other joint venture, A Woman A Man Walked By follows a formula where Parish writes and plays the music whilst Harvey concentrates on the lyrics and vocals. It enables Harvey to push her voice to the limits. Sometimes her performance becomes almost over ambitious and too theatrical, such as on April where she sounds like a girlish hunched old lady. Harvey is often at her best when she holds back a little. A song such as the organ led spoken word mantra of Cracks In The Canvas displays such restraint where she intones “How do we cope with the days after death? Empty days. Nothing left. Not even a funeral.” It’s vaguely reminiscent of the miserable art house pop of Black Box Recorder.

The variation of the songs is wide. There’s the atmospheric guitar rock of Black Hearted Love which sounds not that far removed from The Howling Bells, the snarling, rasping Pig Will Not which harks back to her earlier solo work and the banjo fronted Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen, one of the other highlights of the record.

Ultimately A Woman A Man Walked By will preserve Harvey’s status of an artist who is always prepared to challenge, take risks and divert away from the mainstream. It may not be her finest hour, but it is still an interesting and admirable concoction.

Camp Bestival Announcement

It’s that time of year when we are deluged with announcements concerning summer festival line ups. Each day we hear more news of the artists and attractions that are going to be performing their hearts out to a sun kissed or rain drenched field somewhere in the UK this summer. Here at Breaking More Waves we find this all very exciting, but for some this bombardment can become a rather wearing process, each announcement leading to a gradual state of apathy.

So it’s good to see one festival organiser do something a little different to combat that apathy, and maybe raise a smile on your face. Summer is coming campers, and Rob Da Bank and his Bestival crew are getting into the Hi De Hi spirit again at their family orientated Camp Bestival, with this fun video announcement of their line up. It certainly makes a change from just sending out a press release. With Breaking more Waves favourite Bon Iver who produced our album of the year from 2008, Marina and the Diamonds, one of our ones to watch for 2009 plus the fabulous PJ Harvey all set to grace the stage, Camp Bestival is shaping up very nicely. If the organisers manage to sort out the camping and parking problems from last year it promises to be a great weekend for young and old. Breaking More Waves will see you there.