Arriving at a packed Times Square in Newcastle, we worm our way through the hustle and bustle of middle-aged women and hen parties on their way to see the ever-popular Lady Boys of Bangkok. We arrive at Think Tank shortly after local lads Them Things had taken to the stage with their quintessential North East sound.

With their jangly indie pop, much like the now defunct Vinyl Jacket and the all- conquering Little Comets, Them Things add their own twist to it; the overall sound slightly heavier than the former yet its composition still feels relatively similar. We’re left feeling slightly short changed though as in our opinion there is nothing original with Them Things and the lead singer's antics and quips throughout the set also leave a lot to be desired, seeming somewhat childish.

That aside, following a short break we’re waiting eagerly in anticipation of Woods and one thing instantly hits us as they take to the stage is that the band are a member down. Despite this the guys soldier on, their beautiful brand of American folk rock fills the early part of the set. The whole crowd swooning in awe as they burst into ‘Cali in a Cup,’ one of the softer moments of the set that sees the crowd singing back every word.

Jeremy’s beautiful delivery of the sweet words transport us to a place much more exciting than a dark and miserable Friday evening in Newcastle. Continuing in this rich vein of form a couple more folk tracks follow before ‘Size Meets The Sound’ is belted out in something of an uncharacteristically visceral fashion. Guitars swirl and the band perform a brilliantly spaced out version of this awesome track, their ability to shock and surprise is second to none.

However, despite having our interest piqued and our excitement levels soaring, soon after there seems to problems with the set as the band are informed they’ve only one song left. To their shock and surprise they continue and manage to squeeze in two more. Their set was truly brilliant and we’re not angry about the set being cut short, more upset and annoyed.

At present there is many unanswered questions as to why this happened was there some miscommunication between the promoter and the venue? Who knows, but we cannot take away from Woods how great tonight was and despite being a man down. we couldn’t have asked for more.

From a personal point of view we hope Woods grace us with their presence again in Newcastle, as the crowd were just as annoyed and bemused as they seemed to be.  

Twelve months have wrought a few changes to the Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia. The Camp & Furnace venue now has a usable upstairs area, meaning there was a larger merch space and all food sales are now in the (fully cordoned off) exterior area, making for more audience space in the Furnace area. At least one more bar had been added inside as well as interior toilets, the Gents of which even had functioning sinks by day two. A lack of available tap water in the Blade Factory & the impossibility of bringing water bought on site back in whether opened or not were the only niggles across the weekend, other than those moans crowds always express about portaloos.

Most importantly the sound in the Furnace was vastly improved (i.e. clear & bright) from what was on offer last year. This made for thoroughly enjoyable sets in here on the Friday from Amen Dunes, the Allah-Las and the extremely youthful Pow! Amen Dunes’ expansive though Mogadon-strength sound benefited greatly from the space afforded them whilst the Allah-Las kind of went the other way, given that their sound is far more pop than psych and much lighter because of it. Pow! though were a riveting, short sharp punk blast to the system. Band names seldom come more apt.  

Our experience began though with catching the final couple of numbers in Spectres’ set in the Camp – a fitting introduction to proceedings given how fuzz-drenched their efforts were. Attendance was clearly up on last year (especially on Day Two) & this was nowhere more evident than in the Blade Factory. Whereas in 2013 you could more often than not wander in there at anytime during a performance and at least manage to see those on stage, let alone worm your way to the front of the crowd with not too much effort, this time around you were left craning your neck from back at the bar within less than a song’s length for practically every act.

As a result we heard far more of the filmic sounds of local act Barberos and the extended stoner wig-outs of Black Bombaim (like Spectres another perfect exemplar of the event’s core element) than we were able to catch sight of. Porto-based Jiboia, with their ethereal vocals allied to a Casio-&-kitchen-sink approach to their musical element, Proved very popular later on. Klaus Johan Grobe was the final act of the night in here, enjoying a dedicated crowd & a more intimate space than he was afforded last year which allowed for a greater appreciation of his work this time around.

As expected the light shows in all three performance spaces were of the high quality in evidence in the past. Whilst the oil employing effects seemed to have been handed over to machines in the Camp the projections at the rear of the stage were as retina defying as could be hoped for and the Furnace stage lights relied on far fewer eye level strobes, making for a less confrontational and more inclusive atmosphere. The Vacant Lots, The Early Years, Young Husband and The Besnard Lakes therefore all benefited from backdrops ranging from the sinister to the insane via the spaced out.

The Vacant Lots’ electronica-meets-original-rock ‘n’ roll sound was a big hit whilst London’s Early Years continued their return to live performance with as intense and motorik a set as you’d expect from these original pioneers of the capital’s resurgent krautrock scene an almost unbelievable eight years ago. Young Husband are more than just a pair of good sideburns – classic shoegaze influences were artfully melded with their own melodic leanings provided the perfect jumping off point for The Besnard Lakes to carry the crowd over from Friday to Saturday. What, after all, is there not to like about a band whose bass player sports an Iron Maiden guitar strap? Jace Lasek was clearly eager to get into it as the soundchecking compelled him to ball "quit fuckin' around an' let's do this!" Harshly described later as sounding like "late-Simple Minds with more bombast" theirs was a set of power & melody that left the lighter elements of their sound on the shelf for the duration. An uplifting climax to the opening day.

Touring her second album and first with a full band, the former Bonnie Prince Billy backing singer Angel Olsen makes her way to Newcastle, bringing with her, her friend Rodrigo Amarante who takes to the stage alone, the packed audience make him feel nothing but welcome.

He flits between English and Portugese as he serenades us with his delicately picked acoustic guitar and well-chosen words. Delivered in a soft, sweet manner Amarante seems genuinely touched by the crowd’s reaction this evening. At the same time it is nothing less than he deserves, we’re blown away by the delicacy and beauty as the man bares his soul in front of us.

In something of a contrast Angel Olsen takes to the stage with her band, and her voice is as beautiful as Amarante’s if not more so. Yet there is a much fuller sound filling our ears - Angel’s beautiful Americana infused indie rock. Theres a real passion in the early part of Angel’s set, and whilst the band is there her voice upstages everything.

She is almost motionless whilst delivering her heartfelt tracks, and numbers such as ‘Stars’ sound exquisite; the music becoming supplementary to the lyrics, and whilst there is little movement on stage, it adds to the captivating element of the performance. We’re seduced by the power of Angel’s voice, as if it were a spell of some sort.

‘Lights Out’ possesses a phenomenal Americana quality to it; Angel’s set evolving in front of our eyes. The earlier parts are much folkier, though as she traverses into Americana ‘Lights Out’ is arguably one of the stand-out tracks of the evening. The gorgeous guitars fill our ears as a deep pain fills her voice and we’re like over-excited teenagers as she raises the tempo even more.

The latter part of the set is a much rockier affair, reminiscent of another favourite of ours Courtney Barnett. ‘Forgiven / Forgotten’ is a brilliantly brash slab of lo-fi , perhaps a simpler track than some of the earlier ones but one that doesn’t fail to provoke a hefty crowd reaction. As Angel chants “I don’t know anything.” The awesome fuzzy guitars are a welcomed break to the quieter sounds of earlier on this evening.

Angel closes out her set with a beautifully spaced out cover of ‘Dreams’ by Fleetwood Mac, another personal favourite of ours but this version takes this song to a whole other level. As the band leave the stage Angel remains for one final track ‘May as Well,’ another beautiful song filled with heart and a complete contrast to the latter part of the set, yet it compliments them so well despite its sad tone. A truly fitting end to what has been a very special evening.

A couple of months later than normal, due to the opening of the Unity Works venue and it being a sensible idea to make use of the place's great facilities as the showpiece venue of the event, Wakefield once more played host to Long Division over the weekend of September 12 - 14.  Our reporting here is limited to the performances on Saturday the 13th as we were unable to get a writer in to see The Cribs play on the previous day - a welcome sign of the festival's growing popularity (as was the fact of there being a fringe event on the same day at The Hop. Fawn Spots put in a good show at that).

Graziers (one of the event's other new venues this time around) was our first point of call for some good loud, local indie rock delivered al fresco by Alpha Shallows. Later in the evening Knuckles were on in the same marquee, managing to keep the guitar & drums duo thing interesting with some ribald banter along with their full-on sound characterised by the likes of 'Ejector Seat' and 'Dirty Pearls'. 

Warehouse 23, scene of last June's Fall performance in temperatures of sauna proportions, didn't get a lot of attention from us this time around but we caught the opening couple of numbers by local rockers Gunnarson, who have an element of the Hellacopters about them, albeit with less convincing vocals.

Gruff Rhys was the first act we took in at the Unity Works, midway through the afternoon. Concentrating solely on his current American Interior work his set was unfortunately affected by early technical issues and despite some funny banter the audience were clearly less than fully engaged with the overall performance or the core idea behind the journeys that inspired it. Patterns, ILikeTrains, TOY, headliners The Wedding Present and then Islet made up the other acts that we took in either in the venue's excellent main hall or in it's smaller performance space on the top floor.

Of those we were probably too tired to properly enjoy Islet in their post-23:00 slot but they did enough to make it clear that seeing them again in the future is a good idea. Patterns were enjoyably melodic and clean-cut whilst ILikeTrains didn't come over as I'd expected from their records but were a good watch with probably the best light show of the day. TOY also pulled off a good, in your face, performance for which the bulk of the audience were unjustifiably static. As headliners The Wedding Present didn't fail to pepper their set with the requisite number of old favourites ('My Favourite Dress' etc.) as well as brand new song 'Secretary' which got its first live outing.

Act of the day for me though were Theo Verney, playing in the odd location of 'posh' nightclub Panama and separated from the audience by a distance of at least 8 feet before a line of crash barriers provided something to lean on. Witnessed by a tiny crowd that can be happy they made the decision to wander along the trio belted out their set as if their lives depended on it. Personable lads they were clearly amused at the levels of security in place to protect them from the baying horde and also the Death Star-like mirror ball that was (uselessly) suspended above them. Both Theo Verney & Islet will be on at the Liverpool Psych Fest this coming weekend so a re-visit with both is definitely on my to do list.