Yet another festival first in 2013 as we boldly headed down to Surrey for the first ever HIPSVILLE weekender. Amidst the continual sound of gunfire (Bisley happens to host the National Rifle Association's HQ and dozens of shooting clubs) two nights and two afternoons of top drawer Sixties entertainment were on offer and it lived up to the billing.
The day starts with an hour and a half’s drive to Leeds, which may be enough for some people not to bother – but with a specially-made mix CD full of tunes from the artists we hope to see at the festival we're in a pretty good mood by the time we rock into town.
Long Division takes place in Wakefield , and is put on by the Rhubarb Bomb blog. For the 2013 incarnation of the festival (in conjunction with Jonny The Firth and Wolfyboy Records of Leeds) 7 venues in the city will host 70 acts over the course of 07 – 09 June. Those acts already confirmed at time of writing include The Fall, Nine Black Alps, Ghostpoet, Jeffrey Lewis, The History Of Apple Pie, Howard Marks, RM Hubbert and The Spills. With tickets at a mere £20 this is a festival that’s pretty much off the scale in terms of value for money.
Dean Freeman from Rhubarb Bomb was kind enough to answer a few questions that we put to him about the organisation of the weekend’s activities:-
Live At Leeds has grown in both stature and scope since its inception in 2007, into a musical metropolis that has steadily acquired a reputation as one of the best city festivals in the UK.
Being in at the start of something new is always a buzz so tripping along to Electric Circus in Edinburgh for the venue's first ever Big Day In was weighted with a fair degree of expectation, albeit just exactly of what wasn't necessarily clear.Initial act Machines In Heaven were already a couple of songs into their set when we arrived and secured a seat. The Dennistoun-based quartet, with their brand of glitchy electronica being played at top volume, were a great choice for an opening act but maybe not on a bill that kicked off at 3pm. They were clearly up for it though and had a ball fitting their, at times, nursey rhyme-like tunes in amongst some thunderous chords before rounding it all off with a small amount of equipment abuse. Current release The 'Glasgow Jihad' EP is available on bandcamp (click on their name above for access).
The Primavera Sound festival has been around for over a decade in Barcelona and is now in its second year in Porto. Offering a consistently high level of acts from around the world it is also an important platform for acts from Spain, Portugal and Latin American countries, proof of which is seen this year with such acts as Blur, Bob Mould, Dinosaur Jr., Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Woods rubbing shoulders with The Suicide Of Western Culture, Los Planetas and Guadalupe Plata and many others.
