The final day of music for me on this trip quite appropriately kicked off with the annual Aussie BBQ at Heebie Jeebies. With the stage in an outdoor beer garden (right next to the BBQ), the weather had us nervous but thankfully the overcast sky stayed just that; the rain keeping at bay. This kept the venue packed and made for one hell of an Aussie BBQ to end their run of shows in the UK for 2012 (they’re off to Singapore next).
Ironside were wrapping up the set when I arrived, bringing a dose of Brisbane based rock and roll to Liverpool. Fellow Brisbane rockers Bonfire Nights (pictured in header) followed and similarly rocked the house down – this is a band who is improving in strides since they relocated to London. Melbourne’s The Bowers (pictured above) were a four piece pop rock group who were quite appropriate for Liverpool – definitely a bit of Beatles influence there.
Having bumped into them time and time again on the trip, and only catching them all to briefly when we were at the London Aussie BBQ, I finally got to see Sietta (pictured above) in full, kicking off their set with a couple of acoustic songs. With an amazing female vocalist in Caiti Baker, while Mangohig brings the beats, this duo has a hell of a lot of soul in their music. The track “Sirens” could easily exist on the back catalogue of Faithless or Zero 7 – and things quickly got funky after that. The set ended with the bass driven “What Am I Supposed To Do?”. The vibe in the room was phenomenal, a fantastic set from the well seasoned performers.
Rock and roll two piece Jackson Firebird continued to leave their audiences with ringing ears we could be proud of, with music undoubtedly inspired by bands like Spiderbait. Ben Salter(pictured above), meanwhile, continued his acoustic splendour, and his Smokey Robinson cover continued to blow the house down as it has done across his whole UK tour. Emma Louise (pictured below), Oliver Tank and Step-Panther closed out the day, keeping this beautiful, ambient and brutal respectively. It was a fitting end to a great day of music.
With my bus back to London leaving just before midnight, I did my best to cram is as much as I could in the evening following a surprisingly good Mexican dinner. I walked passed a band called Jazz Hands, who, in addition to having a killer name, sounded fantastic to boot. I believe I caught a band call Be Forest next, pictured below. The band were a three piece, just drums, bass, guitar and vocals, who sounded a bit like Joy Division – definitely in a good way.
Keeping things moving, I caught Rubylux at The Attic next, who sounded like a less commercial version of Maroon 5, while slipping in an “Eleanor Rigby” cover for good measure.
On the recommendation of quite a few people, I caught a band called Let’s Buy Happiness (pictured above) next, who seemed to exist somewhere in a world between early Jezabels and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Very fun, well polished rock music, fronted by the confident Sarah Hall. They ended with a fantastic song so new that they weren’t even sure what they were going to call it – but were deciding between “Home” and “Journey”.
I decided to end my Liverpool Sound City catching an artist who had blown me away at Bluesfest earlier this year, James Vincent McMorrow, with a great Bon Iver-esque vibe, and some phenomenal music to boot. His support act, Dan Croll, were playing when I arrived, and reminded me of The Middle East. Not bad at all. But it was James Vincent McMorrow we were all here to see, and the packed out Epstein Theatre served as a fantastic audience for the talented singer/songwriter.
He was performing with a five piece today, bringing the full sound of his album that I don’t believe he was able to bring with him to Australia. It sounded incredible. “And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop” gave us all goosebumps, while “Down the Burning Ropes”, “Higher Love” and the solo number “We Are Ghosts” all impressed. He had quite a few sound problems along the way, including a faulty sustaining pedal that affected his keyboard, but he didn’t let that get in the way of playing his music. It was a very special, intimate set, to end what was a fantastic Liverpool Sound City.
Now in its fifth year, Liverpool Sound City delivered exactly what it had set out to achieve: a great weekend of music and conferences. On the front of the latter, I actually managed to make it into a few panels over the course of the weekend, and though they had an impressive array of talent in the room, I would suggest they ensure they have moderators in the future – in some instances it all fell apart due to off topic questions from members of the Audience. Though other times it worked just fine.
And as for the music, I caught a few acts I’d been wanting to see for a long time, re-connected with many more and heard a few new names I won’t soon forget. You can’t ask for much more than that. The weekend was very much worth the trip…
