And now, the end is near…
The last day of any festival is always a bittersweet affair. While it is sad to have to go back to the confusing world of normal life, it is also quite nice to return to a land where going to the toilet isn’t a massive ordeal. Day 3 of Tramlines 2018 began at the fantastically named T’Other Stage and ended with a sleepy train journey.
Nina Nesbitt is a Scottish singer-songwriter who inspired a few Ed Sheeran tracks after their relationship ended. There is much more to Nesbitt than being some guys ex however and she provides a lush sonic soundscape through various instruments and a silky voice to start the day right.
Unfortunately, day 3 of Tramlines is the day of lineup clashes so we depart from Nina to spend some time with comedian Tom Wrigglesworth. While he is clearly an experienced performer, his comfortable, Radio 4 brand of comedy is a world away from the dangerous stylings of Tom Stade and despite a few chuckles here and there, Wrigglesworth isn’t really my cup of tea. Gengahr, on the other hand, are my cup of tea. And what a delicious brew they are. Their first album A Dream Outside is a beautiful slice of ethereal, Radiohead inspired dream pop but it is only as a live act that they fully come into their own. The band have grown as performers since the last time I saw them and they are capable of big things if they so wish.
Next up are Little Comets, a band who steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that their first album is their best. They coast few some more recent stuff, which the crowd politely acknowledges, before finishing with ‘One Night in October’ and ‘Dancing Song’. The crowd goes wild. Just shut up and play the hits in future lads.
Now at this point I had a pizza. I will admit I have a tendency to be a little hyperbolic about food but this pizza was genuinely one of the best I have ever had. And I have eaten a lot of pizza in my time. Strangers came and asked me where I had bought it from. The heavens smiled down and a solitary tear trickled down my cheek with each bite. They say that being young and hungry makes you a better writer. While I’m pretty old these days but I’m still absolutely starving.
The Sherlocks are a strange one in as much as they write decent songs but there is no escaping the fact that they sound exactly like the Courtneeners. This is frustrating because songs like ‘Last Night’ and ‘Chasing Shadows’ are genuinely anthemic and they have a presence as a live band. They draw a big crowd for this homecoming gig but if they are to ever play to a bigger crowd than this they need to develop their own sound.
I’m struggling to think of another example of a band who have enjoyed a renaissance like Shed Seven. In a world in which the charts mean nothing, it doesn’t matter that Shed’s big hits all came twenty years ago, because a few months ago the band played the biggest gig of their careers at Castlefield Bowl. And do you know what? They deserve it.
The band smash the T’Other Stage at Tramlines with Rick Witter his usual charismatic self. He wades into the crowd to have a chat with a couple of kids that are sat on parents shoulders and it is in these moments that the bands appeal becomes clear. There could be three generations of the same family watching Shed Seven and the band will find a way to appeal to all of them. The delayed introduction of ‘On Standby’ is still wonderful live, ‘Room in my House’ is the perfect set opener and ‘She Left Me On Friday’ is as raucous and fun a song as you will hear anywhere at a festival this summer. It’s not enough to say that the band have still got it. They are better than ever.
We miss the end of Shed Seven to go and jump around to Spring King. Every generation needs a band like The Hives. Someone who is going to play unabashed rock ‘n’ roll music. Spring King are that band. Straight outta Macclesfield, Sping King are brilliant at what they do and songs like ‘Mumma’ and ‘Rectifier’ are already anthems and they get the wildest reaction of any band all weekend. If you haven’t seen Spring King, rectify that immediately. Pun intended.
I mentioned line up clashes earlier and you wont find a worse one anywhere than Pale Waves, Shed Seven and De La Soul. What are you doing to me Tramlines?!
Apparently Manchester’s Pale Waves were brilliant but I couldn’t muster the sufficient energy to walk five minutes to see them, and from what I heard of De La Soul, they were also excellent. The final act of the evening provided a conundrum too. The indie pop yelpings of Jake Bugg or the more nuanced synth-led rock of Teleman? In the end, we catch a bit of both. It’s easy to be dismissive of Jake Bugg but his first two albums are full of sing alongs and he knows how to get a crowd going. ‘Seen It All’ is simply a great song and Bugg attacks it with gusto, while ‘Taste It’ also rocks the T’Other Stage. It would be remiss of me not to mention Bugg’s voice at this point. I mean… it’s powerful and all but it’s also really weird. I have never heard anyone sing in that register before and he seems to both sing and speak in a thousand different accents. Anyway… we leave Jake Bugg and his baffling voice to immerse ourselves in the crashing symbols and crunching guitar of Teleman over at the Library Stage. On retrospect, we might have left a bit prematurely as Teleman only had a couple of songs left to play whereas I suspect Jake Bugg was just getting started. We do see ‘Dussledorf’ though, which is probably the bands best song and, to be fair, it is an absolutely punishing version of it, with each member of the band bewitched by their instrument of choice.
And with that, we run screaming into the balmy Sheffield night. As a venue, Hillsborough Park has been perfect, I can’t speak highly enough of it. The organisation has been impeccable, the music unforgettable. The only problem for the Tramlines organisers is the riddle of how the hell they will top this next year? I, for one, can’t wait to see them try.
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