And the final day for Liverpool Sound City 2015 had arrived. As the sun set over the city, and we watched the fireworks for Cunard’s 175th birthday take place over the Mersey, it allowed time for reflection of some of the things we’d seen that day.
Sunday was a lot cooler than the day before, but that didn’t stop the crowds turning out in full, though there was a lot more North Face than bare legs this time. Bill Ryder-Jones was up on the Atlantic stage on Sunday afternoon, soothing everyone’s hangovers with his melodious, indie-alt offerings. His music is very melancholic, and when added to his beautiful voice, it is a delicious combination.
Later on, Yorkshire rockers The Cribs take to the main stage for one of the most anticipated performances of the weekend. The Cribs were part of that indie rock explosion that took place in music over 2006 and 2007 and are one of the few bands from that time that have had any longevity, so it was exciting to see them bring their back catalogue to Liverpool, and not just to see them play ‘Hey Scenesters’. ‘Burning For No One’ was always going to stand out during their performance as their recent single, and their garage rock style had the crowd grooving along happily.
We had to cut The Cribs set slightly short unfortunately, in order to catch Liverpool favourite Natalie McCool over on the North stage. Her style of indie, electronic pop is very easy and enjoyable to listen to, and it was interesting to see the intricacies of her music layered together with the help of her band. ‘Dig it Out’ is a gorgeous song and Natalie didn’t stop the wind or sound clash from the Kraken stage behind the audience from affecting the performance and had everyone entranced. The only thing missing was her amazing cover of Kavinsky’s ‘Nightcall’ but we can’t have everything.
We managed to catch Genghar’s set in the Baltic Stage, as we were sheltering from the cold and warming up with Hot Vimto from the Tim Peak’s Diner, a god send in festival land. The band had two slots over the weekend, playing the Kraken stage late on Saturday night. If they were feeling tired by their extensive tour and multiple performances, they didn’t let on.
Lead singer Felix’s soft voice crooning ‘Sure you can be my heroine’ mars delightfully with the heavy guitar work, in a fusion of dark and beautiful music. Genghar are one of the most exciting bands to watch this year, and the setting of the cavernous Baltic warehouse brings their performance to another level.
One thing to commend the Sound City team on is the provision of inside spaces for when the weather gets rough. Though it never poured down over the weekend, the Bramley Moore Dock is an exposed place to pick for a festival and the chilling wind (yes, despite it being May) meant that festival goers would want somewhere to shelter in between band sets. Only two of the stages were outside with the smaller stages inside tents, as well as the Baltic warehouse stage. In addition, you could check out the record store, which featured some amazing vinyl if you didn’t mind carrying a record round all evening, and also had sporadic performances over the weekend. A lot of thought went into planning Sound City’s new site, and there were no faults to pick with it.
Finally, the weekend was set to finish and we chose to see B-town mayhem causers, Peace. They drew a huge crowd away from headliners Belle & Sebastian, the kings and queens of indie music, and Peace put on such a great show that it was not a bad decision to make. They smashed their way through the set, playing tracks from early releases, and their second album Happy People. There was a smooth transition into each song, including some incredibly long instrumentals between tracks like ‘Bloodshake’ and ‘1998 (Delicious’ that had the audience going wild. For a band that are still so young, they absolutely know what they’re doing and who they want to be, and this confidence translates to one hell of a live show. They were an excellent choice to close out the Baltic Stage and a great way to finish an exceptional three day event. Liverpool Sound City, you did good.
