HWCH Festival Diary (Day 2)

Day two of HWCH 2008 started badly for Key Notes as his beloved Man United’s loss to Liverpool was swiftly followed by news of Emmanuel Adebayor’s hat-trick for Arsenal. Key Notes, in a decision up there with ‘I don’t think it’s an iceberg Captain’, opted to drop Adebayor from his fantasy football this week, a decision that will, even at this early stage, end his quest to win the CLUAS fantasy football league.

This blog’s general mood improved following coffee and a discussion of all things musical with fellow CLUAS writer Niamh Madden. Dinner with friends, almost all of whom were HWCH virgins, also helped to soften the slings and arrows of Saturday morning’s outrageous fortune. Therefore, it was with a happy heart and satisfied stomach that Key Notes and his band of merry men and women made their way to Academy 2 for Pilotlight.

This blog has a great deal of time for Pilotlight but was worried about the venue; previous experiments in the Academy (or Spirit as it was then) had shown that dance venues can’t provide the type of sound systems required for playing anything other than dance music (very important) and that the bouncers in said clubs weren’t sure how to deal with boys and girls with big hair and skinny jeans (not so important). As an aside, Key Notes would like to nominate skinny jeans as this decades shoulder pads; something lots of people are going to look back on in a few years and shudder.

However, this blog’s fears were unfounded as the sound in Academy 2 (the Academy’s underground venue) was excellent. Every note was crystal clear and Pilotlight’s mix of melancholy and the infinite madness (their on stage banter was almost as entertaining as their music) delighted a small but supportive audience. The same could not be said for Distractors unfortunately, despite their lead singers’ best attempts to channel the ghost of Michael Hutchence.

Unimpressed, our group left Academy 2 four songs in to make our way over the Ha’penny Bridge to the Music Centre (Button Factory) to catch the ever entertaining A Lazarus Soul. Shorn of their keyboard player Bryan McMahon, ALS delivered a completely different set from the one Key Notes was expecting. Much of last years excellent Graveyard of Burnt Out Cars was lost and with it the magic of A Lazarus Soul. Not bad; just not as towering a performance as this blog knows the band can give.  During this set Key Notes bumped into another fellow CLUAS writer, Anna Murray, who suggested Hybrasil's show earlier in the evening hadn't started on time, if at all.  Further details were unavailable at time of posting.

Next on the bill was Deaf Animal Orchestra whose moniker promises little but whose music certainly delivers. There were times when it strayed a little too close to wearing plaid shirts, trucker hats and drinking whiskey from a bottle on your front porch for this blogs liking but, that being said, it certainly got people dancing, this blog included, and it was for this reason that it didn’t notice it’s coat had been stolen. If anyone sees someone wearing a grey/black G-Star jacket in the Temple Bar area over the next few days, they are advised to contact the police and/or punch them in the face.

A joke of course, but this blog was just glad it wasn’t raining as flying visits were made to Andrews Lane (Crayonsmith: musically it was fine, but that voice gets dull after more than 3 songs) and 4 Dame Lane (Ollie Cole: complete with the worlds smallest set list on what looked to be a small post-it, the man has a voice this blog could listen to all night) before Key Notes’ shivering arms made their way to Meeting House Square for Fight Like Apes.

Given the terrible weather and sound problems of the previous evening, Key Notes wasn’t sure what to expect from the band. As previously stated, this blog hasn’t always had time for what must be the most hyped Irish band of the decade but, once more, their incendiary live performance combined with songs that sound catchier with each rendition showed that they are a band that are more than capable of living up to their hype.

As with day one, Key Notes is sure his fellow writers will cover Saturday’s performances in greater detail but it is worth remarking that, despite the excellent line up of bands on day two, not a single venue was full. Even Meeting House Square, which in previous years has had to refuse people entry for even the most mediocre of bands (take a bow The Things), was relatively empty for Fight Like Apes. There are many factors that could account for this; all of them worrying for the festivals organisers.

That being said, the quality of music on offer on day two was highlighted by the bands this blog failed to see; Le Galaxie and Frightened Rabbit to name but two. Sunday will offer similar dilemmas with performances from the likes of Autamata and Robotnik as well as Sons and Daughters, curators of this year’s Scottish Invasion. Thankfully, having too much choice is a great problem for a festival to have.

FLA Photo: Toniireton

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