DV8Fest 2012: York - The Duchess, pt. 1

Now into its third consecutive year, few wagered that York’s very own DV8Fest – with its hodgepodge line-up spanning everything from trad Goth to Chap Hop, which isn’t about cricket – could amass the crowds of its two hugely successful previous events, and prove to be a hub for all things alternative. Split across three venues – the Duchess, Fibbers, and Stereo – these cobbled streets play host to four days of live music, markets and club nights; no wellingtons required, just a desire to be different.
Due to my inability to be in three places at once, this review is coming at you from the Hobgoblin Duchess stage, focusing on the roster’s more ‘pointillist’ artists (the ones jabbing at guitars rather than synths).
Thursday 28^th June: The Duchess



Image Credit: Parkin Photography

With the Duchess throwing open its doors at 6.45pm, din-dins time for many, the hysteria present at outdoor events is conspicuously absent. With many attendees troughing pub grub in the nearby Black Swan, the venue is barely half full with show time imminent. Mother Nature has already reared her ugly head; this afternoon’s lightning storm caused widespread blackouts through the city centre, resulting in a considerable delay to proceedings. A line-up shuffle sees the Chapman Family move from 8 to 11pm, after headliners Utah Saints, which understandably confuses punters. Festival organiser/host Chris Sherrington is apologetic and, thanks to his enthusiasm, mile-wide smile and straw hat, the audience is forgiving. Launching into a series of game show hand signals and bushy-topped trees at 12 o clock, he then disappears backstage and so begins DV8Fest 2012.

Bellowing through a sea of dry ice, the Last Cry gets proceedings off to an inauspicious start. The electrical faults have left little time for monitor balancing and any nuances are buried in a muddy mix. Front man Andrew Birch is drenched in echo and reverb, making his lyrics largely inaudible. Fortunately, these technical glitches vanished for Anne-Marie Hurst, turning in a no-filler 40 minutes. Opener ‘Cinder Road’ is a welcome surprise, with original Skeletal Family axe man Stan Greenwood gleefully marching about stage left. Beefier than their studio counterparts, the likes of ‘Lost in Munich’ and ‘Set Me Free’ sound massive, but it’s the inevitable ‘Promised Land’ that gets the biggest rapture. Forgoing the set list, Utah Saints Jim Garbutt and Jez Willis’ 60 minute rave is a DJ masterclass. Getting a full house up on its toes, patrons bumped, swayed and dived as Kurt Cobain mixed with dubstep and Florence Welch went trance. It was loud, it was sweaty, it made your trousers flap, it was great! As the ‘headliners’ leave the stage, the crowd begins to dissipate and the black-clad Chapman Family emerge as something of an afterthought. Despite miniscule attendance, the band is on fine form. Singer Kingsley Chapman was born for the stage, entranced in the rhythmic pulse of cuts from 2011s ‘Burn your Town’. The fuzzed-to-hell bass work on tunes from 'Cruel Britannia' becomes a little overpowering, but the band win through in the end. It has been strange opening salvo for sure, with its fair share of peaks and troughs.


Friday 29^th June: The Duchess

Image Credit: Neil Chapman [Unholy Racket]

With tonight’s ticket prices doubling in price, it is just as well that Thursday’s sound problems have been remedied with attendance up considerably. Openers, York’s own Panda Cubs, are the first real surprise of the weekend; their Factory-whispering sounds finding new fans amongst the DV8 contingent. Following a headline show at the Grand Opera House and an impending BBC session, Christian Silver and the Cubs are moving from strength to strength. Watch them closely. More local boys, Hellbound Hearts fail to draw a crowd with their flannel-shirted post-grunge. Raucous workouts from their new EP bristle with energy, with ‘Sinking Ship’ in particular rivalling anything put out by the likes of Heaven’s Basement. Sadly, their low-end riffing does not translate in the cavernous Duchess, punctuated only by Danny’s powerful buzzsaw vocals. Perennial Goff favourites Salvation suffer no such hang-ups, delighting with their shimmering psychedelic pop. From the line-up that brought you the overlooked album ‘SASS’, the band deliver tight, rocking performances of ‘Diamond Child’ and ‘All and More’, a stripped down acoustic version of ‘The Happening’ is a welcome interlude. Devout followers the ‘Deep-Sea Jivers’ appear to antagonise several spectators, some alienated enough to vacate the premises - nothing malicious of course, just alcohol-fuelled japes, and the culprits soon apologise. Headliners Terrorvision remain a true spectacle, even with ‘that ‘Tequila’ song’. Embracing the ‘lads having a lark’ image that won them so many hearts in the first place, they bludgeon a packed venue with amiable nonchalance. Frontman Tony Wright’s relentless Brit-pop bop is infectious, the crowd stomping their feet to the sing-along crunch of ‘Alice what’s the Matter’ and ‘American TV’. Unashamedly English and bloody proud of it, as ‘Perseverance’ crashes to a close and the band wave their final ‘turrahs’, Sherrington’s point is proven; this is no Whitby knock-off, but a stellar alternative music festival with its own legs, and those legs don’t stop dancing!