Festival Preview : DV8, York.

Dv8 Festival, 28^th June-1^st July at locations across York

Dv8 is fast approaching and will once again see the ancient city of York overtaken by alternative music lovers.

Events kick off with a taster on Thursday night.  This sums up most of what is good about this festival.  Four bands will take to The Duchess Stage and they represent some of the highlights from last year’s line-up.  The Last Cry have built upon their prodigious live reputation and will open up proceedings with a barrage of intense goth rock. The Chapman Family will doubtless maintain the intensity as they deliver their own brand of indie angst. Anne-Marie Hurst will follow-up her storming live performance of the previous year with a fusion of Skeletal Family, Ghost Dance and new material from the recent ‘Day of All Days’ album. To top things off The Utah Saints will get the stage bouncing with their alternative dance.  If this mouth watering little taster is not filling enough then the festival proper kicks off on Friday with three venues serving up a feast of alternative entertainment.

The Duchess will house the more rock and post-punk artists for the weekend.  Terrorvision, The Psychedelic Furs and The March Violets headline the three nights supported by a cast that includes Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Siiii, Salvation, VuVuVultures and many more.

For electronic music fans a short trip to Fibbers is called for.  Method Cell, EMF and Modulate will lead proceedings, with a whole host of others to waggle your glow sticks at.

The final venue to quench a thirst for music is The Stereo, host of York’s regular goth night ‘Darklands’. Joe Black, Professor Elemental and Mr B, The Gentleman Rhymer, headline the three nights and provide some of the more off-beat entertainment of the weekend.

The music is perhaps even more diverse then previous years with the inclusion of some surprises. Headliners Terrorvision and EMF may have raised few finely pencilled eyebrows as they stretch the musical focus of the weekend ever further, but both come with fearsome live reputations.

If all of the musical entertainment provided during the evenings is not enough, then Saturday and Sunday sees the Traders Market return.  The market has a whole host of stalls where you can indulge in some dark retail therapy.  The Market can be found at The National Centre for Early Music (NCEM), which is where you can also pick up your wristbands during the day.  There is also a showing of Steve Severin’s musical score for ‘Vampyr’ at the City Screen on Sunday afternoon which will require an extra ticket.

It is difficult to pick out highlights for such a diverse festival as it caters to so many different branches of the alternative family tree. Being a little old school, I am particularly looking forward to Anne-Marie Hurst, Salvation, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and The March Violets, with a little bit of Terrorvision to scratch the rock itch. There is certainly enough variety to cater to most tastes here.  The timetable has been arranged so that it is possible, if not probable, that you could see a little bit of every band.  This year’s event also sees the introduction of a sponsor, so expect a Hobgoblin to be prowling, adding to the overall wickedness.

Tickets are available for the whole weekend or individual nights.  Check out the Dv8 Festival facebook group and pages for more info.

Words: Unholy Racket