Live Review : DV8 Fest 2011 : Sunday

DV8 Festival 2011 – Sunday

MESH / THE MARCH VIOLETS / ANNE MARIE HURST / DEATHBOY / SPUCKTUTE / DYONISIS

All good things must come to an end, but with a tasty looking finale as tonight – it looks set to end on a high.

Opening the Duchess tonight, on time, is the ethereal charms of Dyonisis.  The Sheffield four-piece reel you in with their enchanting folk-rock harmonies.  But don’t kid yourself, Dyonisis aren’t all sweet and innocent there’s a sharp edge to them, whether it being the cutting vocals of lead singer Nel or the crisp guitar structure provided by Tom.  There’s enough bite about their songs to make you take notice, it’s of no surprise they pulled a good and eager early crowd.

Things are slightly delayed downstairs which means we witness the end of Spucktute.  They’re very marmite.  This is either utter rubbish or pure genius, depending on your outlook.  They take obnoxious electro-beats and abstract spoken-word vocals, and then combine this with an extra layer of bizarre.  Songs like ‘Jeremy Kyle Nation’ take us through the daytime TV schedule whilst ‘We’re All Prostitutes’ is an almost anti-capitalism rant of how we’re all consumer hypocrites.  It’s no surprise Max from History of Guns is involved in this project, today wearing a very odd helmet throughout the set.  Strangely addictive.

Tech problems delay the arrival of Deathboy onstage and threatens to thwart the set, during the first 3 tracks you can actually hear the click track from the drums out in the main mix. “It makes us more industrial,” jokes Scott.

As often, with Deathboy shows, a percentage of the set is made up with tracks that have never been commercially released.  So, while the likes of ‘Lullaby’, with it’s odd jazz piano, and ‘Black Morning’ from the 2006 album ‘End of an Error’ make appearances, there’s also tracks like ‘So I Said You’d Died’ in the mix.   Despite the early hiccups, it’s a respectable performance. However, the likes of ‘Cheap Shot’ would benefit with more vitriol in their execution.

Anne Marie Hurst has been stacking up the gigs recently since her comeback.  There’s also a new album scheduled for September and tracks like ‘Lost in Munich’ aired tonight show great promise for the release.  The performance is energetic and thrilling and it’s very clear the band are up there really enjoying themselves performing tonight.  As good as the new tracks are; it was always going to be about the classics.  In the mix tonight are assorted Ghost Dance and Skeletal Family tracks, which blend together seamlessly. ‘River of No Return’ slotted perfectly into ‘Promised Land’ driving the audience into a pure party mood.

Anne Marie is in fine voice, pouring herself into each and every song.  Such is the quality of her set tonight; it almost threatens to steal the show…

Whilst it had been a headline-quality performance from AMH, The March Violets are tonight’s headliners, so in theory this could be an awesome finale to the Duchess… or it could be an anti-climax like Specimen.

I suppose there are distinct differences between bands here.   What is common about TMV and AMH is they are treating their ‘comeback’ as serious business, they want to play more shows they want to release new material and they want to impress those who’ve loyally stuck with them or come along to check them out.  So with that in mind, you at least know they’re going to try their best.  Is their best good enough…?  What a silly question…

It’s a fine performance from one of the scene’s key bands.  If anyone did an ‘all time greatest’ list of bands from the scene, they’d be in there and for very simple reasons; they’re just so damn good.

You know the old songs to expect, OK there were always going to be big responses to ‘Walk into the Sun’ or ‘Snake Dance’ but tracks like ‘Radiant Boys’ and ‘Slow Drip Lizard’ are massively underrated and garnish big sing-a-longs from an enthusiastic (and slightly merry) crowd.  The double-whammy of Children on Stun and Grooving in Green (which Rosie dedicates to bands who named themselves after their songs) sees half the crowd clambering all over the top of each other in some general messy Goth-pyramid – which doesn’t quite work due to the low ceiling.  But this is the kinda spirits the crowd is in, whilst the band pounds out the tracks in a manor that completely justifies this response.

But it’s not just about the classics, new tracks like ‘A Little Punk Thing’ sit shoulder to shoulder with the bands best work, with blazing sirens and choppy guitars and the attitude to go with it.

The double-header tonight of TMV with AMH could go down as one of the best double billings in the recent history of Goth, with both omitting fierce sets which set the place alight.

But there’s still more live music to enjoy even after the final bars have come down, further problems in Fibbers have meant that Mesh are late taking to stage.  Anyone coming down from The March Violets catches 45 minutes of their set.  It’s mostly built around the ‘A Perfect Solution’ album but there are assorted unexpected tracks dug out, including ‘I Don’t Think They Know’ and ‘Not Prepared’ which both represent a more Depeche Mode synth sound for the band, as opposed to some of the more upbeat pop songs in their back catalogue. Perhaps timing couldn’t have been any more apt for ‘People Like Me (With this Gun)’… but thankfully no Morissey-level-stupidity comments with it.  Aside from a glimmering light show, the band are also accompanied by TV screens and projectors which show accompanying images to the tracks.  It helps set an extra visual about the band, who are very suited to this dark underground club.   As usual, Mark is wearing his trademark beanie hat.  He must be very warm under there tonight, as the place is ram-packed and rather warm.

The main set is wrapped up with a double onslaught of ‘Crash’ and ‘From this Height’, two of the bands danciest tracks. Although a band often negative in their lyrics, ‘From this Height’ has a more optimistic and feel good vibe to it.  Couple this with the throbbing beats, it creates euphoria in the room.  The encore tonight is the track they always finish with, ‘Friends Like These’.  It’s another of the positive tracks in their catalogue, which finishes the party in style.   The song ends with an extended outro, during this time Mark leaves the stage and the rest of the band finish the instrumental finish.  Martin Degville of Sigue Sigue Sputnik has been kicking around side stage, trying to talk to the band while they’re performing, and he’s noticeably inebriated.

Martin decides to join Mesh on stage for the outro, mostly by dancing around, but ending by warbling into the microphone.  It’s taken in good humour and gets applause from the crowd, as an amusing ending to an effective set.

Between the bands on Sunday, it really has been saving some of the best til last – many great performances tonight on what has been a thoroughly enjoyable weekend for probably all in attendance.  There isn’t really another event like DV8 in the UK, so it’s positive to see it doing well yet again.  Can’t wait ’til next time…

KEVIN MORRIS

To read Saturday’s DV8 review go to HERE and to read Friday’s go to HERE

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