DV8 Festival 2011 - FRIDAY
WORDS: Kevin Morris
IMAGES: Mark Dobson
VIDEO: Spittingflowers

GARY NUMAN / LUXURY STRANGER / UBERBYTE / SURGYN / RESIST

After making a distinct mark on the UK scene in 2010, it's good to see DV8 Fest making a return in 2011.  The headliners look bigger, badder and better, the evolution of the festival taking place with an addition of an extra venue.  A total of 49 bands were set to play the weekend (although one didn't show up, but that's another story) with plenty of different styles and sounds to suit a variety of tastes.  Perhaps, some would argue, there was too much choice, with many split decisions on which bands to see - some would have preferred to see longer sets from their favourites, but these are factors for the organisers to consider for next time - for now it's a weekend of rock 'n' roll.

The proceedings began the night before, with a special showcase night of some of the best bands from the 2010 bill, however our coverage begins from Friday.
One of the big problems this weekend had faced was that it coincided with York Races.  Other than the increased presence of numpties in town, the Races had caused some bands serious issues getting in to set up and sound check, ultimately causing delays.  We'd hoped to bring you coverage of Partly Faithful, originally scheduled as the first band on at the Duchess but due to the doors being nearly one hour late in opening, and Fibbers running roughly to schedule, we had to pop downstairs to see what was going on thus missing Ed Tuke and his band.

In Fibbers, Resist were playing to a sparse and bemused crowd, most of whom seemed to be in there due to being sick of queuing rather than to see Resist. The tail end of their set was a more ambient industrial affair including a bizarre choice of cover in the form of Nine Inch Nails' 'Right Where It Belongs', the bonus track on 'With Teeth'.

SURGYN

Perhaps the most interesting band in any venue tonight was Dundee's Surgyn. They look like a cosmetic surgery disaster, but they're meant to look like this.  Providing an array of gender-altering breaks and beats they pretty much slay their way through key cuts of début album 'Vanity' along with sneaking in some new tracks along the way.  The band proudly announce that they've signed to Deathwatch Asia which is excellent news and they're visibly pleased to shout it out.  They've an extra bounce in their stomp and it's an enthusiastic performance from a band in the next generation of UK industrial acts.

UBERBYTE

From the next generation to this generation, you can always rely on Uberbyte.  Perhaps their strength is their weakness in that you know what to expect from them, but their strengths include an excellent arsenal of tracks, promising new material, committed performances and oontz.  Their set list consisting of their back catalogue, 'Total War' and 'Stand Up (For Uberbyte)' amongst the inevitable old school tracks, but material from the forthcoming 'NFY' album is also showcased with the crowd embracing it all. They've gone for the thumping end of their catalogue which keeps people dancing throughout the set.

The low ceiling clearance in the venue causes some problems with falling backdrops and a general mess of cables and mic stands, that in turn causes microphones to cut out but they recover well from the technical set backs.
Vocalist Richard Pyne is the usual showman and proves again to be very effective in getting a crowd going, unafraid of banter with them and spurring responses to keep spirits high.  Their set finishes with perhaps the sweariest song of the weekend, 'Money Shot', an obscenity fuelled romp.  The perfect ending.

 

 

 

 

GARY NUMAN

Anyone expecting a 'greatest hits' from Gary Numan should have been prepared to be disappointed, but then again long term fans should know that Numan very much likes to keep moving forward and maybe a very good opportunity to show casual fans there's a lot more to him than the 'hits'. Perhaps of concern is that when he opens with a pumped up industrialised 'Down in the Park', from 1979's 'Replicas' album, the audience numbers still seem a little low.  Luckily the place fills as the set goes on, presumably as headliners finish elsewhere and attendees crawl across the city.

The bulk of the set was newer, rather than older with the 'Pure' and 'Jagged' albums getting most airings and three unreleased songs also made the fold.  With a set that spans the whole of his career, it aired some of the best of what he's done along with evidence that there's so much more to follow.  Many songs have been reworked slightly and there's a harder edge about the set tonight.

Live, Numan is joined by a drummer, two synth players and a guitarist - but whilst they're worth a glance he's the star of the show.  His stage presence is electrifying and emotional as he reacts to the sounds and lyrics - often swinging around the mic stand, or pleading into it. The full light show also helps create the mood, setting and atmosphere of the evening so, regardless of how big a fan you are, as the end of the set approaches you know you've seen a great performance by a true legend of the music industry.  How fitting that he came straight to York after picking up a Mojo Inspiration Award.

To read the Sunday and Saturday reviews go to HERE for Sunday and to HERE for Saturday.