Just got back from the weekend at Brighton, we saw some amazing new stuff, some amazing established stuff and some stuff I’d been told was amazing but had to see it to get into it. Here’s a breakdown:
Thursday
After getting fully violated by flies for wearing a green t-shirt, we caught Paul Marshall in a very quiet gig, with most of the crowd seemingly being made up of his friends. I think most people were struggling with the concept of roaming around town for the festival so had chosen on venue to stick to all night. They all missed out, big time.
Paul Marshall – Cross Stitched Lips
After Paul Marshall we headed down to catch Mumdance doing his dj thing between bands at Revenge. This boy knows where it’s at, we were loving his tunes, and had a chat with him after and he turned out to be a really nice guy, who will definitely be coming down for a Basslime gig soon. Check his mix over at Mad Decent
Went on then to catch Late of the Pier who were awesome and young, and jealousy inducing. I’m pretty sure everything of theirs has been blogged to death, so heres their video for The Bears are Coming
The night wound up at Concorde 2 with the Go Team, who we queued for fucking ages to see because Vampire Weekend were on first. It was fun tho, when we did get in, but we were all pretty knackered by then and ended up heading back to our rooms which were invaded by the We Are Your Friends crew who got a bit screwed for accommodation.
Friday
We stepped it up a gear on Friday, taking in twice as many bands and 5 times as much alcohol, so forgive me if this write up is a little hazy on the details.
First up was The Shoes at Barfly. I have no recollection of this at all, but at least that means it wasn’t rubbish. From there we went on to see Rolo Tomassi at Revenge for the absolute highlight of the weekend. I’ve heard people banging on about them for ages but seeing them live was what made it for me. Literally, amazing. Go and see them now. Also, buy their EP off 
From there we staggered slack jawed back to Barfly for Ebony Bones who were good enough for me to remember (just), and were then followed by Friendly Fires who were awesome. I got introduced to Orlando from The Maccabees and couldn’t process what was going on. (I was a lot drunker than I thought)
Ebony Bones – We Know All About You
We moved on again to Concorde 2 from Magistrates and the Ting Tings. I stood outside for most of the Magistrates set trying to sober up and talk to random girls, and despite having no interest in the Ting Tings I’m pleased to say they put on a really good show. I may have fallen asleep standing up and with a pint in my hand.
Saturday
On Saturday Pete and I took in our first daytime show, brushing up on our METAL from the likes of Johnny Truant, The Ghost of a Thousand and Cancer Bats.
The Ghost of a Thousand – They Breed as They Swarm
The evening shows were set to start with Beardyman followed by Wiley then Tomb Crew DJs, but Beardyman was silently cancelled and Wiley bumped up the bill, only to not show up anyway leaving Tomb Crew to play for ages. To be fair though, Tomb Crew know where the shit’s at, and I’ll be making the effort to catch them at Big In Japan when they come down.
We went up to Pressure Point to catch Example, but got there early for the end of Gotye’s set. It’s a damn good job we did as well, because he was great. One dude playing keyboards, drums, a wood block and a laptop with some awesome visuals and a great range of tunes, definitely one to watch if you ever get the chance.
Gotye – Thanks For Your Time [Amazing Video]
Example was great as well, and turned out to be the highlight of the night. I’ve been a fan of his style for a while and he didn’t fail to impress, even if he does look like a local dj who hates us. He even boshed out the Herve remix of So Many Roads, which kept everyone bouncing bouncing bouncing. Shit hot show!
Example – Eyeballs Painted Black (Feat. The Rolling Stones)
Example – Me & Mandy [TUUUUUUUNE]
Example – So Many Roads (Hervé Remix)
We returned again to Concorde 2 for Wiley who was scheduled in to replace Santogold who was ill. I’m a big Wiley fan but had never managed to catch him live before, and I left the show feeling proper let down. All the videos I’ve seen or live audio I’ve listened to shows a completely different show to what we saw, I think down to the success of Rolex. The crowd was pretty waste until Rolex came on, Wiley seemed half bothered, did single verses of tunes, fully dictated what DJ Cheeky should play and didn’t really seem to have a set list or anything. Live PAs are difficult for a grime MC because it’s not like the rave situation they’re used to in London where there’s huge hype and the DJ runs the show. He played a couple of tracks off Grime Wave, but I mean played the tracks, straight off the CD. Missed out big tunes in favour of letting Cheeky do his thing with some old school garage?! Not what we went there for really.
Tunes He Played:
Wiley – If You’re Going Out I’m Going Out Too
We were gutted that he didn’t play:
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