LIVE: Dot to Dot festival, Manchester (The Bohicas, Courtney Barnett, Peace)

Dot 2 Dot Festival taught me so very much but yet so little at the same time.  Valuable fashion lessons, such as never wear suede cowboy boots in Manchester when its overcast – it will rain, you will get trench foot.  Reminders of things you should already know, like starting your day with 6.8% lager will inevitably lead to falling down a lot, and a brain feeling not dissimilar to dried fruit the next morning.  Reiterations of how in live music, running on time is not a given, which leads to you wondering around a half empty venue in which you have no interest, clutching an unsavory beverage, wishing you’d taken the opportunity to stop for a coffee…

Sorry dear reader, I digress with such trivial musings!  Dot 2 Dot provided me with musical awakenings the likes of which I’d not experienced in ages!  Let me tell you why…

Myself and my colleague Gaz were a little late to the game, having arranged to meet early so I could go swoon over my teenage rockabilly dream Ezra Furman.  A bit of cock up meant we were held back, leading to the aforementioned strong lager.  Once joyously sorted, we hurriedly made our way through the flooding streets of Manchester, and climbing a treacherous metal staircase, to a venue called Zombie Shack, to see my absolute new favorite band ever – The Bohicas.

If you read the preview, I told you it was like being jawed with awesome.  And live they blew my tiny mind.  I’d go with a mix of The Jam, The Clash, The Libertines, but so very different too.  Aesthetically, the leather jacket clad 4 piece are damn good looking, incredibly cool and in control – the kind of guys you want to be with and/or be mates with.  Although 4 rockers in playing in a tiki shack is rather curiously out of place the boys seem so confident and relaxed, throwing cheeky smiles to the blonde haired mini-mosh pit that has emerged before them. With some utterly epic drumming and delicious guitar licks, the sound is a hard and fast juggernaut of punk sensibility.  Softness is added with some tight 3-part harmonies and funk grooves from the bassist, giving it a bluesier feel.  Singles ‘Swarm’and ‘Crush Me’were obscenely good, with some seriously sexy riffs and naughty vocals. I love this band and I don’t care who knows.  An amazing show, amazing songs.  I hope they become bloody huge; this is how music should sound.

Following this revelation, we wondered over in daze to Joshua Brookes, a rather seminal local venue.  Hoping to catch the band that our little guide book assured us would be playing in their lovely cavernous venue, we were rather disappointed that nobody was on, or looked like they were going to be on for a while. Finishing our pints, we shimmied on down to Deaf Institute. It’s a beauty of a venue, and I only wish we’d got there to catch the gorgeous James Bay a little earlier. Instead we caught Sivu, who despite a long and thorough sound check couldn’t quite get those electro vibes to pop.

Concerned that we’d now spent a good two hours hearing very little for one reason or another, we decided that in order to guarantee crowd pleasers and floor fillers, we really needed to be over at The Ritz.  We opened the doors just as headliners Peace took the stage.  Peace are very cool, they’ve got that dreamy guitar dance vibe, with some very sharp and current lyrics.  They remind me of The Killers circa ‘Hot Fuss’, peppered with some Suede-esque snobbery – an infectious band guaranteed to light up every indie disco and get stuck in your head. I loved current single ‘Moneywith its simple hook played so delightfully, that I’m still humming it now.  ‘Follow Baby’ showcases the bands dirtier side, a hard introduction mixed in with some breathy verses.  Very much like this band, an easy choice for good tunes and good times.

Now buoyant from Peace’s good vibes, we were ready for my personal show stopper – Courtney Barnett.  I’ll admit it, I was nervous.  What if she wasn’t the amazing singer/songwriter/performer that I wanted to be my new best friend?  What if she plucked timidly at an acoustic guitar on an empty spot lit stage, drearily warbling in a dire, half-arses folksy fashion?  Haha did she f***!!!  Courtney Barnett stomped onto the stage in Gorilla, all massive hair and electric guitar, said what’s up, and then made every one of us in that audience her bitch.  Forgive my language, but she is just too good – the girl has more balls, aggression, individuality, swagger, ice cold cool and all of the other positive adjectives than any other female – and probably male – artist out there right now.  Live, her often mid-tempo songs are played harder and faster, with a serious edge.  This did mean that it took me a minute to figure out what was playing at first, but the musical quality did not falter.  Vocally she is oh so sound, on guitar, to quote Wayne’s World – she can really wail.  We jumped, we danced, we threw beer, and we were exhilarated.  Watching a performer have so much unbridled fun to their own awesome songs got an often tense Manchester crowd to relax and go with the flow, all be it a fast and heavy one.  Ending on the brilliant ‘Breathing In’, Barnett headed back from whence she had come, and we the audience felt beautifully used and satisfied.

And so, realising that nothing would top that and we could only be disappointed with all other music this night, we jumped in a taxi out of the now monsoon-like rain.  We headed into the night to drink tequila with ginger while listening to ‘Exile On Main Street’, as a guaranteed source of happy.  It would have been wonderful to catch a couple more bands, Love Zombies and La Femme seemed particularly promising.  Alas, what I did see was fantastic, and I can’t wait for another one.  Dot 2 Dot, Manchester, rain and wisdom, I salute you!

Kate Tittley

Kate Tittley

Kate Tittley

When not making cocktails for Manchester's finest, Le Titts is most likely to be found the other side of the bar in a cloud of smoke and wine musing loudly over her fantasy band line up, love of the album format and why nothing is better than The Stone Roses. And then spilling the wine...Loving the ride with GigSlutz.
Kate Tittley

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