day 2 of I’ll Be Your Mirror Festival kicks off with a bang
I'll Be Your Mirror 2011 review
Tuesday 2nd August 2011
Following on from the first day of hip hop/rap and punk crooners sees Portishead return to the Alexandra Palace in north London, bringing with them a collection of altogether noisier artists for the second day to finish off the weekend. If Saturday could be seen as the hip-hop day, this was most definitely reserved for the rock and metal artists.
Having missed earlier acts including Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the line-up, we stumbled into the Great Hall to catch the start of the Swans, an older American group who had also recently reformed and were out to continue their legacy of post-punk rock. On stage they are a rag-tag bunch of guitarists, keyboardists and percussion players, with stage gear and amplifiers that were seemingly as old as they are. With some of the weirder instruments, such as a full kit of bells and chimes, they initially invoked ideas of a prog-rock band in the vein of Pink Floyd. Put simply, instead they are loud and proud of it, manufacturing a perfect brand of head stomping rock and metal from older songs as well as newer tracks from a recently released LP. The assembled crowd enjoyed the rocky set, although the volume and cacophony of sound that had built up in the room had some festival-goers escaping to the outside to avoid ear damage.
If the Swans were an indication of the kind of music that was coming up, then Nick Cave's Grinderman project cemented the idea that this was a day of rock. This was exemplified in true rock and roll fashion by the frontman's exuberant screaming and dancing, at times bouncing all over the stage and up to the audience to get amongst the crowd, much to the delight of the audience. Despite only having a couple of LP releases to their name, Grinderman proved that they were more than capable of playing with the big boys and played a collection of hard rock tracks in a set list that flowed well, apart from the points where the solos and quieter parts of their tracks devolved so far away from music that you couldn't tell if they were taking themselves seriously or not. Cave's ego has a lot to do with the popularity of the band, but after seeing them play and the way that they interact with their fans, it's not difficult to see that this fame is well placed.
In the nearby West Hall, well established group The Telescopes, followed on thereafter by kicking off their rock set, which started in fairly tame rock territory and quickly evolved into something more loud and heavy, with shapeless tracks that filled the hall with sounds of spacey guitar riffs and solos. With an experimental edge to their modern musical productions, it's not difficult to see why Portishead had included them in the line-up, but after seeing Grinderman's performance their set seemed a bit tame in comparison and perhaps a little too "out-there", with audience members moving outside to enjoy a beer in the sun and soak up the atmosphere.
To finish off the lineup on the main stage, Portishead returned to the Great Hall to play their second gig of the weekend, with a slightly changed set list and visuals to their tracks. Another great gig that was enjoyed even more after seeing them for a second time, knowing to expect the great live versions of their tracks with their live instrumental sections and solos, set to a variety of unique visuals, some effects of which gave it a cheap 70s feel in keeping with the band's art style. Despite a slight hiccup with a track that the drummer was unable to play in sync with (much to the amusement of everyone after trying to restart five times), theirs was another polished performance of tracks from their back catalogue, with all the firm favourites from the previous evening and definitely didn't disappoint.
Another great collection of bands old and new to enjoy in this London location; well done to ATP and Portishead for bringing these together.
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