Mirrors in Hackney offers a laid back day of live music

Mirrors is another new 1 day multi venue festival run by the experienced group that also do Dot To Dot festival amongst other regular events. Situated in Hackney and run over 3 venues Mirrors is like a snippet of The Great Escape festival in Brighton with all venues in a 10 minute walking radius. At a reasonable price of £25 for the whole day 2 venues offered +14 access with Oslo only offering +18.

Getting here I caught the overground from Islington which was pretty straight forward however getting home was a bit of a mission and resulted in an expensive cab ride back to London Bridge so not so great for the South East attendees.

After the straight forward wristband exchange I was given a small programme which was more than adequate and straight away noticed a lot of time had gone into the running order set times. Having arrived early I made my way to Oslo which is a bar with a great food menu downstairs and a 350 capacity venue upstairs. With various beers including their own Oslo larger 4% to Crate Brewery IPA 5.8% ranging from £3.80 to a very pricey £5.20. The food is also quite pricey with premium burgers at £11.50 but they were way tasty.

As with other multi venue festivals; food was available along high street and road vendors as opposed to festival supplied meal trucks/stands so I haven’t gone into prices there.

So 14.30 and the first band Duck House opened the day for DIY who have taken over Oslo, they were electronic based indie act, very samey and not exactly breath taking. The sound levels in Oslo were great though and consistent throughout the day. I must also add it was spotless and a venue I would recommend visiting.

With the staggered stage start times it wasn’t until 18.00 that the first act to open St John Hackney which is a venue the likes of Coldplay, Goldfrapp and Bloc Party have played. High ceiling and seating on both levels it was perfectly situated in the middle of the venues. There was a large empty merchandise stand which looked a bit misplaced there which was a shame, but I was here for the music. Shelter Point kicked off with their keys and synths which again was okay if that was your bag. I am more of a guitar and drum based man but I like innovation and bands adopting new directions which for me didn’t happen enough today as a whole.

I’ve never been to Hackney Round Chapel and my first band there was one I was looking forward to Shelter Point, The Babe Rainbow. On Soundcloud they have a swirly summer sound with dreamy vocals which would fit the 60s. I was quite disappointed by the sound here. I know it is a chapel and a great vibe but it was way too echoey and did the band no justice, maybe a full room would absorb some of the echoes later.

Back to Oslo and a band that I didn’t like so much on Soundcloud I really enjoyed live. Dream Wife I found very entertaining and engaging and the first to have made an effort for Halloween that I had seen.

It was time for a band that was truly going to mix up the atmosphere today. Brighton based trio The Wytches have come a long way in their journey on the live circuit and I have seen them grow. Tonight sporting the best fancy dress tonight Kristian (Evel Knievel) vocals/guitar, Daniel (Wednesday Adams) Bass and Gianni (Rock Lobster) Drums. With their surf/grunge sounds they are the palette cleanser the doctor ordered from this festival. Ironically they have a new track that would have fitted the festival more so, called ‘If Its’s For Money’. Instead they smashed out the likes of ‘Beehive Queen’, ‘Gravedweller’ and ‘Trick and Dance’ which followed with the crowd begging for an encore.

No time for that as the legend that is Thurston Moore was in the building headlining at St John with Thurston Moore Band. The guy is a towering god on stage and just let it all go in front of the receptive crowd.

What a great end to a great day and missed my connection to London Bridge. The atmosphere was pretty chilled and to be honest most of the bands were quite laid back too. Walking from St John to Oslo was okay but I tended to neglect Hackney Round Chapel until the end as it was that much further and poor sound compared to the other 2 venues. Don’t get me wrong, it was a pleasure to see these venues being used for music and bringing people together. Great organisation and probably would come again to see it evolve but, would prefer more choice of genres but still as a 1 day festival for now.

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