By The Rivers are at the top of their game on opening day of Simon Says

Simon Says 2014

Saturday 26th to Sunday 27th July 2014
De Montfort Hall, Granville Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE1 7RU, England MAP
£25 for the weekend

An exclusively local music festival can be an off-putting prospect, one that suggests sandal-clad teachers playing blues standards in squalid beer gardens. Happily, Leicester's music scene is sufficiently diverse and self-sustaining to make its annual scene celebration, Simon Says, a genuine hoot.

Built on the ashes of Summer Sundae, the gone-but-not-forgotten boutique festival of choice, in the welcoming grounds of De Montfort Hall, Simon's is a well structured, laid back and hospitable weekender with four stages, and the bar on musical talent is set loftily high.

An early case in point are Fallers, a fantastic female four-piece barely out of their teens, whose three part harmonies, foot stomping rhythms and ear-tugging melodies on tunes like Tin Box and Sinking Ship draw whoops from those wise enough to arrive before lunchtime.

The green-haired, elfin Grace and her band The Magic Roots threaten pretension, armed as they are with an acoustic guitar, a cello, and a xylophone, but their skanking folk proves accessible and breezy.

The standard isn't always met - the accurately named Humdrum sound like Gomez without the grit, while SuperEvolver haven't actually evolved past Kasabian's third album - but this makes the better stuff, such as the off-beat falsetto squawks of Strangler Figs and Speaking In Italics' impassioned post-hardcore squall, stand out all the more.

Even better are chirpy duo The Daydream Club, who captivate the cavernous hall indoors between the two of them with their arresting songs about record shops, trepidation and the weather - Paula Walker's crystal tones lilting above Adam Pickering's percussive guitar.

On the tiny bandstand stage in the hall's back garden, floppy-haired songman Weikie does his best to charm the chatty crowd and eventually settles on the banjo as his instrument of choice, but he doesn't have quite as much impact as The Kittenettes, the grungy girl duo who follow him with slow, dirty grooves from a heart shaped guitar.

The first day was topped off by a double dose of dub indoors, first from sound system stalwarts The Vibronics, then finally by shiny reggae boys By The Rivers. These local lads were given a heroes’ welcome and prompted the best crowd reaction of the entire weekend as they smoothly flowed through catchy tunes like Make Your Own Road and Take Control.

Their constant touring schedule, supporting the likes of The Specials, has seen them develop into an air-tight sextet of skanking maestros, their bellowing horns and bubbly bass propelling the set as songs morph into each other seamlessly. There’s not too much competition for them, but if there’s a better young reggae band in the country right now, I’d be very surprised.

review by: Alex Scoppie