6th November 2023
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This festival was a cool way to get around local venues in Liverpool, and discover new up and coming artists that you might not of stumbled upon otherwise. The tickets themselves were only £32 for a whole day of music, where you could fit in anywhere from 1-7 shows.
Oscar Blue:
Right at the back corner of the spanish caravan was where I watched Oscar Blue, an up and coming Irish artist, for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed listening to music I had never heard before and found that his set flew by. From the range of his voice to his guitar playing skills he had the entire audience in his thrall. The lyrics themselves whilst catchy, I found to be at times, a little cliche. But on the whole a very entertaining set I only wished it could’ve lasted for longer than 30 minutes!
Precious Pepala:
This next gig was in the Arts Club and featured a very enigmatic young black female artist. She gave the audience a lot of context before each song, which I found helped to make sense of what she was singing about (mostly what it was like to grow up in a christian household). The songs themselves were good but the subject on what she was singing felt a bit overused and I wished she had played a wider variety of themes. Despite this, the set was still fun and the atmosphere created was intimate and friendly.
Dylan Robert:
In the basement of the shipping forecast dylan roberts and his band, orginally from liverpool, played for a half hour. The enthusiasm with which they played their songs was as if they were on stage in wembley rather than simply playing to a handful of lucky people in Liverpool. From songs inspired by guardians of the galaxy and the beatles the set was very energetic, and had many head bopping along to the guitar riffs and catchy lyrics. Having not originally planned to see him, I was glad that we had a few hours to kill till the headline act and stopped in to see what they were like.
The Royston Club:
The headliners of the evening did not disappoint. The venue itself was cool in the grand central, the perfect size to hear and see everything whether you were at the back or the front. When the band came on the entire crowd seemed to lose their minds for a moment, none more so than a large group of rugby lads, proving the bands music to truly reach everyone. With songs like ‘Mariana’ ‘The Patch where nothing grows’ and ‘Believe it or not’ the crowd was screaming along with every word. I was up very close to the stage and was sandwiched in between, a very enthusiastic fan who kept leaping about the place and a more subdued one calmly nodding along, as if strongly considering the meaning behind each and every word. It was a great way to end a day packed full of gigs and I would strongly recommend booking tickets for the festival next May!
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