Still in photo and blog catch-up mode, this is the most overdue of the lot; last September’s boutique Frankly Festival at the Powerhouse, organised by Room40‘s Lawrence English. It was a very eclectic line-up, with differing musical styles on show as well as the different geographical backgrounds of the acts on show.
An early highlight was Heinz Riegler, who I’d seen at many a show over the years but had never actually seen play. His songs reminded me a lot of Robert Forster, with a similar spoken/sung delivery and a more narrative style of lyrics, but with an all female band (Sekiden‘s Seja, I Heart Hiroshima‘s Susie Patten and ex-Rational Academy‘s Meredith McHugh) to soften it out.
Seja was ok; The Pancakes were fun; Jamie Stewart was possibly the most intense thing you’re ever likely to see at an indie music festival, the Xiu Xiu song ‘Dear God I Hate Myself‘ being just one example of this during his set; Nikasaya and Tenniscoats were lovely; I Heart Hiroshima were as good as ever; Qua & Supermelody wasn’t really my cup of tea; and Peaches played a DJ set mostly in the dark. It was interesting seeing the change in the audience demographic over the course of the afternoon (the festival ran from 2pm to 8pm), with the indie kids that had been there earlier on slowly being outnumbered by a more dance crowd that were there just for Peaches.
Although my memory of specific details from the day are more than sketchy, as I didn’t write any notes down the next day when I was downloading the photos, I do remember it being a really enjoyable and relaxing day, although for the me the best was to come, with Van Dyke Parks playing an evening show upstairs at the Powerhouse.
More photos on Flickr.
Peaches
Qua + Supermelody
I Heart Hiroshima
Nikasaya + Tenniscoats
Jamie Stewart
The Pancakes
Seja
Heinz Riegler
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