Review: Dot to Dot Festival 2015

The tenth edition of the Dot to Dot Festival in Bristol gave indie music fans a brilliantly curated line-up in seven, count’em, seven, venues across the city. All of the venues were busy and buzzing from the off as were the thousands of music fans in attendance.

Opening act at the Thekla, multi-instrumentalist Laura Kidd’s project, She Makes War tempted a decent sized crowd from the blazing sunshine outside into the depths of the Thekla . Her music, full of layered vocals and instrumentation is said to be reminiscent of one of the coolest bands on the planet Warpaint, and rarely disappoints and this gig was no different. Expect her next Bristol gig to include a few converts on the strength of this performance.

 She Makes War

Immediately following She Makes War in the Thekla upstairs bar, Amy Studt battled gamely against a crowd which appeared to be largely composed of people forgetting that they were at a gig not down the pub and talking very loudly throughout. If you got close enough you could hear some lovely harmonies and melodies from this adpet singer-songwriter, ably framed by her band. The set included her chart singles ‘Misfit’ and ‘All I Wanna Do’ but the newer material is more mature and has more interesting, at times ‘Daughter-esque’, ideas going on.

Post punk fans could not fail to be impressed by White who have been listening to early Gang of Four albums on repeat, which is no bad thing. The band got a crowd dancing before teatime and people meandering down to the Thekla hold on the strength of the rumbling drums and reverberating bass shaking the boat from deck to deck.

Surprise act of the day, well for this reviewer anyhow, was electronica-soul-boy Sam Sure, whose first song erred on the side of average blue-eyed soul bordering on the horrors of Craig David’s worst moments. This made us wonder if sticking around for an artist on the strength of an Apple Mac being on stage was a good idea. However in contrast the next tune was an epic, summery, dance-soul track, which could easily be the soundtrack to any number of big nights out across the globe. Following this with a nice slab of dubstepp-y, rib shaking tuneage was a good move and it’s easy to see why dance music doyenne Annie Mac has picked him as her ‘next hype’ for May.

 Sam Sure

Over at Trinity all girl band Pins pulled in a big crowd who loved their punked up indie-rock. Imagine Savages with more melody, slightly less polish and the pop sensibility of the GoGos and you’ll nearly get Pins. They are the sort of band with cross gender and generation appeal who could headline the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury and justify their inclusion easily. Pins are defintely a band to see live, they have energy, attitude without being alienating and some serious musical skills, their half hour set seemed over in a flash and left the crowd wanting much more.

With the day rolling on into the early evening, Spanish quartet Hinds arrived at Trinity to a static, lacklustre pre-7pm crowd and exited half an hour later with the room bouncing.

The energy Hinds exuded was then built upon in the upstairs room by Glasgow’s Honeyblood. The two-piece’s new drummer Cat Myers now seeming completely at home in the band, especially on the duo of new songs the band aired. Single ‘Bud’ and one of the new tracks, ‘Babes Never Die’, gave an exceedingly full room a treat, making the Trinity Centre the place to be for the beginning of the evening.

 Honeyblood

Things were turned up yet another notch back downstairs with Brighton’s The Wytches bringing their psych-y grunge noise and causing a thrashing sea of bodies in the front few rows. Intensity wasn’t lacking in Fat White Family’s following set either, before Best Coast brought the Trinity line-up to a close with a bundles-of-fun hour long set.

 The Wytches

For older tracks, such as the rapturously received ‘Crazy For You’ and ‘When I’m With You’ – the latter of which was dedicated to Bethany’s grandmother in hospital, as it’s her favourite of their songs – Bethany Cosentino was hidden behind her guitar, strumming surf-pop chords and seeming very much like just one member of the five-piece band she now plays with. But she isn’t, and she is Best Coast. It was on tracks from latest album ‘California Nights’, which saw Cosentino ditch the guitar and play the part of frontperson, that her showmanship – and particularly her voice – were allowed to shine.

After the main headliners had come and gone, the Thekla seemed the venue of choice for many, with a post-midnight line-up of emo rock completely filling the room even when the clock ticked past 1am.

The Hotelier took to the stage at midnight, the latest show on their already very successful first trip to Europe, and despite being twelve hours deep into the day, voices and enthusiasm weren’t lacking from the crowd or band. Tracks from the band’s 2014 album ‘Home, Like Noplace Is There’ were shouted back at them with inspiring vigour, and they left quite a hole for penultimate act Cymbals Eat Guitars to follow. Their visceral noise rock more than did the job though, with the intensity of The Hotelier’s set only furthered and continued.