Review: Dot To Dot Festival 2018

As mentioned in our preview Grand Pax was probably the most mysterious artist on this year’s Dot to Dot line-up. After she cancelled her 2.30pm appearance at the Louisiana we can add ‘elusive’ to that description. However her replacement acoustic, singer-songwriter Roman Lewis immediately won the crowd over after revealing that his Mum had driven him to Bristol and the majority of them stayed for his set and were quietly impressed by this highly rated seventeen, yep, seventeen year old.

Over at Thekla Melbourne singer, rapper, drummer and multi-instrumentalist Georgia Flipo aka G Flip was the opening act on the hold stage. G Flip has been wowing antipodean music fans for a few months and on this showing she’ll be doing likewise worldwide. Starting her set drumming on and singing an epic ballad which may have been better later in the set she proceeded to bang out indie-rock-funky-hip-hop-dance belters, slightly reminiscent of US artist Miguel with very few mis-steps along the way. Not only can she drum she has a huge, soul voice and a relaxed, natural stage presence. She’ll be worth following, as like her set it’s unlikely anyone can predict what she’ll do next.

Moving over to Rough Trade Montreal band Men I Trust pulled a big crowd for their 30 minutes of smooth, laid back rhythms and gentle vocals. The live room at Rough Trade was rammed to capacity throughout the set and whilst the band describe themselves as indie-dance, the music is more chilled out and indeed chillout than most bands associated with indie dance music. There were some clever melodies and decent beats going on but the set seemed a little one paced and too beach party the morning after the night before at times.

Mahlia: Photo Jake Davis

After Men I Trust’s sophisticated set next up was Mahalia in the SWX main room and she was a revelation. If there is a British heir to the throne of Lemonade era Beyonce then on this showing Mahalia can put in a strong, strong claim to it. With soul by the bucketful, lyrics by turn confessional, street smart, empowering and, for many young women and men, relatable, and some memorable melodies Mahalia is a huge talent and definitely one to look out for. Anyone who, at the age of 19, can get a huge crowd to wake up and take notice and listen rather than continuing chatting inanely throughout her set has got something going on. And the chap braying ‘I’m only here ironically’ will no doubt be happy to claim he saw her one afternoon at a festival before she made it really big.

Gus Dapperton: Photo: Jake Davis

Immediately following Mahalia in SWX Room 2 were the unclassifiable Haiku Hands. Normally a band who are self-defined or media defined as an ‘art collective’ or even ‘a collective of artists’ should be avoided as there is frequently a danger of them disappearing up their own artsiness. There’s no danger of this with Haiku Hands, the three of them walked on stage to a very basic beat, threw some choreographed but not overly choreographed shapes and then proceeded to rap, sing, dance, scream, shout over simple samples, melodies and beats as if their and our lives depended on it. The group skipped through genres with admirable abandon, if they liked a sound or a groove they’d use it, twist it and make it work for them. Their magpie tendencies ended up sounding like early MIA, Charlie XX, The Beastie Boys, Karen O, and a dozen hip-hop crews having a party to end all parties, having read some of the S.C.U.M Manifesto, before being distracted by some great old skool synth tunes had the entire room dancing and grinning at their women-positive, knowing and empowering lyrics and rhyming. There was art there in their presentation and stage craft but no pretension, some of the crowd could be heard asking when they were likely to be back over from Australia as they definitely wanted to see them again, and after this thirty minutes of pure energy and fire, who wouldn’t?

Elter: Photo: Jake Davis

Back at the Thekla Bristol singer Rothwell wowed the crowd in the hold with her blue-eyed soul voice and classic dance and pop tunes. Now based in London this was a rare chance to see her and her drummer and keyboardists live in her hometown. Her energy and enthusiasm was apparent during the set, highlighted by the impassive approach of the other musicians on stage. She may still be finding her sound, and could well ‘Do an Adele’ one day but for the moment her soulful pop was well done and could certainly find a big audience given the right opportunities.

Bridges: Photo: Jake Davis

After Rothwell and a breather chatting in the Thekla car park and seeing which band was playing on the Pabst Blue Ribbon truck it was time for the dreadfully named Winston Surfshirt. A name like that conjures up images of sunshine, beaches, baggy clothes, baggier philosophies and possibly even some jazz fusion. And that is pretty much what Winston Surfshirt served up, a slightly less funky Jamiroquai who had listened to a Jack Johnson album or two and liked hip-hop enough to give it a go. It was accurately executed and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed it however at the very end of the set when they covered the Outkast song and didn’t so much wreck it as smash it on the rocks of languid, laid back mediocrity that was a good time to take another break before re-entering the fray.

Whilst at 10pm headliners The Horrors were reportedly tearing up the O2 Academy with an intense, high octane set, it was one in, one out at the Thekla for Vancouver four-piece Peach Pit. Whether the band is named after the diner in teen drama Beverley Hills 90210 (look it up youngsters and marvel at what we watched in the Nineties) they have a sound as glossy as the aforementioned show and with as much depth. Described as a ‘normcore’ band this is singularly appropriate as ‘normcore’ is all about not standing out from the crowd, and Peach Pit’s predictable indie schtick really didn’t stand out from anything. However they pulled a massive crowd who loved them so they seem to be doing something right, if not wildly interesting or original.

The Horrors: Photo: Jake Davis

After almost eight hours of new music the conclusion that Dot to Dot was reflecting the changing tastes of an indie crowd, still throwing up some interesting and exciting bands, we still regret missing the Regrettes, and still exciting and relevant with the odd misses throwing the hits into sharp relief. Time to consider an early bird ticket for next year perhaps.