Me 'n' 'er (LongLegs) had a boss weekend in Sheffield and what a festival Tramlines is. You could put fifty people in a line, all of whom had spent the weekend at Tramlines and all of whom could've had a completely different festival experience. It really does match Glastonbury for the range of entertainment on offer. The street theatre alone makes it worth the trip...
This is a short round-up of our weekend.
FridayWe arrived at tea-time and headed down to The Royal Standard to catch a Wirral band called
High Violet. We had put them on in Manchester earlier this year and promised them that we'd show our faces. Next was the long trek across town to Greystones and our first visit to the much-talked-about pub. It's an ace boozer and three-fifths of
The Hosts treated us to a mixture of their own tunes and some rock 'n' roll covers.
SaturdayAfter a hearty (to put it mildly) breakfast near the guesthouse next door to SWFC, we put in a brief appearance at the main stage for
Eliza & The Bear. Then the day got better when we got on a bus on Fitzwilliam Street and were serenaded by
The Crookes for the 45 minute round trip. The Busker Bus really is an awesome idea. Next, it was off to the Academy 2 and our first taste of
The Payroll Union, who we hope to bring to Manchester very soon. All members of
The Hosts were present and correct this time for a rocking headline set, just a shame that it got cut short by somebody with no soul.
To finish the night, we headed to the Cathedral for a change of pace and caught the end of
Sam Airey and the start of
Nadine Shah in a packed venue, before retiring for the night.
SundayLongLegs wandered off to the main stage for a bit of
Teleman, while I got into position at The Bowery for
The Nose featuring
Neil McSweeney. It was amusing watching a hundred jaws dropping, as Neil showed that he can rock as well as folk.
David J Roch was up next and LongLegs was back in the room to catch his sumptuous set. That boy is a real talent. A hat-trick of Sheffield acts was completed by a young band called
High Hazels, another tip for the top.
We had to have some main stage action in our weekend and
Veronica Falls &
The Crookes provided the soundtrack to Sunday afternoon. Shakespeares next for a bit of Wagon Wheel action, provided by
Boss Caine and then
The Listeners in the stable in the back yard.
Our weekend finished with a wimper at Penelopes (possibly featuring
Rosie May) but we'll gloss over that and it certainly didn't spoil a beautiful weekend. Interestingly (or not), seven of the fifteen acts watched are from Sheffield and we certainly didn't set out with the intention of watching local acts. Obviously, a Sheffield festival will feature a lot of Sheffield acts, but it does show the strength of the scene in the city right now. It is beating up Manchester at the minute, that's for sure.
Special mentions to:
Musical Ruth - a singing nun on a moving piano
Granny Turismo - guys dressed as grannies on motorised shopping trolleys
Corner Cafe, Penistone Road - the belly buster is immense
A photo round-up will be up on our
Facebook page tomorrow.
Nice one, Sheffield!