From the 20th to 22nd June
Germany's sleepy former air force base in Neuhausen-Ob-Eck became
home to 60,000 music fans and some of the most exciting bands in the
world. I had the chance to visit the southern German “Southside
Festival”. “Southside” is the southern counterpart of the
“Hurricane Festival” in Scheeßel (between Bremen and Hamburg) -
their partnership akin to that of Reading and Leeds.
Friday
I started off my weekend with an incredible London
Grammar set. I must admit
missing out on the hype surrounding the band due to a transatlantic
sailing trip. Perhaps this explains why I was so amazed by the
quality of their 45-minute set. Lead singer Hannah Reid started off
very shy, slowly became more relaxed and eventually seemed fully at
ease on stage. Such was the quality of their performance that the
German (actually very international) crowd cheered the Nottingham
band from one Indie Pop track to the next. I have seldom seen such an
appreciative band. They gave me the feeling that, rather than taking
their fame for granted, they really enjoyed being on stage and tried
to enjoy every moment of it.
Next up for me were
The 1975. “We
didn't have a fucking clue how big we actually are in Germany!”,
the band announced on stage much to the delight of the tent-filling
crowd. Due to bad audio mixing the vocals were, unfortunately, very
quiet, thus putting more focus on their upbeat, electronic sound. The
set took them through their biggest hits sending the mostly teenage
girl crowd mental.
Glasgow's Franz
Ferdinand treated us to a
highly energetic Indie guitar show. Expectations of the band, who can
definitely be described as Indie royalty, were high. Their
combination of old and new songs sparked mosh pits everywhere. The
odd person even felt inclined to crowd surf – even more spectacular
considering the punishment handed out for this act: a 24 hour
festival ban. The band couldn't stop smiling throughout their time on
stage, transmitting their happiness to the indie-loving crowd.
Casual, friendly and energetic are probably the Right Thoughts and
Rights Words for the band's Right Action.
One of the
trippiest acts on the bill was Sweden's wonderful Lykke Li.
Her depressed, dark sound seemed to be made for an 11:30 pm indoor
set. The atmosphere inside the tent was indescribable with the singer
striking the perfect mix between sounds. Relaxation among the crowd
gave way to instant vitality seconds later. Her movements were
obviously entirely consumed by the music she and her band were
playing, adding further feeling to the eerie darkness of the set. The
whole crowd was fully engulfed by her music up to “I Follow
Rivers”: Everybody went crazy shouting along - voices already
hoarse.
Saturday
My second day of music at
Southside kicked off with the loud, aggressive duo Blood Red
Shoes. Their energy packed 45 minutes were good. Not more and not
less. They managed to do what they do best: play exciting rock music
that sounds as if there are 4 or 5 people on stage – not just two.
I left the “Green
Stage” to head to the blue one to see New Zealand's The Naked
and Famous. Southside has four stages: two main ones (green and
blue) and two indoor ones (red and white). Upon arriving at the “Blue
Stage” I was greeted by a rapidly growing crowd of indie pop fans
waiting for the band that provided peoples' summer soundtrack “Young
Blood” in 2011. The band were also very appreciative of the
support, especially after spotting a group of fellow Kiwis. They
played songs from both their chart topping debut album “Passive Me,
Aggressive You” and their 2013 follow-up “In Rolling Waves”. I
was positively surprised by the massive crowd they had attracted who,
rather than leaving after their most famous songs, actually stayed
until the end - knowing every word being sung by the act who now
live in Los Angeles. “I Kill Giants” provoked a roaring reaction
from the crowd who didn't calm down for the rest of the set, getting
even more hyped up when the first keyboard sounds of “Young Blood”
were played.
One
band I was really looking forward to seeing were The Subways.
With new material being presented just in time for Southside they
certainly didn't disappoint. People manically dancing to catchy tunes
such as “Oh Yeah”, “It's A Party” and “Rock and Roll Queen”
were a common sight. And the reaction they got to their new song “My
Heart Is Pumping To A Brand New Beat” was also truly excellent.
They even translated some of their lyrics into German providing a
pleasant surprise for those singing along.
The
next band I got to see were my musical highlight of the weekend:
London's Bombay Bicycle Club have established themselves in my
mind as one of the best sounding live bands in the business. They
mainly played songs from their latest masterpiece “So Long, See You
Tomorrow”. Their sound was absolutely perfect. Backing vocals by
Liz Lawrence combined with their neat guitar and synth sounds went
perfectly with their background show. They had a massive screen
showing animated figures accompanying the songs. “Feel”s catchy
Indian sound for example was complemented by images of an animated
snake dancing to their music. I asked some of the German fans whether
Bombay Bicycle Club were big in Germany, to which I got the
reply: “They aren't really that popular, however their new album is
helping them acquire more fame over here”. And their magnificent
Southside set in front of a packed crowd should indeed see them
acquire a following on the continent.
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The
next act with the status of Indie royalty were The Kooks - the
band that, after my discovery of Indie music through Bloc Party, led
me deeper and deeper into a world of good music. And now here I was
watching some of my childhood heroes in a field in southern Germany
eight years after their debut album. But, from the second Luke
Pritchard sang the opening line of their new single “Down” I
realized that the Brighton band are no longer the kids who had the
Indie world falling in love with them over “Inside In/Inside Out”.
I know how naïve I was in believing this, but in my mind The
Kooks were trapped in some timeless bubble. After coming to terms
with the band's aging I relaxed and enjoyed a great set with songs
spanning their entire career.
“We're now going to play some new songs for you!”, didn't exactly get the crowd going – but their classics provoked what must have been one of the loudest sing-alongs in the history of Southside. To be fair, when you've got tracks such as “Sway”, “Seaside” and “Ooh La” in your repertoire you're always going to have an advantage when it comes to getting crowds going. They ended their performance with “Naive”, reinstalling the thought in my mind that this could be 2006 after all.
“We're now going to play some new songs for you!”, didn't exactly get the crowd going – but their classics provoked what must have been one of the loudest sing-alongs in the history of Southside. To be fair, when you've got tracks such as “Sway”, “Seaside” and “Ooh La” in your repertoire you're always going to have an advantage when it comes to getting crowds going. They ended their performance with “Naive”, reinstalling the thought in my mind that this could be 2006 after all.
After
a day of amazing bands I was ready to start an evening with
Saturday's headliner: Arcade Fire. Luckily, German hip
hop/indie artist Casper was performing on the other main stage at the
same time, meaning that only die-hard Arcade Fire fans were in the
crowd. Casper is massive in Germany so everybody without a strong
love for Arcade Fire was watching him. The Canadian band had a
somewhat alternative introduction to their set to say the least. One
by one the band came onstage. And one by one they started playing
completely different tunes somehow slowly morphing into “Here Comes
The Night Time”. The band's background visuals reminded me of
MGMT's LSD-inspired graphics. These, combined with the costumes worn
by the band, their crew and even the TV team, gave their whole show a
very trippy feel.
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One of the costumes was a helmet made up of
revolving TV screens showing both Angela Merkel and David Bowie. They
sported this attire for their cover of David Bowie's “Heroes”,
which they changed into “Helden” (German translation). Picking a
highlight from the band's career-spanning set is impossible. From
Regine Chassagne's sudden appearance in the middle of the crowd for
“It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus)” to a firework display and songs
from all of their albums: this set had it all.
Here
is Arcade Fire's setlist:
Here Comes the Night Time
Here Comes the Night Time
Neighborhood
#3 (Power Out)
Rebellion
(Lies)
Joan
of Arc
Rococo
The
Suburbs
The
Suburbs (Continued)
Ready
To Start
Neighborhood
#1 (Tunnels)
No
Cars Go
Haiti
Afterlife
It's
Never Over ( Hey Orpheus)
Sprawl
II (Mountains Beyond MountainsHeroes (David Bowie) -> Helden
Normal Person
Reflektor
Wake Up
Sunday
On
Sunday I saw the funniest set of the Festival. The
Wombats spent their time on stage
making
jokes
about one another and forgetting lyrics to their songs. “We should
definitely be practising
more!”,
explained their singer Matthew Murphy. Even though they had to start
one song three times
that
their new album is nearly finished and will be released at the end of
the year.
My favourite performances from this weekend were:
Music: Bombay Bicycle Club
Show: Arcade Fire
Atmosphere: Lykke Li
For more information visit: www.southside.de/en
Benjamin Brown