D-Percussion Festival - Castlefield Locks, Manchester - 5/8/06
4/5
By: Gareth Roberts
Manchester's main musical event for August this year was the D-Percussion festival, a Castlefield based free gathering which began ten years ago as a reaction to the Manchester bombing. This year's event had been in jeopardy after key sponsors pulled out leaving the organisers with a £40,000 short fall. However, with true northern grit, the saving grace came in the shape of Manchester clothing labels 'Hooch' and 'Bench', who managed to stump up enough cash to get the ball rolling again.
The festival featured a number of stages, each catering for different musical tastes from dance to urban, being a fairly lazy sort, I decided to set up camp in front of the main stage for the day. I arrived just in time to catch most of our Transgressive kids Polytechnic's set, and as usual they didn't disappoint, despite a sound system that would have been better suited to a gig in a shed than an outdoor festival. 'Running out of Ideas' and latest release 'Pep' (Favouritism alert! Favouritism alert!) provided a fitting start to an increasingly packed Castlefield Locks.
Next up were Manchester based rap duo Broke 'n English. I'd seen these two performing at Piccadilly Gardens earlier during the day, and to be fair they weren't half bad, free-styling some funny put-downs to various members of the crowd. However, hearing people rap about Manchester as if it's the Central Compton of the North was a bit cringe-worthy to say the least. "We're gonna do this Manchester style"... Of course you are mate.
Liam Frost followed. He's a lad who's become somewhat of a local hero in the city, and despite some moments of, well, being rather good (genius is a bit strong), overall he failed to impress. 'She Painted Pictures' was the highlight of a fairly lack-lustre set, but by this time the place was well and truly rammed - mostly with males it has to be said - and why exactly? Because The Pipettes were about to take the stage, of course. Again, the wind blew the sound around like an empty crisp packet, but the girls received a good reception. Ending as always with 'We Are The Pipettes', it looks like their ascendancy isn't going to subside just yet.
After drinking more warm Carlsberg from plastic screw top bottles, it was time for the The Young Knives (Favouritism alert part two! Favouritism alert part two!), wandering on stage looking like they'd got lost on their way to a climate change convention (in a good way), the band prove to be the highlight of the day. Opening with 'Part Timer', they then proceed to play songs that most people haven't heard, a mixture of new album tracks and golden oldies. Then, just as it looked as though they might be loosening their tight grip on the crowd, they close with 'She's Attracted To', 'Here Comes the Rumour Mill' and 'Weekends and Bleakdays', and a stronger end to a set you will not find. Clint Boon then came on stage to 'dj', upon hearing the opening cries of the dreaded 'Boon army, Boon army' chant, it was time to make a swift exit. Despite that exile, I will however return next year, as will everybody else (if the sponsors behave a little more laudably).
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