1234 Shoreditch - Shoreditch Park, London - 5/8/07
3/5
By: Alex Lee Thomson
Right, so we now have so much great music in this country that people have resorted to giving us festivals for free...
You won't find any massive names at the recent Shoreditch 1234 festival, hosted by the lovely chaps at 1234 Records, but you will find some of a pretty good stature including the colourful Har Mar Superstar duetting with Fab Moretti of the Strokes. One thing on the side of the completely and utterly free of charge festival in Shoreditch Park was the weather, at its best of the whole summer, and it was this more than the line up which filled the venue to licence-busting capacity.
The Subliminal Girls opened the day, their own style of over the top rock 'n' roll blaring out into the scorching afternoon air and though not massively original, their performance and processes are certainly ones to behold. It's rock music in its basic form, all loud and shouty with pop melodies and catchy, summer friendly vocals that don't necessarily blow your mind, but will arguably shake you about the place a bit.
Following them, we headed over for a drink with Dev from Lightspeed Champion and a sit down on some strategically shade-placed deckchairs to chat about how he went from Test Icicles to Lightspeed Champion in such a short time. He assures us that the band parted on good terms (ish) and that he's delighted to be making the music he is, all infused with a glittery, childlike gleam. "I had dreams I was killing Patrick Wolf", Dev worryingly said to a massive self proclaimed Wolf fan, "but then I spoke to him about it and he assured me that it was a sign of adoration", he secured. Yikes.
Live, Dev was electric, or well, acoustic really, his voice bringing his healthily made songs to life, through the heartache of his drowning and sneering guitar strums. We instantly realise how genuine and honest he and his music are. We're happy now, like really happy, and begin to see beyond the original scepticism that surrounded the day. Dev later played with Florence And The Machine and the show was equally as spellbinding, calling in all reaches of what we'd expect a UK songwriter with his amount of talent to inject into the set.
The Whip were up next on our schedules, and you have to understand that when you see this band any preconceptions you have towards the great dance / rock crossover will be shattered as this Manchester ensemble defecates over the nu-rave scene. At the top of their reach is 'Trashed', an essential house-party anthem that shows them not as a rock band trying ardently to play dance music, but a band who's ideals revolve around dance beats and it's mere choice that has led to the way of the guitar in order to portray their inner sounds.
The Runners are not far behind them, and despite being a very representative of where the mainstream British music scene is right now, they're as yet nothing more than just that, and you kind of wonder where they get their sense of smugness from. Their songs are good, 'Get In Line' being a stark raving brilliant one, but there's not that much to get impassioned about beyond the very obvious prowess of their dynamic front man who fluently owns the stage, crowd and no doubt that can of beer that was in your hand.
How The Paddingtons aren't world famous is beyond us, as today, they nail it. Their guitars are outrageously gritty, the pop overtures to their songs pounding well against the punk core of their verses and the shear uproar of aptitude that circumferences their choruses, yet nobody knows them. If the gob-smacking show in Shoreditch is 'owt to go by the London group will be headlining a venue near you soon.
They certainly offered more of a compelling imbursement than Neil's Children who despite possessing a certain power don't have much by way of substance to stick in the memory, and you can't imagine them have being signed had it not been for their very obvious predecessors.
The element of that Libertine feeling that The Paddingtons had was also echoed in the Little'ns appearance that too had the flagrant Doherty feel about it, maybe that's because the band shot to underground fame when Peter did a track with them, the hysterically sombre 'Their Way', or maybe it's because the band are just as poetic and striking.
That took us nicely to Har Mar Superstar and Fab. When certain planets are in alignment and certain cosmic events take place - weird things happen, but none as weird and vibrant as these two powerhouses of rock colliding on stage. Fab's guitars bleeping like any good Strokes song and Sean stripping to his y-fronts are two events that wouldn't happen on the same stage on any normal day of the week and despite being told earlier in the day that the two had been friends for some time and one often slept on the others couches, it still seemed rather monumental. The crowd didn't know the songs, and to be fair neither did we, but it didn't matter as Har Mar's approachability and honesty is what makes you love him, and believe us... love him you will. His songs are flamboyant and eccentric and he has the right charisma to set them off, allowing his show to be one huge blast of noise that somehow makes sense in the world of pop, rock and cabaret.
There was a great deal of cynicism at the start of the day and even Dev thought it would be, "hell on earth", but by the time the common was dark and the place full to overflowing, any ideas that the event was anything but a success were lunacy. Then again, we had just seen Har Mar Superstar, and were liable for brief mental lapses.
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