NEIGHBOURHOOD FESTIVAL 2016- REVIEW
Yesterday (8th October) I went to a brand new festival in my home town Manchester. I first heard about this festival on the very day it was announced, and it instantly intrigued me. With no previous years to base an opinion on, I grabbed early bird tickets on a whim and I’ve been eagerly awaiting the day ever since.
I decided that if I was going to really experience what this new festival was like then I had to go for it and make the most out of the whole day- which meant we were outside Sound Control at 12pm sharp ready to catch our first chosen act; All Tvvins. Arriving early meant we were one of the first to enter the basement venue, and with it filling rather slowly and some popular bands also early on the bill at other venues I anticipated what the turn out would be like- but I needn’t worry as within minutes of the duo coming on stage the room was almost full and the day had well and truly begun, and what a way to kick it off. I realised throughout the day that this specific venue seemed to have similar technical difficulties for all of the bands I saw there, but All Tvvins still played with plenty of energy and enthusiasm to instantly overlook this and they played an amazing set to a quickly growing and entranced crowd. Overall a perfect start.
Next up at the same venue was Airways. Even though it was still early, there was no lack in energy in the crowd nor in the band themselves. I always think that acts who have fun on stage whilst playing always reflect this off the crowd and it makes it a much more fun and positive experience for everyone- this particular set being no exception. Less than two hours in and I was already having the time of my life.
We stripped it down for the next hour, moving on to Gorilla to catch Lake Komo. I’ll admit this was the only act of the day I hadn’t previously listened to, but they drew me in from the first few seconds and I was very pleasantly surprised. Soothing vocals and harmonies transfixed everybody in the room and, even though their set was unexpectedly cut short, they ended on a real high. I’ll definitely be checking them out again in the future.
Before we knew it, it was straight back over to sound control basement to catch The Amazons. Clashes are unavoidable at festivals, but this band had probably one of the toughest of the day as ever growing local band Blossoms were playing to a packed out Ritz just five minutes down the road. However when this was mentioned by the band during their killer set, somebody in the crowd shouted back “what Blossoms” which got a lot of laughs and cheers of agreement from the rest of the room- and it was very clear that The Amazons were in fact still a popular choice despite the tricky timings, as the crowd was as lively as ever, many moshing and singing to their hearts content, and as I sang along myself they quickly became one of my highlights of the whole day.
After a quick cool down it was back over to Gorilla once again, just in time to catch Youngr. He’s not one of my typical go to music genres, but if this wasn’t a chance to find new music and hear new things then when is? It was instantly apparent as soon as he walked on stage to a seemingly tranquil crowd and confidently urged everyone to “move closer to the front” that he was also going to be a highlight. Going back to my previous point about musicians reflecting their energy off the crowd- this was another prime example. Remixes of everyone’s favourite old dance hits along with skillful cowbell solos soon got everybody dancing escatically, including myself. As I clapped my way through an even more upbeat version of One More Time, I was having so much fun I genuinely didn’t want it to end.
The next few hours were spent in Revolution where we saw a few acts including The Beach, and my personal favourite Will Joseph Cook. It was nice to sit back and listen to the stripped acoustic set from The Beach, but with his striking voice nothing more than a guitar was needed to draw in an impressive crowd for a seemingly small venue. Next up was Will, along with his band, and as he was setting up on stage the crowd was growing by the minute. After last seeing him as a support act for Walking On Cars back in June where nobody appeared to know much about him or his music, I was pleasantly surprised at the immediate reception Will and his band got. The whole crowd eagerly sang along to each and every song right from the first note, and it appeared this was also a surprise to Will himself. I too spent the next half an hour singing my heart out and dancing along with every other person in the room, enjoying hearing my favourite songs live and loving even more the fact that other people were enjoying them too. As he belted out his high notes and the crowd innitiated clapping rhythms to all of the catchy bridges, it began to feel like this was a headline gig and everybody in the room had paid to just see Will alone. In my most-likely-bias but also honest opinion, he was in fact worth the £30 I paid for a ticket alone. By the end of the set every person in the room was smiling and Will stated that it was his best Manchester gig to date- and I agree.
We waited around afterwards to have a chat with Will (which may or may not make it into a seperate blog post one day) and then has a short walk next door to Sound Control, this time to the main room to see Little Comets. After a few unlucky occurrences they were late starting but the crowd was as eager, and as hot, as ever and they kicked straight in with a packed out room giving them a loud and rowdy welcome. We stayed for most of my favourites, but eventually the heat got the better of us and we reluctantly decided to leave a few minutes early and cool down on the walk down to the Zoo to catch our last act of the night, Lonely The Brave. From what I could see they attracted a mostly older crowd but it was loud and energetic nonetheless. The powerful vocals and music filled the room and had everyone, even the people spread out at the very back, ending the night on a major high. One, possibly intoxicated, guy was so in his element that he went around high fiving his fellow festival-goers whilst having a one person mosh further back from the larger one towards the front.
I’d say that the first year of this still under-the-radar festival was a huge success. With over 100 acts on offer across the 11 venues, there’s always something for everyone and it’s practically impossible to not have a good time. I think a lot of festivals these days are very commercialised, bagging the biggest names possible at the time to draw in an audience, but there’s plenty of evidence to show Neighbourhood is all about the music. With tickets at £30, which is cheaper than some standard gig tickets, there’s really nothing to complain about: no overpriced food vans; drinks, although above average, being no more expensive than you would usually pay at a standard gig; some partner restaurants even offered discounted food to wristband holders. There was such a buzz coming off of every person around the area- I couldn’t have been happier to be around 1000s of other contented strangers.
I think that Neighbourhood was a very clever and well executed idea. Although it had seemingly ambitious plans, the planning and organisation that went into it meant it really was exactly what it said on the tin and there were very few complaints on the day.
If you’re looking for a cheap, value for money festival to discover new music at then I definitely recommend checking Neighbourhood out for 2017, and in the meantime check out all of the acts from this year’s lineup to maybe find some new favourites!