I last attended Twisterella in 2016 when I thought I'd been permanently deafened by a band called Foreignfox. It's too late to repair my permanent tinnitus but I'm going to try protecting what hearing I have left.
As the Morning Star says this year's festival was a great Boro day. I did a fair bit of pre-festival swotting up on Spotify (it's the only way). Fail to prepare and prepare to fail and all that and it came good. I had a big list, cut a few and then cut it some more during the day. I then missed a couple chit chatting but I think I still saw about 10 bands/artists. It was mostly ok, some of it very good and some it was bordering on fantastic
What I really like about festivals like this though is that bands other than the headliners are limited to 30 minutes sets. I've seen many bands over the years who I' ve enjoyed for 30 minutes, started getting weary of them by 45 minutes and then started hating when they've gone over the hour. Too much filler over thriller.
The best of the day?
I really enjoyed enjoyed local band Nel Unlit. The club type venue (Town House) was far from perfect for them and the sound engineer must have took a deep breath when he saw them slope up with (from memory) 2 drummers, guitars, bass, saxophone/clarinet, cello, violin, a keyboard an accordion and 4 vocalists but they were still great.
I know I should change the record but it's still is all about the songs and how they are executed for me. I love great melodies/multi vocalists/strings/lots of space/surprises and Nel Unlit deliver . Have a listen to their last 2 singles Firefly and Apple. They stand up alongside anything I've heard over the last couple of years both in terms of originality and musicality. Looking forward to more and hopefully some physical releases.
Also really enjoyed hip-hop/rapper from Newcastle, Kay Greyson. It's hard to believe it's nearly 40 years since Grandmaster Flash and all the Sugarhill Gang stuff came out and even harder to believe the genre has remained popular pretty much ever since. It's not something I'd normally go for but I really liked "Give It All" on Spotify so I had a gentle jog the 60 feet or so along from the Town House to TSone where she'd just started her set.
What can I say? It was rap with a little bit of Ragga "Sweet Rum Punch" was brill. It was just the right time for me and it felt quite refreshing, I'll definitely watch out for her playing on Teesside again.
TheWestgarth 2 crowd certainly did the town proud and we didn't need much encouragement to join in with his choruses. It's no wonder everybody loves playing the Boro (it's true). Best audience I saw all day.
Special mention for Hartlepool's MT Misery who joined Micah for the second half of the set "rocking" up the sound (in a good way) as they played some very good powerful pop music including a raucous finish. Bravo, great show!
I saw Newcastle's Martha Hill play in the Spooker Attic about a year ago (coincidentally supported by MT Misery's Andrew Smith) and was really looking forward to seeing her again at Twisterella. Guitar/vocals backed with keyboard/cello/and drums all played sparingly is always music (excuse pun) to my ears.
Spiders, Let Me Down Easy and Blindfold are all great songs and the Boro lapped it up especially (and typically) when she announced she was going to have a pint and her first parmo after she'd finished. I might try announcing that if I ever do the open mic again.
Just checked her Spotify and at the time of reading she has 1614 monthly listens to her songs. Jeez, no justice. If you get the chance to see her don't pass I think she's got something.
I didn't fancy any of the headliners so I made Bella Union's Pomo Poko (9pm upstairs in The Westgarth) from Norway my last band. I'd seen them at this year's End of The Road festival, last month,ju where they were ok but just played too long for my taste (see above - probably about an hour but it felt more like 3). Some of the songs were ok but it all was all a bit lost on the main Woods stage on a warm late Summer Sunday afternoon.
On the other hand 30 minutes in a sweaty club in Middlesbrough on a Saturday night in October was a date made in heaven. 50 somethings pogoing, doing that slamming into each other thing, somebody from the same group crowd surfing. Oh dear!
I'm only joking, I'm not going to dis it. It was all very entertaining ('with' rather than 'at') as were the band. I've since had another listen to Pom Poko on Spotify. Mmmmm. in fairness they were better live. I enjoyed them but twice is probably enough.
So that was it. Another super successful Twisterella and long may the event continue. Big shout out to the organisers/promoters/venues and the 1500 people that turned up. And cheers to Morning Star for nice words about Boro.
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