Zoo Thousand – Where It Went Right
Posted on 09. Jul, 2008 by Ashley in Festivals, Live Reviews: All, Zoo Thousand
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You might have read about the problems that swamped the Zoo Thousand Music Festival. Well, it wasn’t actually all bad. Here are my highlights & low lights.
As I predicted, Charlie and co played a stunning set. I’ve seen Rumble Strips twice now, and each time they amaze me. I don’t think Rumbles really suit a festival stage. They should play dirty places like Tunbridge Wells Forum or Scala where there rolling bass would resound off the walls. Here, at Zoo, it rolls out from the stage then disappears. This doesn’t really matter because Rumbles are a great band to watch perform, despite their guitarist/bassist wear shorts he borrowed from the 118 lads. They don’t play Back To Back, their cover of an Amy Wineshouse hit, but that’s because Charlie has a secret up his sleeve, more on that later.
Metronomy, yup they played. Off all the acts that pulled out, Metronomy stuck in there like good little unpaid worker-bees. Actually, they play with a live band these days which is a distinct improvement.
The Cribs played but from the back the sounded rotten. Nearly as rotten as overhearing two girls talking about sex in a dirty skanky portaloo. Bleurgh.
Ash played. Forever. I was watching (adoring) Young Knives play the Tap ‘N’ Tin stage and every time one of us stepped out to check the main stage ASH were still playing. Transgressive stars Young Knives are an overlooked band with a rich and varied back catalogue. I could watch this band play for ever, the onstage chemistry between brothers Thomas & Henry Dartnall and drummer Oliver Askew is like watching someone else’s kids squabble – you can’t help but watch.
Haduoken storm through their singular BPM set, breaking up their final song to have a rant about how shit this festival is.
Tom Williams & The Boat let me photograph their stunning set, which you can see at www.flickr.com/photos/take56/. Fans of the band joined newbies to sing along to Tom’s catchy melodies that seem to hook you in. The funniest thing came when I told old friend Lewis (dressed in black complete with eye makeup and an almost goth look) about him said after “I can’t believe I missed TW&TB, ‘my dad left me in a train station car park…’”. This is far reaching stuff! Tom revealed their next single will be Got Fuel Got Fuel (www.tomwilliamsandtheboat.co.uk).
Seven Story Down were a band I ignored despite being told of their greatness. Well, now, I’m a believer! They played a tight & well rehearsed set.
The Holloways are another band I’ve never got round to seeing. At my great cost it seems. Their fun & energetic set included So This Is Great Britain and Generator. The band made room on stage for “Ben” a super crowd surfer who helped out with dancing and backing vocal throughout a whole song. This band are such a great band to watch, simply because they really engage with the crowd. I felt all warm in side when singer Alfie Jackson saw me photographing him and stuck up his middle finger. Nice.
Also bringing on the fun were Gallows, The Teenagers and Ida Maria.
Without this group of performances, Zoo8 would have been a complete and utter disaster. I mean, it was bad for sure but these bands really made up for a god awful weekend.
