It’s an odd and civilised sensation to arrive in daylight and leave in daylight and in the meantime catch a full gig. Then be able to see the Euro 2012 final!
Kicking off things are a new band to us, Mickey Gloss. The singer’s been compared to Jack White – myself, I think he's more of a Jeffrey Lee Pierce, but either way he's a dark and edgy little roots-channelling motherfucker. His Facebook page claims the band is "a psychedelic/punk party experiment that started in Australia and ended up in London" but, if so, it’s a party where half the guests are stoned and the other half are having a panic attack after someone spiked the lemonade. Very encouraging! Novella are shockingly powerful for a Sunday afternoon, tense like an oncoming thunderstorm and producing plenty of noise. These songs broil and blister with attitude but once you burst through the musical membrane they bleed killer melodies. It’s like Sonic Youth but with three Kim Gordons and a Steve Shelley on drums. Fantastic sound, killer songs, imperious manner.
Frankie Rose adapts instantly to the mood of the afternoon, joshing about football (notice, she calls it by its real name) and drinking. In between her easy banter (she’s make a great Sunday dinner guest, as long as you hid the spirits) she plays dreampop from her recent Interstellar album, including the bubblegum diamond ‘Know Me’, and asserts her rights to ‘Where Do You Run To’, the first song she ever wrote and the best thing the Vivian Girls ever sang. Then she shows us that she can really sing with the gorgeous ‘Pair of Wings’. These three satisfying courses of top pop leave you with that feeling of fullness and contentment you remember from all the best Sunday lunchtimes.