Live Review: Loud and Local Festival 2022
August Bank Holiday Weekend inspires different emotions in us at different times in our lives. As a child, it seemed like the dawning of the beginning of the age of (Aquarius) - the sanctuary of six weeks off school; I always felt a sense of dread as it ended. For many adults, it's the ideal time to catch up with family or to get a great, no-interest deal on a sofa from a furniture shop on an industrial estate next to Nandos.
As the venom of music addiction continued to course through my veins in my late teens it meant one place: Reading Festival. Even now I have thoughts throughout the weekend, reminiscing about some of the great weekends seeing bands I love and generally behaving slightly worse than usual on a campsite. So what better way as an ageing Rock n' Roll casualty than to venture to a festival on August Bank Holiday? I've never wanted a reclining couch anyway.
Okay, it may not be headlined by Dave and The Arctic Monkeys, but Loud and Local is quickly becoming a favourite on the live music circuit around Chester and beyond. Taking place on the grounds of Alexander's - initially, a jazz bar when it opened before coming one of the most important comedy clubs outside of London in the early 90s - the festival site is overlooked by the Roman walls, which often has bemused onlookers and tourists watching from afar. I ventured along to check out the sets and see some of the best bands the area has to offer.
One such band are the first one we catch outside in the beer garden. Liverpool's COW has been a solid live proposition for several years now, but the release of E.P When The Darkness Gets You Down has seen them considerably up their game and tracks like 'On and On' and 'Notemakers' are made to be played loud in such a setting.
Baby Brave hail from Wrexham and are labelmates at Mai 68 Records with COW. There's a funk grove that underpins the band's live show of mostly new material, which they preview before their soon-to-be-released E.P is free to fly. Singer Emmi Manteau has the kind of full-throttle vocal that lies somewhere between the effortless cool of Chrissie Hynde and the more highly-strung histrionics of early, grungier P.J Harvey. Their set is perhaps the first sign that the sizeable crowd are starting to loosen up.
The next two bands have also crossed the Mersey for today's proceedings and they have slightly differing fortunes. San Lorenz suffers slightly from a set time that sees some of the families who have been here throughout the day starting to wind down and find food - they're also probably the most unknown quantity of the bill for most of the locals. Formally going by the name SPQR, the band released its debut album A Death at Sea later in the year and has recently been played by both 6 Music and Radio 1.
In contrast, Gintis have bought lots of friends and family to the show this evening and they crowd around the stage as they begin their set. The band are originally from North Wales before the majority of them moved on to Liverpool. I first saw Gintis at the Green Man festival several years ago and was struck by just how strong the songs were. The current album Hope Is All We Have has recently been nominated for the Welsh Music Prize and they go down a storm with an excited crowd - songs like 'Dennis', 'Four Movements' and a poignant 'Now I Know' evoking a range of emotions.
Over on the Courtyard Stage, the emphasis is more on solo performers than bands and we move over to check out two artists we've covered this year here at NNWNF. Usually more likely to be playing the other artists on his long-running radio show, Adam Walton takes to the stage to play songs from his exquisite 2022 album Afal. In this intimate setting, his songs take on a life of their own, as you could hear a pin drop during his set.
It's a very different experience for those who come back later for the irrepressible Claire Welles. Having just played at Kendall Calling and supported Jane Weaver earlier in the year, She starts her set by explaining that she's come "..dressed as Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down"; perhaps that's just the kind of rhetoric that allows her to produce such a compelling performance. Using a backing track, she performs with an intensity that not many have mustered today and it comes through most in some of her darker works like 'Yoga Nationalism', 'Spend the Day in a Pub', 'Othello Part 1' and 'At War With The Under 35s'.
Back at the main stage in the beer garden, there's a massive crowd for local heroes Campfire Social. They're a band that it's practically impossible to hate, such is the warmth and love that emanates from their infectious indie pop. There are stirring moments: the hook towards the back end of 'Everything Changed' that gives goosebumps aplenty and the life-affirming sounds that burst out during 'Awake in the Wake of a Wave' and it feels like a real moment of communal togetherness. That feeling rolls over into the set by Sunstack Jones; the band don't play much live by design and it shows by how many have turned up to see them. Having a knack for creating songs that build with shimmering sentiments of psychedelia and get their hooks into until you find it impossible to switch off, they show just what made Tim Burgess offer them support slots on his 2021 tour.
The stage is set for headliners Melyn Melin, who played a triumphant and widely-covered set at Green Man just the weekend before. It's easy to see why they've turned many heads as they produce a hugely entertaining mix of Welsh folk with surfy guitars, that have seen them compared favourably to Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Super Furry Animals. The between-song patter of the band is becoming almost as big a draw as the songs at their disposal, with singer Gruff Glyn joking that they'd better hurry with their set in case they get murdered; referring to the old myth about the Welsh not being able to stay in the city walls past a certain time.
'Nefoedd yr Adar' is a gorgeous country-tinged lament steeped in 12th Century Welsh mythology. The set culminates in a raucous cover of 'Rhinestone Cowboy' by Glenn Campbell, which has a large chunk of the audience in the palm of their hands and another story prominent in Welsh history 'Rebecca' - about the Rebecca Riots in Wales, where the only disguise the rioters could afford to muster was the clothing of their wives. The default look on the face of the audience is a big ol' cheesy grin.
The universal opinion is of a hugely enjoyable day and for me, that sure beats interest-free credit on a leather sofa or setting fire to a tent.
Check out our Loud and Local Playlist below to hear some of the bands mentioned.
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