orbital Archives -

September 22, 2017September 22, 2017

BREVIEW: Beyond The Tracks… Friday @ Eastside Park 15.09.17

Words by Damien Russell / Pics by Denise Wilson

The plan is simple: meet my friend, get to The Old Crown – the pub we’re staying in, check-in, pick up the tickets left behind the bar for us, head to Eastside Park, enjoy the event.

However, plagued with overdue work the preparations to get to Beyond The Tracks are not going well. What should have been leisurely packing and hearty breakfasting has instead become telephone calls and frantic typing but, nevertheless, through more luck than judgment, at the absolute cut-off of 11:30 I’m closing my flat door behind me with a few mismatched items of clothing and a toothbrush stuffed into a hold-all and I’m on my way.

Step 1: to meet Paul Gallear in Wolverhampton centre, and with timing to a ‘T’ we hop onto a train at Wolverhampton Station. The trip into Birmingham is a good one and we arrive at New Street Station with spirits high. Birmingham is surprisingly busy for that sort of time of day on a Friday and I wonder casually if many more people milling about are here for the festival.

I’m mindful of that John Fell said, in our recent interview, that about 40% of the people with tickets for the Friday are from outside the area; it does seem like too much of a coincidence to discount. We head across town to The Old Crown and check in to find that our tickets are yet to arrive. The decision is made; a warm-up pint is in order.

Our tickets are being brought by Birmingham Review’s editor, Ed King, and our anachronistic EDM expert. Sadly, we are set to experience Beyond The Track’s dance music throwback without him, as Ed is booked at another event. But with a pint prepared for his arrival, we vow to try our best to convince him to join us… Several hours and several drinks later, no avail. Ed is immovable on the subject and despite our best efforts we say our farewells, part ways, and Paul and I head on to the festival.

At this point it’s only fair to address my experience and enjoyment of dance music. Little on both counts, I’m sorry to say. I was too young for the 80’s and 90’s rave scene and coming from Wolverhampton, there was little of that sort of thing around. That being said, I’m always open to a new experience and if the atmosphere is right, it could be great.

So, somewhat delayed but still looking forward to what lies ahead, we find ourselves at the transformed Eastside Park. The site itself is set up as I had imagined; tall solid fencing surrounds the arena with the main entrance on the city side. The entrance is predictably flanked by security and there is the usual ticket collection, ticket inspection, with body/bag search 3-tier entrance system that we’re all largely used to these days. Not as heavy on security as I was expecting given the political climate these days, I must admit, but to my knowledge the event is entirely trouble free all weekend so all’s well etc, etc.

In no time at all we’re in and at the bar. Leftfield are in full swing and with the day still being quite bright it does seem a little incongruous listening to the sort of music usually hear at around 3am. Being the Leftism album performance tour, the music is more chilled out than what dance music can bring to a greenfield site, but with the festival ‘vibe’ still in full force. The field is full, not shoulder to shoulder but comfortably so, and with everyone seemingly very good natured about getting around.

Leftfield’s performance is interspersed with live vocals and songs like ‘Inspection (Check One)’ stand out from the set as having that extra edge because of it. The sky is grey and a bit drizzly but still fairly light, so while the lighting is far from lost the live vocal performances bring a welcome depth to the stage show.

The crowd are warm and receptive but if I’m honest, both they and Leftfield themselves are a little more subdued than I am hoping for. I know that the plaster ceiling of the Brixton Academy was always going to be safe at this distance, but somehow I still find myself wanting a little more. A little more bounce, a little more volume, a little more energy from the audience. I’m not sure which. But something. That said, Leftfield close their set to solid applause and pave the way for Sister Bliss to begin on the second stage.

The second stage is borrowed directly from Moseley Folk Festival, as, I’m reliably informed, are the bar and the catering stands. Not having been to Moseley Folk it’s not something that bothers me, but not giving this new festival more of its own identity seems a bit of a shame, if a forgiveable one given that it’s Beyond The Tracks’ first year.

With the crowd affording us little chance of getting close enough to see Sister Bliss in action, it becomes cocktail time, and as the strains of ‘Insomnia’ float over the field (one of my favourite Faithless songs) I can’t help but smile. I wasn’t sure if Sister Bliss would play it but I’m glad she has. Not the full song, of course, but enough.

Happily hydrated, centre of the arena and far enough back to see the full main stage in all its glory, the night feels like it’s picking up and I watch the crew building the tower of scaffold that is to be Orbital’s lighting rig and stage for the Friday night headline performance.

Orbital, brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll, take to the stage with trademark specs fully kitted out with headlights and kick straight in with ‘Lush 3’ which to me is a bit of an unusually mellow choice but gives them a long build into their performance. Plus while Sister Bliss has perhaps raised the bar slightly with regards to tempo and dynamic, she is the odd one out and Orbital and Leftfield are both bringing similar performances in many ways.

If I’m honest, I don’t feel their set ever builds much beyond that initial entrance and as track number two, ‘Impact (The Earth Is Burning)’ starts, again it’s more subdued than I was expecting. Somehow I thought there would be 8,000-10,000 people all jumping up and down and going mad but it’s far from the reality. The Hartnolls have some of the old ways still going strong, and I can see their heads bob and their hands raise through the lighting, but whether I’m a few drinks short of where I need to be I don’t know, the set just seems a bit flat.

Orbital’s main set ends with ‘Belfast’ and I expect that to be all for the evening, but to my surprise there’s an encore scheduled in. I think the Leftism experience has thrown me; while an album based set is unlikely to squeeze out an encore, I have assumed that all dance music acts play a fixed set and that’s all. Not so. Not tonight anyway. Orbital have two more tracks on their agenda, finishing with ‘Where Is It Going?’ to a warm appreciation from Beyond The Tracks‘ Friday night crowd.

A very apt track to finish on too, as Paul (Gallear, not Hartnoll) and I are decide that where it’s going now is back to The Old Crown. We’re largely dance-music’d out for the day and a nice warm sit down and a drink is in order.

I remain conflicted on the walk back ‘home’, and Paul and I have a fair old discussion about the EDM evening. A discussion that extends into several G&Ts and some Belgian Beer. In the end, I remain unconverted to dance music and electronica for now. But as the saying goes, tomorrow is another day…

Jagwar Ma – Beyond The Tracks @ Eastside Park 15.09.17 / Denise Wilson

For more on Jagwa Mar, visit www.jagwarma.com

____________

Leftfield – Beyond The Tracks @ Eastside Park 15.09.17 / Denise Wilson

For more on Leftfield, visit www.leftfieldsplash.com

____________

Sister Bliss – Beyond The Tracks @ Eastside Park 15.09.17 / Denise Wilson

____________

Orbital – Beyond The Tracks @ Eastside Park 15.09.17 / Denise Wilson

For more on Orbital, visit www.orbitalofficial.com

For more on Beyond The Tracks, visit www.beyondthetracks.org

September 13, 2017September 23, 2017

BPREVIEW: Beyond The Tracks – after parties, official/unofficial @ Various 15-16.09.17

Words by Damien Russell, Paul Gallear & Ed King

For the happy revellers of the Beyond The Tracks festival who are seeking more to finish off the night (be it Friday or Saturday), there are a number of opportunities to party harder and get more ‘bang’ for a buck (or ten).

There are the official after parties from the Beyond The Tracks team, alongside a few unofficial yet appealing enough alternatives to cater for the weekend long festival crowd. Read our BPREVIEWs below:

Oscillate Sound System @ Centrala 15.09.17

Inviting us to ‘regenerate’ after Beyond The Tracks’ space cadet Friday night, the Oscillate Sound System take over Centrala for an unofficial after party on 15^th September – the fledgling festival’s opening day.

Doors open at 11pm and close at 4pm, with tickets priced at £5. Not sure precisely who’s playing but you can bet there’ll be a DJ set from Messer Higher or Intelligence, you know from the Agency. And as far as my third eye can see it’s a pay on the door affair. Ah, life before Skiddle…

So, Oscillate..? By this point you’re either as unfazed as you were at word one, or you’re skipping down a serotonin sapped memory lane trying not to think of that song by Biosphere. La, la, la, the 90’s were a simple clubland love in with no scars… I don’t want to know what dream you had last night.

But if you need a helpful reminder (either way) Oscillate brought Orbital to Birmingham. So there’s that. And through their bi-weekly club nights at Bonds (as well as a few jaunts to the Dance Factory, Moseley Dance Club, some big-house-in-a-field-somewhere-in-I-think-maybe-Wales, and a disused gas container in Amsterdam) the Oscillate Sound System introduced a further litany of ambient/techno to the second city’s clubbers: Autechre, The Orb, Banco di Gia, Children of the Bong, Sun Electric, The Drum Club, APL, APL, did I mention APL..? I think they even booked Richard James a couple of times, not that that guarantees anything but God loves a trier.

It’s fair to say (and it’s been said by more than I) that Oscillate helped shape the dance music landscape of Birmingham in the 90’s, and left its left-of-centre fingerprints on the city’s club scene for some time to follow. You could argue that if they hadn’t someone else would have, but Scylla Magda and Bobby Bird were the ones that did – earning a dance music debt of gratitude that stands up over twenty years later.

Or to pinch a quote from The Observer in 1994: ‘To those in the know, including the 650 clubbers who frequent the club in Birmingham every other Friday night, Oscillate is the club of the moment, making waves far beyond the Midlands, and attracting clubbers from as far afield as London, Manchester and Edinburgh.’

Plus half of the head honchos at Oscillate are half of the head honchos in Higher Intelligence Agency (Bobby Bird) so all you need is Cheshire Cat and Sister Bliss to turn up and you’ve got most of Beyond The Tracks’ Friday night programme under one roof.

More a ‘second wind’ as opposed to ‘after’ party then… everyone back to Centrala on Friday 15^th September? Whatever the moniker it saves Shaun some tidying up.

For more on the Oscillate Sound System after party (unofficial) at Centrala on Friday 15^th September, click here.

___________

Way Beyond @ Suki10c 15.09.17

To continue the Friday night party directly after the festival’s opening day, Suki10c are hosting an unofficial first night continuance with ‘Way Beyond’, starting at 10pm and going right through to 4am. The event costs £6.00 including BF (booking fee, not boyfriend) on the mighty Skiddle or £8.00 on the door – showcasing sets from Earth is Flat, Bid, Skint Disco and Doktor Jekyll amongst others as yet unnamed.

Earth is Flat (or EiF) are two producers whose aim is ‘to make a non-generic style of music; using field recordings, traditional instruments and collaborating with people who share similar values’. They have shared the stage with artists such as Plaid, Kelli Ali, Luke Vibert, Coppe and Fungstorung and have performed in venues such as the Hare & Hounds, mac, and The Rainbow in Birmingham, as well as working down in the Big Smoke.

Bid is a DJ who started out in 2012, one who lucky revellers doing both ‘the main event’ and this after party will already have seen performing as part of the Leftfield Leftism 22 Tour. His debut release is due this year on the Download Generation label, showcasing his influential choice in the twisting and manipulation of breaks, beats and sounds.

Skint Disco is providing a DJ set in the form of Joe Reid – 28 year old producer from the Midlands, now residing in London. Skint Disco/Joe Reid has received props from major players such as Jam PRD, Wevaman, Hatcha, Funtcase, Kromestar,Seven, Bukez Finezt, Beezy, Enigma Dubz and Dubloadz all regularly throwing down his tracks. DJ slots all over the UK and gigs in Prague, Paris and Amsterdam have resulted in a mini-tour stateside with bookings in Seattle and Denver later in 2017.

The evening is supported by Doktah Jekyll, the resident DJ for Digbeth Dining Club and more, lining up a diverse sounding lineup of electronic music to see you through to the wee hours.

Even if some of the lineup are people whose stage names defy Google or any other form of research, this sounds like one of those events where those in the know will know to go, and those not in the know probably should be.

For more on the Way Beyond after party (unofficial) at Suki10c on Friday 15^th September, click here.

___________

Official Beyond The Tracks Friday night after party @ The Rainbow 15.09.17

Friday night’s official, ‘Moseley Folk approved’ after party is held at The Rainbow Venues’ Black Box. It will be starting at 11pm and the ‘you don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here’ is at 4am.

This official after party is brought to us by Procreation – the erstwhile progressive/tech house club night started by Beyond The Tracks promoter, Carl Phillips, back ‘in the day’ – in association with Ransom Note. The event will see DJ sets from A Guy Called Gerald, Bawrut and Timothy ‘Heretic’ Clerkin, in addition to Phil Hartnoll (one half of the Beyond The Tracks Friday night main stage headliners, Orbital).

Even if you’re not into your dance music, the name Orbital is still bound to ring a faint bell. Okay, that may be because they were named after the London Orbital (or M25 as we would more typically know it) but Orbital (aka brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll) were renowned for their live improvisation, something of a rarity in the genre. But with five UK Silver records, one UK Gold record, four UK top 20 singles and even making it into the top 10 US Electronic Album Chart twice, it would be safe to say that improvisation or not Orbital’s music has appeal.

Perhaps the slightly less prolific of the brothers, Phil Hartnoll, has nevertheless taken his DJ sets to New Zealand, the US and around Europe. And that’s just this year. Now stepping straight from the Beyond The Tracks’ main stage, Phil Hartnoll will be hitting the decks at the Black Box in a rare UK solo show.

Joining Phil Hartnoll on the bill will be A Guy Called Gerald – a pioneer of the late 80’s UK Dance music explosion, whose website hails as ‘an iconic name in dance music’. But A Guy Called Gerald arguably kick started Europe’s acid house frenzy releasing the first UK acid house record, the ’88 classic ‘Voodoo Ray’ – following this with the iconic ‘Pacific State’, and laying down the blueprint for early jungle/drum’n’bass. And while not reaching the commercial heights of some of his contemporaries, the consistency and longevity of his releases demonstrate an acclaim that has endured for 30 years now.

Kicking it all off in 1987, A Guy Called Gerald had his ’own bedroom studio and was recording 90 minute tapes – probably one a week, so the equivalent of doing an album a week, everything from proto-acid sounds to experimental ambient fields’. And while his releases have slowed down somewhat over that last seven years, I hope that A Guy Called Gerald will bring the same energy of old to this 2017 live set. His 40 live show list for the year would imply that he will.

New kid on the block, the Madrid-based Italian Bawrut, will be preceding A Guy Called Gerald on the lineup – bringing his ‘wonderfully balanced line between classics and brand new tracks’. Bawrut’s 2016 release through Ransom Note has been hailed by Mixmag, DJ Mag, Test Pressing, and Data Transmission ‘as one of the freshest releases of 2016’.

Lastly, not least-ly, on is Timothy ‘Heretic’ Clerkin – one half of the amusingly named Eskimo Twins, who have been on the scene since 2009 releasing on Tusk Wax, My Favorite Robot & Relish, Throne of Blood and Ransom Note Records. Eskimo Twins formed around an appreciation of techno, classic house, indie, acid, and a lingering teenage love of metal – so those who know them will no doubt be wondering what Clerkin’s solo set may bring. One one way to find out; you know the drill

For more on the official Beyond The Tracks Friday night after party @ The Rainbow- Black Box, click here.

___________

Club L’Amour reunion @ Suki10c 16.09.17

The once haven for alternative shenanigans, described by Sam Lambeth as ‘an indie Byker Grove’, Club L’Amour comes back to the venue of its birth for a final, final hurrah on 16th September – giving the Saturday night noise monsters at Beyond The Tracks a comforting place to play until dawn. Well, 5am. Which is dawn enough for us.

There will be live sets from Riscas and Sugarthief, underpinned by DJ sets from the great, good, and garrulous who adorned the once Digbeth based indie night out. On the line up so far are MP3 jugglers: Kez Handley, Ben Clapton, Jack Parker, Arran Bick, Harley Cassiddy, Sam Lambeth, Tim Arstall, Tommy Greaves – with the ever inspiring ‘secret guests’ to kick it all off. TBC, I guess.

But following the fallout of a Saturday night festival line up that boasts Ocean Colour Scene, Maxïmo Park, The Coral, The Twang, Carl Barât and the Jackals, Jaws, Superfood this might be a more than appropriate place to greet the small hours.

Plus it’s a reunion, after Club L’Amour packed up its musical powder puff back in February this year. So what are you waiting for..? Oh yeah, there’s that festival thingy up the road to pop into beforehand… phew, and what a before party that’s going to be.

For more on the Club L’Amour after party (unofficial) at Suki10c on Friday 15^th September, click here.

___________

Official Beyond The Tracks – Saturday night after party @ O2 Institute 16.09.17

As if all this excitement on the Friday night wasn’t enough, there is another official after party on the Saturday night, post-festival, held at the O2 Institute in Digbeth – running from 11pm through to the wee hours of 3am. Mercifully a little earlier than the Friday night after parties, allowing us a little recovery before the final festival day.

Fresh from headlining Saturday night at Beyond The Tracks, Ocean Colour Scene’s Steve Cradock will take to the O2 Institute stage for a DJ set, alongside Paul Smith from Maxïmo Park. But kicking off the evening (morning…. depends when you get there) will be DJs Gav and Imran from Blast Off – a Wolverhampton institution which celebrated 20 years of clubbing in 2016 (despite ostensibly ending the indie club night in 2014, they have returned for numerous ‘one-off’ specials and Christmas/New Year shows. I suppose you can’t keep a good thing down).

Next up will be will be Dave Southam, a man made (in)famous as one of the DJs for Snobs, a well known Birmingham nightclub that promotes itself as offering ‘indie, rock’n’roll, alt pop and retro jams’.

It is clear then that the theme of this after party is the same as Saturday’s offering at the Beyond The Tracks festival itself: indie and lots of it. Kicking off at 11pm, festival goers will have plenty of time to cover the half-a-mile between Eastside Park and the O2 Institute when Beyond The Tracks finishes at 10:30. Tickets are £10 in advance, plus the usual booking fees.

For more on the official Beyond the Tracks Saturday night after party, click here.

_________________

Beyond The Tracks comes to Eastside Park in Birmingham City Centre, running 15^th to 17^th September. Tickets for this event are £54.45 for individual day tickets, £145 for a weekend pass.

For more on Beyond The Tracks, including full festival details and online ticket sales, visit www.beyondthetracks.org

September 8, 2017September 8, 2017

INTERVIEW: John Fell – Beyond the Tracks @ Eastside Park 15-17.09.17

Words by Damien Russell / Pics by Eleanor Sutcliffe

Feeling like a lazy Sunday afternoon despite being a Monday (thank you Bank Holiday), sitting in the shade at Eastside Park has got something of a ‘last day of a festival’ feel.

Convenient really as I’ve braved exhaustion and headed out to into the sun to see a man about a festival. That man is John Fell and the festival is, of course, Beyond The Tracks.

I say ‘of course’ but given that Beyond The Tracks (for those who have missed the promo so far) is the newest addition to the Moseley Folk portfolio, it may not be as clear cut as that. This new city-centre, three day event is nestled comfortably alongside the Moseley Folk Festival itself, the Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival, and the Lunar Festival, all under the Moseley Folk banner.

And John Fell is, “kind of Festival Manager, really, so to be honest I do a lot things from booking the line-up to the marketing, to the press, the finances, I get involved with a little bit of kind of planning the site and things like that. All the staffing. So, it’s a lot there really.” If he does say so himself. And I agree, it is a lot; they’re big events with stellar line-ups and not exactly spread out in either area or through the year.

Curious about this, I ask about the rest of the team. “Well, there’s me, full time, and then there’s two directors (Gerv Havill, Carl Phillips) that are kind of more part time on the festivals. They’ve got their other businesses. And we’ve just taken on a new member of staff as well and she’s become a kind of Festival Assistant, so it’s slowly growing but it’s not a big team for all the things we do really”, Fell explains.

Not a big team at all. And with a variety of other events as well as the festivals, it must be a lot to take on. John Fell is a collected man and while he will admit that focusing on so much is “quite difficult”, he quickly adds, “I’ve always been quite good at that really. I’ve always… I don’t sit still very often”. I’m glad we got him pinned down for half an hour to talk to us.

So how did it all begin? And how did it become Beyond The Tracks? “When I joined we’d just created Goodnight Lenin”, Fell says, taking us back to both the start of his band (recently announced to be on hiatus) and his time with Moseley Folk, “and JJ from the band asked me to go round and come and play music at 3 o’clock in the morning because they’d been up all night drinking. Normally I would never do it, not if I hadn’t been out already, and I thought ‘you know what, fine, I’ll go round’. If he wants to play music, I’ll do it, whatever time of day”. And a 3am video became Goodnight Lenin’s application to play Moseley Folk Festival. “Carl who ran the festival rang us up and said ‘I wanna come and see you play’ and he wanted to manage the band and put us as headlining the second stage, the Lunar stage” Fell expands, describing an opportunity most bands would do something their mothers would disapprove of, to get.

It isn’t surprising but it is good to be reminded that Moseley Folk (both festival and company) have always been committed to local talent. And actively looking for it has “always been an ethos of ours, to support that and provide a platform for that. Which is quite cool”. And not just at the festivals. They “do loads of cool shows throughout the year… and because that’s not really our… job, I guess, our festivals are where we kind of scrape our salaries… we can book who we want. We’re not pressured to book gigs, we don’t just put gigs on for the sake of it; we can book who we want”.

An envious place to be. And a powerful place. Free from the constraints of popularity and to a certain extent cost, Moseley Folk remind me of the record companies of old – able to take risks and trail-blaze if they wish, whilst hosting the type of gigs many bands dream of getting to play at.

With such an open opportunity for booking talent, I wonder how the Beyond The Tracks lineup was approached. The answer lies in being different to the other festivals in the Moseley Folk portfolio, “with Folk and Jazz, Lunar’s a bit more psychedelic… we wanted to essentially make three different gigs. I mean, originally we didn’t put weekend tickets on sale because we didn’t think there would be that much demand. Essentially it was an electronic night, an indie night and, I guess, like a post-punk, shoegaze kind of Sunday, which is cool”.

Planning, then combining, three different gigs sounds like an unusual way to approach a festival, but less so when originally it was “going to be an Ocean Colour Scene gig with, you know, Maximo Park or whoever, and it grew into a festival which is, you know…”, John Fell leaves me to offer the rather clichéd ‘really cool’ but charitably goes with it. “It is really cool. So the whole thing has just been, like, a really natural progression”.

Choosing this site, currently just open grass and quiet couples, was also natural progression; John Fell takes us back to 22^nd January 2016, and to the 20^th anniversary shows of Ocean Colour Scene’s Moseley Shoals in Moseley Park. “And that was just incredible”, Fell says, and shortly after those shows “we were just sat outside the pub, the Eagle and Tun, and looking at this space and were like ‘why have we not done a festival here?’ Or at least a gig here” so they decide they should and went full on for Beyond The Tracks.

And what a festival it’s pitched to be. “It’s Birmingham’s, you know, I guess biggest inner city, kind of ‘band festival”, in John Fell’s words. “Obviously you’ve got things like MADE which are doing incredibly at The Rainbow and a lot of other events going on” he continues, “I suppose it’s not like a Great Escape but that kind of inner city festival, Tramlines in Sheffield, that kind of thing. And we thought for the first year we should really celebrate Birmingham music. We already had Ocean Colour Scene; Editors have got strong Birmingham links. So then we just go ‘right, okay, we want to support other bands’ so, you know: Superfood, Jaws, Victories at Sea, Dorcha, Table Scraps. We just added Hoopla Blue and Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, there’s so many bands… The Leftfield guys are coming to DJ, Magic Door guys coming to DJ… So it’s a bit of a Birmingham love-in really. It’s gonna be really cool.”

And speaking of Hoopla Blue… I ask John about the sad news that Goodnight Lenin wouldn’t be playing and would be replaced by, you guessed it, “Hoopla Blue. Yeah, we wanted it to be a local band and Hoopla – great band – they just jumped on it straight away. It is a shame but it just felt right to end Goodnight Lenin with Liam rather than playing another show, it didn’t quite make sense”. I don’t ask about the conflict of interest in booking a band you play with; if John Fell began working for Moseley Folk through Goodnight Lenin, it stands to reason Goodnight Lenin would still be one of Moseley Folk’s regular artists.

There’s certainly plenty of Birmingham music at Beyond The Tracks, possibly more Birmingham on the stage than in the audience at times, as to my surprise, “Friday night’s about 40 percent people coming from outside the Midlands. Which is pretty incredible. It’s very similar numbers to the Jazz and Folk, to be honest with you, it’s like, high 30’s from outside the Midlands. Saturday here with Ocean Colour Scene and The Twang, is obviously more localised but it’s still a good 25 percent from outside the Midlands and Sunday as well is about 30, high 30’s. So, we are actually bringing people in,” and in saying so Fell sounds proud. And I believe he is, proud of what Birmingham has to offer and proud to be a part of it.

And not without merit either; four major festivals are not organised through hope alone, that kind of work needs vision. The vision that Beyond The Tracks is “what Birmingham needs really just to kind of give it that other, kind of, star next to its name of what we have here to offer”. The drive to “bring people to Birmingham and actually show them what we do”. And the eye on the future looking to “see what else we can do for the city now”.

But with the rise of Beyond The Tracks, we’ve seen the fall of the Lunar Festival; this yearly switch looks set to continue, as the original three year access to the Beyond The Tracks site has been scuppered by the HS2 development. “We are bringing Lunar back next year and then… we don’t have the land for this (Beyond The Tracks) next year”, Fell explains, taking me a little by surprise. “We were told two years, we could have it… three years we could have it and HS2 is being built on this land. So they’re acquiring the land. So it might be the case that we maybe have a year off Beyond The Tracks, bring Lunar back. We’ve been refining that (Lunar Festival) so we’re quite excited to bring that back. Erm, and then, you know, hopefully we can bring Beyond The Tracks back the year after, maybe”.

Maybe, maybe not; there is always the fear that “it’s four festivals. You do start eating into your own audience as well. People only have so much money”. So maybe one on, one off could be on the cards. Or maybe it’s just a one-off.

Either way, when you think that “Friday night’s going to be crazy with Leftfield and Orbital and the light show they’ve got, here, in the city centre on a Friday night”, then the local focus lineup on Saturday and Sunday, with “Fairground Rides in the middle… a Ferris wheel and everything” it’s hard not to get a building sense of excitement.

And as I walk back across the site toward The Woodman pub, thinking to myself ‘stage there, fairground there, bar somewhere here…’ it’s also hard to disagree with John Fell when he shares the sentiment, “It’s gonna be quite cool. I mean it’s gonna be phenomenal, you know. It’s costing the world, really, so it should be…. But yeah, it gonna be cool, man”. Cool indeed. Phenomenal sounds about right too; I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Beyond The Tracks comes to Eastside Park in Birmingham City Centre, running 15^th to 17^th September. Tickets for this event are £54.45 for individual day tickets, £145 for a weekend pass, with a host of after parties after each day.

For more on Beyond The Tracks, including full festival details and online ticket sales, visit www.beyondthetracks.org

August 2, 2017August 9, 2017

BPREVIEW: Beyond the Tracks @ Eastside Park 15-17.09.17

Words by Damien Russell & Paul Gallear

Birmingham’s Beyond the Tracks festival is set to take over the Eastside City Park, outside Millennium Point, from the 15th to the 17th of September.

This new three day addition to the Birmingham festival scene has a stellar line-up and caters for an eclectic audience incorporating rock, britpop, dance, electronica and more. And it’s not just music that’s on offer, the festival website boasts a ‘great selection of gourmet caterers to suit all tastes and appetites’ as well as ‘a choice of well stocked and well staffed bars’ which, while not essential for the festival experience, will certainly be reassuring for some (me included).

Beyond the Tracks is one of the biggest city centre festivals this year and although there’s no camping, being just five minutes from Moor Street Station the transport access is good enough to take away the sting of the daily ‘commute’. For direct festival info, including more about getting on and off site, click here. For information and online bookings for all Birmingham city centre stations (Moor Street, New Street and Snow Hill) click here to visit Trainline.com

On Friday 15th September the gates will open at 14:00 and this is definitely your day if you like electronic music. Orbital, reunited and with a new track released this February, are the headliners – with Leftfield performing their 1995 album Leftism in full as part of their anniversary tour. There will be a DJ set from electronica stalwarts Faithless, with Australia’s Jagwar Ma also providing a touch of psychedelia to the Friday night bill.

Beyond the Tracks opening night also sees the return of the Higher Intelligence Agency (HIA) to our city’s soundsytems, who will no doubt bring the old ambient/Oscillate crowd out from under whatever chamomile flavoured rock of lost serotonin they are currently resting – Birmingham Review’s editor included. HIA are also hosting an unofficial after party at Centrala on Friday night, for direct info click here.

On Saturday and Sunday the gates open at midday, with both days set to have a more rock-based line up. There are also a number of notable local names across the weekend, including Saturday’s headliners – britpop veterans Ocean Colour Scene.

Saturday daytime the event openers are Penkridge based indie-rockers Sugarthief, who have had an impressive festival run this year including Y Not and Kendal Calling. They are followed by ‘experimental’ Birmingham band Health & Efficiency who make me think of what indie would sound like if it were invented in the 80’s. Noise punk fuzz merchants Table Scraps are up next, who recently spoke to our own Ed King at their recent double a-side launch with Black Mekon at the Hare & Hounds – click here for the Birmingham Review of the gig, alongside links to the full interview.

Also performing across the Saturday programme are The Americas, with their driving up-tempo rock (reminiscent of Tom Petty) describing themselves as ‘music to ride a motorbike to’. Then there’s Midlands based artfully crafted classic college-rock quartet Superfood and B-Town indie-pop rockers Jaws, both coming back to Birmingham after some significant success outside the city walls. The Twang, who are celebrating the ten-year anniversary of their debut album Love It When I Feel Like This, Maxïmo Park – touring following the release or their 2017 album Rick To Exist – and The Coral complete an indie side to the day’s line-up. To read Damien Russell’s Birmingham Review of Risk To Exist, click here.

For those still craving more following all that, there is an after party running from 23:00 to 03:00 at the O2 Institute featuring a DJ set from Maxïmo Park, Blast Off DJs and Dave Southam of Snobs – click here for more details or check out the banner ad below.

For those not exhausted by the previous two days partying, Sunday is a more eclectic line-up with artists such as Scottish 80’s alternative rockers The Jesus and Mary Chain – touring their new album Damage and Joy, Reading’s shoegaze rockers Slowdive – promoting their eponymous album (the first for twenty-two years) and Birmingham’s own Editors bringing the proceedings to a close.

Beyond the Tracks ‘ final day will be opened by Dorcha – ‘a five piece Birmingham band of synths, strings, electronics and heavy beats led by composer Anna Palmer’. Then throughout Sunday we will see sets from Victories at Sea – described by The Guardian as ‘dolorous indie disco with a fresh spin’, Goodnight Lenin – who have recently announced they are recording their second album, and psychedelic industrial rockers BLACKASH.

I think it would be fair to say that there is something for everyone on the Beyond the Tracks bill and seeing big national names with current tours/releases lined up side by side with solid local acts is a pleasure. The organisers seem to have considered every act and made sure they all have a connection to the area or to the 2017 music scene – an attention to detail that bodes well for the wider event.

Speaking of the wider event, while information is a little sparse the promotional video for the festival (link below) goes into a little more about what non-music elements we can expect. There is the promise of ‘fine ales, imported lagers, craft beers, scrumpy cider shack, quality cocktails and fine wines & fizz’ for the drinkers, alongside the aforementioned ‘gourmet street food & snacks’ to soak it all up with and and keep you going.

Then for those moments when the music has got a bit too much, we have some ‘cabaret side shows and walkabouts’ for the grown ups. Not a lot on the programme for children though, with the Beyond the Tracks organsisers issuing the following statement:

‘The event is aimed at an adult audience. There will not be any specific children’s entertainment on site with the focus primarily on the music itself. That said, we are keen not to exclude anyone from the event so have not set an arbitrary age limit for this year. However, all persons do require a full ticket for the event regardless of age’.

But seriously, who under the age of… is going to be losing it to Orbital or The Jesus and Mary Train? Also worth noting Beyond the Tracks has a no re-entry policy and once you’re in, you’re in. Although with a line-up like this I can’t see why anyone would possibly want to be ‘out’.

Beyond the Tracks 2017 – Official Trailer

Tickets for this event are £54.45 for individual day tickets, £145 for a weekend pass, and £11 for the Saturday night after party at the O2 Institute.

For more on Beyond the Tracks, including full festival details and online ticket sales, visit www.beyondthetracks.org