Welcome one and all to Dot to Dot Festival 2013, the answer to the question; Who is going to have a great 2013? Being one of the first festivals of the year, Dot to Dot has an important role to play in telling every festival organiser which new bands and singer-song-writers to book for their line-up. Basically if you are on this bill you are going places. Past acts have included Ed Sheeren, The Drums, Pulled Apart By Horses, SBTRKT, Mystery Jets, Alphabeat, Glasvegas, Noah and the Whale, Gallows, Klaxons, Laura Marling, Cage the Elephant, 65daysofstatic and many, many, many more.
Dot to Dot is not just nay festival though, unlike any other festival it tours three cities across the UK; Nottingham, Manchester and finally Bristol all hosted an epic day of the festival accumulating in what has to be the largest tour of bands across the UK. And of £20 a day its a complete bargin.
This year was no different to any other and from first hand experience (in Bristol) its brilliantly organised and well put together. All of the stages showcase a large variety of acts throughout the day with the highest standards of quality maintained at all times. To make the day even better the sun was shining and there was a badass hot-air-balloon in a park close to the venues. Im not quite sure what it was there for but it was cool nun the less.
Anyways back to the festival. As with all these “just a day” festivals its impossible to see all the bands and best to place your bets on one stage to avoid getting stuck outside venues later in the day as they always become extremely busy. First up was the ever entertaining Beans on Toast a british folk singer who since opening Glastonbury Festival in 2008 seems to have maintained a presence at every festival in the UK no matter the size. His songs about the day to day droggery of life with a comedic twist easily won round the crowd and prepared them well for the days activities.
Check out his song “Angry Birds” below. (Yes, it is about that annoying addictive game)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jymg_otG_lM1
After Beans on Toast came the very current and seriously talented London Grammer a three piece from London. Their mixture of strong female vocals and rock R-n-B has given them allot of added attention in the media. And after being selected by Radio 1 as one of their bands of the week just prior to Dot-to-Dot it was guaranteed that the venue was to be rammed with fans. Although their set was only short (6 songs) the crowd was clearly impressed and were left wanting more after ending with their most recent hit “metal and dust”. This was a band destined for the big time.
Check out their track “wasting my young years” below now;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkeDBwsIaZw1
Next up was the mercury award winner and fan favourite Tom Odell. The twenty-two year old came fully pumped for his upbeat rock and roll performance. Throwing out hit after hit the crowd ate up every note and like London Grammer everyone wanted it to never end.
After Tom Odell came Benjamin Francis Leftwich who was so depressing , terrible and unnecessarily sweary I’m not going to mention him any more than this.
Moving super quickly onward the under-whelmed crowd quickly forgot about the disaster that came before and were whipped back into shape by the appearance of a band who in the last 24 months have gone from strength to strength. Dry The River powered their way onto the stage and with beautiful harmonies and catchy rock melodies they instantly had the crowd in the palm of their hand. After having a five month break they seemed as fresh as ever, with an effortless performace full of old favourites and some sexy sounding new tunes the future looks better than orange.
All in all Dot to Dot was a seriously great day and I cannot recommenced it highly enough. For seriously fantastic bands, at seriously good value for money Dot to Dot has it all. Be sure to check out all the bands on the Dot to Dot website below you are certain to fine someone you like. See you all there in 2014.
Find out more about Dot to Dot Festival and all the acts here on the following links;
Much Love x 🙂
Special thanks to Ruth Johnston who has kindly provided all the photographs for this post (and most of my previous live posts). Please check out here fantastic blog and see more pictures here.
