Review: Dot to Dot Festival (Manchester)

When: Monday 30th May

Reviewed by: Helen Geraghty

Could there be a more perfect way to spend a damp bank holiday Monday than at Dot to Dot festival? We think not. With over forty new music acts spread out over six venues in Manchester, Dot to Dot festival is tipped to be the place to see emerging talent first.

Having only been around for seven years, Dot to Dot has already earned itself a name for showcasing up and coming talent. Over one weekend the festival plays in Bristol, Nottingham and finally Manchester.

This is only the second year that the festival has included the Manchester date in its calendar, which is perhaps why things were a little quiet upon arrival at Manchester’s student union; the heart of the festival. Based on first impressions we could have been forgiven for thinking we had turned up on the wrong weekend. Early on the event seemed pretty low-key, students sat tamely in the union sipping juice whilst the barbecue outside sold wilted burgers and bland boiled rice disguised as paella with yellow food colouring and crumbs of carrot served on a polystyrene platter. Not too appetising, but the predominately student audience didn’t seem bothered about getting drunk on an empty stomach.

Noticeable performances in the afternoon came from The Kill Van Kulls and Niki and the Dove, but the festival only really began to buzz with excitement as we queued for Academy 1 to open. First on was Ed Sheeran, a singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar and an urban twist. Sheeran has toured with both Example and Devlin and is set to release his first album on June 12th. Sheeran kept the audience captivated, particularly the group of devoted screaming girlies at the front. His eclectic set began with him singing and playing guitar whilst starting and stopping a recorder and then building a track live on stage as he played each recording over the next. His voice is impressive and his fusion of acoustic folk with a dabbling of beat boxing and rap seem to (surprisingly) make a very pleasing blend.

Next up are The Naked and Famous, a band hailing from New Zealand that have been massively hyped up over recent months. The band opened and closed their set with their two catchiest songs ‘Punching a Dream’ and ‘Young Blood’; we cant help but compare their sound to that of MGMT in their Oracular Spectacular days, but perhaps with a little less personality. With all the hype around the band they had a lot of high expectations to live up to, which could be why their performance seemed slightly bland (or perhaps they had just tasted the paella). Not to say the crowd didn’t love them though, there is little to dislike about the band’s uplifting brand of indie, electro-pop and they had the whole audience dancing in agreement.

The performance that stole the limelight for many on the night though was Darwin Deez. The band’s performance was exclusive to the Manchester date of the festival, and sorry to tell you this Nottingham and Bristol, but you REALLY missed out. Many bands we saw tonight dutifully stood and strummed out their album, however this quirky four-piece gave a full-on performance, complete with tongue in cheek synchronised dancing. If you like your gigs sombre, serious, dark and broody then pop/rockers Darwin Deez probably aren’t for you but Academy 1 was certainly up for some over-enthusiastic dancing that evening. By the time the jangly intro to ‘Radar Detector’ began to sound to round off the band’s set, the crowd had become pretty much euphoric as they sung along to the lyrics ‘you and I go shopping and find exactly what were looking for/you and I go shopping and fall asleep inside a mattress store’.

After being excited to fever pitch, a lot of people seemed baffled at the decision to follow this with a performance from the serious, fist-clenching, synth-pop duo Hurts. Their melancholy lyrics of struggle and despair being met with hope were delivered with reverberating power that managed to fill every corner of the cavernous Academy 1. Hair slicked back and dressed in black suits with stark backing videos playing behind them and their name emblazoned above them, there is no question Hurts have a strikingly atmospheric stage presence. Despite flawless performances of ‘Blood, Tears and Gold’ and ‘Wonderful Life’ we cant help but notice that the previously ecstatic crowd are slowly being pulled back down to earth, the venue is now only half full and the longer Hurts play, the more they sound like Savage Garden.

Heading over to Sound Control the festival vibe quickly transforms into an intimate club scene. SBTRKT and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs attract a sweaty crowd of frantically dancing, colourful party people below the DJ booth on the tightly packed dance floor. Both DJs play colourful, energetic electro sets, SBTRKT hides his face behind a wooden aboriginal mask, whilst TEED wears his trademark extravagant dinosaur/red Indian head dress (were not quite sure which it’s supposed to be).

Dot to Dot festival was long and exhausting, so the knowledge that we were going home to a real bed at the end of it was a pleasing novelty. It was impossible to see every act that we wanted to during the day, but the acts that we did see were exciting, varied and promising. Dot to Dot definitely delivered, and if the festival is an indication of up and coming musical acts then the indie music scene looks to be positively glowing.

See a gallery of photos from Dot to Dot's Nottingham leg here.

Tickets are no longer available for this event