Doune The Rabbit Hole 2017: The Report

Rain is the enemy of the Scottish festival. While Doune The Rabbit Hole 2017 put up a good fight, the poor weather is sadly not the only obstacle it comes up against this year; four bands cancelled; headliners Liars faced humungous technical issues; the O///Dome stage was still under construction when the arena opened; the toilets were questionable; and there was a confusing lack of signage with "where is the arena entrance?" being a frequently asked question.

This was Doune The Rabbit Hole’s eighth year, and it’s first teaming up with Glasgow-based event promoters Synergy Concerts. Past line-ups have been strong and this year's was no exception. Arguable, it was the decent selection of acts, the friendly punters and staff that saved the weekend.

On the first of three afternoons, we check out the checking outthe festival arena. It's dead and raining, and does not a good vibes make. This feeling was sadly unanimous and, later, rumours flew of only half the 1000 tickets available sold, along with a poor volunteer turn out. The O///Dome wasn’t open yet – it was still under construction – which is a relatively big deal, considering the stage had five acts set to appear later that night. Interestingly, the stage was originally an art installation at Glasgow’s Tramway, but was quickly dubbed the Pineapple Under the Sea by a punter.

In the evening, a meagre crowd escaped the drizzle for Adam Torres, who’s melancholic melodies nicely harmonised with the weather. His front row consisted of a pissed woman dancing solo, and a small child chasing bubbles. Later, disaster struck. Headliner Liars were victim to horrendous technical issues, which frontman Angus Andrew was initially oblivious to. After getting through the best part of two tracks, and putting on a decent performance too, he was ushered off stage by the sound tech and audience heckles.

The crowd growing disgruntled, they began to drift while the crew tried to fix Andrew’s mic. After another failed attempt, Liars eventually pulled their set. Brian Reynolds, director of Synergy Concerts, wrote in an email: “This was the only tech problem on the main stage all weekend. Everything was working perfectly but Liars were not able to send a vocal signal after going through their effects and processors. This ultimately meant that the show was not delivered. We were absolutely gutted.”

This was essentially good news for local favourites' PAWS and Happy Meals, who both drew larger crowds as a result. PAWS were met with a moshpit for their first live airing of new single Omaha, and Happy Meals delivered an electronic hit-filled set to a packed tent. A jaunt down to the new dance stage, Thunderdome, saw a crew member balanced precariously on a step ladder trying to fix the lighting. The Skinny called it a night.

Saturday starts with The Skinny waking up in a muddy tent listening to the patter of rain, probably one of the least desirable ways to start the day. Luckily in the afternoon, the sun decided to come out, and the difference in atmosphere was quite incredible. The first band of the day, Aberfeldy, dropped out with no prior warning. Raza, on the other hand, were having a great time in the Baino tent, and seemed genuinely pleased to be at the festival.

Sage Francis & B Dolan rocked up to the Jaberwocky stage and spat out child-friendly rhymes by considerately replacing “fuck” with “fudge”, while four people dressed as bananas handed out the same fruit to the crowd; gotta get that potassium! As day turned to night, we asked "Where the holy fuck are Holy Fuck?" Not at the Baino tent at 7pm as scheduled, that's for sure; replaced by a local twosome improvising ambient electronica, they only lost about 15% of the audience when the gallous frontman announced they weren’t in fact Holy Fuck. Kudos.

Saturday’s headliner Songhoy Blues were another band who had to drop out at the last minute. Reynolds told us, "There was nothing that could be done. Songhoy Blues did everything possible; DTRH did everything possible to make it happen. Fate intervened." The announcement was made via Facebook, not overly ideal for punters who had either no charge or internet on their phone.

So, to answer the previous question, "Where the holy fuck are Holy Fuck?", they were moved up to the Jabberwocky stage due to Songhoy Blues' cancellation, and excelled by delivering a solid set jumping between their Mogwai-esque electronica and energetic dance tracks. The cancellation also meant that French indie pop troupe François and The Atlas Mountains stepped into the headliner slot, and they did it with aplomb. While they focussed mainly on the new record, Solide Mirage, a quick rendition of Be Water (Je suis de l’eau) closed the evening on a high.

Another day, another headline drops out. Sunday's comes in the form of Ulrika Spacek, who were set to appear on Baino at 11pm. Reynolds told us: "One cancellation is normal, but this is the most cancellations I’ve ever seen. All genuine though." Alongside the cancellations, another noticeable issue was the lack of ticket sales. Acts were rarely met by an audience on arrival, instead, they played into the void as people wandered over, Jessica Pratt being a classic example of this. Pratt played a beautiful set, which was sadly exempt from any tracks off her debut album, or much of an audience.

Brooklyn’s Big Thief looked a little bemused later on the tented Baino stage. "I’m a little uncomfortable in a festival setting," divulges frontwoman Adrianne Lenker. "I’m feeling a lot of feelings. Let’s get through this together." She encouraged the crowd closer to the stage and proceeds to deliver an intimate performance – the perfect setting for their stripped back and emotional folk rock sound. Playing off the back of their impressive second record, Capacity, Big Thief are the festival highlight.

Glasgow-based supergroup Start to End round off Sunday night with their performance of Daft Punk’s Discovery; the perfect antidote to the “I’m not crying, really” acoustic folk from earlier. Even though the singer has one eye on a tablet reading the lyrics, the band are clearly well rehearsed and have their performance down. It’s easy to forget Daft Punk pre-Get Lucky, but Discovery is an iconic dance record and Start to End execute it well.

Sure, the festival ran into many difficulties this year, but sometimes shit happens, and we still had an enjoyable weekend despite the various problems. If anything, the multiple issues and questionable weather created a “we’re all in this together“ mentality often lost in the more commercial music festival.