Wickerman 2010: Friday

“Come. It is time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man” So said Lord Summerisle in the original 1973 film and I, like many others made the pilgrimage this year to Dundrennan Farm in Dumfries and Galloway. A slow burner (pardon the pun) of a festival, it has grown in stature since its inception in 2001 to become something of a secret festival with its own cult appeal. I have been for the last 4 years now and can honestly say it is one of the best the UK has to offer, free of the commercialism of T and despite its increase in numbers in recent years it has not lost the ‘alternative’ feel that makes it so appealing to me and thousands more.

Always sure to draw an eclectic line up and crowd previous performers on the bill have ranged from The Proclaimers to Gary Numan to Candi Staton and that’s just scratching the surface. My favourite haunt at the festival is the modest Solus Tent, there is nothing fancy about it, it could be the type of tent you see at a local village fete but the difference is it houses the best in up and coming Scottish talent. The stage is curated by a chap called Chay Woodman and he strives to make the line up as diverse as possible whilst maintaining the quality over both days – a difficult feat but one which he consistently pulls off. So here for your delectation is what I managed to catch at this year’s Pagan party….
 
Friday

Well first of all, I’ll let you in on a secret, I am here on official Skinny duties, my maiden voyage for the paper, but I am also a member of a twelve strong stag party! What? A stag do at a festival I hear you ask? That’s madness! Madness it may be but it is a damn sight better than a pub crawl in the Grassmarket, followed by the difficult choice of which bar to finish up in on the pubic triangle! It is however difficult to persuade my fellow stag brethren to venture into the arena to watch bands at such an early hour so I set about my task Han Solo.

First up in the Solus tent was Glasgow band Call Me Ishmael who seem eager to impress the early risers. Hitting the ground running, such an important aspect of playing any festival, they play with an enthusiasm and energy that defies the time of day and they manage to stay on the right side of emo, perhaps with a hint of early Idlewild. Introducing a love song entitled Fire the Tank, it was clear it wouldn’t be a slushy ballad and their short but frenetic set was rounded off nicely with the memorable I Am…Stop.
 
Next up was another Glasgow band by the name of Galleries who I knew absolutely nothing of, but had been assured their singer possessed a cracking set of lungs. Almost from the outset, I was impressed by the band, their melodic take on post-rock was refreshing and the singer could indeed sing…and how. Despite openly admitting he was struggling with the flu, he displayed a vocal range that would put many an established frontman to shame. Reminiscent of Brett Anderson in his pomp and with intelligent music to accompany, courtesy of a tight and talented band, Galleries are most certainly ones to watch.

Having been advised by the curator Chay to check out the Lost Todorovs as he said their set would be “like a Balkan wedding” I felt duty bound to oblige. Arriving back to the Solus Tent to be greeted by a sound that fell somewhere between The Velvet Underground and Steeleye Span, this was a surreal outfit. For example, one chap sat playing the mandolin wearing a Harlequin mask and in front of him sat a bearded lady who seemed to just sit and stare at the crowd. Add to this a very odd looking fellow who prowled the front of the stage offering nothing musical to the proceedings, his grotesque mask and bizarre actions were seemingly enough reason for his attendance. There was also a hint of the brilliant Tiger Lillies about the whole affair and the rather large crowd assembled were unsettled but impressed nonetheless.

The stag contingent finally emerged from the campsite to see the mighty Goldie Lookin Chain and I felt compelled to join them. A perfect band for this type of festival, the cult Welsh outfit drew a huge crowd at the main stage for their nonsensical rhymes concerning transsexual mothers and sexually active robot men. They certainly know how to work an audience and I was surprised how many of their songs I was singing along with, I don’t know what that says about me but I wasn’t alone in chanting ‘Your Mother’s Got a Penis’ and ‘Guns Don’t Kill People, Rappers Do’. It was never going to be earth shattering, but I would imagine it would have been a highlight for many, myself included.

A quick dash back up to the Solus Tent for Skinny cover stars Mitchell Museum and having missed them at Kelburn Garden Party and T in the Park recently, I was looking forward to seeing how they’ve progressed since last seeing them in Edinburgh some time ago. They still possess the charm that saw them garner early interest and their songs sound far bigger than those early days, a Scottish Animal Collective is perhaps unfair on them as they do genuinely seem to be trying to do their own thing and they should be commended for that. Tiger Heartbeat and Warning Sign were songs I remembered from before but their previous incarnations as demos were long gone and in their place were pulsating, vibrant anthems which went some way to reaffirming their new found status as front page news.

Despite being infamous for that Kate Bush cover, to those familiar with their live sets and other material The Futureheads are a lot more than that. Their popularity seems to have fluctuated over the last few years but there is no denying they are fantastic live act and their appearance at this year’s Wickerman is something of a coup. A set mixed with old and new tracks from their new long player The Chaos, the new material Struck Dumb and the sublime I Can Do That suggest the album is worth a listen. First album tracks such as Decent Days, Decent Nights and Meantime sound as good as ever and are received with gusto by the early evening crowd. Finishing off with their ever impressive take on Hounds of Love, the crowd are split in half for the opening harmony duel setting off a frenetic finale to a memorable set.

Another coup for the Wickerman in the shape of the Scottish institution that is Teenage Fanclub were up next. Having only ever witnessed them live once before in a slightly inebriated state at the Barrowlands when they performed Bandwagonesque in its entirety I was very excited about seeing them outdoors at a festival. Their setlist was near perfection and did not lean too heavy on the new material which, despite being a definite return to form most notably Baby Lee, was not what the crowd were looking for. Instead we were treated to a relentless career spanning 50 minute set that took in highlights from Songs of Northern Britain including Ain’t That Enough and set opener Start Again plus About You and inevitably Sparky’s Dream from Grand Prix. The best was saved till last though with a left and right jab of Everything Flows and The Concept, arguably two of the finest ever songs to be heard from these shores. Norman Blake et al may now look like your school teachers but that is quite fitting because they have taught a huge amount of bands how it’s done for the last 20 years.

Some people may scoff at the fact that The Charlatans are the headline act at a festival but after this performance, it seems like an inspired decision. They seemed to have accepted their status as indie Godfathers and out of all their contemporaries of that era, they have truly stood the test of time while consistently releasing albums of a quality that those others could only dream of. Tonight’s set certainly opened my eyes to how good a band they actually are, I remember seeing old footage of them from the early nineties and thinking they didn’t sound too clever much like The Stone Roses, however a tee total and healthy living Tim Burgess seems to have sorted that particular problem out. He strides the stage, complete with his odd pudding bowl haircut, and oversized lumberjack shirt blasting through a setlist that would have any Charlies fan salivating. Jesus Hairdo, Weirdo and Can’t Get Out Of Bed all get an airing as does new single ‘Love is ending’ which does not sound out of place amongst the standards. A personal highlight for me ‘Oh vanity’ from previous album Cross My Path is an absolute stormer of a tune and How High sounds as good now as it did when I bought it on single way back in…deep breath…1997! Finishing off with the classic Sproston Green bringing to an end a seminal set, the general consensus amongst the stag party is that their Picture House gig in October is already a fixture on everyone’s calendar.