Now to Evans the Death, making a late challenge for the noisiest opening act upstart Fortuna band playing the Winter Sprinter, and they are certainly right up there in the reckoning. A fantastically good fun set, albeit created out of a somewhat shambolic performance which, as far as I could tell, only helped to endear the band to the crowd even more than usual! A couple of great sounding new songs got an airing alongside the more established stuff from the debut album, and only one bass guitar got broken...another rip roaring start.
Next up came Milky Wimpshake. For want of a better expression they can only be described as a proper indie band, and I mean that as a strong compliment. Plenty of up and coming, and frankly plenty of longer established bands could stand to take a long look at how Milky Wimpshake go about the business of being a band. So many great memorable songs, a close to perfect live sound and a lightness of touch that somehow managed to ensure that everyone watching and listening had a great time throughout the set.
The final band had to come around eventually with this being the final day of the four and it seemed that time had come with the arrival onstage of Comet Gain, who proceeded to produce a masterful set of indie perfection combined with music hallesque put downs and comic interludes whenever seemed appropriate...and certainly in response to repeated increasingly philosophical song requests from the crowd! The band are simply spectacular when in full flow and really shouldn't be missed if the chance to catch them happens to present itself. They remain absolutely adept at drifting from indie pop to freak out psyche jams and everything in between at the drop of a hat. Quite a thing to behold. You can hide your love forever was especially strong and a little moving, perhaps it should represent the four days alongside Memorabilia. Even after the set had ended the fun didn't stop, as David managed to start up an accidental encore while attempting to retrieve his guitar from the stage. A fitting end to the week.
After a truly epic four day stand somehow held together by Fortuna, wiaiwya manfully manning the merch table / cubbyhole, and, last but not least, the bench seating upstairs at the Lexington it can only be said that the entire event has set the bar extraordinarily high for every other gig that I attend this year. While the first night unarguably left the strongest impression on me I've been startled at the sheer quality of the 12 bands who played, and in fact all the DJs who leant their services. Without doubt this stands as the strongest consecutive lineup that I've witnessed and quite possibly the most fun that I've ever had so early in January!
This was the kind of thing that people should realistically only be allowed to dream might happen.
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