HOYFEST 2017 | LIVE REVIEW
The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff, 30th September 2017
After week upon week of anticipation, Hoyfest 2017 was somehow over in the blink of an eye. Taking a quick inventory of curator Sam Hoy’s sophomore festival, it’s probably fair to say that although there were some bravura performances among the sixteen indie bands that battled it out on stage, the day didn’t quite live up to expectations.
The first real highlight of the festival came in the shape of the highly promising Bristol combo Family Jools. The early afternoon slot, a sparse crowd (The Gate didn’t really fill up until around six o’clock), and particularly the recent departure of lead guitarist Jack Hawkins as the band were putting the finishing touches to the recording of their debut album, could all have conspired against the band reproducing their best on the day.
Not to worry, though: the group’s singer/songwriter and keyboard player George Sims amusingly accounted for the missing Hawkins by suggesting the axeman had “left the doors of the van open on the motorway”, before strapping on his guitar and blasting out a six-song set incorporating r&b, soul and college rock tunes. The first three numbers, Policeman, Watch this Space, and Regret, yet to surface on the net and due presumably to turn up on the forthcoming album, grabbed the attention on first hearing with a series of jackhammer riffs and sure-footed guitar solos. The second half of a short set – current single American Dream, the sublimely infectious Don’t Know and a heavy-duty version of the soulful Fallacy, really showcased the strength and depth of the band’s material, and it’s not until sometime after the gig is over that you realise the band didn’t play the majestically poppy Get Off, arguably their most crowd-pleasing song.
Family Jools was one of the few bands at this year’s Hoyfest with the confidence to really let their songs breathe in a live setting (The Strawberries, The Americans, Palamino Party and Scottish outfit Vida being the others with the self-belief to do the same), while Fosset, Himalayas and the disappointing RedFaces all had the bright idea of “turning it up to eleven” to impress the punters.
The other band who really smashed it out of the park at Hoyfest were hometown heroes Estrons. Fronted by Cardiff-born Tali Kallstrom, undoubtedly the most charismatic Welsh songstress to have hit the city since Shirley Bassey stepped out of the shadows of Tiger Bay in the early fifties, Estrons played a strong set with unbridled passion, cleverly adapting the Pixies quiet-loud-quiet song structures to give light and shade to their set. Above all else, Kallstrom’s singing absolutely held up under the pressure of a fire and brimstone live performance. Make a Man, I’m Not Your Girl and Strobe Lights are all virtuoso pop songs and obvious standouts tonight, or any other night for that matter, but there was enough classy new material such as Glasgow Kisses, on display to confirm that Estrons are the real deal. Plus there’s Tali’s manic on-the-spot jogging!
Headliners Pretty Vicious had it all to do in following such a tough act and fell some way short in comparison. Still in their mid-teens when the mighty Cave Song broke and panicked the major labels into setting their sat-navs for Merthyr, Pretty Vicious’ career has gone dramatically into reverse with the shock news that Virgin Records had dumped the boys even before the release of a debut album. On tonight’s evidence it’s not too hard to see why – nothing in a ferociously unsubtle set holds a candle to Cave Song which, admittedly, is a stonewall classic that will forever earn the band a footnote in the rock annals, but even that beast of a song is buried beneath a subterranean squall of guitars at the close of an uninspiring set that saw a significant section of the crowd drift away before the close. While Pretty Vicious may have tumbled all the way back down the rock ‘n’ roll snake, it would be foolish to write off these teen rebels just yet.
Only time will tell if 2017 will be considered a vintage year for Hoyfest, but hopefully, the festival itself will go from strength to strength. The countdown is on, only 364 days to Hoyfest 2018!
words Kevin McGrath