Heineken Greenspace: Variety Show
Looking at the eclectic menu offered by this festival’s organisers for the first day, the Circo Price was undoubtedly the ideal setting –and not because of its acoustic conditions. This was a variety show in the true sense of the word, where the only guiding thread joining the bands was a return to the American songbook.
Firstly, the neo-folk style which has been so popular these last few years stood out because of the sheer number of acts on show. The best exponent of this was The Duke & The King, who showcased their latest album Nothing Gold Can Stay, and whose live performance confirmed that they are no more than a failed amalgam of clichés, a pre-packaged product made on commission. The combination of their pop and fragile vocals (which were basically insipid), the hippy harmonies (laden with the requisite politically correct discourse), soulful vocals (which were reminiscent of the commercial small hours of the BET on Jazz), and their rousing violin (we might as well go back to the Levellers if that’s what we want) turns them into yet another formulaic band.
Next, the unusual Memphis singer-songwriter Micah P. Hinson, who raised expectations by announcing a performance backed by the Zaragoza band Tachenko. They stood out for their solid performance, particularly if we take into account they only had a week to rehearse before the show. The concert began with a declaration of intentions, with an excellent cover of the classic This Old Guitar by John Denver. In a humorous way, Hinson went on to play the covers from his latest release All Dressed Up and Smelling of Strangers, his Jukebox sessions and the bizarrely beautiful surf rock cover of the music of The Gremlins, in addition to the country song Yard of Blonde Girls (a song by the sisters Audrey Clark and Lori Kramer, immortalised by Jeff Buckley). Once he had finished his homage to his idols, it was time for Hinson to play some of his own songs –but he only played three of them.
The first night came to a close with Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, who offered a display of pure energy, with an excellent brass music session. Once again, it was clear that the frenzied loop was born from Black music and from the throats of young singers like Lewis, who continue to echo the teachings of the reverend James Brown, hallelujah!
The line-up for the second day began with Atlas Sound, the solo project of Bradford James Cox, who played some low-fi psychedelia, which was not in keeping with the spirit of his interesting Atlanta project, The Deerhunter. Despite this, we must compliment his ability to construct dreamlike worlds with a guitar and a few pedals. In this regard, his two star pieces Walkabout and Shelia, sounded good, although they were sadly eroded by the incessant background noise of an audience which refused to go along on the “journey” with Cox. By the way, this same audience expectantly awaited the easy and even puerile sound of one of the bands of the moment, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. During their set it was impossible not to feel as though we were at an American prom, the kind you see in teenage films. The band is made up of a bunch of kids neatly arranged on the stage, with the de rigueur keyboard and backing vocals by a girl of manufactured innocence. Their live performance, which was a bit grittier and aggressive, confirmed the fact that their basic and primitive sound, as well as their frontman’s off-key vocals, is concealed in their recordings thanks to the half-hearted production work. Their 80s-style pop noise concert showed them to be The Smiths and The Cure wannabes. They produce empathetic music built from adolescent attitudes and lyrics, where the chorus is the song itself. It is therefore not surprising that the audience’s devotion stems from a sense of emotional rather than aesthetical revival, with the mostly 30-something crowd seeming to be not remembering but experiencing their teenage years as they sang along to pop songs loaded with fake existentialist vindications. I went home wondering if I’m getting a bit old for this…
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