Soma Fest 04/09/21
Sep. 18th, 2021 01:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
satyricaN & I had brunch near Angel on the Saturday, before I headed round to Shoreditch for my third one-day festival experience within a week: this time was SomaFest. Whereas the other two had been outdoors, this was around four venues close to each other in Hoxton. It never felt too crowded though, and to be honest seemed a little underattended, until it got towards the early evening most bands we saw probably only had 12-20 people watching them, which was a shame as the line-up was stuffed full of bands I really like. Two guys who I'd met before at Camden Rocks, M and P, had come down from Yorkshire for it and I spent nearly the whole time with one or both of them. It had a nice feeling to it too and, unlike when I had been to Rewired, I felt much more comfortable saying hi to the bands I'd seen lots of times before.
I started at the Queen of Hoxton, which I think was catering to the slightly heavier/punkier end of the line-up, and saw Red Light Acid Test to open, who were new to me and pretty cool, then Slobheads, an in-yer-face duo I'd enjoyed once before and never managed to catch up with since. Then we headed up to Colours, where nearly all of the bands I was planing to see were playing: we saw Five Kites first, then The Novus, who seem to get more and more accomplished and deserved a bigger audience. We stayed for Average Sex and rock'n'rollers Dirty Orange, both of whom I've seen around the place before, then went back to the Queen of Hoxton for M's recommendations Aerial Salad, an endearing Manchester-based punk band.
Back at Colours I was excited to see the grungey Sick Joy again, then we popped out for a quick sandwich and so saw about half of Novacub. Then a real purple-patch started of Himalayas, King Nun and Broken Hands, who were headlining the venue, all of whom it was great to see playing live again. M & I moved on to the Strongroom and saw the end of The Motive, then I'd been excited to see The Jacques again, although M wasn't feeling it, which I get as they have a more low-key sound than much of the line-up. The bands finished off with Cheekbone, who were good fun: there were DJs after that but we were both pretty dead on our feet so decided to call it a night.
I started at the Queen of Hoxton, which I think was catering to the slightly heavier/punkier end of the line-up, and saw Red Light Acid Test to open, who were new to me and pretty cool, then Slobheads, an in-yer-face duo I'd enjoyed once before and never managed to catch up with since. Then we headed up to Colours, where nearly all of the bands I was planing to see were playing: we saw Five Kites first, then The Novus, who seem to get more and more accomplished and deserved a bigger audience. We stayed for Average Sex and rock'n'rollers Dirty Orange, both of whom I've seen around the place before, then went back to the Queen of Hoxton for M's recommendations Aerial Salad, an endearing Manchester-based punk band.
Back at Colours I was excited to see the grungey Sick Joy again, then we popped out for a quick sandwich and so saw about half of Novacub. Then a real purple-patch started of Himalayas, King Nun and Broken Hands, who were headlining the venue, all of whom it was great to see playing live again. M & I moved on to the Strongroom and saw the end of The Motive, then I'd been excited to see The Jacques again, although M wasn't feeling it, which I get as they have a more low-key sound than much of the line-up. The bands finished off with Cheekbone, who were good fun: there were DJs after that but we were both pretty dead on our feet so decided to call it a night.
