2. Jesse Malin played a great acoustic set at Cedar Street Courtyard, blasting through his hits, either fired up or slightly rattled by the idea of playing a 'posh' show to badge-holders, rather than the festival-goers at large. Some of the acoustic arrangements worked better than others. A few songs felt as we were missing the electric guitars (in a similar way to Pearl Jam's Unplugged session feels a lot like the electric arrangements are being played out on acoustic instruments with little of the forethought shown at Pearl Jam's later Bridge School benefit shows). But others were really effective and it was great to see the closing 'Cigarettes and Violets' in such an intimate setting. Here is what we thought straight after the show.
3. Frank Turner really won over the audience with his show at Latitude. Although many of those nearer the front were clearly already fans, the crowd spilling into the street clearly contained many who were simply curious to see what the fuss was about. Either the set or Frank's newer material feels much more American than the songs he was playing back in 2009 when we first saw him. Either way it went down well with the US members of the audience. At the moment, he's certainly reaping the rewards, though. At the beginning of the show, and he may have been half joking, he said he'd planned to play a whole slab of new material in the set, but that after seeing Future of the Left, he'd decided to hammer through the hits, and it certainly worked very well. Read the immediate Broken Biscuit Records reaction here.
4. Bob Mould played a great set at Frank's. Knowing some of his Sugar tunes and a smattering of Husker Du material, it was great to hear him rattle off song after song from his back catalogue, as well as bits from his new album. The show was a great way to connect with a classic artist who we'd hadn't yet got to know properly. The Broken Biscuit Records post-show reaction is here.
5. The Wedding Present performance at the Paste party was another great way to learn about a classic band that had previously escaped our notice. The wry, romantic tales in their songs and great band interplay were a real revelation. Here is what we thought straight after the show
6. Last and very much not least, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band warrant the most prominent mention for a blistering performance at the ACL Moody Theatre. The new material from Wrecking Ball thundered with the addition of the augmented E Street Band. The horn section added huge brushes of colour and the rumble beneath Max Weinberg's drums gave a real depth to the sound, while the theatre's intimacy and acoustics allowed us to pick out each musician's contribution.
And then there were the guests... The mini Jimmy Cliff set (The Harder They Come, Time Will Tell and Many Rivers to Cross) was marvellous and a real celebration. Tom Morello hauled out impressive performances of his solos on the Wrecking Ball album (and may well leave fans wondering who will set into his shoes on later dates in the tour) and seeing his solo on the electrified The Ghost of Tom Joad in the flesh was truly magical.
For those who had been enthralled by Bruce's keynote speech in the morning in which he admitted his lifelong debt to the Animals, it was a special pleasure to see Bruce's genuine delight in telling how he'd been told Eric Burdon was in town and had hooked up to play with him. And then the huge finale with Arcade Fire, the Low Anthem, Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely really capped things off perfectly. Here is our immediate post-show reaction to the close-up Bruce experience
I am glad that you got in. Mostly glad. No bitterness or anything like that. NONE...
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