Day 1: Saturday 23rd August 2014
 
Well I'm quiet excited to hear what the music will be like over the next two days. 'At the edge of the Sea' is a 'mini indoor festival' run by The Wedding Present at the Concorde 2, next to the edge of the sea! It's a collection of bands personally chosen by David Gedge. As David said in our recent interview basically it's people he likes and wants to hang out with again. I imagine the crowd are a fairly similar mix of people who come from all over the world to meet up for this festival each year, now in it's 6th year and the first time it's run over two days.
After a short queue to get in at 3pm when the doors opened we were treated to the ukulele band Ukaladeez. It was nice welcoming music that got the toes tapping with a bit of lighthearted fun. They were playing on what was called 'The swim stage' set up opposite the main bar. Everyone seemed to enjoy the row of six women singing delightful harmonies while strumming along on their ukuleles as they got in their first drinks. The women were backed up by two guys on bass and drums sitting behind them and from time to time one or more of the women would swap the ukulele for a flute, tambourine or just concentrate on singing with no instrument which helped keep the music dynamic.  
 
Up next and a clever way to ensure people turn up for the whole day was David Gedge's other band Cinerama on 'The Bikini Stage' i.e. the main stage.  Basically the same band as The Wedding Present but with an extra set of hands on the keyboards and as the name implies, a more gentle cinematic set of tunes. The set was short but sweet and on the first day they played the odd numbered tracks from 'This Is Cinerama' with the even numbered tracks coming the next day 'for a special reason' as David said. There was plenty of light banter from David, probably about a third of the set, talking about the festival, the bands playing and where they are form, a touching bit about him watching the previous band Ukaladeez with the sea in the background and it bringing a tear of joy to his eye and the announcement of the raffle prize which today was a test pressing of the George Best album. The music sometimes felt a little laboured but that can be forgiven as they don't get out and play much live, I think this festival is the only place you are likely to see them, so I guess they don't get much time to rehearse the set.
 
Bouncing back to the sun lit bar area again for Fawn Spots highlighted why this is not your usual event. Typically you would expect the bar stage to be the acoustic stage but up next is the most hardcore noisy punk band of the weekend! I'm not sure if it was as strange for them playing in the bright sunlit bar area as it seemed to me but they put on a solid performance even though there was not really enough space for the crowd to go mental. In fact it was quite refreshing to be forced to listen to the music rather than bouncing around to it. Their music was a wall of noise with piercing screaming vocals two guitars and drums. The crowd may not have had much space to jump around but the band certainly used all the stage thrashing around as they performed.
 
Bosco Rogers came onto the main stage next and they describe themselves as 'Flower Punk from the dirty South' which seems about right. For this show they also had a guest female backing vocalist who had dropped in at the last few rehearsals and learnt the set, even taking over the main vocal for one of the songs. Their light hearted pub rock fun music was very entertaining and left me wanting more. Their first EP is due out later this year and if it lives up to their live performance will be well worth checking out. They apologised before the last song saying sorry for bothering us and we could get back to seeing some real bands soon, always nice to see a band who play well but don't take themselves too seriously.
 
Now for something completely different! Black Light Ray really caught your attention with two guitarists either side of a drum machine with a video display on top. On the left a male guitarist dressed in bright red old fashion military jacket along with a right pucker tash while at the other end of the stage a female guitarist in a black and white floral dress with black and white hair. The music was droney guitar parts with a healthy amount of effects reminiscent of early Husker Du or Pixies. They made a joke about their drum machine (Victor) being a more reliable drummer although it occasionaly fell off the chair on which it was precariously balanced. You can only wonder if their old drummer did that more often! Their captivating music and simple driving drum beats made them one of the most entertaining bands so far which seems to be backed up by the fact that they later sold out of all their EP's.
 
Sky Larkin provided another shift in music. This time a female lead bluesy rock three piece affair from up in Leeds. It was a very no frills performance with Katie Harkin's in your face vocals and lovely guitar sounds mixed in with a driving bass line and a drummer who knows when to play a simple beat and when to let rip. I've always had a soft spot for a good three piece band as it gives each instrument space to breath and Sky Larkin ticked all the boxes. A good full sound from this three piece with plenty of dynamics in the music as well.
 
 
Guards! Guards! Sounds like call for help and may be intentional as once again this duo had not played together live before, in fact they have worked on the music from different countries as the singer Lisa Bouvier had moved to Sweden after they had written two songs and the completed the rest using dropbox. They covered Cinerama's Kerry Kerry song, which obviously went down well with this crowd. Accompanying Lisa was Monster Bobby who kept the beats and melodies going on a number of devices from laptop to keyboard and even a bit of percussion with a bright yellow cow bell and drumsticks. The music had an Europop feel to it mainly from Lisa's high range vocals and the poppy arangement that went with it. Another totally fun enjoyable performance where the band looked like they were enjoying it as much as the audience and they were the last band on the small stage today.
 
The Membranes, if you don't know, are a 'post punk' band from the late 70's who like The Wedding Present did not follow the rules and did it their own way most of the time. The band knocked out six albums by the end of the 80's then disappeared for a bit. It looks like they got back together a few years ago and are even in the process of putting together a new album. They even treated us to one of their new songs 'In The Graveyard'. They certainly don't seem to have lost any of their drive or energy as they steamrolled through their set of punk with a hint of dub, heavy rhythms and stacks of distortion. Will be interesting to see what the old punks come up with for their new album…
 
 
Finally we had reached time for The Wedding Present, it had been quite a day and a lot of different music to take in but as the intro music rang out for The Wedding Present it was not hard to tap into that extra reserve of energy. I must admit that I'm not their biggest fan, not that I dislike them. They have always seemed to be around, whether it was John Peel continuously playing them or my mates who always had their albums kicking around. I know the big singles but strangely I've never owned one of their albums. I say strangely because they are indeed the sort of band I typically like and looked forward to hearing them. As they got stuck into their first set (which was mainly based around their Watusi album from 1984) and as David said not one of their best sellers but one of his favourite along with a few classic songs added into the mix for the fans. The Wedding Present were the perfect headliner and with their driving rock set the crowd on fire sending everyone home with a big smile on their faces… Some will return tomorrow for more of the same…
 
Jonski Mason
 
For more photos see our At The Edge of the Sea Gallery