Sunday 26th July
Due to the wet weather, a crowd of people rushed to the indoor stage for Tuff Love’s set. It was a mixture of heavy distortion and sweet harmonies, with tracks such as ‘Groucho’ and ‘Sweet Discontent’ sounding summery.
It was still raining by the time Colour Me Wednesday took to the outdoor stage, however their set was perfect and well worth standing in the rain for. Guesting with them were Laura Coles on rhythm guitar and Daniel Stocker from Daniel Versus the World on keyboards. The band played a range of tracks from both the wonderful album I Thought It Was Morning, and a split EP with the punk singer Spoonboy. The atmosphere was brilliant, with the crowd singing along to ‘Sweaters’, and the musicianship was fluid, notably the strong chemistry between Coles and guitarist Harriet Doveton . Furthermore, singer Jennifer Doveton and Stocker performed a cover of ‘When You’re Gone’ by Bryan Adams and Mel C going down nicely with the crowd, the band rounded off a great gig with the political ‘Purge Your Inner Tory’ .
Immediately afterwards, The Tuts were in the indoor stage. Having toured with The Selecter earlier this year, they took Indietracks by storm. Arriving onstage in beautiful Indian outfits, they played a fast and frenetic set, and the harmonies between singer Nadia Javed, Harriet Doveton on bass, and drummer Beverley Ishmael were perfect and on point. Their performance of ‘Worry Warrior’ and an energetic cover of ‘Two Princes’ by Spin Doctors demonstrated this. Additionally, in what was one of the highlights of the festival, Javed made a motivational speech calling out racists, while the synchronized hand movements during ‘Do I Have to Look For Love?’ showed why they could be Indietracks headliners in the future.
Unfortunately the weather got much worse, meaning Durham indie-poppers Martha’s set got pushed back by an hour, so the demand to see them was huge. They didn’t disappoint, and their set consisted of a barrage of tracks from debut album Courting Strong, including ‘1997, Passing in the Hallway’, ‘1967, I Miss You, I’m Lonely’, and ‘Present Tense’ each track provoking mass sing-alongs. What makes Martha great is their ability to write a catchy pop song, and then perform it live effortlessly. Additionally they roped in Niall McCamley from The Spook School to do an impromptu cover of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion, raising more than a few smiles, before launching into the punky ‘Sycamore’. By the time they finished their set with a raucous version of ‘Bubble In My Bloodstream’, all four members crowd surfed out of the stage, which was great to see.
I spent the next few minutes wondering how The Go! Team were going to top Martha’s set. A lot of people felt the same, and the six-piece took a long time to soundcheck as they had two drumkits onstage. Despite this, they put on the most sublime, ridiculous and incredible show of the weekend. In around 45 minutes, their high energy set included a lot of tracks from recent album The Scene Between, in addition to a career spanning set that blended multiple genres. The audience was up for it, jumping in unison, and a personal highlight was the upbeat feel-good rush of ‘Buy Nothing Day’, bringing things to an uplifting close.
Indietracks is a festival that doesn’t disappoint, each year bringing a line up that is fresh and invigorating. This year was no different, and with next year marking its tenth anniversary, a mass celebration is sure to be on the cards.
Words by Ermis Madikopoulos