Written by Mike Ritchie | 12 June 2011

Matthew Houck’s hero is Willie Nelson – he even cut a tribute CD to him – so the feeling from this sparkling gig was that we hope he wins even a portion of the bandana-wearers huge fame. No-one would begrudge Phosphorescent time in the spotlight, in fact it’s overdue.

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Written by Paul Kerr | 04 June 2011

Jim Dead comes from Deadsville. An imagined place, more in the mind than on the map. Occasional visitors to this shadowland include Jim White, Hank Williams, Jason Molina, The Drive By Truckers and even Neil Young. Here the music is slow and thick, churning like the Mississippi, rich and full bodied.

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Written by Mark Grassick | 01 June 2011

Singing Adams are a dream of an opening act. There can’t be many bands out there whose hooks, harmonies and general enthusiasm are more suited to putting a crowd into a damn good mood. Their short set to kick off proceedings featured some real highlights from their debut Everybody Friends Now, including the wistful ‘Old Days’ a frenetic rendition of ‘I Need Your Mind’ and a sing-along to old favourite ‘St Thomas’, a kinetic end to a set that definitely won them many new fans. It’s not difficult to imagine them headlining bigger venues in the near future.

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Written by Jonathan Aird | 25 May 2011

The support was provided by Lichen - who is one man and a noise generator.  The one man is Robert Lowe, and he seemed to be playing some kind of white noise and electronic bleeps generator.  The effect was not unlike one of Jean Michelle Jarre's found sound segments accidently played at 16RPM.  There was a certain hypnotic attraction in the music - which was reminiscent of some of the sound experiments that appeared on late 60's conceptual SF movie soundtracks - which pulsed in and out like a half tuneful headache.  After about 15 minutes of this a wailing wordless vocal was intoned over the top.  For another 15 minutes.  In total about 25 minutes too much.

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