Best of 2007 | Joining The Dots: NG Magazine's round-up of Dot to Dot 2007

2007-12-28 11:37:17

Here's NG Magazine's round-up of the best bits of Dot to Dot festival 2007. Click on the underlined links for detailed reviews and pictures of each band. Enjoy!
    
Giddy up! Foals jolted the Rock City crowd into action with a spasmodic, electrically charged set. All five band members play their instruments with a fitful energy, standing in a close-knit group formation, in some cases with their backs to the crowd. Successfully managing to dodge a succession of green glowsticks that were being hurled at the stage, Foals are our ones to watch for 2007.
    
Perhaps best tagged as a female version of Mike Skinner (and no, that’s not a bad thing), Kate Nash brings a heavyweight combination to the floor. She may look cute and slightly hippyish, especially with her shaggy hair, but she writes lyrics that make the mundane routine of everyday life appear to be exquisite. Nash teams ska-tinged beats, folky acoustic guitars and keyboards to a great pop effect, while still managing to maintain a kind of unique independent charm. She radiates perfection and definitely won a legion of new fans with her set in Rock City tonight. New Young Pony Club had a tough act to follow after Kate Nash’s note-perfect set, but the most eagerly-anticipated band of the night didn’t fail to live up to the high expectations that had been heaped upon them. Frontwoman Tahita Bulmer could ruthlessly wipe out the entire cultural phenomenon of shoegazing with just one careless flick of her hair which, by the way, is worn in a right-side ponytail tonight.
    
For some odd reason, and sorry, but ‘technical difficulties’ doesn’t quite cut the mustard, Kano didn’t appear on stage until an hour after he was billed to start. An impatient crowd starts to boo and hurl crumpled balls of paper at the stage, terrifying the living daylights out of the straight-laced string quartet that were perched there like sitting ducks. When he does make an appearance, the place goes wild to his grimy beats and breaks. Unfortunately the string quartet didn’t add much to the mix as the speakers practically drowned them out, but it was amusing to see the clueless expressions on their faces when he spat out his lyrics and sang to the ‘special laydeez’ in the crowd. Kate Nash joined him onstage for Me And My Mic. They made a bizarre visual pairing – Miss shaggy hair and the Mr Slick of UK grime – but it works and they almost bring the house down.
    
By the time The Cribs take to the stage, the crowd is in near hysteria, partly from the lateness of Kano’s set and also because of the obligatory Northern contingent that had travelled down especially, who insisted on constantly yelling: “Wakefield!” at an empty stage. The Leeds trio didn’t disappoint, taking to the stage with relish and delighting the crowd with a hit-laden set that included the new single Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever. After this, an eager reveller showers Ryan Jarman with a bottle of water, which the Cribs frontman takes with good humour. It’s definitely not grim up north.
    
You can always trust that if artists are not mega stars (Kano of course for these purposes is a megastar: 679 don’tcha know!) they’ll be on that stage way before their allotted time, unlike the earlier rendezvous at the main stage in Rock City. The basement at The Social was full of the most unlikely bunch of grime fans in Nottingham squeezed close to a makeshift stage, passing roll ups across the crowd and generally getting very sweaty, very hyped and very excited. At last, we were underground with Boy Better Know.
    
Meanwhile over in Stealth, Brazilian superstars Bonde Do Role (pronounced Bon-je de her-lay) delivered what had to be the definitive set of Dot to Dot 2007. If you weren’t there, read this review and sob dramatically into your lurex vest top. Yes, they are Brazilian. Yes, I have no idea what they were actually singing. Yes, they could have been telling us that we were all a nation of stinky, overweight, nazi-loving weirdos, but it really didn’t matter. They rocked, pure and simple.
    
Chromeo undoubtedly had a tough act to follow after Brazilian bombshell Bonde Do Role, but whatever concerns anyone had were immediately dispelled by the appearance of a perspex Flying V guitar on the stage. This stunningly beautiful object told me all I needed to know about the next act: that I HAD to see them because they were going to be good. They were. Think of Daft Punk, but with more funk, hip-hop and neatly choreographed dance moves and you’re almost there.
    
Erol Aklan is the last headliner of the night and, even after a stunning succession of incredible acts, manages to pull something unique out of the bag to round off Dot to Dot 2007. The room is packed but kicks into action with his sick remixes of current indie faves The Klaxons, Daft Punk and the Long Blondes. Mr Oizo and the Chemical Brothers also make an appearance during the two-hour mash-up. By the end of the night, the crowd is practically bouncing off the walls. Long live Dot to Dot!
    
Report: Michelle Dhillon
    
Images: Luke Sprague
    
*****NG Magazine's Best of 2007 series - Go to the Blog to find out more*****
    

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