Alice in East London
BEHOLD! Feast your eyes upon what was an audibly audacious occasion, an eclectic electric event, a marvellous musical mayhem, a whirring wondrous land, a wonderland in… Hackney.
Sold out music festival Hackney Wonderland took place last Saturday 11th October and Walloh was there to see it play out.
After partaking in a wristband queue more stringent than a Somerset festival I made my way into The Brewery which was one of three events playing host to the festival. The Brewery had on offer beverages brewed in-house and to add insult to injury all the alcohol distilleries were on show. I felt like I was in a barn or something with the flow of golden beer all around me like warm hoppy blanket.
First band right off the bat were Electric Child House. That divinely awesome glow emanating from the stage was just the lead singer’s striking silver shoes! Great. Their 90’s influenced sound was consistent of really heavy reverb on vocals and guitar. At times a bit much but the strong vocal lines and northern soul foot stomping groove was enough to keep the attention.
Storms, who having been recently making waves on the scene (couldn’t resist but still true!) followed ECH in a somewhat scatty set in between tightly performed songs. A surprisingly nice-voiced lead singer belted out stand out tunes Special and Shame which sounded refreshingly different. Expect to hear more from this Pumpkins-meet-Pixies four piece.
Over at the second venue, The Laundry was an art installation more reminiscent of an action movie car park shoot out with its light grey concrete walls. Eden Royals sounded at times like a Northern Grammar with their dubbed guitar licks. However, the co-singer’s amazing vocals seemed underutilised in the verses and choruses.
O Children have been on the scene for a couple of years now and were definitely the most interesting and diversely sounding band of the night. A few songs in I realised just how good the music was and how diverse the rhythms and grooves were from song to song. O Children showcased an ultra-modern, dark and urban musicianship with a simplistic main vocal which grew on me.
It seemed third venue Oslo closed early and missed out on most of the footfall because it was a good 10 minute walk away from the other two venues.
Hackney Wonderland had a great kind of independent vibe about it. It was a sold out success with the promoters already booking for next year’s festival. It should keep that city within a city feeling by having closer venues and maybe even genre-specific venues.
See you next year.
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