Oh, what a City. I now understand why The Beatles were great. They come from great stock. Sound City festival did not disappoint that legacy.
It was full of beers, banging music and ruining DMA’S soundcheck. The festival was of an impulse, in the anti-gentrification of Liverpool’s old factories. Sound City was Rock N Roll.
Drinking first thing in the morning on the Saturday of a Bank Holiday is a British tradition, right? Getting into the city for midday, we saw that festival was not on a field, but Sound City was in fact built in and around the old industrial estate of, I imagine, a former desolate area. Walking around the festival, it was a unique layout. One of these factories had three bars and the art form; live drawing in the sun. Great use of space.
What a great move to turn all those old buildings into bars and restaurants. It made a great location for gigs. Walking around in the beautiful northern sun, myself and my friends walked past one of these stage-factories and the headliners, DMA’S, were doing a sound check. Lucky for us, unlucky for their sound check, my friend burst through the open fire exit shouting ‘DMA’S’ on repeat.
After being kicked out by security, we wandered from stage to stage. We saw a local up and coming Punk band, Generation. Their song Cheap Skate was a highlight. Even better still, we befriended them over beers and ended up going to other sets with them over the weekend. They took us to see 21st-century grunge in the manifestation of Hey Charlie. The crowd started slow and then the music got louder, with the crowd getting ruder. A Big mosh evolved, which lead to drinks flying in the air and one of the band members jumping on the floor with us.
Credit: EN @en.offical_ https://www.instagram.com/en.official_/
The main highlight was seeing DMA’S do their set. The comparison to Oasis are fair, but this Aussie band have their own unique style as their three-man band cram six other session musicians on stage like some kind of orchestra. They were better than their sound check, but I think that was mainly down to the fact it was not just my mate screaming ‘DMA’S’ this time, but a thousand-other people. Great music and great people made the festival Rock N Roll.
By James Evans
DMA’S and Peace to headline Liverpool’s Sound City Festival 2018
By James Evans