Early lunchtime musical merriment.
Saturday nights alright for fighting but what of Saturday lunchtime? It’s a bit early for fighting and although it’s perfect for drinking, it’s hard to consider a time, barring before driving or operating heavy machinery, when it’s not good to drink. And the good thing about drink is that it can be combined with many activities, albeit not the aforementioned driving or operating heavy machinery activities a person may attempt on a Saturday lunchtime.
With this in mind, it was decided to start the second day’s activities at Connect with Broken Records, a newish band from Edinburgh. You may have heard of Edinburgh, it’s like Glasgow but not as good. More salt n sauce and lofty opinions of themselves, less heart disease and cholesterol.
With the merest of introductions, the band launched into their set and showed that in the right setting even an accordion can sound good. One interested onlooker was Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol showing that even though has band has now sold out to sell low common denominator pap, he can still appreciate an up and coming band when he sees them. Previous single ‘'If The News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It' is a great starting place to check out Broken Records although an open field with the sun beating down is not a bad choice of venue either.
Aside from some sunshine, there was something different about the Saturday of Connect. Perhaps it’s indicative of the nature of the festival and how it has been marketed but the amount of small children at the festival was higher than anything this reviewer had seen before. On the one hand, fair enough, it teaches kids to appreciate live music, they can run about daft in wide open spaces and it allows their parents to spend time at a festival they may not have otherwise got the chance to attend.
On the other hand, that’s a lot of rot isn’t it? Festivals aren’t for kids and the rest of the festival goers shouldn’t be inconvenienced by having tiny terrors roaming about in front of stages when they’re trying to drink. How many people go to festivals in the hope of seeing bands and perhaps copping off with members of the opposite sex? Having kids roaming about the stage is a stark reminder of the harsh realities of life and could very easily kill the buzz of a good festival set. Its not the kids fault though so be sure to give the parents a withering look the next time you see them. Anyways, there was meant to be a gig review somewhere in the middle of this so lets try and pick it up again.
It also has to be said that Broken Records were impressively loud, much more so than the previous day’s bands and this was another reason for the optimism surrounding the set (although tell that to the small child who sat covering her ears for almost the full set whilst her mum ignored her…sorry) remained high throughout the gig. Any band with a fair few numbers on stage should be capable of turning up the volume but Broken Records managed this whilst still remaining coherent and cohesive.
In the next few months, you’ll probably hear the fact that Broken Records are Scotland’s Arcade Fire and this is not a million miles away. There are a lot of them, they play some unconventional rock n roll instruments, they have a grandiose feel to some of their tracks but it’s not all a blatant steal from the Canadian troupe. They deliver the songs in original accents and do it in an honest and heartfelt way. There is the feeling that Broken Records are a love or hate type of band but on the limited showings, they look to be worth keeping an ear out for.