Summercase 2008: final review
Yes, as Grey said in his comment on my brief binary review, I was warned. I seriously doubt that I'll go back to Summercase. Here's my Last.fm review (links point to last.fm pages).
==
In over 11 years of regularly attending pop festivals, Summercase 2008 was by far and away the worst organised and most blatantly commercial event I've ever attended.
The lineup was poor and got worse with the loss of mia and Santogold, among others. A group of low-quality English pop groups (Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, Sex Pistols, The Verve...) dominated the lineup and left little room for decent local or international break-through acts.
Also, the organisers' addiction to Disneyfied 1970s acts (Sex Pistols, Blondie, The Stranglers...) made for further dull concerts as large groups of 20-somethings mumbled through the lyrics to 
Atomic, a song which was fist performed before any of them were conceived. Incidentally, Blondie's guitarist also managed to mess-up the guitar-part for Atomic, despite it being one of the most celebrated riffs in pop history. Give you a clue: it's not good enough to just play the notes in the right order... you need to get the rhythm right too.
The thing is that, of what I saw, the only truly great concert was by Cornelius (easily the most experimental artist playing at this MOR event). Pretty much everything else was just rubbish.
As to the general organisation of the event, we were shocked and dismayed at the rudeness and generally low level of service offered by the Summercase team. Part of this was to do with the alleged policy of festival organisers to employ staff not from Barcelona, in order to prevent the normal issue of 'free drinks for friends' happening. What this resulted in was a service team of rude and aggressive non-locals who spoke neither Catalan nor English, and who were quite clearly unhappy with their work. Added to this, the females were forced to wear very tight pink t-shirts (men were in brown), and the festival succeeded in making itself not only a gross display of consumerism but also perfectly happy with breaking Barcelona's modern conventions on language, culture and gender equality.
This year, I decided not to attend FIB because I thought the lineup didn't justify a trip down to Castelló... especially when I had a festival on my doorstep. I won't make that mistake again. And it looks like, with a huge drop in attendance, Summercase needs to sort out its act or clear off altogether.
Summercase 2008: 0
Summercase Day Two: yeah, yeah
We managed to drag ourselves out to the second day of Summercase yesterday. We didn't see anything that beat Cornelius. Review:
Kings Of Leon - 1 - but only just
The Stranglers - 1 - too Disnified but Golden Brown's a great song
Mogwai - 0 - scheduling fuck-up
CSS - 1 - I still love Lovefoxxx
The Raveonettes - 1
Neon Neon - 1 - the only performer to utter a word in Catalan. He's Welsh, after all.
Summercase Day One: has fun ever been so corporate?
Bands we saw yesterday, scores using my not-patented binary scoring system.
We Are Scientists - 0
Edwyn Collins - 1 - a very enjoyable show
Ian Brown - 1
Grinderman - 0 - sorry, but the Bad Seeds are way better.
Blondie - 0 - Basically Blondie-On-Ice, this Disneyfied production was so sickly sweet that all of the local audience enjoyed it. Bad sign.
Cornelius - 1 - by far the most enjoyable concert of the evening.
Primal Scream - 0 - we didn't stay for the full gig. Heard the Motorstorm song, though.
==
Summercase is the worst example I've ever seen of corporate pop festival management. The multiple sponsor tie-ins lack any nuance of subtlety and induce a sort of nausea on first contact.
Speaking of which, the 'facilities' are completely awful. The only food to purchase is Telepizza, beer: San Miguel (I mean, sius plau!), loos with doors that don't lock, staff who don't speak Catalan or English... in 11 years of attending pop festivals, Summercase is by far the worst.
What I'm planning to watch at Summercase
I had to contact the festival organisers to get a copy of the set times in plain text (essential for producing your own Excel festival guides... at least I haven't laminated it). Their web designers/webmasters obviously know little about accessibility.
Here's my planned viewing (highlighted in pink).
If you can remember the 1970s, you weren't there
Summercase festival is fast approaching and the line-up's looking OK. I've never been before but I imagine it's a bit like Primavera Sound only with a different name.
There's definitely a big seventies feel to the lineup, with Blondie, the Sex Pistols and The Stranglers all playing. Although, if you're Katie Addleman of Barcelona Metropolitan, that would be a 1980s theme. Huh? Anyway, what do I know? I can't even remember the 70s.
Public Enemy en el Primavera Sound 2008
This photo was taken by one of my colleagues. Public Enemy were astoundingly good and easily my favourite concert of the festival. I'll write more about the festival this week.
Public Enemy en el Primavera Sound 2008
Originally uploaded by alterna2
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Can't take That Away From Me
Another cover from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy here. In case you didn't recognise it, this is a Mariah Carey song. I actually think that his R. Kelly cover is better. Speaking of which - has anyone seen Trapped In the Closet? I've seen a bit of it. I can't work out if Kelly is a tortured genius or a complete lunatic.
We spent the weekend in Rome and have the Primavera Sound festival fast approaching.
Oh good God
I'd like to state for the record that I had nothing whatsoever to do with this.
(Softonic.com do the chiki-chiki)
What is Royal Trux? Pt.1
Friends and well-wishers may well know that my favourite rock band is the Royal Trux, a Washington DC/Chicago/San Francisco outfit from the 1990s. Combining a Keith Richards-heroin-blues-boogie-woogie aesthetic with Captain Beefheart craziness and the musical theories of Ornette Coleman, Royal Trux rocked on a different level. The band consisted of Neil Hagerty on guitar and vocals and Jennifer Herrema on lead vocals. Most of their records were released on Drag City until, following the huge popularity of grunge rock (a scene they weren't really remotely connected to), Virgin Records offered them a huge 3 album deal. When Virgin realised that they hadn't signed the next Nirvana, they panicked and paid Royal Trux off after only two of the three albums had been recorded. The Trux went back to Drag City. They split in 2001 after Jennifer Herrema 'was caught with an alcoholic beverage in her hand' (they'd been clean for years).
Well, if that hasn't done enough to pique your interest, have a look at this promotional video, filmed for the album Thank You by Virgin Records. It should make things much clearer.
Primavera Sound 2008 lineup
There will probably be a few more additions but this is pretty much the lineup for Primavera Sound 2008. The festival runs from the 29th to the 31st of May and is now the traditional 'first party of the summer'. My picks highlighted in bold:
808 State, A Place To Bury Strangers, Alan Braxe, Animal Collective, Apparat Band, Dj Assault, Atlas Sound, Autolux, Awesome Color, Bill Callahan, Bishop Allen, Bob Mould Band, Bon Iver, Boris, Buffalo Tom, Caribou, Cat Power, Clipse, The Cribs, De La Soul, Deerhunter, Digital Mystikz, Dinosaur Jr., Dirty Projectors, Dr. Octagon aka Kool Keith + Kutmasta Kurt, Edan & MC Dagha, El Guincho, Ellen Allien, Enon, Eric's Trip, Fanfarlo, The Felice Brothers, Fuck Buttons, Dj Funk, Gentle Music Men, The Go! Team, Grande-Marlaska, Health, Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, It's Not Not, Kavinsky, Kinski, Les Savy Fav, Lightspeed Champion, Madee, Man Man, The Mary Onettes, Mary Weiss, The Marzipan Man, Menomena, Messer Chups, Midnight Juggernauts, Mission Of Burma, Mixmaster Mike, Model 500, MV & EE with The Golden Road, Nick Lowe, No Age, The Notwist, Okkervil River, Om, Para One, Pissed Jeans, Polvo, Port O'Brien, Portishead, Prinzhorn Dance School, Public Enemy performing It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Robert Hood, Rufus Wainwright, The Rumble Strips, Scout Niblett, Sebadoh, Shipping News, Silver Jews, Simian Mobile Disco, Six Organs Of Admittance, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Strange Death Of Liberal England, Subterranean Kids, Supermayer, Surkin, The Swell Season, Tachenko, Tarántula, Throbbing Gristle, Tiefschwarz, Tindersticks, Träd Gräs och Stenar, Vampire Weekend, Vórtice, Voxtrot, White Williams, Why?, Young Marble Giants.
I'm particularly glad to see several Drag City acts playing, as well as the massive Public Enemy performing a truly classic album. What's her name from the Raveonettes said that they want to play the festival as well. Also, what are the chances of Stephen Malkmus getting up on stage with Silver Jews? It's all to play for.
Primavera Sound organisers - now you have my picks, please try to organise the stages so that they all play simultaneously. I love it when you do that.
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – The World's Greatest
OK so this isn't much of a video, but the music is excellent. It's a cover of a popular R Kelly song about Mohammed Ali and is performed without any hint of irony or sarcasm. In fact, this is a loving cover of what is really a great American song. The R Kelly version lacks authenticity and feeling - and feels custom built for the adverts it adorned.
.
...and here's the original R Kelly version
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Matt Sweeney – I Gave You
This is another beautiful song from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, this time in collaboration with Matt Sweeney (who adds something of an electric blues edge to things). Gemma and I were lucky enough to see the dynamic duo touring the album 'Superwolf' and enjoyed a truly magical concert, featuring many tracks from the album as well as some classics. When, pray, will Bonnie 'Prince' Billy be back in Barcelona?
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Agnes Queen of Sorrow
Now this is a great song. Recorded originally as Palace, this is taken from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Sings Palace Greatest Hits. Yeah, he covered himself. Great, huh?
The video was made by Scottish artist, David Shrigley.
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Horses
An homage to truckers (but not in the way Mark E. Smith would have done it), Horses isn't my favourite Bonnie 'Prince' Billy song, but it's as good a place as any to start.
Music geek note: the video starts with the Domino Records logo. BPB is actually on Drag City Records (my all time favourite gang). Domino are the UK label.
Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror – Jeffrey Lewis
I'm a big fan of Will Oldham, a singer-songwriter who has worked under various monikers including Palace, Palace Music and the most recent: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. I'm going to post a few YouTube videos over the next few days which will highlight his genius and beard.
This is a song by Jeffrey Lewis, another singer-songwriter who is described as being 'anti-folk', whatever the hell that might mean. It's something of a classic, being a tribute to Will Oldham and featuring a Will Oldham look-alike.
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