Release Festival 2018 - Day 1 - Richard Ashcroft & Kid Moxie

My summer officially started on the last day of May with the first notes of "Lacuna" by Kid Moxie.

I had finally seen Kid Moxie live for the first time at a small club two and a half months before this and I had mentioned in my blog post about that gig that she would be playing Release Festival and based on my first live experience of her band I would love to see them again. It wasn't that simple though. I was probably going to be working that evening and she would probably appear early. On the other hand there was another band I wanted to see at this year's Release Festival, UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey. But they were due to appear on the following day. How many concert tickets could I buy considering that Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Arctic Monkeys plus the gigs abroad were coming up? Thankfully, solutions were going to present themselves solving all the above problems. First of all, the headliner of the first day cancelled their appearance and were replaced by Richard Ashcroft making Day 1 of the festival even more appealing. Then, the organizers, deciding that this particular last minute change would not please many people announced a special offer: Those who had purchased or were going to purchase a ticket for Day 2 or Day 3 of the festival could attend Day 1 for free. On top of that a last minute change in my work schedule meant that I wouldn't have to work on the evening of Day 1 and although I had to work on the evening of Day 2 I would finish early enough to be able to arrive on time to see UB40. So, I bought a ticket for Day 2 and went to the festival early on Day 1, arriving just as Kid Moxie was beginning her set. And found out that there were almost no people in front of the stage. So, I managed to secure the "best seat in the house": first row, right in the middle of the stage. I couldn't believe my luck: I could watch Richard Ashcroft from that very same position. Needless to say, I didn't move an inch for the rest of the evening.

But first things first: I really enjoyed seeing Kid Moxie live again, this time in an open space and under the sun. And although her songs sound better at night, as she herself admitted, I enjoyed them more this time because the sound was so much better. And there was one member in the audience (a big Richard Ashcroft fan who had been waiting for years to see him live as he confessed) who seemed to particularly enjoy her set. "You and Richard Ashcroft are the best musicians" he shouted to her (or something like that). But more about him, later...

Next up was Rag 'N' Bone Man. I was familiar with only one song of his, the one we all know, "Human". But his set proved that he is a talented soul singer, plus he was very charming and friendly with the audience. 

The particular member of the audience agreed as well and shouted to him that he was a "best musician" as well. At first the artist didn't realize what the guy was saying and thought that he didn't like his music, but when he realized that he was being praised he got one of his beers from the stage and gave it to him!

He admitted that most of his songs were miserable, but I still didn't mind and as far as I'm concerned he was my "new discovery" of this festival. My friend who was with me didn't seem to agree saying that he was probably "the kid at school that nobody wanted to play with".

And now it was finally time for Richard Ashcroft. The particular member of the audience I have already talked about was now in ecstasy and he had stripped to the waist to show it. And as Richard Ashcroft came on stage starting off with "Sonnet" I was in ecstasy as well.

I could hear that guy's screams and shouts of "best musician" again, but I soon forgot about them as Richard continued not only with Verve songs but also songs from his solo career the best of which is, in my opinion, "A Song For The Lovers". 

Of course I knew that the one I was waiting for, would come towards the end. No, it's not "Bittersweet Symphony" it's a song that features on my top ten list of best songs ever written, "The Drugs Don't Work".

But as I was waiting for it I realized that I couldn't hear THAT particular member of the audience anymore. I looked around and I couldn't see him anywhere! Where was he? Well, that didn't matter as Richard's set was coming to an end with a very emotional "The Drugs Don't Work" and of course "Bittersweet Symphony" which was the last song of the night.

With that we started leaving the venue with smiles on our faces and with my friend, managed to make an arrangement for both of us to return home (there was a strike on public transport on that day) although we live in different parts of the city. And I knew that I would be making my way to the same venue the following evening for Day 2 of the festival.

But what had happened to THAT particular member of the audience, the big Richard Ashcroft fan? That mystery was finally solved about 20 days later when I was on the same venue for a different festival, Ejekt Festival featuring Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds. I spotted one of the security guards who had talked to that guy and asked him what had happened to him. "We had to kick him out" he said, "because after the second song he took off both his pants and underpants". Poor guy! Such a big Richard Ashcroft fan waiting all those years to see him and only managed to listen to three songs. I guess that there's a lesson here. It's nice to get excited about music, but try to keep your clothes on while listening to it. At least in public.

SETLISTS:
RAG 'N' BONE MAN

01. Wolves
02. Ego
03. Your Way Or The Rope
04. The Fire
05. No Mother
06. Lay My Body Down
07. Hard Came The Rain
08. Odetta
09. Grace
10. Skin
11. As You Are
12. Love Is All You Need
13. Human
14. Bitter End
15. Hell Yeah

RICHARD ASHCROFT
01. Sonnet
02. This Is How It Feels
03. Break The Night With Colour
04. A Song For The Lovers
05. Music Is Power
06. Velvet Morning
07. Science Of Silence
08. Space And Time
09. Lucky Man
Encore:
10. The Drugs Don't Work
11. Hold On
12. Bitter Sweet Symphony

Kid Moxie - finally - live!

As it turned out, my first 3 gigs of 2018 were all electro gigs. The first one was Erasure, the second one Kraftwerk, and the third one turned out to be Kid Moxie.
It's funny how one gets to discover new acts in the internet age. I discovered Kid Moxie via Marsheaux. How did that happen? Well, many years ago she released her "Selector" album on UNDO Records, the same record company that Marsheaux release their music. When I saw that CD on the UNDO Records online store I decided to investigate. The fact that the CD contained a "Marsheaux Remix" of one of the songs was a plus. So, I bought it immediately without listening to a single note of it first (We used to do that often before the internet, you know). I wasn't disappointed. Her next album, 1888, was even better and, since I'm a "physical format" kind of guy I was happy when she finally released her latest, "Perfect Shadow" on CD. But, the question was, would I ever see her live? I had seen Marsheaux a few times, so why not Kid Moxie? From what I could tell, she hadn't played any gigs. But finally, earlier this year, an announcement came on her Facebook page: "Stay tuned for live gigs in Greece later this year". The first one, was, predictably on a Monday, when I could not go because I was working. But this, the one at Death Disco was taking place on a Thursday and I could go after work.
So, there I was on the 29th of March, trying to catch as much of the support act as possible who were starting earlier. And that's funny, because, Someone Who Isn't Me (the support band) was another discovery for me. I may have discovered Kid Moxie through Marsheaux, but I can now say that I discovered Someone Who Isn't Me through Kid Moxie.

Their latest single, "Gomenaki", is probably the best thing I have heard this year so far.

And one of their members was a familiar face. If I am not mistaken she used to be in The Berlin Brides.
Kid Moxie's set was next. She and her band, started with Lacuna, my favourite song from "1888" accompanied by projections on a big screen behind the stage.

There were a couple of sound problems (sometimes her voice was louder than the instruments, and at other times the instruments were louder than her voice, at least from where I was standing), but these were soon smoothed out.

And she had a big surprise for us towards the end: a cover version of "Big In Japan".

All in all, it was a wonderful night and she will appear live again, at the Release Festival in a few days. I don't know if I can make it yet, but it's certainly worth it.