Festival Number 6 pays homage to 60s cult classic The Prisoner
A year after the first ever Prisoner themed festival, it's back with a bigger and better line-up. Highlights from the 2013 line-up are My Bloody Valentine, Manic Street Preachers, Johnny Marr, Clinic and Public Service Broadcasting. Not to mention John Niven and John Cooper Clarke injecting a bit of punk literature. Take a look back at last year's review to whet your appetite for a truly unique festival.
The festival was the brainchild of the people behind Manchester’s The Warehouse Project and Snowbombing. Just by looking at the festival's line-up and backers, you can tell this festival not only has a big fat wallet but also one big fat contacts book too.
Headlining are heavyweights from the 80s/90s alternative scene the likes of Spiritualised, Primal Scream and New Order. It also boasts three of this year's Mercury Music Prize nominees Richard Hawley, Jessie Ware and Field Music.
The whole thoroughfare was a weekend of theatrics, comedy, arts and literature. It played up to the village's notoriety as the location of cult 60s psychedelic TV show The Prisoner - punters were treated to spontaneous games of human chess, surreal make-overs and 'Vote Number 6' marches (for those not in the know, the show's protagonist is Number 6 and he gets chased by a giant white balloon. You'll never find a show so Britishly bonkers).
In the literature corner; colossal publishing house Faber & Faber bringing their monthly Faber Social to the Welsh Valleys. Aided by feminist and author of How To Be A Woman, Caitlin Moran, cult author of Kill Your Friends, John Nivens and popular culture journalist Grace Dent. All of whom were funny and thought provoking.
In the arts corner; there was an opportunity to see The Chemical Brothers: Don't Think film and an exclusive screening of Carl Barat's There Are No Innocent Bystanders - there isn't, The Libertines irritate the shit out of me with their self-indulgent, big I am routine.
In the comedy corner; Phil 'why am I still on Buzzcocks' Jupitus and Marcus 'people recognise me but have no idea why' Brigstocke. The festival could've done with the likes of Mark Thomas or Noel Fielding.
In the music corner; apart from the aforementioned, the highlights were Death In Vegas, The Whip, Stealing Sheep, The Early Years, Kindness and British Sea Power. It didn't just stop at live music - there were DJ sets from Erol Alkan, Mr Scruff, Francoise K, Jon Carter, Jerry 'The Specials' Dammers and Tim 'The Charlatans' Burgess performed with a string quartet. In the words of Jimmy Cricket, there's more - Guy ‘Elbow’ Garvey touched my arm and was in conversation with BBC6 Music's Stuart Maconie.
The rumble in the Welsh-fantasyland-inspired-by-the-French-Riviera jungle was between literature and music.
Starting with Jessie Ware, she proved to a tiny audience why she came out of nowhere to put the music industry in a tizzy. Like a modern day Sade, her amazingly faultless and soulful vocals soared across the main stage, closing with the slick Running instead of her biggest hit 110% seemed far more fitting to the set as whole.
People talk about Palma Violets. A lot. Even Radio 1 is playing them, which means either a very lucrative or a flash-in-the-pan career. I don't rate the Palma Violets, I just don't get it. And their bassist is a glory-seeking prick. Look buddy, he's called a frontman for a reason so stop being obnoxious about it. Just like the retro sweet of their name sake, they're nothing more than something that looks inoffensive but tastes like your granny's worn knickers.
Richard Hawley is immense. There was something about his set that reminded me of Elvis’ comeback tour and Mark Lanagan. He’s dark, psychedelic tones pounded across the main stage.
Spiritualised constant drone of sound punctuated the first day and the perfect follow-on from Richard Hawley. They’re a band that know what they’re doing and sound brilliant but I’m still harping back to Spacemen 3.
Stealing Sheep (easy to do in Wales), also stole the show. Now, I find acoustic music intensely dull. It’s the only reason I abandon alcohol in pubs. It's something that all singer-songwriters think they can do, but it all sounds the same and it's dull. Stealing Sheep showed the world how it's done with their magical blend of medieval folk. Deep, rhythmic percussion (phew, I'm turning myself on here) on the coastal setting of the Estuary Stage even provoked a rainbow - nothing as good a double rainbow, but it was incredible. Track after track of beautiful harmonies provided by the all-female trio was mesmerizing.
I need to talk about Death In Vegas, the forgotten band of the indie world, forever tarnished with the Liam Gallagher brush. They’re actually pretty damn good with quite a hot bassist to boot. Their dark, edgy music built an ambiance of mystery and danger as dry-ice and strobe lights swirled around them.
Field Music, fresh off the back of their Mercury Music Prize nomination for their fourth studio album, Plumb. Field Music is one of those bands where you actually know a lot of their songs without realising it’s them. They were all showing off their multi-instrumentalist skills with three keyboards, two guitars, a bass and lots of drummer swapping. This band is in no doubt talented. Their music is intelligent, multi-layered and full of catchy, up-beat hooks that gets a crowd jauntily bouncing. Their only downfall is that they’re not very dynamic to watch. They have next to no stage presences and did nothing to build excitement – what they’re missing is rock star charisma. This could be why this band has fallen under the radar for so long while contemporaries like The Futureheads, Maximo Park and The Maccabees blazed ahead and over-shadowed them.
TOY, I can sum up in one word - hair. They pick up where The Horrors circa 2004 left off. There was too much synthesizer and four unlikely rock wannabes make an awful lot of noise or is that a lot of awful noise. To be honest, I haven't decided. The Early Years have all the markings to be underground darlings of alternative music and hurtling towards a Mercury nomination. Clock Opera were another band that left me feeling nothing other than wonder at the frontman's beard and bewilderment at their use of silverware as instruments.
New Order made their second UK festival appearance, having played at Bestival the weekend before. The 80s Manchester dance band made a comeback despite Peter Hook declaring his former band as New Odour. When it comes to New Order, I’m not that fussed. However, I’m a massive Joy Division fan so there lay my interest in them. They opened to the theme tune of The Prisoner and performed the whole two-hour set dressed as Number 6 and various other characters from the programme. This is sort of attention to detail that makes a crowd feel special – not only have they seen a band that was the staple of the 80s raver diet but also the whole feeling of ‘you don’t know man, you weren’t there’. They played all their biggest hits including the rare outing of 586. There visual show was not that dissimilar to that of The Chemical Brothers and to sum up, they’ve still got it.
Festival Number 6 was an event that had a lot of thought go into it, but not much publicity. Despite BBC6 Music doing a live broadcast and interviews with Everything Everything and New Order, the clientele was distinctly ‘local’.
Festival Number 6's problem was that it lacked real music fans –you got the sense that the people were there because nothing else happens in Gwynedd. The whole festival lacked the sort of atmosphere you’d get when you’re surrounded by genuine Primal Scream fans or die-hard New Order fans. There were no mosh-pits, no crowd-surfing and no sing-a-longs. The standard crush of crowds running towards a stage was absent, as were the impatient pit-stops between bands.
Portmeirion took me five hours to drive to from Reading –it’s not really that easy to get to. Although the drive through beautiful villages and rolling hills made me proud to be British, it’s still a ball-ache to travel there.
I would describe it as a high-brow Bestival. It had a brilliant line-up and it catered for everyone. All it needs is a lot more publicity to attract the right sort of festival-goer. Then it’ll be the must-go-to festival of the summer.
Festival Number 6 (September 2012)
The sinisterly picturesque village of Portmeirion in north Wales was the quirky backdrop for the aptly named Festival Number 6 inaugural year.
The festival was the brainchild of the people behind Manchester’s The Warehouse Project and Snowbombing. Just by looking at the festival's line-up and backers, you can tell this festival not only has a big fat wallet but also one big fat contacts book too.
Headlining are heavyweights from the 80s/90s alternative scene the likes of Spiritualised, Primal Scream and New Order. It also boasts three of this year's Mercury Music Prize nominees Richard Hawley, Jessie Ware and Field Music.
The whole thoroughfare was a weekend of theatrics, comedy, arts and literature. It played up to the village's notoriety as the location of cult 60s psychedelic TV show The Prisoner - punters were treated to spontaneous games of human chess, surreal make-overs and 'Vote Number 6' marches (for those not in the know, the show's protagonist is Number 6 and he gets chased by a giant white balloon. You'll never find a show so Britishly bonkers).
In the literature corner; colossal publishing house Faber & Faber bringing their monthly Faber Social to the Welsh Valleys. Aided by feminist and author of How To Be A Woman, Caitlin Moran, cult author of Kill Your Friends, John Nivens and popular culture journalist Grace Dent. All of whom were funny and thought provoking.
In the arts corner; there was an opportunity to see The Chemical Brothers: Don't Think film and an exclusive screening of Carl Barat's There Are No Innocent Bystanders - there isn't, The Libertines irritate the shit out of me with their self-indulgent, big I am routine.
In the comedy corner; Phil 'why am I still on Buzzcocks' Jupitus and Marcus 'people recognise me but have no idea why' Brigstocke. The festival could've done with the likes of Mark Thomas or Noel Fielding.
In the music corner; apart from the aforementioned, the highlights were Death In Vegas, The Whip, Stealing Sheep, The Early Years, Kindness and British Sea Power. It didn't just stop at live music - there were DJ sets from Erol Alkan, Mr Scruff, Francoise K, Jon Carter, Jerry 'The Specials' Dammers and Tim 'The Charlatans' Burgess performed with a string quartet. In the words of Jimmy Cricket, there's more - Guy ‘Elbow’ Garvey touched my arm and was in conversation with BBC6 Music's Stuart Maconie.
The rumble in the Welsh-fantasyland-inspired-by-the-French-Riviera jungle was between literature and music.
Starting with Jessie Ware, she proved to a tiny audience why she came out of nowhere to put the music industry in a tizzy. Like a modern day Sade, her amazingly faultless and soulful vocals soared across the main stage, closing with the slick Running instead of her biggest hit 110% seemed far more fitting to the set as whole.
People talk about Palma Violets. A lot. Even Radio 1 is playing them, which means either a very lucrative or a flash-in-the-pan career. I don't rate the Palma Violets, I just don't get it. And their bassist is a glory-seeking prick. Look buddy, he's called a frontman for a reason so stop being obnoxious about it. Just like the retro sweet of their name sake, they're nothing more than something that looks inoffensive but tastes like your granny's worn knickers.
Richard Hawley is immense. There was something about his set that reminded me of Elvis’ comeback tour and Mark Lanagan. He’s dark, psychedelic tones pounded across the main stage.
Spiritualised constant drone of sound punctuated the first day and the perfect follow-on from Richard Hawley. They’re a band that know what they’re doing and sound brilliant but I’m still harping back to Spacemen 3.
Stealing Sheep (easy to do in Wales), also stole the show. Now, I find acoustic music intensely dull. It’s the only reason I abandon alcohol in pubs. It's something that all singer-songwriters think they can do, but it all sounds the same and it's dull. Stealing Sheep showed the world how it's done with their magical blend of medieval folk. Deep, rhythmic percussion (phew, I'm turning myself on here) on the coastal setting of the Estuary Stage even provoked a rainbow - nothing as good a double rainbow, but it was incredible. Track after track of beautiful harmonies provided by the all-female trio was mesmerizing.
I need to talk about Death In Vegas, the forgotten band of the indie world, forever tarnished with the Liam Gallagher brush. They’re actually pretty damn good with quite a hot bassist to boot. Their dark, edgy music built an ambiance of mystery and danger as dry-ice and strobe lights swirled around them.
Field Music, fresh off the back of their Mercury Music Prize nomination for their fourth studio album, Plumb. Field Music is one of those bands where you actually know a lot of their songs without realising it’s them. They were all showing off their multi-instrumentalist skills with three keyboards, two guitars, a bass and lots of drummer swapping. This band is in no doubt talented. Their music is intelligent, multi-layered and full of catchy, up-beat hooks that gets a crowd jauntily bouncing. Their only downfall is that they’re not very dynamic to watch. They have next to no stage presences and did nothing to build excitement – what they’re missing is rock star charisma. This could be why this band has fallen under the radar for so long while contemporaries like The Futureheads, Maximo Park and The Maccabees blazed ahead and over-shadowed them.
TOY, I can sum up in one word - hair. They pick up where The Horrors circa 2004 left off. There was too much synthesizer and four unlikely rock wannabes make an awful lot of noise or is that a lot of awful noise. To be honest, I haven't decided. The Early Years have all the markings to be underground darlings of alternative music and hurtling towards a Mercury nomination. Clock Opera were another band that left me feeling nothing other than wonder at the frontman's beard and bewilderment at their use of silverware as instruments.
New Order made their second UK festival appearance, having played at Bestival the weekend before. The 80s Manchester dance band made a comeback despite Peter Hook declaring his former band as New Odour. When it comes to New Order, I’m not that fussed. However, I’m a massive Joy Division fan so there lay my interest in them. They opened to the theme tune of The Prisoner and performed the whole two-hour set dressed as Number 6 and various other characters from the programme. This is sort of attention to detail that makes a crowd feel special – not only have they seen a band that was the staple of the 80s raver diet but also the whole feeling of ‘you don’t know man, you weren’t there’. They played all their biggest hits including the rare outing of 586. There visual show was not that dissimilar to that of The Chemical Brothers and to sum up, they’ve still got it.
Festival Number 6 was an event that had a lot of thought go into it, but not much publicity. Despite BBC6 Music doing a live broadcast and interviews with Everything Everything and New Order, the clientele was distinctly ‘local’.
Festival Number 6's problem was that it lacked real music fans –you got the sense that the people were there because nothing else happens in Gwynedd. The whole festival lacked the sort of atmosphere you’d get when you’re surrounded by genuine Primal Scream fans or die-hard New Order fans. There were no mosh-pits, no crowd-surfing and no sing-a-longs. The standard crush of crowds running towards a stage was absent, as were the impatient pit-stops between bands.
Portmeirion took me five hours to drive to from Reading –it’s not really that easy to get to. Although the drive through beautiful villages and rolling hills made me proud to be British, it’s still a ball-ache to travel there.
I would describe it as a high-brow Bestival. It had a brilliant line-up and it catered for everyone. All it needs is a lot more publicity to attract the right sort of festival-goer. Then it’ll be the must-go-to festival of the summer.
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