Mersey me! Liverpool Sound City is back

Kop a load of this festival preview, you only one you'll need

Chris Eustace - 12 May 2011

Liverpool's a Sound City?
Well, yes, it's a great place and I'm all for civic pride, but... Liverpool Sound City is a music festival, you idiot. Merseyside's South By Southwest, no less...

Wow, great! Lots of BBQ then?
What you eat is up to you. What's more important is over 300 bands and artists are going to be playing in loads of venues across the fine city of Liverpool from 19-21 May.

Like who?
Dundee tearaways The View, Frank "Always On Tour" Turner, Mona, Wretch 32 and Frankie and the Heartstrings are just the tip of Thursday's iceberg. Black Lips, Young Knives, Kurt Vile and Three Trapped Tigers are part of Saturday's bill, while Sunday will see Radiohead's Philip Selway, Fucked Up, Spank Rock, Jamie XX and Yasmin among a huge list of performers.

A slew of great local talent will also be in evidence over the weekend, with Miles Kane, Clinic, Cast, Sound Of Guns, Wave Machines, The Ladykillers and Delta Maid to name but a few. There's a reason why they're holding the festival here, you know.

Nice! Anything else going on?
There's film screenings, art exhibitions and you can watch as bands, labels and various industry bods compete for the John Peel World Cup. There are also over 50 special parties, with the cream of new talent from Brazil, Australia and Canada, plus showcases from UK regions and some of the best indie labels, so you might get that BBQ somewhere after all.

So who should I see?
This lot are well worth your time:

Yuck
Daniel Blumberg and Co. have had a great year so far, and, on the cusp of summer, hazy slacker anthems like ‘Georgia’, ‘Holing Out’ and ‘The Wall’ will go down a treat.


Flashguns
Could well be where Yuck are now, this time next year. With a debut album set for later this term, there's big choruses galore (you will leave still singing ‘No Point Hanging Around’), and, in ‘Racing Race’, a blues-tinged showstopper that will leave you in no doubt that this band are set for big things.


Dutch Uncles
Playing songs from their excellent new album ‘Cadenza’, it's as if Wild Beasts have taken to the dancefloor. You'll want to copy singer Duncan's smooth moves, too.

 
Willy Mason
Making a welcome return to the UK, the wise-beyond-his-years singer's sensitive, beguiling take on folk could find a bigger audience here than ever, post-Mumford. While there'll surely be a mass singalong to ‘Oxygen’, there's far more to him than that.


and of course...

Funeral Party
There's only one place to be on Saturday 21 April as Virtual Festivals and last.fm present Funeral Party, Lower Than Atlantis and The Ladykillers at the 02 Academy 1.

There'll be riotus, cowbell-heavy punk-funk from the headliners, titanic emo/rock stylings from LTA and classic, catchy indie-pop from Liverpool's own Ladykillers to kick things off.

Amazing. I’m excited already.
Well, have a blast of our Liverpool Sound City Spotify playlist too. That should have you buzzing all week.

Okay, I'm sold! Can I still get tickets?
Yep! Tickets for the event are still on sale, with day tickets priced at £22.50 and a three-day pass available for £45.

Click here to buy Liverpool Sound City tickets.

Anything else I need to know?
Well, like every urban festival, there's no camping. So if you're not local, you'd best sort out somewhere to stay. Also as with all festivals of this kind, make sure you get there early for bands you want to see, because once a venue's full, it's full. Oh, and don't miss the VF gig with Funeral Party or you'll be laughed at, pointed at in the street, have rotten food thrown at you.

Comments

Related Artists

Related Events

Related Articles