Dot To Dot Festival 2012

While most people were celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee, Dot To Dot Festival hit Manchester after two successful dates in Nottingham and Bristol. With more bands than years the Queen has been on the throne it's set to be a good one.

Gabriel Bruce makes a decent effort at getting the party started early on by overcoming technical difficulties to deliver an enjoyable set complete with cheesy dance moves.

Over in The Ritz rising indie band Patterns showcased a promising sound which was unfortunately marred by their lack of stage presence. The same can’t be said of Turbowolf whose frontman Chris Georgiadis woke up an otherwise quiet crowd with his infectious energy, it didn’t take long for the day’s first circle pit to break out. A cover of The Great Societies’ ‘Somebody To Love’ got the crowd singing along and proved why they are set to be a big name in the rock world very soon.

This year’s Dot To Dot Festival brought with it the first appearance outside of London of ex-Gallows frontman Frank Carter’s new band Pure Love, todays gig is only their fifth as a band and it doesn’t show in the slightest. Before a note is played Carter is stood in the centre of the crowd proclaiming “we’ve got half a PA and an empty room, let’s have some fun” and fun we had. Guitarist Jim Carroll joined Carter amongst the audience to give the gig a special feeling, this is a band enjoying what they do and when they’re making their shows as exciting as this so are the crowd. With their debut album coming out in October make sure to grab a copy because their eleven song set today demonstrated that it is going to be one of the highlights of the year.

Things start promising for Cloud Nothings who have a dedicated pocket of fans at the front of the barrier but halfway through things take a tumble downhill. A word to the wise, a twelve minute section that sounds like a jam session isn’t going to win you over many new fans. By the time Wavves hit the stage the room is an absolute sweatbox and security are forced to turn people away, it’s no surprise so many people wanted to see them, their fun indie sound got people bouncing and gave the whole place a party feeling.

Pulled Apart By Horses hit the stage at 10pm and the crowd has started to die down but that doesn’t stop them from giving one of the standout performances of the day. With a set heavy on material from their self titled debut, Pulled Apart…. lived up to their reputation as a superb live act. A mention goes to lead guitarist James Brown whose guitar work was the most entertaining part of their set. Crowd interaction was the order of the band and the audience wrestled to get a touch of the band whenever they launched themselves at the barrier.

Dot To Dot has helped launch the careers of many bands in recent years and this year’s festival should prove no exception, if some of these bands aren’t huge in a couple of years then there is something seriously wrong with the public! For a great atmosphere and excellent music there was no better place to be than in Manchester this jubilee weekend, sorry Queen.