Manchester Psych Fest is one of the standouts of the summer festival calendar: comprised of various venues across the city, the day is a showcase of some of the best bands around, as well as Manchester’s fantastic music heritage.
The day starts in Circle Square, where wristband collection is a doddle thanks to helpful staff. The area has been fully ‘psyched-up’ for the day, with huge inflatable mushrooms, food stalls, and a constant rotation of DJs, giving the space a festival feel and fostering the sensation that the party starts right here. The beauty of Psych Fest is how it sprawls: almost every iconic venue in town is accommodated, with shows taking place at YES, the Albert Hall, Deaf Institute, Ritz and more. No need for a regular festival experience of trudging from tent to tent with smuggled tinnies: you get the creature comforts of catching brilliant bands in some of the best venues in the country with the added luxury of Manchester’s countless boozers.
The one thorn in the side is a dilemma of choice: there are so many fantastic bands crammed into this lineup, that it is simply impossible to see them all. The first act of the day for Overblown is the brilliant TTSSFU, who draws a huge crowd to Gorilla: TTSSFU is the brainchild of Duvet bassist Tasmin Stephens, and they play a short sharp set of shoegazey bangers. The band are tight and loud, sounding something like Wolf Alice making a Slowdive record – there are huge things on the horizon for TTSSFU, and they are one to keep an eye on for sure.
Next up is Heartworms over at the Projekts Skate Park – this is a rogue venue choice but one that lends itself to the vibes of Psych Fest wonderfully. Big sloping concrete ramps give the place a brilliant brutalist feeling and there are people packed into the main space plus several others taking up viewing points at the top of various ramps. It’s a delight to watch punters form human chains to ensure their mates get up the slippery concrete skate ramps, often managing to do so without a drop of pint spillage.
It’s back down to YES for the next show: the gigantic Irish punks Gurriers pack out the Pink Room before performing an incendiary set of cuts from their forthcoming album, Come And See. The riffs are big and their songs are filled with melancholic heartache and brash punk attitude. There’s hardly a moment to spare before we’re back up to Projekts for Lambrini Girls, who are on fine form in the early evening. They are riding the crest of a wave, with recent single ‘God’s Country’ making a splash thanks to hard and heavy raw punk instrumentation and cutting anti-establishment lyrics. They treat us to some new gear too, which takes their feisty punk roots and builds them into muscular hard rock, not dissimilar to the tunes from Amyl and the Sniffers’ Comfort To Me. There is some seriously boisterous moshpit action in the room – good thing frontwoman Pheobe Lunny has pinched a skating crash helmet for her regular expeditions into the crowd.
One of the big clashes of the day is ex-Black Midi frontman Geordie Greep vs Baxter Dury. Greep fills Gorilla fast and the excited crowd is baying for his brand new solo work: new single ‘Holy Holy’ is a treat, but the set largely falls flat. Greep’s clear talent is on show for all to see, but the songs feel more like a technical expression of skill, rather than songs with heart or soul.
Over at Baxter’s set, numbers from across his career make his Ritz performance a massive party and Dury’s unique brand of dad-dancing is an utter delight. He’s coming to the end of his touring schedule, but he leaves everything on the stage. Dury is a serious showman and laps up the rapturous applause from his crowd.
The evening is capped off with O. at the Deaf Institute – bizarre avant jazz and breakbeat, comprised of a tenor sax, a drummer and the biggest pedalboard you’ve ever seen. It sends the Deaf Institute into meltdown, they are a seriously impressive live outfit, and their show rounds off a glorious day of live music perfectly.
Psych Fest is one of the best festival experiences around: the bill is packed with some of the best established and emerging talent going, the venues are second to none and Manchester is the perfect host.
