Review: Dot to Dot Festival 2021

Words by music editors Kerry Mead and Issy Packer. Images by Vonalina Cake Photography

Dot to Dot festival, held yearly in Bristol and Nottingham, showcases some of the best up and coming artists from far and wide. It’s held at several different venues across the two cities over one weekend, from small grassroots bars and nightclubs to larger capacity venues. Dot to Dot was meant to happen in May 2020 before being postponed until May 2021 and then moved again to September. Ahead of September the line-up trickled out and momentum began to build - leading to a sold out Saturday in Bristol and near to capacity Sunday for Nottingham. The good people of Bristol and Nottingham were obviously thirsty for live music again.

The multi-venue set up does mean a lot of running to get to gigs in time, but being spread over a variety of local venues is also its strength, meaning Dot to Dot has the capacity to showcase a phenomenal amount of genre-spanning acts in a diverse array of settings. Bristol’s Saturday instalment had The Thekla as it’s hub, where an outside bar, loads of food options and a harbourside stage acted as a space to meet, reconvene and work out where to head next.

We were lucky enough to snap up tickets for the Saturday instalment in Bristol. Our early starter was Issy Packer, who valiantly traversed the city packing in as many afternoon acts as possible, before handing the baton over to Kerry Mead at The Thekla late afternoon where they drank cider, swapped notes and watched Kofi Stone together before parting ways.

Kay Young

The first performance of the day was the incredible K a y Young, a Black British artist who has just been signed by Jay-Z to Roc Nation. She was an incredible artist to start the day with; her good vibes and melodic voice were the perfect tonic for what was going to be a busy day.

Going from rap to singing, from vulnerable lyricism in ‘Going Through’ to a sense of power and determination in ‘Change’, Young’s versatility was on full display during her half hour set. There seemed to be a sense of belonging and trust within the crowd as we gathered to watch Young’s performance; a promise that we were here because we wanted and needed to be and we weren’t going to let it go to waste. I’m already tracking Young’s upcoming gigs in the hopes she’ll be back in Bristol again soon!

Ciaron Elm and Lyle!

After Young’s performance at Thekla, I ran to The Lanes to catch The Everyday favourites Try Me. Unfortunately, Try Me were unwell and not able to perform and instead Ciaron Elm and Lyle! stood up to the task last minute. Elm is a Sheffield based singer/songwriter who started the performance with a cover of Britney Spears’ Toxic – a dancefloor classic that got everyone warmed up. Lyle! covered many of the tracks with his trumpet, an impressive instrument that elevated the songs and offered something new.

Although it was obvious that this set was pulled together last minute, it was incredibly impressive that this was the first time both artists had performed live together and the enthusiasm from both Elm and Lyle! as well as the crowd was such a great sight to see.

Oslo Twins

My next gig was at The Louisiana bar and I did a light jog to get there in time to see Oslo Twins. A four piece band based in Bristol, they’re self-described as a dream pop/trip hop group and their dreamy sound was on full display at Dot to Dot. It was a bit of a late start due to some sound issues that didn’t seem to get fully resolved, however Claudia’s sensual vocals were comforting and along with the soft, psychedelic backing it was a great performance to watch amongst a packed crowd with the sun filtering through the windows.

I took a quick break to get some lunch from the harbourside market before heading back to The Louisiana to watch one of my favourite sets of the day.

Tayo Sound

Tayo Oyekan AKA Tayo Sound is a Nigerian-Scottish songwriter who I was desperate to watch and had recommended in Dot2Dot’s programme this year. Having spent the first few years of his career busking in Reading, watching him perform to a packed out room was so special. The queue stretched round the back of the pub and I had to squeeze myself in to catch his set - I’m so glad I didn’t miss it!

Tayo offered a funk-pop sound that was uplifting, upbeat and had the whole crowd dancing along. A barrage of colours shone from the stage - purples, pinks, oranges and yellows lit up the room as Oyekan poured his heart out into folksy, groovy and relatable lyrics. The crowd ate up everything he was giving, particularly when he covered the classic noughties hit ‘Black & Gold’ by Sam Sparro before ending on his single ‘Cold Feet’. I was so upset when it was over!

Live music has never been so needed and to indulge myself in so many different performances across several venues and spanning many genres, I felt euphoric and proud to be able to watch and write about such an amazing day.

Pinty

It’s Kerry taking over now. At 3.30pm, after a scrappy, late start, involving childcare panic, sunglasses left in a taxi & a lost wristband (already), I delve into the 2am-esque dark of the bowels of the good ship Thekla for Pinty, my first set of the day. A couple of weeks ago Metronomy released a surprise collab EP Posse, which opens up with the killer old-skool hip hop track Half an Inch featuring the Peckham-born rapper, the opening chords of which greet me as I weave my way into the crowd.

Pinty’s chilled form pounds back and forth across the small stage, shared with just a DJ behind the decks. The crowd here seem to know and love him, answering his “ohohoh” calls, swaying and nodding in time. As he kicks in with his next track I am in for a pleasant surprise. Pinty told Mixmag back in 2019 “I don’t consider myself a garage MC or a rapper, I don’t sit in UK hip hop,” and lo and behold, I hear a definite house beat and as the track unfolds it becomes clear - this guy is rapping over killer house tracks - a genre-crossover heard rarely and even less often done well. Pinty really makes it work, bringing wide smiles and more than a few funky bum-shakes and four-to-the-floor dancefloor moves from the crowd, which is pretty good going for mid afternoon.

Chubby and The Gang

Just about everyone I know who is going to be here today has said to me over the past few days ‘let’s meet at Chubby & The Gang’, so next up, we head over to 02 Academy, as it seems to be where all those in the know are heading. Chubby & The Gang have emerged from the UK hardcore scene and gained a fiercely dedicated following over the last year or two, and even though it’s pretty early in the proceedings they have packed out the cavernous 02 Academy, so I quickly give up on the idea I may bump into any of my friends.

Chubby and crew stalk on to the stage with swagger, tight jeans and flowing locks and the heavy metal vibes are so strong it could be a 1980s Motorhead gig right now if you squint hard enough, even down to the hammering of guitars, headbanging and splayed leg stances more recently seen in the Tory power poses adopted by Theresa May and her cronies circa 2018.

There’s nothing 1985 (or conservative) about Chubby and The Gang’s messaging or lead singer Charlie "Chubby Charles" Manning-Walker’s shouts out to the crowd. They are fucking angry, and they’re angry about what is going on in the very particular epoch we are smack bang in the middle of here in the UK in 2021. It’s a heady and invigorating mix, hardcore delivered with it’s typical big-dick-energy alongside social commentary to rile up a post-Brexit, pandemic-affected generation. It’s one that captures an audience and band hell-bent on making their disaffection known. The mosh pit is where discontent is often unleashed, and you’re going to hear a lot more from Chubby and The Gang, especially if the current world stage keeps throwing up even more reasons for people to kick back against the establishment.

Joe and the Shitboys

Often one of the best things festivals are all about isn’t anything to do with the headliners and crowd-pullers, but is more about the nuggets of joy that can be found on the periphery, tucked away on the smaller stages and further down the programme listings. One of the lesser-known acts on our list was Joe and The Shitboys, who are in their own words are a ‘queer, vegan, shitpunk band’ hailing from the ultra-tiny and ultra-conservative Faroe Islands. Their intention is to call out shitty behaviour, and after the gig they gave us their succinct rundown of what shitty behaviour in their eyes entails - “Homophobia, misogyny, racism”.

But before I go more into what we talked about, let’s do the most important bit - we head into the upstairs bar of the Thekla to see them live. I’m glad Von and I got there early as it’s already packed and poor Issy is left outside queuing for the whole set. The stage in the upstairs bar is miniscule and the four of them crammed onto it is like watching a band in someone’s living room, and the crowd fit the friendly house party aesthetic - all chats and smiles, making way for me as I shoehorn myself into a spot next to the bar.

As their set crashes into being with the anthemic ‘Shitboys in the House’ I am immediately transfixed by lead singer Fríði’s stage presence - he manages to pull off being fearless, warm, funny and a ball of laconic pent-up energy all at once. The rest of the band are extremely good at their craft, each song is a short, tight wall of sound (some of their tracks are very short indeed, the quickest, fuCk, comes in at a blistering second or two at the most). The set listing is crammed full of witty, tongue-in-cheek tracks that resonate with the energy and aural aesthetic of Rage Against The Machine (or, if you’re old enough to remember them, their lesser-known fellow 90s punk-rock-rap pioneers Senser) that do just what they came to do, call out shitty behaviour. Personal highlights were Drugs R’4 Kidz, Macho Man Randy Savage and a rendition of Wonderwall which, thank god, was as far removed from the Oasis original as is humanly possible.

Fríði holds the rapt crowd with ease between tracks. Brave was the man who raised his hand to the call-out ‘Do we have any straight white dudes in the audience?’ and then had ‘Life is Great You Suck’ sung directly to him above the heads of the rest of the crowd. But that particular white straight dude loved it, because, like the rest of the audience, Joe and The Shit Boys had us eating out of their capable hands. In the words of the guy stood next to me “fuck me, they’re the best thing ever”.

Hanging around outside after the gig we collared The Shitboys’ new biggest high-profile fan, Bristol’s own Big Jeff Johns, to ask him what he thought of seeing them live after recently featuring them on his radio show on Soho Radio. Jeff summed them up perfectly: “They have the vitality and energy of punk rock, but their messages are delivered with such humour, they are just amazing”.

The band then emerged, sweat- soaked and blinking in the sun like the rest of us, and chatted about about how positive their Dot to Dot experience has been and who they are off to see next: “We haven’t checked out a lot of the bands in advance, we want to be surprised wherever we go, except we’ve checked out Sports Team, they're gonna be great”.

I was really interested to hear how their outlook and music goes down at home in the ultra-conservative Faroe Islands. Fríði is matter of fact when he replies “It's very hit and miss, but I think most people actually enjoy it, because somehow we reach almost all the mainstream outlets in the Faroe Islands, whatever that means in a nation of nearly 52,000 people. But I’ve also been physically assaulted after a gig... I was called a fucking faggot and attacked. It goes both ways.”

If you’re quick you can catch them this week before they leave the UK in St Albans, Bournemouth and Ipswich, but if you’re not lucky enough to see them live this time, they told us they will definitely be back, and you can check out their music on all the usual platforms, as well as keeping an ear to the ground for their next album which will be out in November.

Kofi Stone

After a phenomenally long and quite frankly uncalled-for queue at the bar, Issy, Von and I head off to see something completely different from The Shitboys, Birmingham’s purveyor of conscious, soulful hip hop Kofi Stone.

Stone’s tracks in both our eyes are reminiscent of 90’s hip hop with a modern edge and contemporary lyrics. It was another packed out room with the whole crowd buzzing; there was a lot of head bopping to ‘Dirty Airforces’ and singing to ‘Stories in Pyjamas’, his debut single released in 2017. Heading in a different direction, Stone told the crowd he was going to sing a song he wrote about a girl who broke his heart ‘Talk About Us’, and then handed out several bouquets of flowers to people in the crowd. There was swooning, no word of a lie.

He’s been described as an artist with a relatable, honest take on life, and again, he was another act who held his adoring audience rapt in his hands and hooked everyone in with his smooth, laid back voice and effortless stage presence.

Grandmas House

We’ve been big fans of queer surf-punk outfit Grandmas House here at The Everyday since interviewing them earlier this year, and it’s been a pleasure to watch them receive some well-deserved recognition outside of the Bristol alternative music scene as 2021 has progressed. This is the first time I have managed to catch them live and I’m pleased it’s in the intimate surroundings of Rough Trade Bristol’s backroom.

It isn’t as busy as it could be (maybe because their set clashes with that of the much bigger almost-household-name of fellow postpunkers Girl Band at The 02), but it gives us space to move and really appreciate Zoe, Poppy and Yasmin’s craftsmanship. Some technical difficulties relating to a slipping microphone and dodgy stool are dealt with without any fuss (and a little help from the audience in the case of the microphone), but they are the only awkward points of the whole set.

I’m positioned directly in front of bassist Zoe Zinsmeister, and she commands her instrument with such effortless, unhurried cool throughout the set it is a joy to watch. Yasmin Berndt, on guitar and vocals, leads most of the tracks with sure-fire confidence - I wait with baited breath for her to unleash her voice’s gritty, emotion-filled full potential on stand-out tracks like No Place Like Home and Golden (the latter of which goes beyond crescendo to somewhere it only hints at on the record). Poppy Dodgson is a technically brilliant drummer, but what becomes obvious watching the trio do their thing on stage live is that she is also the steady, beating heart of the band. Her vocals are delivered with such dark, arrow-like insistent energy and she brings cool and surety to every twist and turn of the set. There’s a sense of her holding everything together in the epicentre, and I don’t mean just in terms of her percussion holding everything together.

The new single Girl is the highlight of the set for me and is proof Grandmas House are getting better and better. It starts off with a quiet, take a breath minute, hinting at classic unrequited love songs from times gone before, then builds into a massive surf-punk crescendo in no time, capped off with Poppy’s dark, cutting, insistent refrain of ‘Girl, why don’t you just leave me alone?’.

In the current post-punk landscape, which is so crammed full of white, cis-het male voices, it’s all too tempting (or lazy) to label Grandmas House as an ‘all-female’ punk band in order to set them apart from the others. But after seeing them perform live tonight, I can safely say that their gender isn’t the main thing that sets them apart from the current post-punk crowd. It’s the fact that they are just fucking good musicians with a unique voice and energy, breathing life into a sadly now saturated genre.

Sports Team

Talking of saturated genres, our last stop tonight is back to the O2 to catch the current big name in the world of male-fronted British rock bands, headliners Sports Team. Not really being in their target-audience of gen z indie-pop fans I’m not aware of much of their music apart from what I’ve heard in passing on the radio, so I am coming at this with relatively fresh ears. I hope these Cambridge-alumni who have recently found massive success live up to the hype.

The buzz is palpable, the crowd behind me swelling by the minute, happy faces full of visible excitement, and everyone breaks out into screams and roars of appreciation as Sports Team lollop nonchalantly out onto the pink-bathed stage to, um, bizarrely, Robbie Williams singing ‘Let me Entertain You’. As their set starts the crowd go wild, the lead singer struts onto stage, and they do what rock bands do so well - a blistering set of big hits, delivered with confidence and attitude, received by the adoring crowd who know all of the words and sing them back at their heroes.

It feels very reminiscent of The Killers, The Strokes, or numerous bands just like them who have gone before. It’s fun - lead singer Alex Rice cuts a pretty, swaggering picture, and Sports Team fills a space in the music landscape that will always need filling, that of the easily accessible headliner. But as I watch I find myself yearning for a little more of the flamboyant, the raw and the unusual, all of which Dot to Dot have delivered elsewhere in bucket loads today.

We leave early and pop our heads in to Bristol Beacon to catch some Palace, but don’t stick around, as it would seem our tolerance for mainstream pretty white boy rock has run out for today. Dot to Dot have pulled off another blinder for 2021’s instalment, I defy any music lover to not find something to take away from this festival that they cherish and adore, or truly blows their minds. And it’s good to know, unless the whole world goes to pot again in the meantime, that Dot to Dot will be back again in May.

Find out more about Dot to Dot Festival here.

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