Underage Festival 2009

I managed to find myself flying to England on the same weekend as two excellent sounding festivals, Underage festival and Field Day. Unfortunately, I had to take the former, since Field Day does not allow anybody under the age of 18 to attend. I had my doubts, the line-up wasn’t quite as excellent as last years (Foals, The Maccabees, Four Tet and Gallows to name a few), but I came in with high hopes.

My eduction of Marina and The Diamonds consisted only of an acoustic version of “I Am Not A Robot” (snagged from The Music Slut) and I can’t say I was completely impressed. She performed a fun type of pop music which didn’t really blow me away and probably won’t justify a purchase from me, but will keep that name snagged in the back of my brain.

Flashguns were on the stage after and disappointed. They were good, but I wasn’t expecting such a serious and melodramatic performance. I’ve only heard fast-paced “Timehouse Blue” and “Good Witch/Bad Witch”, which lead me to believe they would be jaunty and fun, but instead they came on playing something that sounded like it was off the second Maccabees album, rather than the first.

The XX have already managed to impress me with the single “Crystallized“, and the rest of their post-rock, slow and mellow songs which they played and were new to me, were extremely enjoyable. I cannot wait to pickup their CD and see them once again in a club environment in October.

We left after Two Door Cinema Club, but it was left on a high note, for their energy was magnificent. They started to slow down when they started to realise the huge problem of the day. Fortunately, they still ended on their best song, “Undercover Martyn“, which I was so worried that they would miss.

I didn’t leave so early because I had something else to do, I left early because the people there were hopeless. This is what Two Door Cinema Club realised during their set. I came in expecting many kids who would be there for the scene, but it was literally everyone. For example during Two Door Cinema Club, there was no dancing. There were a few mosh pits in the center, which broke up after ten seconds. All the bands I saw, played brilliantly, but it was the crowds fault that the day was so disappointing. Unless Underage festival decides to grow up, avoid it like the plague, unless you really want to just “see” one of the bands.

More pictures here.

Here’s a nice account of Field Day.