In Depth by Wendy Roby
I went to a wedding this weekend to see one of my best boypals marry the love of his life. And it was one of the most heart-warming things I ever did see. So while it is unlikely that any record will be able to wipe the smile off my wetasaflannel, romantic face, one which has Nick Grimshaw as a supporter will have a flipping good try. »
In Depth by Laura Snapes
It’s a testament to End of the Road organisers Sofia Hagberg and Simon Taffe that not even the festival’s most professionally melancholy acts could contain their merriment at playing amongst peacocks, enchanted forests and parrots in the beautiful Larmer Tree Gardens»
In Depth by Colin Roberts
A delicious mix of bleeding edge new tracks and a couple of relatively unknown favourites from recent times. The Chap, Jonquil and Dananananakroyd hit the new music buttons with delicious aplomb, whilst the dubstep drama of Skream is showcased perfectly at the end.»
In Depth by Rachel Cawley
Venn 2006 was three years old - the festival first brought experi(mental) joy to this corner of Bristol in 2004. Venn is based around existing venues in the Stokes Croft and St Pauls area of Bristol, many of which are literally next door to each other, making long walks non-existant. The venues are as diverse as the area housing them - Casablanca is a morrocan themed shisha bar, the Malcolm X centre is a polkda-dotted hall with jamaican lager-slash-beer, the Full Moon is a punkish pub. Diversity applied to the musical line-up too, dub-step to hip-hop to shouty girl punk; the linking factor being the high quality of everything on offer. Despite the intense sunshine and the presence of premier pie shop 'PieMinister' in Stokes Croft, DiS made it to gigs. In fact, we made it to many gigs. The musical policy at Venn was so all-encompassingly fantastic, that weather and food paled into insignificance with the excitement of bands weird and wonderful in venues small and large. Now our ears throb, our eyes squint and our legs ache from dashing from gig to gig, but we're still here to comment on our quite incredible findings.
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In Depth by Rachel Cawley
Venn Festival is three years old this year. If you follow the playground adage of “first the worst, second the best”, this will be the Venn with a hairy chest. A festival with a hairy chest is not all that much of a proposition, but to peruse the line-up, would suggest this year will be ‘third time lucky’, so delectable is the extensive list of bands, persons and machines involved.»