It's Saturday and it's the day of the Hinterland festival so that means there's music. I decided to go to Macsorleys first, usually a nice place to find a singer or two, but on this occasion it was a band named Dam Mantle who turned out to be an alternative art electro band.
Now, while I concede the fact it takes a lot of skill and accuracy to play their instruments, it just didn't do anything for me. Their actions were over animated and their sound was just that with minimal vocals and little interaction with the crowd. I found the lack of vocals in particular took something away from their music. They never succeeded in winning me over and indeed didn't really win the audience over with many of those in the building leaving before the set finished. The choice of venue didn't really help either for bands of that genre you really need a darkened room not a bright pub.
After much thought I decided to head to The Arches where I would set up camp till 11. The next two acts were British Sea Power and the Mystery Jets.
First on was British Sea Power, an indie rock band from Brighton. I have to admit their set was good and there was a good turnout for them. The drummer, in particular, played skillfully leading and driving the band on in some respects. At the end their set they descended into madness with a member of the band climbing and swinging from the pipe work while, at the opposite end of the stage, a big furry dinosaur rose and started moving around and while all this was happening there was incoherent wailing going on. I didn't understand the whole dinosaur thing - or the wailing for that matter - but nonetheless it was still a good set.
The band I had been waiting all night for, ladies and gentlemen, The Mystery Jets. I found their performance to be a treat. The audience lapped up every minute of the performance as they played tracks such as "Half In Love with Elizabeth", "Young Love" and "Hideaway". They finished their set off with "Two Doors Down". I found their music to be enjoyable as it had it all - deep and thumping drums, driving bass and slicing guitar. Their set was much loved by the audience who took part by chanting along with each track. Definitely a band I'd like to see again. Heck, I might even buy their CD.