Monday, 2 June 2008

Crystal Castles close The Great Escape

Crystal Castles closed The Great Escape festival with a chaotic show in the early hours of this morning (May 18) at Club NME at the Brighton Barfly.

Taking the stage at 2am (BST) the duo played a raucous set of energetic electro-rock, which saw singer Alice Glass spend almost the entire show suspended above the crowd, balancing on both security guards and crowd members.

The security guards seemed baffled by the singer's frenetic stage style, seemingly unsure whether to attempt to pull her back from the crowd or help suspend her. As such she was ducked back and forth repeatedly as she sang.

The gig was rammed, with fans having queued extensively for a chance to catch the band. Various crowd members joined in Glass's chaotic antics, crowd surfing past her while she sang the likes of 'Air War' and 'Courtship Dating'.

The gig wrapped up the three-day festival, which saw hundreds of bands play gigs across venues in the coastal city.

Before Crystal Castles' set at the Barfly Lightspeed Champion played a well-received show at the venue. Wearing his trademark furry hat he played songs including 'Galaxy Of The Lost' and 'Midnight Surprise'.

Lightspeed Champion � aka Dev Hynes � was on energetic form, mounting a speaker stack near the death of the set while playing his guitar, then hurling himself onto the keyboard causing a cascade of sound as he smashed against the keys and the instrument collapsed.

Earlier in the day, at 4pm, Kid Harpoon played a secret gig at the Audio venue with singer/songwriter Soko.

The duo took it in turns to sing backing and lead vocals and play the ukulele. They played songs including 'Milkmaid', 'Peanut Butter' and 'Late For The Devil' and were watched by members of Friendly Fires.

Ida Maria was another performer to play a secret gig, playing on the balcony outside the Theatre Royal. The singer played a three-song set, bringing movement on the pavement below to a standstill as fans clamoured to catch the short show.

Dead Kids, meanwhile, played an impromptu jam on the seafront, then much to fans� delight hurled themselves into the ocean for a splash around.

Over at the Revenge club Cheeky Cheeky And The Nosebleeds played an energetic set of retro-pop, with the band asking fans to dance along to their songs, 'Slow Kids' and 'Fascinating'.

Despite playing her jovial secret gig with Kid Harpoon earlier, Soko was in a wretched mood during her later show at the Concorde 2 venue at the bash organised by MTV2 Gonzo.

Complaining about the lighting levels, the singer/songwriter said, "Well, do you care if it's on MTV or do you care if I play a good gig? So, please can I have some low lights?"

The lights were eventually turned down for Soko and she continued her set, which included 'How are you?'.

However, Soko soon began complaining again, this time about the noisy audience, many of whom were chatting amongst themselves. "If you feel like talking can you go outside?" she said angrily. "Thank you for talking, and thank you for the lights" she later said before leaving the stage.

Later on many bands headed to Club NME at Barfly to drink and dance the last night of the festival away.