2nd Day Of Fun At Tramlines 2024 And Still No Rain!!
words and photos by John Hayhurst
Day 2 of Tramlines and still no major heavy rainstorms, could this be the year when we don’t have to unpack the full waterproofs? The beauty of this inner city festival is that there is no camping, so its a simple bus or car journey to Hillsborough Park, and as it all finishes at 10:30pm every night, you’ve already had plenty of sleep from the night before.
Tonight’s headliner is the eagerly awaited return of Jamie T, he of ‘Sheila’, ‘Zombie’ and ‘Sticks and Stones’ fame. Similar to Nutini from last night, it’s been a while, so quite peculiar to see him at headliner status so early on his return to the live stage.
First though a slew of artists to catch up on and always at Tramlines we have The Everly Pregnant Brothers kickstarting as ‘Special Guests’ on the Sarah Nulty Main Stage. Their comedy songs are sung back heartily by this local South Yorkshire crowd, and every year a similar setlist. This is the first year though that they have a new lead singer in Kieran Wardle from another Sheffield band Hot Soles. Dare I say the tradition is looking a bit tired on the main stage and perhaps they should move it to t’Other stage next year as the crowd seems to be getting smaller each time.
It is unique to this festival, Kendal Calling has the Lancashire Hotpots, Tramlines has The Everly Pregnant Brothers. Both taking the old Barron Knights formula to new levels.
Elsewhere Sheffield’s Poet Laureate Otis Mensah is on t’Other stage and New Guitar Heartthrob Harvey Jay Dodgson is in the Leadmill sweeping up the youngsters with his gritty lyrics and heartfelt melodies. Dodgson was a stand out performer today and his set was full of energy even if he admitted being hungover from Truck Festival the previous night. If you are a Jamie T and Tom Grennan fan then this Portsmouth lad is about to become your next favourite.
A different feel on t’other stage today (after the usual daily comedy) – Very Rap/Dance/DJ crossover with Coco and then one of the hottest voices in new contemporary dance music – Jazzy makes the whole place get club funky – and with DJ Annie Mac up next, this is effectively ‘THE’ Dance tent until singer songwriter Holly Humberstone headlines. Holly has the songs but needs to break out of that 2 yard circle around her microphone if she’s ever going to really connect with a new audience, and any people from the dance set waiting to see who she is, have long gone when she starts her more intimate ‘heart on sleeve’ meanderings.
Back in the Leadmill tent, local bands City Parking and Minds Idle are playing the biggest gigs of their lives and for me the talky sing of Jade Cook wins hands down from Ted Mitchell’s quirky pop. “Karl has fancy friends and I’ve got fancy shoes” she deadpan drawls and it feels fresh and interesting, rather than camp and hipster.
Manchester/London’s Balancing Act follow and add something more sonic to their set than quirky, we are stretching the trad lads indie formula but for those escaping the dance music they will find much to like here. ‘She Plays The Theremin’ wins favourite song title of the day and it would have been brilliant if they had a girl actually playing the Theremin on stage with them. Lead singer Kai Roberts is drawing from the Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury book of how to be a frontman, it works to a certain extent and if you have that level of confidence then why not.
You can’t see everything at a festival and have to make choices, but the combo of Main Stage and then opposite, on top of the hill the Leadmill Stage was brilliant today, not much overlap and a fantastic set of artists on both. I’d seen Nieve Ella at Live at Leeds (In the Park) earlier this year so I was desperate to see her again, ‘The Things We Say’ is one of my favourite ‘pop’ singles of the year ‘Sugarcoated’ not far behind. This artist will surely be up higher on the bill in the coming years, still only 21 years old, this was a highlight to see her on a big stage, she left with hundreds of new fans and those that knew the words sang louder than her today.
Back on Leadmill and we found Nottingham’s Cucamaras doing exactly what Yard Act did a few years ago, tearing up the place with their post punk anthems from their second EP ‘Buck Rogers Time’. One of my ‘bands of the day’ and certainly one I will be checking out again.
Then Dublin’s SPRINTS hit the main stage with a fury, having seen them last month at the Piece Hall in Halifax supporting Idles, Karla Chubb was in another good mood shaking that red hair and Colm O’Reilly kicking and screaming on guitar. ‘Letter to Self’ is one of the best albums of the year and ‘Heavy’ and ‘Up and Comer’ are so blistering live. Finally some noisy guitar at Tramlines – we are truly woken up!
The Snuts are in my view that ‘Trad Lads Indie’ that goes down so well with a festival audience, I’m no major fan personally, but I can see their appeal, I head for some more amazing food from the many varied food stalls at Tramlines, no Lobster today but a nice pint of proper beer from the craft ale tent goes down very well.
Leeds based English Teacher are high on my list as I missed them when they played Float Along festival in Sheffield last year. I love the talky sing poetry from Lily Fontaine, her normal afro hairdo is in braids today, and ok I lied earlier ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’ really wins song title of the day. They should have headlined and they packed the tent to bursting, they really get better with every performance and the style is unpigeonholeable, which is always a good thing in my book.
Tom Grennan is now an arena artist with a portfolio of tunes that keep the mixed crowd here properly entertained, he is a modern British soul singer with a gravelly voice similar to Kelly Jones from The Stereophonics. ‘Found What I’ve Been Looking For’ still crosses that pop/indie divide and as he isn’t shackled to a guitar he can work the stage to captivate the audience. Is it really six years since his debut album ‘Lighting Matches’? Have to say the new birds nest hairdo needs to go though, not sure what was going on there, but he is a true entertainer and drew the biggest crowd of the day to the main stage – Future Headliner? I think he should have headlined today!
Finally, we arrive for “Jamie…Jamie…Jamie f%%king T” echoing around Hillsborough Park. I’m wondering exactly how many tracks the people at Tramlines really know here, and how is he going to feed them into the gig. Hoping that we might get a big one to start, one in the middle and then one at the end. However, sadly, Jamie had other ideas and preferred a gradual build up of the set. “Oh No”, I thought, not again, this is another disappointing headline performance.
It wasn’t that he didn’t entertain and at least he didn’t mess about with the well known songs like Nutini did the previous night, it’s just he saved the hits for his last few songs. I might as well have just come in for the last few minutes. I don’t understand artists at weekend festivals (even if you are headlining) playing a set like that, half the people who were mildly interested had already left halfway through to get an early bus or train. Jamie T is no longer the skittish kid we once loved, jumping in the crowd, causing trouble, he has lost some of that spark but hasn’t learnt how to play to a festival audience, 60% of which might not be your fans. If the big hits had been spaced out with a few choice covers added, he would have been hailed as a true festival headliner, instead I left another night with a mildly disappointed face and too many unanswered questions.
Tomorrow, in my view, we have 2 headliners on the same night on The Main Stage, and the biggest unanswered question of them all.
Why are The Human League not headlining and closing Tramlines 2024 in Sheffield. This is their home-town FFS ???
