Grey Lantern Presents @ Trof Fallowfield, 25.05.13

Who’d be a promoter, eh? One minute you’re organising a festival across two venues and the next so many bands have pulled out that you might as well cram everything into one. So congrats to the Grey Lantern team who did create a fine roster at Trof.



The duo that forms Veladrome is first up on a Saturday with the sun beaming down. Lisa and Tom would appear to make an unusual combination; her with the clear, pristine vocals and him with the dirty, distorted bass noises. In delivery, the incongruous combination works well. “Keep on walking,” Lisa recites with sufficient ambiguity as to wonder if it’s a threat to one’s personal safety or merely offering friendly directions.



The incestuous nature of the Manchester music network frequently sees people appearing in multiple guises and displaying different facets of their musical tastes. Mike McKnight appears today as Sphelm. The number of Cyril Snear t-shirts on display is a sign of solidarity from his other band mates. Today he’s slightly nervous; a new toy bought to enable him to demonstrate his musical catalogue isn’t working as it should. Also, the PA is creating weird, unintentional sounds so we only hear four songs, but they are good ones. He will use almost every part of the guitar to create sounds and beats. His hands gently caress the neck of the guitar whilst his slightly rough edged vocals align themselves nicely to the overall sound.



For those who have witnessed the incendiary performances of Queer'd Science, Dinner Time are faster and seemingly more intensive. Hard to believe, I know. The Ramones played songs lasting less than two minutes, and so do Dinner Time. Shouty, fast and relentless they are not songs you are likely to hear on Radio 2, but who cares. I wonder if the pace of the set has anything to do with the fact that they are playing another gig at Kraak in 40 minutes?



Tribal Fighters take the event along a slightly different, more melodic avenue. The trio don’t do vocals, but will take a wander across the floor to the full extent of their guitar cables, all the while dispensing attractive numbers.

As someone stated, “You can't put a price on fun”.

Words & photography: Ged Camera.