TV SMITH & THE BORED TEENAGERS PLAY THE ADVERTS @ EMPRESS BALLROOM
TV Smith brought a dose of The Adverts to the festival again this year following his set two years ago, performing with his Catalonian band from Barcelona that makes up The Bored Teenagers.
They began immediately with The Adverts’ fourth single ‘No Time To Be 21’, followed by their third A- and B-side singles, ‘Safety Numbers’ and ‘We Who Wait’; the band’s heavy basslines making for a phenomenal sound.
Continuing with more Adverts hits, Smith played ‘My Place’ and ‘Television’s Over’, before moving onto the band’s second album, ‘Cast Of Thousands’. They returned to their debut album, ‘Crossing The Sea With The Adverts’ with ‘On Wheels’ and ‘Bombsite Boy’.
TV smith & The Bored Teenagers ended quite predictably on The Adverts’ best known single, ‘Gary Gilmour’s Eyes’, and then other tracks from their debut album.
02/08/19: TV Smith & The Bored Teenagers @ Empress Ballroom, Blackpool Winter Gardens.
Photo © Ayisha Khan.
© Ayisha Khan.
DUNCAN REID & THE BIG HEADS @ ALMOST ACOUSTIC
Ahead of their main set at this year’s festival, Duncan Reid and his band The Big Heads did a short acoustic session that included songs they weren’t playing in their other set.
They began on The Boys material with ‘Soda Pressing’, but quickly progressed onto the band’s own material with rarely played ‘I Can Fly’, taken from their latest album ‘Bomb’s Away’.
Another rare moment saw guitarist Nick Hughes perform a trumpet solo as an introduction to ‘Gone Gone Gone’, also from their latest release. They finished on a couple of Boys songs, ‘Brickfield Nights’ and “one of the best punk songs ever written”, Honest John Plain’s ‘First Time’.
02/08/19: Duncan Reid & The Big Heads @ Almost Acoustic, Blackpool Winter Gardens.
© Ayisha Khan.
*HEADLINING* THE STRANGLERS @ EMPRESS BALLROOM
Making their first-ever appearance at the festival, The Stranglers headlined the end of the second day which saw them perform on the packed out, sweltering Empress stage.
The band arrived onstage to the end of ‘Waltzinblack’, which transformed into a long introduction to ‘Toiler On The Sea’. They went onto their 1977 debut single ‘(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)’, followed shortly after by their second single ‘Peaches’.
The band performed a cover of Dionne Warwick’s ‘Walk On By’ that featured long instrumentals from both David Greenfield (keyboards) and Baz Warne (lead vocals, guitar). They also played a 2006 album track, ‘Relentless’, but returned for the rest of the set to 1977-78 material and the first three albums.
The Stranglers closed their set on debut album song ‘Hanging Around’, single ‘Go Buddy Go’ and finished on ‘No More Heroes’.
02/08/19: The Stranglers @ Empress Ballroom, Blackpool Winter Gardens.
Photo © Kevin Shepherd.
© Ayisha Khan.