Xfm Winter Wonderland

8.45am the morning after Xfm’s winter wonderland… heads pounding… work in an hour… probably a bad idea not getting the day off… still grinning.

So every year Xfm throw the winter wonderland bash, one in Manchester and one in London for each of their respective radio stations. Of course I hit the Manchester venue housed in the refurbished Academy, which I was surprised to find a real worthy venue given its recent reincarnation- definitely decent enough for any A-list bands that may have avoided it’s shaggy appearance in the past.

The impressive line-up this year kicked off with Kid British, who I must admit I did miss, but only because I’m way too cool for school to arrive on time. A quick scout round some of the kids at the front end gave me mixed responses ranging from the “utter shit” of a more than likely preformed opinion to the “pretty good” of the not so blown away newcomers. My guess? They were probably fine… to be honest you can’t really expect more from a band that have only released one song (Elizabeth) to the world. When I arrived people were packing in at the front and the first of many plastic pint pots were flying, so I’m guessing they did their job of breaking the crowd in, and breaking in they definitely needed because next up were the wild Kentucky rockers: Cage the Elephant.

Again only one real track released from these guys (In One Ear), but when they played it, everyone was singing along with a seemingly perfect subconscious knowledge of all the lyrics before asking the person next to them “who are these guys again? They’re pretty awesome”.
Personally? Yeah, I’m totally on-board with Cage the Elephant, if you need more convincing then head over to their myspace and have a listen through a few of the other tracks. You’ll find a real convincing blend of rock, punk and funk tied in with an almost country and western vibe… well maybe not country and western, but lets say I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a banjo kick in on a few of their tracks. Anyway, these kids brought some real energy to the crowd, the lead singer stumbling about almost oblivious to the mass of people jumping about in front of him. To say the least, it was impressive to see crowd surfing this early in the night.

Shortly after we see The Automatic take the stage. Not really making as much of an impression on the music scene with their new material as they did with the first album, I wondered if the loss of Alex Pennie would have much of an effect on a live performance. Just for those of you catching up, Alex Pennie was the guy that screamed basically, not much I know but it did help to give the Automatic a certain individuality in the plethora of ‘indie’ we were hearing on the radio at the time… when you heard a song, you definitely knew it was them. So they played through a couple of their new songs, and yeah they were good. To be fair the Automatic are a really good band and the new songs are great but there was something missing that I had come to expect from these guys. Then we get the call “this will get you warmed up” and out it comes “what’s that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Is it a monster?”, and low and behold out comes the screaming from one of the other dudes… it’s like almost identical… so whilst I am loving this now, I’m also wondering why we’ve not got this guy yelling at us on the new material? I never thought I’d really require it from a band but just shouting lyrics does work for the Automatic. Needless to say, after this the remainder of the Automatic’s set went down rather well, with the crowd pitching in their own ad-lib screams to the rest of the new tunes offered up. Interestingly enough, the song ‘Steve McQueen’, which never really captured me from my ventures onto the radio has really stuck with me now after seeing it performed live… I’m currently humming it still.

So the Automatic wander off and Clint Boon wanders on. Considering the man was doing little more than presenting the festivities with a cry of “boon army” he received a staggering applaud, on a par with, if not greater than many of the bands received themselves. I think to myself how something like that comes about and quickly run through Mr Boon’s C.V in my head.
Ok, so he started off renting out practice space to bands? Or something similar to that anyway… Next up he’s a member of the Inspiral Carpets hailed as one of the best bands to come out of Manchester in an era where we saw the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays emerge. So he’s touring the country with non other than a young Noel Gallagher in toe as the band’s roadie, when he decides to go down the solo route with the Clint Boon Experience. From here we see him turn into a DJ for several clubs all over Manchester before being snapped up by the Revolution radio station… and then again by Xfm… obviously. Now Clint is one of the best known Mancunians amongst Mancunians… he’s the man of the people, the new Tony Wilson, the new Mr Manchester… yeah ok, “Boon Army!”.
So he talks us through the bands that have come to pass and the bands that have yet to come (Kid British getting as many claps as anyone else as I begin to feel sorry for missing out) until we reach the headline band; Scouting for Girls to which the gaggle of happy fans transmute into a mob and the cheers turn to boos’ and heckles. “I said nothing” says Clint…

In a flash we have the Subways tear onto the stage, tops off and singing their hearts out and in under 10 seconds I am their biggest fan. Everyone was. I can’t say enough about how amazing this band was, so I’m probably better saying very little. Sure I’ve heard their songs before, I may even have a couple knocking about on my iPod, but this was totally different. Seeing them performed live was like hearing them for the first time all over again, but much much better. It’s for performances like this that live music even exists. So in short, if you haven’t seen the Subways live… do it. They were the definitive band of the evening, and in reflection to the damnation the crowd had placed on Scouting for Girls earlier it became quickly evident that the Subways should have headlined. That said, it was by no means downhill from here.

We have The Music and The Verve, not at the same time obviously… but both have been out of the lime light for a little while and it was refreshing to run through some songs that had slipped behind the sofa of my mind. In complete honesty I’m not the biggest fan of the Verve, that’s not to say that I don’t like them, but still, they’ve never been a band I’ve gotten really excited about. Clearly however I was in the vast minority as I watched the masses sing along to a very tidy little acoustic set from the bar. The Music too impressed me with their new material having a nice distinction from their earlier sound. Still, the old stuff soon got be back into the crowd, but I have made a vow to have an extended listen to the new album. Also, you know the lead singer has shaved off all his hair? He’s gone from a hippy look alike to a Chav look alike. Mental.

So by now I’m pretty sauced, and find myself slowly drifting forward for the headline band. Despite all warnings and preconceptions I decide to fuck it. Somebody, somewhere has decided that Scouting for Girls are a worthy enough band to lead the mighty precession of talent that has come before it, so then I, in the interests of journalism and jumping about, shall give these boys a chance.
Well yeah, not bad actually. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the other bands working me up, or maybe it was those awesome glitter balloon things they released near to the end, but they really weren’t that bad. Certainly nothing worth booing about. I was right up front, bopping around, and I was way far from alone, I even turned around to check. So they may not have been the final bombshell that the line-up deserved to finish with, but they put everything into it, and they got a response. I found myself saying “oh, they did this song?” a few times too. They’ve actually released quite a lot of catchy stuff, you know that one? I wish you were made of tunes, or shoes or shrooms or whatever? Yeah, that’s them, and lets face it, that’s the kind of crap you want to be singing along to when your pretty wasted.

So yes, all in all the Winter Wonderland was wondrous. It was well worth the twenty squid and they’ll have my money next year too. So now it’s 9.45am the morning after Xfm’s winter wonderland, heads still pounding, I’m late for work and it was definitely a bad idea not getting the day off… still grinning though.

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