Liverpool Sound City 2018

We’re half way through May and i’m already thinking ahead to the next back holiday, especially after hearing the news we’re in for a scorcher again. Back to last week though, and I was lucky enough to explore the baltic triangle for hidden gems, new music and craft beers for the highlight of the year, Liverpool Sound City.

Following on from a few years down on Bramley Moore Dock (which I personally liked after attending in 2016), it was great to have it back on my doorstep in the city, and in particular the amazing venues that surround the baltic triangle area. I remember it taking place in Wolstenholme Square back in 2014, with the likes of Royal Blood, Tourist and Mount Kimbie on the lineup and the city centre feel and atmosphere was great.

Just a stones throw away from flat on the docks, I ventured across on Sunday afternoon in the heatwave we were having at the time, and there was already a buzz of bands ready to soundcheck, venues setting up and the early drinkers in the area, I knew it was going to be a great day. The music didn’t start until the late afternoon so we spent the time before music to check out some of the bars, with Birdie’s Bar (next to Ghetto Golf) being a favourite of ours to enjoy the sun, which was actually a free entry spot. This was followed by my first time visiting Craft Minded to try out some craft beers in their large outdoor space.

Time for some music, we kicked off the Sunday heading indoors to check out Love SSega in the ‘On Air’ venue, which was a great shout. I should point out I came into the day without knowing much of the lineup, but excited to find some new music. He fused sounds of 80s Hip Hop with new wave, building a lot of energy in the crowd for the mid afternoon slot in a small venue. This was followed up in the same venue by the beautiful voice of Teischa, fusing R&B sounds with vocal melodies, which had the crowd hooked for half an hour. There was even a cover of James Blake’s ‘Retrograde’, which was spot on.

Next was a change of venue, heading towards one of my favourite spots for a gig, Constellations, to check out the fitting name of Connie Constance. Once again, amazing soul vocals with an urban edge, I can really see her going far and had me hooked ever since. To give you an idea of her set, she stated Rihanna as one of her pop idols and you can see why. Sticking to Constellations, we next checked Tom Tripp (after a few more drinks of course) and he was the highlight of my day personally. He amassed over 80,000 views on his track ‘Aurelia’, which went down a treat to the Liverpool crowd. I felt like he could have had a bigger crowd but I do believe he played the day before too. With influences of Grime and Soul, each track had a little story to it about where it came from, which added to the whole show in my opinion.

After getting turned away from Peace in the Camp & Furnace due to the size of the crowd queuing outside, we took this opportunity to check out Yellow Days in Constellations instead, which had the biggest crowd i’d seen that Sunday. Everyone full of good food, good alcohol and vibes, the full crowd was well up for it, and you can see why they have over 1 million listens on Spotify. It felt to me like the crowd who came to check them out were a bit of a cult following, knowing every word and riff throughout. His voice was absolutely brilliant and I feel the venue was perfect for the moment, and was a great finish to what was a fantastic Liverpool Sound City once again. The festival is great for checking out new music, which I was glad for, but I did miss the DJ lineup from a few years ago, which was curated by Freeze, all in all though a great day and i’m very glad it’s back in the Baltic Triangle again for 2019!

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