Various - Fuzztival Festival Sheffield
[Fuzztival]

Earlier in the year, guest DJ slots were the new craze for indie discos up and down the country, now it is the one day festival which is taking the UK by storm. Showcasing new talent at a host of different venues, one day festivals such as Dot to Dot in Nottingham and Nastyfest in Leeds, are the perfect way to spend a Saturday. Last year, Fuzztival included The Long Blondes, DFA 1979 and repeat headliners, Art Brut. And with another varied line up and drinks deals to make all the students salivate, this years event is guaranteed not to disappoint.

The first band on stage is quirky Cheshire duo, Vegetables. Using a clever concoction of a Hammond organ and drums, they produce humorous ditties about men who walk dogs at night and butchers and synthesisers; A perfect, upbeat opening act.

The next band on in the main room is Swedish all male group The Envelopes, who are currently on tour with Vincent Vincent & the Villains and play generic indie pop to a crowd of sober students but add a few rays of sunshine to a rather showery day.

Kid Carpet draws in an almighty gathering of perplexed people for his 5pm slot. Using an abundance of children’s instruments to create an ear bashing, techno sound, he is every young persons dream. Whether it be a ballad or an ode to Bristol, Kid Carpet holds the ever swelling crowds attention and the finale mash up of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ is a fitting end to an exhilarating set.
Meanwhile, over in the Electric Café, Art Brut wait tediously for their food order whilst vague post rockers Hood play an eclectic DJ set, leaving the crowd rather dumbfounded.
Australian mega-piece Architecture in Helsinki are musically, a strange bunch. One minute they sound like the bastard child of The Polyphonic Spree and The Flaming Lips, the next they are producing some rather lovely electronica. Visually, with their variety of instruments and peculiar looking members, they are slightly reminiscent of The Arcade Fire and new single ‘Do the Whirlwind’ goes down a storm and they receive a rapturous applause.

Vincent Vincent & the Villains are barely known outside of the capital and the crowd are unaware of the bands former glorious line up and use of the flugelhorn. But Vincent Vincent & the Villains seem to strike a chord with the merry Yorkshire crowd and by the second song of the set ‘7 Inch Record’ people are dancing and foot tapping all over the room. The notable absence of tracks liker Midnight, B-side Baby and End of the Night show lead man Vincent’s confidence in his new material and closing track, an old villains favourite, ‘On My Own’ ends a remarkable and refreshing set.

Test Icicles are not shy of causing controversy during their live shows and in their recent tour with Sheffield natives The Arctic Monkey’s, they were booed by the large majority of crowds. Tonight’s seems a little different, and with pints of (hopefully) beer being hurtled amongst the crowd, people are gearing themselves up for quite a stupefying set. As soon as the band step foot on to the stage, carnage ensues. Their songs are not really songs, just a huge amalgamation of heavy metal vocals, thrashing guitars and clean drum machine beats. Pretty boy lead singer, Sam, dressed in Steve Earle attire produces a drawing which states “fuck the pope” and guitarist Devonte exclaims “What has he ever done for us? Let’s get sick” which sends the crowd into a frenzy. After such an electrifying set, it is hard to believe that they are not headlining... instead the accolade goes to a band which is 2/5 German and 1/5 moustached.

Indeed, it is matter of fact rockers, Art Brut, fresh from a rather unbelievable tour supporting Manc stadium rockers, Oasis. The crowd start to chant ‘Art Brut Top of the Pops’ and the band enter into the rousing intro to AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black.’ Eddie Argos then leaps onto the stage and Art Brut launch straight into their inspired debut single ‘Formed a Band.’ One of the joys of the Art brut live show is Eddie’s ad libbing, and this evening he tags onto the end of Noel Gallagher favourite ‘My Little Brother’, “Stay away from Pete Doherty, he is a very bad man, with little talent left” which causes the crowd to cheer in admittance of the fact. New guitarist Jasper Future is blonde and bespectacled like his predecessor but there is still something not quite right about him; with Mikey’s stand up drumming and Ian’s ludicrously large hair, Jasper just seems too serious for the Brut, despite being a founder member of Eddie’s previous band The Art Goblins.

Overall, Art Brut are received extremely well by a crowd who, by mouthing most of the lyrics, show that Art Brut might finally break through to more mass acclaim. They encore with album track ’18,000 Lira’ and the eponymous ‘Bang Bang Rock & Roll’; Eddie then professes to be Mj Hibbert and duly vacates the stage, leading the way for the days compere, Steve Lamacq, to DJ into the wee small hours.

Fuzztival is a fantastic one day festival with enough musical variety to please even a Pink Floyd fan and for the first ever time, Fuzztival has made a profit, which can only mean a return next year to this ridiculously cheap, student friendly all day extravaganza!