Despite being described by one magazine as the best-dressed festival of the year, Shoreditch's 1234 Festival proved it had plenty of substance to back up its indisputable style. Perhaps the bulk of this substance was provided by Peter Hook and his showcase of Joy Division's classic Unknown Pleasures. It was a fitting setting for such a performance, Joy Division a band that launched a thousand Shoreditch post-punk copycats, and this was confirmed by the huge, raucous crowd who came to witness the spectacle. And spectacle it was, as Hook tore through the album, giving it the full rawk treatment, often far removed from the minimal, menacing restraint of the original recorded version. Having obviously never had the fortune to see J. Div perform for real, i have no real point of comparison aside from the record itself, and despite this most recent incarnation being different, it was no less affecting. This was aided on a number of songs by the powerful vocals of former Happy Monday and X-Factor contestant Rowetta, again making no attempt to mimic the distinctive Ian Curtis, which was perhaps for the best. The highlight was saved until the end however, with the only non-Unknown Pleasures track, Love Will Tear Us Apart. The sight of a thousand Shoreditch scenesters finally shedding their cool insouciance to dance, sing and all but cry along to every indie kids favourite song was a somewhat touching moment.
Peter Hook's set would have proved a fitting headlining show, had he not been on at 6, with numerous acts to follow him. Instead, much of the crowd dissipated before Wavves came on to rip through his snotty lo-fi punk, before being told to get off the stage by an equally snotty festival organiser due to over-running. Wavves were in fact a more fitting representation of the kind of bands i ended up seeing throughout the course of the day. The likes of Mazes, Dum Dum Girls and Vivian Girls all played lo-fi alt-rock that evoked different decades of American indie, from the Pavement-inspired Mazes to the 60's girl-groups and West Coast pop of Dum Dum Girls. Notable exceptions to this rule of thumb however, included S.C.U.M, a group of black-clad post-punk upstarts who have discovered the art of making a song since i last saw them a year ago, as well as the Japanese prog/punk/noisefreaks Bo Ningen who tore apart the tiny Artrocker tent with their collective insanity.
The only negatives on what was an otherwise beautiful and entertaining day in Shoreditch park were my sunburn and the sound problems of These New Puritans that resulted in them pulling out of their headlining slot in the Rough Trade tent just two minutes into their first song.
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| Prepared for the sunny weather better than i was |
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