Messed!Up
The weather. The good damn weather. How can people live in Gothenburg?
It is also clear that there are more people at Way Out West than before the pandemic. Just like last year, it was very crowded from 19 and forward. The organizers have expanded the area a bit, but the bottlenecks that are crucial will always remain at the same places, especially around the larger stages. Previous years it has been a bit calmer at the Linné stage, but it has been rather crowded all the time. Great for the artists of course, but it means that there are very few places one can get a few minutes of calmness (you´re getting old – editor’s note).
One of the main acts for me was the Canadian band Alvvays. I have only seen them at Primavera before, after the worst scheduling clash ever. At one of the main stages, Depeche Mode played and put on an excellent show, but an hour in Alvvays started at the other end of the area. Terrible. I had to leave just as DM started the magnificent Ghosts Again. But it was definitely worth it.
Alvvays have only released three albums in their rather long career, but all of them have been in a class of their own. The self-titled debut album contained the hit Arche, Marry Me, as song that will followed them their whole career. In the excellent podcast Song Exploder they talk about how that song came about and how it took of after that, becoming Pitchfork darlings and then went on to world domination (well, kind of).
At Way Out West they start out with opening track from the latest release, the 2022 album Blue Rev. They are a very sympathetic band, being tight but not Toto-tight, letting the imperfections be a part of it. However, the sound was pretty awful in the beginning, something that has been a bit of problem at the Linné-stage throughout the festival. It gets better, as does the band and the feeling is that the audience was drying of after the rain as the concert went on, and towards the last third the concert really took off. They play a triple of songs that are among the best that any band can put of with Belinda Says, Dreams Tonite one of my favorite songs of all time, and Archie, Marry Me. So great. Soooo great.
On the way from Alvvays towards the stage Höjden I pass by Jessie Ware. I was a bit surprised as I had only followed her career from a distance, especially liking the record What’s Your Pleasure, but had something completely different in mind. It was more mellodisco than I expected. It was also way less people there than the stage and time slot would usually see, so maybe this wasn´t a homerun, but she had a very likeable presence on stage and excellent dancers. But when she started a cover of Cher’s Believe, I had to leave.
American band Nation of Language was one the greatest discoveries at Primavera last year after just stumbling in on not knowing what to expect. It´s a bit of 80´s synth vibe, with indie tones, and a charismatic front person in Ian Richard Devaney.
The Höjden stage was absolutely perfect for them, and the crowd increases throughout the whole show and basically everyone that was there fell in love. They are good on record, but it´s something with their live shows that elevates the music several steps. Hopefully they can get that across even more in coming releases, as they deserve to continue to grow.
Towards the end, they play the epic, growing The Wall & I, filling the whole area with smoke. It was one of the strongest moments of the whole day. It´s one of those songs that just builds up exponentially, and it feels like it could never end. It´s the best LCD Soundsystem-songs not written by LCD Soundsystem.
One of the best shows so far at Way Out West 2024.
After Nation of Language, it was basically a gap until Pulp, but I had time to see Darkoo a few minutes to a surprisingly small crowd but the clash with a Swedish artist made it tough. They used the old hit Love is Wicked with Brick & Lace in a nice version in the end, and it was probably the climax of the show.
I remember the (not so good) old days when bands never started on time at festivals. It was really terrible. Festivals becoming more professional has their pros and cons, waling by the golgata-like sponsored entrance road to the festival is one of the latter, but making sure the time schedule is followed is pretty good. Oskar Linnros manages to end his show more than 10 minutes late, delaying Pulps show. I have almost never seen that, so Pulp started playing during Linnros last song after Pulps roadies have given him the bird. It might be a bit petty to make a point of this, but it meant that Pulp, after Jarvis Cocker made a point in the end that they had to cut a few songs, since ‘someone wouldn’t shut up at the other stage’.
But the show then. It was just as epic as one would hope. Did I mention that I went to Primavera this year? I saw them there too. Despite being such an epic show, which often mean very small changes in setlist or anything else, but they change around quite a bit in the middle of the show. We basically get all the songs one would like to hear, with heaviest focus on Different Class, with Disco 2000 as the second show, after a slow and building I Spy.
Cocker’s stage banter is as entertaining as ever, with the dry British wit that he´s always had. One of the peaks of the show was surprisingly This is Hardcore, as a stark contrast to all the more upbeat songs. But still, Babies and Do You Remember the First Time was just amazing, with the crowd singing along. And ending with Common People might seem obvious and done, but it still feels fun and refreshing in a weird way.
Slowdive ended the night for me and everyone else over 40 (the rest saw Fred again…) in a packed tent. It was probably the tightest and best show of the day. They have been doing this shit for many years, although with a long hiatus since the mid 90s until 2014. They are among the few oldies that releases albums that can stand up against the older stuff, which is pretty impressive. Sugar for the Pill which comes late in the set, sounds just as relevant and strong as the epic ending of the show with Alison and When the Sun Hits.
