Threshold Festival; Part One

Last weekend Threshold Festival returned for it’s fourth year and has come a long way in that time. Located around the ever expanding bars and cafes and music venues of the Baltic Triangle. It was a unique weekend which delivered some of the best up and coming talent the city has to offer. With all the locations within a sensible walking distance it was a fun weekend of dashing from venue to venue trying to squeeze as much live music viewing in as physically possible.

Friday

Siren was the intimate setting for a night of lyrical delight. The night was hosted by Jamie Broad; someone we’ve had the pleasure of seeing perform on several occasions, with his slice of clever Liverpool rap. He opened with crowd favourite ‘Knock A Door Dash’ giving the audience some nineties nostalgia before going into ‘A Nice Cup Of Tea’ literally a song about making the perfect cup of tea, which you can’t help but smile and nod along to. It’s his clever observations that make it easy for audiences to relate to his songs. He went on to perform a couple of more serious numbers including ‘Pigeon’ about inner beauty and the pointing the finger at the shallow nature of society. He was a memorable performance of the night for those who hadn’t seen him before and he certainly gained a few more fans.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obLSZti7nI4]
From here we headed to the Blade Factory to catch the highly anticipated Sheepy. The Blade Factory must be the coldest music venue in the city; if anyone knows of somewhere that competes please let me know. Sheepy bounced onto the stage with a fresh energy and a frantic pace; maybe a little too frantic as lead singer Luke Jones pulled his guitar out and killed the sound. It was going to be one of those nights for the band, when bassist Villy Raze’s guitar strap  then broke. But they were undeterred and the incidents laughed off by the crowd who were warming up to Sheepy’s sound.

The headliners at The Blade Factory were Bolton based band Two Weeks Running. As soon as they started their explosive set the crowd was in full dancing swing. They were clearly a band with a decent fanbase already as many people were singing along. These guys are ones to watch.  Meanwhile, across at The Baltic Social Natalie McCool was headlining to a packed crowd; one of the highlights of the entire weekend, she didn’t disappoint.

Friday Night At Threshold had got off to a wonderful start.