Liverpool Sound City 2015 review: Flaming Lips, Remi, Bad Breeding, Dutch Uncles, Holy Holy

The Flaming Lips

With the sun out in full force for the second day of Sound City, Getintothis’ Adam Lowerson witnesses some defining moments as well as getting a burnt face.

With the move to the new site and fresh beginning for Sound City, 2015 could be a defining year for the festival. Day one showcased the potential of the site albeit with a few teething problems. Day two on the other hand took the event to a whole new level. The feeling was that of a defining day in the festival’s existence.

The sun beat down, the surrounding waters glowed a glorious blue and the artists showed just why Sound City has built a reputation for showcasing the best up and coming buzz bands as well as established icons.

The icing on the post apocalyptic, concrete cake were a band who feel as though they should be a regular on the psych-loving Merseyside shores, however today’s performance is something of a rarity. The Flaming Lips, whose influence lies within Liverpool’s psychedelic history, brought their multi-sensory explosion of sound, colour and an inflatable Father Christmas, and left an awe-inspired crowd having witnessed possibly one of the greatest moments in Sound City’s history.

The set unexpectedly leaned heavily towards instrumental, soundscaping tracks such as Pompeii Am Gotterdamerung, allowing multi-instrumentalist maestro Steven Drozd to come to the fore alongside frontman Wayne Coyne, who tonight performed dressed as a frog. However, hit singles such as the Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, A Spoonful Weighs a Tonne and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots brought the feeling of celebration and togetherness to the crowd that the Flaming Lips have become synonymous with. Ending with Do You Realize?, the most beautiful song about death ever written, was an emotional highpoint with a mass singalong and confetti canon making it the perfect close to the night. We even shared a beautiful moment with a complete stranger during it.

The ever popular Aussie BBQ was yet again another highlight of the day, and not just because of the free food. Holy Holy entertained with their Walkmen-esque folk rock sound, but the real stand out was rising hip hop star Remi. With his fierce, energetic style the Aussie rapper grabbed the crowds attention from the get go, teaching a few dance moves along the way. His lyrics were interesting too. He eats pussy like a sandwich, apparently.

After a noisy day one, aggressive punk sounds were prominent throughout Saturday too with the likes of Super Furry Animals side project Zefur Wolves bringing their slacker rock style, while Bad Breeding brought chaos to the Baltic Stage with rattling drums and thunderous bass.

GIT Award nominees and psych-pop starlets Gulf brought their sun-kissed, Tame Impala inspired songs such as new single Oceans to the Atlantic stage. Their glittering synth and warm, grooving sound matched perfectly with the weather, something which can be also said about Dutch Uncles who brought a party spirit to the festival.

It was a busy day. One that saw a genre spanning array of acts step up to the fore to make the new feel of the festival work. Where day one left question marks around the new site and dynamic of the festival, day two answered them with swagger and confidence. 2015 will be a defining year for Liverpool Sound City.

Photos by Getintothis’ Martin Waters, Martin Saleh, Michael Hegarty, Jack Thompson, Tom Adam, Vicky Pea, Chris Flack.