Waking up with a slightly muggy head due to a poor
night’s sleep (I'm blaming you Heineken) was not the ideal way to begin the
second day of Tramlines, but beggars can't be choosers.
Thankfully I found the perfect remedy to my problem
(no, not more drink) Tropic of Youth
on the Devonshire Green stage. It feels like the Sheffield 4 piece have bottled
up the picturesque beach landscape with crystal clear blue seas and white sands
and somehow managed to transform that into a handful of charming tunes. This
grabbed the crowd’s attention as it grew as the performance went on despite
being plagued with technical difficulties during ‘Hot Season’, its gloriously jubilant guitars shone through and dismissed
the early glitches. Their perseverance was rewarded though as the sun emerged
for the infectious penultimate track ‘Poa
Kichizi Kama Ndizi’ and showed
they were the perfect way to start the day.
Next up we had a wander to the Crystal stage to see
local band The SSS but unfortunately
we got there early and had to endure half of Dirty Stirling’s set. They were every working class cliché rolled
into one with the frontman looking like a cheap knock off of Paul Weller and
their sound being reminiscent of a poorer version of The Enemy, which is a feat
amongst itself. Thankfully I didn't catch too much of their set as I had to
dash off to find some ear plugs otherwise my I think I would've lost my faith
in music knowing that bands like this actually still exist.
Post ear plug journey I managed to get back to Crystal
just in time for The SSS, who are reminiscent
of humbug era Arctic Monkeys but with an anthemic edge. This is a band clearly
having fun with a cover of Don't You Want Me Baby cleverly focused the crowd’s
attention with a singalong before launching into the thumping ‘Find a Way’. The best was still to come
with the final two tracks, the first being the emotionally charged ‘Into the Sun’ with its dedication to a
late friend, it seemed to kick the band into a higher gear. The set was brought
to a fitting end with the catchy earworm of first single ‘Morning Light’ and leaving the chorus stuck in the head of the sizable
crowd, showing that they still have a lot left in their locker.
Following The
SSS we had to quickly rush back to Devonshire Green in order to see local
DIY heroes Best Friends. Showcasing
cuts from their fantastic and aptly titled debut album Hot. Reckless. Totally Insane. Their fuzzy live show seemed more
suited to a tightly packed, sticky room as opposed to the outdoor stage.
However their songs and the sunshine soon put this uncertainty to rest as with
a set consisting of mainly fresher material, with highlights being the summery
shuffle of ‘Cold Shapes’ and frantic ‘Shred Til You're Dead’. But there was
still room for old favourites such as the hyperactive ‘Wasting Time’ and ‘Dude
Love’ that were welcome treats. Frontman Lewis Sharman's voice seemed to be
hanging by a thread throughout yet it held together for the rousing rally cry
of closer of ‘Orange Juice’, which
starts off in ballad territory before exploding into bitter sweet guitars,
proving just how far this band have come in 4 years.
Following Best Friends we had a couple of hours wait
before our next fix of local music, we found some food from a dominos tent
and walked down to local vintage shop Mooch Vintage on Division
Street. The shop was getting into the festivities with free drink for every
customer, a saxophone player and local DJ so it provided a nice rest bite from
the frantic buzz of the festival. (This isn’t a shameless plug, I promise).
Once finished at Mooch we decided to head up to The
Harley in order to catch RedFaces,
who are hot property at the moment after having recently signed to legendary
label RCA. The youthful band have the obvious comparison to The Strypes due to
their age but it's as if they've been plucked from the golden age of 70's rock
and transported to 2015. They have all the trademarks of a classic rock band
with gravelly vocals similar to fellow new comers Pretty Vicious, hard hitting
riffs and 3 part harmonies but the only problem is that these vocals sound too
forced. Despite this small gripe their age simply means they have time to
mature themselves and their sound which in turn means that they should have a
long career in the music industry ahead of them. 
From the Harley we broke our run of seeing local bands
as we ventured down to the Leadmill to see the unpredictably chaotic Fat White Family. But now the 6 piece
from South London have toned down their lives shows considerably; gone are the
naked, shit flinging days and instead there's hipshaking and convulsions a
plenty from frontman Lias Saudi, who still manages to look like a wild animal on
stage constantly swigging on a can of Guinness. Although there was no new
material aired their headline set was nothing short of raucous with the crowd
bouncing from the opening jangles of ‘Is
It Raining In Your Mouth?’ and continued throughout the singalong of ‘Auto Neutron’ which turned it into some
sort of twisted gospel. The final parting shots of the groovy ‘Touch The Leather’ and twisted ‘Bomb Disneyland’ resonated like two
blasts from a double barrelled shotgun as Lias greeted the baying crowd during
the latter before getting dragged into a crowd surf to end the night on a high,
if you ignore the lyrics about dead kids that is.
So with that the second day at Tramlines came to an
end and as I ventured off to get the last tram home to get an earlyish night, it
was great to see the impact the festival has on the city as everywhere in the
town centre was still bristling with people and venues having queues the length
of the streets they were on. Tramlines really does transform Sheffield and its
bloody brilliant.
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