Stag and Dagger returns for its second outing in Edinburgh spread across 7 venues in the heart of Cowgate.
Grace and the Flat Boys came on stage in Legends playing an interesting set that moved seamlessly between R&B and Jazz, Coming off as a tad nervous but extremely endearing the band were grinning and joking with each other throughout which set a relaxed and friendly atmosphere on top of which Graces strong vocals shined.
In stark contrast UNIVERSITY were up soon after in Mash House and they were not a band that was going to beg a crowd to be liked. From pretending to vomit into the mic to the 2 friends playing Call of Duty and rolling cigarettes on stage throughout the entire set the afternoon audience were left bemused. Theatrics aside, the band with a name almost impossible to Google had a raw punk energy that was one of the most interesting sounds of the weekend.
Divorce played Sneaky Petes under some dreamy lighting, they were highly anticipated with the venue being packed to the door and the almost country sounding indie rock quartet definitely left as one of the must sees of the weekend with an impressively polished set that jumped between fun indie to mellow and thoughtful all of which was well received.
Talk Show started next door in Legends and would probably be recognised as part of the post punk wave of acts such as Yard Act, the energetic front man brought the crowd along as each song finished with a louder cheer than the one before, definitely ones to watch.
Alice Glass in La Belle wins the days most obviously anticipated acts as the level of makeup and costumes rises dramatically as you get nearer the venue, “Its controversial for me to play the music I wrote” explained Alice as she introduced some Cystal Castles back into her set of mostly solo material all of which was loved by an adoring crowd.
Swim School play in one of Scotland’s most beautiful venues The Caves, off the back of supporting The Pixies the locals had an extremely friendly audience as they announced their upcoming single “Don’t leave me behind”, the pop friendly indie rock sound seems destined to find a wider audience soon.
Cleverly named Peaness are up next back in Legends, the fast paced upbeat indie pop has the entire crowd smiling throughout. As with their previous show at The Great Western this seems like a band that is benefiting from a deep connection with their fans as they were among the most mentioned of bands people were looking forward to seeing.
It’s been 13 years since Jeffrey Lewis graced Stag and Dagger and he still has the same guitar but a new band (The Voltage). Tonight’s set had Lewis narrate 3 of his own comics ranging from the hilariously topical French revolution to a brief but complete history of communism. Past the comics Lewis’ set was drawn from across his whole catalogue with some big hits absent but still had the entire crowd singing along with “Back When I was 4“.
Without having to leave a single street and for the price of a meal for 2 Stag and Dagger manages to showcase an international lineup including some of the countries most exciting new talent across a range of genres, we could only mention 8 of the 45 bands on show for the day with no doubt that bands like Black Lips and Retro Video Club were also entertaining happy crowds
Words and pictures: Dale Harvey @daleharvey