Kicking off this year’s Shiiine On Weekender was Oxfordshire four-piece Abstraction Engine in the Inn on the Green. An honour for any band, but the moment was not lost on them as regular attendees as fans.
Shiiine On is different things to different people. What runs through it all though is a sense of community. Abstraction Engine’s set arguably captured this more than any other this weekend. Opening with ‘Placeholder, frontman Dave Moore decrees “now that I’m older / I’m bolder that’s what they say / well hey, I'm not a placeholder” hearts begin to melt. The sense that this is our thing, our time to be whoever we want, to relive past glories, and make new life-long memories crystalises.
This feeling is doubled down on the gentle but life-affirming ‘Dependence’. As the lyrics “life is what you make it” percolate, financial, romantic, and health burdens fill the air, but via the keys and guitars, a BMX Bandits-esque joy emerges to set us free.
In the closing stages, AE step on the power. ‘Dreamer’ strived for the power of The Cult, ‘Walk Through Walls’ conjured the what if “Pete Astor played guitar for Sea Power” that frankly, everyone should be pondering! The set was ended by the aptly named ‘Shine’. As Moore sings, “We are the survivors”, it becomes increasingly harder not to lose emotional stability. The emotion of personal loss and the icons of the stage that thousands pilgrimage to see every year swell. The eerily ethereal keys and indomitable rumble on guitars were beset with aching wisdom that this might not be forever, so live for the moment.
With bottom lips wobbling and hearts beaming, Abstraction Engine opened Shiiine On with a poetic refinement that will long in the hearts of all who made the early journey.