The Bracknall: This Feeling, Truck Festival

Essex DIY success story The Bracknall played This Feeling’s stage at Truck Festival recently. Last time out in London, they headlined Lower Third with a stunning set. This slot was just thirty minutes, could they condense their form into a smaller slot?

*banner image credit: This Is Gary

Image credit: This Is Gary

From the moment the haunting pianos drop on ‘No Way Back For Me’, the air changes at Truck Festival. Rock ‘n’ roll had entered the festival and, through its dogged sense of glory, was going to leave a resounding mark upon all who witnessed.

Former single ‘Get Better’ tapped into the key changes that made us all fall in love with Noel for the first time around, and through the gutsy vocals of Jack Dacey, bred an underdog status that demanded everyone’s emotional investment.

Image credit: This Is Gary

Anthemic sing-alongs nailed, they then brought the noise and confusion with ‘Make It Happen’, Visceral guitars and violent vocals united on this righteous line in the sand. Defiant self-belief on a gargantuan scale roared through the This Feeling tent. As they hit fever pitch, Ed Smith announced himself to the festival as a generational guitar talent. His explosive solo stared into the devil’s eyes and made Satan sit down!

‘I Don’t Understand It’ from their debut album closed proceedings with such grandeur you’d be forgiven for thinking it was Knebworth. The bluesy bohemia of early Kings of Leon collided with the windswept glory of Soundtrack Of Our Lives on the weekend’s one true moment of majesty. Layer upon layer of melody, hope, and togetherness fed through the band with an ease that led them to fold in ‘Love Spreads’. There was an ease and confidence to their playing which offered hope to bands to stick with it. The spotlight may take a while to come, but when it does, be ready, know who you are, and unleash it upon all and sundry with unwavering integrity.

The Bracknall’s latest album and this performance prove a working-class hero is still someone to be, that rock n roll will never die and that maybe, we could all see things they’ll never see once again.

Image credit: This Is Gary

Pynch: The Market Stage, Truck Festival

Opening the Market Stage early at 11:30 to a very damp Truck Festival were London four-piece Pynch. Having released their debut album ‘Howling At Concrete Moon’ via Chillburn Records back in April, Pynch were looking to kickstart So Young magazines hosting with a bang.

Their set was awash with motoric styles. From Kraftwerk to Jonathan Richman, their tales of being left behind in the modern world eased a sodden crowd into Saturday’s bleak skies. ‘Karaoke’ twisted and turned effortlessly, withstanding its lyrical isolation. They trod a similar path on the anti-greed polemic of ‘London’. Harsher synths and lyrics of despair combined with the pop instincts of Golden Silvers on this satirical reflection of modern city life.

Perhaps the weekend's crowning moment came via their set closer ‘Somebody Else’. Dan Le Sac vs Scroobious Pip beats injected vibrancy and technicolour into their motoric guitars which set about a groove in the huge tent. It was though, through Spencer Enock’s lyrics and guitars that the magic took place.  For so long, an unwritten social contract was present for younger generations. Toil and struggle early on, reap the rewards later. In recent times, no such carrot has been dangled. In fact, a closed sign is almost permanently on display. Mortgages, record deals, travelling, you name it, the boomers had it and took it back. Pynch, like no other, got this across via their melancholic poetry this past Saturday. No matter how hard you try or even succeed, life is just about survival at present (“'Cause this is not what I'm supposed to do / And no one cares where I went to school / It doesn't matter how you get paid / As long as you can make it through the days”). Yet, the Market Stage filled up, it danced, it through fists aloft. It was a tear-inducing moment. The sheer defiance of it all. To be kicked when you when you’re down and still find beauty in the world, in people, and in music, generated enough energy to solve any crisis.

Pynch professed “I wanna die doing what I love / I wanna feel like I'm doing enough” last Saturday. They needn’t worry, they have and they will. A genuine triumphant of the human spirit!