By Jase Walker
One more trip around the sun and I’m back in sunny Manchester for the premier progressive and left field music festival, RADAR. A gathering of the best bands around right now and throngs of the best people to go along with it. Let the weekend begin, and fuck knows when I’m gonna have time to eat.
ANYWAY, Giant Walker to kick the weekend off, what a fantastic way to start the show. Opening up with the two latest singles and following into ‘Katoomba’, it’s clear they’re making sure to leave their mark with their newest releases with the biggest songs from ‘All In Good Time’. It’s time for the next era of Giant Walker and the new singles show a deviation to a different sound that carries immense weight when played live. Giant Walker have got the riffs, interesting rhythmic approaches but if there’s one thing they really excel at, it’s their vocal melodies and harmonies, they really hit it on that every time.
Next up today is The Intersphere, yet more atmospheric prog metal although with markedly busier riffs. These guys are properly opening the can today being the first main stage band and I really have to say the sound on both stages right from the start has been fantastic, intense yet not earsplitting. The intense bouncy rhythms against layered backing synths and melodies creates a fantastic juxtaposition of sounds and the best part is how well it comes across on the much larger main stage. The Intersphere are another great example of a band that makes prog accessible, it’s got all the nice bits that scratch the complex music itch but it never overshadows how melodically accessible each song is.
Third for me today is a bit of a different take on the unusual music this weekend with Cestra. A solo act with heavy electronic drums and noise reminiscent of NIN but with a lot of layered strings and other assorted synths. The light show is crazy intense with flashes between blue and deep crimson red which matches the music style incredibly well. Cestra’s singing voice is brilliant too, eat your heart out Sinead O’Connor, Cestra is giving you a run for your money with vocals like this. Wonderfully bizarre yet engrossing mix of industrial and pop ballads all mixed into a unique package. It takes a lot of nerves to get up on stage on your own and put on a show like this too, and given the way she moves on stage, it’s clear that there’s a solid devotion to her craft.
Earthside starts a bit later than anticipated due to some technical issues but it’s all good now, let’s get this started! Radar certainly seems to have leant heavily on bands with atmospheric vibes today and Earthside continues this trend. The keyboard player opts to dance around the stage doing air drums when not actively playing and plays his keytar with more flair than most guitarists. Wonderfully melodic, warm synth layering from the keys and guitar playing that reminds me quite a lot of Leprous in parts. Sadly the vocals aren’t coming through so they’ve made do with going for a full instrumental show instead, really seems that Earthside are having a tough time with getting everything working but are making the best of it. Sadly the set was plagued with issues to the end and I felt quite bad for them, it happens to the best of us and they did what they could.
Ichika Nito is next up for me, the Japanese virtuoso guitarist who I had the pleasure of seeing in Amsterdam earlier this year. Just one man, one guitar, and a hell of a lot of skill. It’s incredible what one person with a loop pedal can do to create such elaborate and intricate songs and melodies but this is how Ichika rolls. This is the sort of playing that really showcases just how high the skill ceiling is for an instrument and the crowd, nearly deadly silent, is clearly watching this as one part musical show and one part masterclass. Admittedly I do prefer the ones with a bit of backing track to add that bit more oomph to the songs with interesting trap-esque percussion and extra synths while he goes nuts with dancing around the fretboard. Intense, yet very chill, and another addition to some lovely atmospheric and fun music today.
Vower up next, erring more on the outright heavy side but with plenty of technicality courtesy of Rabea Masaad. Also featuring one of my favourite singers in the prog metal scene, Josh, formerly of Palm Reader, I do wish his vocals were a bit stronger on the mix as it’s quite hard to make him out. There’s still a very strong feeling of Palm Readers fingerprints all over this, the sort of post-rock vibe while still remaining very heavy and it’s hard to put my finger on who else to liken them to. Radar has clearly been eager to see these though given the members reputation in the scene as the second stage area is quite busy all the way to the back. Sadly Josh’s vocals ended up buried for most of the set and it left a bit of a sour taste for this set, ah well, still keen on seeing them again!
Next today is one of my favourites on the bill, VOLA. Opening with a big one for me, ‘Alien Shivers’, I am gonna scream my lungs out for this whole set! ‘Stray The Skies’, kicks off a huge pit right in front of me almost immediately and the whole crowd can be heard at a near deafening level singing the words back at VOLA. ‘Paper Wolf’, sounds every bit as good as I would hope it would, what an incredible main hook though, that riff is god damn tasty. Keeping the energy going with ‘Black Claws’, and the crowd is steadily getting more and more fierce. Pulling back the speed a bit with the more emotional ‘24 Light Years’, to give a bit of breathing room. ‘Head Mounted Sideways’, up next and the pit is still growing, VOLA is pulling out their big guns for this set and it’s paying off. ‘Break My Lying Tongue’ is finally out in the open and as I expected, people are going mad for it.
It’s probably worth stating at this point that I do love VOLA, but this performance is head and shoulders above anything I’ve seen them do before and I’ve seen them quite a few times over the years. This performance is the tipping point for VOLA where you can clearly see they’re on the right track for far bigger things very soon and will be regarded as one of the greats in prog. ‘Smartfriend’, even gets a spin, arguably one of the heaviest songs they’ve ever done. I really cannot overstate just how incredible VOLA are sounding and performing on this set, this is truly a show that you had to be there for, a career defining show at Radar. Finishing with ‘Straight Lines’, bringing an absolutely outstanding performance and set to a close. Do not miss these on their tour later this year.
After an interview with Nicolai and Martin from VOLA and trying to hold back my gushing about their show, it’s back for Plini. Time for some top tier jazz fusion with Plini backed by a trio of brilliant musicians including Simon Grove, a favourite bass player of mine. Every single time I see Plini, I can’t get my head around how utterly effortless he makes it look with his fingers dancing around the neck of the guitar. But don’t let the jazz fusion label fool you, Plini’s riffs go just as hard as your top class djent darling. Also good god whoever is doing the light production for these main stage shows deserves a medal, it’s bloody incredible and compliments the music brilliantly. Plini once again proves that fancy instrumental music can go hard, be uplifting, and ultimately be a beautiful thing to experience. There has not been a single time I’ve ever not enjoyed a Plini show, every person Plini trusts to back him on live shows while he does his thing adds to something greater than the sum of its parts. Phenomenal.
Jumping back to the second stage to catch a bit of Caskets before I head back to find a nice spot for The Midnight. I’ve managed to catch these a lot this year and they’ve once again pulled a real solid turnout to their show. I’ve had to pull back a bit to the back of the room where Radar has rather handily put up a screen to help with the visibility. It’s been great just briefly catching them and seeing the sort of attention they’ve been improving on year on year. Sadly it’s just a fleeting visit on this occasion because The Midnight are the single biggest draw for me this weekend and I need to make sure I’ve got a good spot! Keep smashing it lads, you’re onto a good thing!
And finally, I get to write a bunch of gushing words about my favourite band ever, The Midnight… They kick off and I get goosebumps, it’s time to dance. Kicking off with ‘Neon Medusa’, getting those singalongs kicked off right from the start! The Midnight have so much I love in one package, poppy vocals, fat synths, solid rocky riffs and pure emotion. I know all the words, whether it’s ‘Heroes’ or ‘Gloria’, I’m right there! It’s great seeing them have a real light production this time compared to the somewhat reduced setup they had in Amsterdam. The Midnight fully lean into the sax playing too, a true mainstay of their sound, and every time that sax starts blasting the crowd goes wild. Belting out the chorus for ‘Change Your Heart Or Die’, probably their more ‘rocky’ song including an absolutely face melting guitar solo!
Their drum and bass remix of ‘Days Of Thunder’ is quite an interesting take on one of their oldest songs. ‘Lost Boy’ takes the energy down a bit to give the screaming crowd a bit of time to get themselves together. I think I might be losing my voice, whoops. But as the words in ‘Heartbeat’ go, you’re not done yet you can’t be and there’s still so much more to go. The Midnight represents the ultimate distillation of nostalgia rock, the 80s sound, the soft vocals, the whole feeling of the late summer evening. And also a big banger for me and also my actual name, ‘Jason’, the sax keeps rolling, the crowd keeps screaming, I am truly in my element. More of their biggest songs sees the sax player get full carter blanche to go absolutely nuts, jumping around the front of the crowd to really play it up. And finally finishing another fantastic show of The Midnight, with their go-to closer, ‘Sunset’. I feel truly privileged to see these twice in such a short space of time, and they’re a real joy to watch.
The Midnight are my favourite band and the perfect way to round off the first day… back tomorrow…
- PHOTO CREDIT: Photos © Naomi Paulmin Likeanao/Claire Alaxandra Powell/Ruben Navarro/Moshmallows/Oli Duncanson/Charlie Bluck. Photos courtesy of RADAR Festival. All copyright remains with the respective photographers.
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