Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan
The one and only Mr Motivator was down on the Big Gin Stage at 11am getting people ready for another big day of music ahead. He attracted quite the crowd for being so early, the only motivation that we needed was to make it down to The Allotment for the days first band, The Crystal Teardrop. The sun is still out and no signs of any mud on the festival site as yet!
The Crystal Teardrop were a band we hadn’t come across before today but after a blistering half hour set in the Allotment tent they created a great impression upon this writer with their distinctive blend of 1960s inspired psychedelia and garage rock. The five-piece band are from Stoke On Trent and led by Alexandra Rose on vocals who alongside guitarist Leon Jones wowed the fans with spectacular synchronised high kick energy, the crowd response was enthusiastic with dancing breaking out around the tent. It’s hard to believe that this band have only released three songs, Running Out Of Time which reminds us of the early Blondie sound, By The River is the last track and best of the set. Believe me we are going to be hearing a lot more from The Crystal Teardrop, their stage presence was amazing. 10/10 (AB)
Another day, another curated list of BBC Introducing standouts over at the Quarry; and Saturday’s starting star came in the form of Midlands-based singer-songwriter Dorothy Ella. But, having first played Y Not as a solo set back in 2018, it made sense that this time she’d come with reinforcements. With six band members on stage — from a pianist that joyfully swapped bucket hats between songs to a second drummer heartbreakingly bereft of a kit — the packed platform proved one hell of a sight; and, rather than seem like too much, it seemed just enough to elevate Dorothy’s soulfully stirring voice from noticeable to spectacular. So, as the band jumped into opener 2 Ways, the crowd were understandably in love. The likes of upcoming single Talk, or the slightly rockier, strangely almost Axl Rose-coded Do You Still Lie? quickly followed, and, as the band started running out of time — both figuratively and literally, as the penultimate song — it was time for the set to end, to everyone present’s disappointment! As stage openings go, you couldn’t hope for much better. 9/10 (JOS)
“Oh wow, fuck” mouthed the twenty year old Ben Walker upon seeing the size of the crowd as he emerged on stage to the packed out Allotment tent, and for good reason — it was rammed. With the singer making waves across Scotland over the past year, including both a show supporting Twin Atlantic only a few days before, there was a hell of a buzz; thankfully, as the band broke into opener Lost, it proved to be well-founded. Each song had a depth to it that let Ben and his band blast finely crafted walls of sound at their audience, particularly last year’s stunning single Sixteen, or the acoustic-guitar led Just A Boy, and only served to show just why he is someone to keep an eye on. Or two, just to be safe. With an already announced debut English tour next February, as well as a date at Glasgow’s Saint Luke’s, catch him while you can. 9/10 (JOS)
Marseille filled out The Quarry tent for some afternoon 1990s inspired indie tunes, the Derby band are keeping alive the ‘Madchester’ sounds of the 90s taking inspiration from bands such as Oasis, The Stone Roses and Cast, elements of all these bands and more can be heard in their sound. They have such potential to grow as they are still so young and have announced a debut UK tour for September which we’re definitely looking forward to! Marseille have already been signed up to ADR Records and the future looks very bright for them. Best of the set was Forget It All, their biggest song to date, and latest single She Can Fly, vocalist Will Brown reminds us of a young Liam Gallagher in his prime with his vocal range. We will watch with interest to see what happens next with this young talented band. 9/10 (AB)
Apollo Junction were next up at 3pm in the Allotment tent, a band we have enjoyed watching live recently, the Leeds quintet are led by Jamie Williamson on vocals who used his charm on the crowd to get them onside, even coming into the crowd for a mass singalong at one point. Are You Happy? Is one of those songs that the crowd can easily join in with as we did chanting back to the stage “Are you happy now” for around one minute almost turning it into a mantra, each time it is repeated everyone seemed to get happier (and louder)! By The River is another highlight of the set with the eclectic mix of music spurring the lively crowd to dance along while Forever ends the set on a high. These guys know how to work a crowd. 9/10 (AB)
Seeing Deco on the main stage just felt right. It might have taken them a few years, and more than a few Deco-flavoured covers of world famous songs — some of which are being released as bonus tracks for their upcoming debut album, Destination: I Don’t Know, including I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor, Bittersweet Symphony and Yellow — but they’re finally getting the recognition they deserve. With the likes of Forever, Next To You and Photograph showcasing their ‘80s inspired style of pop, along with the afore-mentioned The Verve classic, Max Kendall and co seemed to be having the time of their lives. Besides, who doesn’t love a set soaked in sax? Catch them on their headline tour yourself for smiles galore. 8/10 (JOS)
Hailing from the North West of England Dirty Blonde have become know for their intense live shows and they would showcase that today in the packed Quarry tent, the second biggest stage at the Y not, they had the full band with them today but were originally a duo founded by Ailis Mackay on vocals/guitar and Hayley Tait (guitar/backing vocals). Mackay has a decent stage presence and a great voice, consistently connecting to the crowd even coming down to chat to the fans at one point. This band will grace the bigger stages soon enough. 9/10 (AB)
It’s wild how different crowds can be for the same band. At Unpeople’s furiously packed 2000trees’ set a few weeks before, you couldn’t move without being hammered in a mosh pit, or drowned under wave after wave of crowd surfers, and the same is likely true of their recent set at heavy metal haven Bloodstock festival, despite arguably being one of the lightest bands over their respective weekends. At Y Not, however, the year-old amalgamation of rock and indie finest is comfortably one of the heaviest. The bad news? This meant that their tent certainly wasn’t as busy as the band deserved. The good news? Those that managed to get through vocalist Jake Crawford’s pitched screams, or headbang past the set’s ferociously intense instrumentals, were met with a blistering set that offered not only the perfect opportunity to move, but apparently one of the only opportunities of the weekend — and, despite needing to be called out a few times by bassist Meg Mash for being ‘a bit shy’ in their endeavours, it wasn’t long before the beloved pits started to form, and the band could let loose with the likes of Smother or the unreleased The Garden. Playing O2 Kentish Town with the Heavy Music Awards this is only the start of what Unpeople have in store. 8.5/10 (JOS)
“We are a band from Manchester and we are very, very gay”, declared vocalist Heather Baron-Gracie, standing in her ethereally gothic garb as Pale Waves graced the main stage of Y Not to raucous applause. The dream-infused, indie pop punk band had recently gotten back from supporting fellow rock-and-LGBT icon PVRIS on their US and Canada tour, and Y Not marked the first opportunity for UK fans to experience tracks from the band’s new era; and, even if only Perfume emerged from upcoming fourth album Smitten, that one glimpse was obviously enough to get their fans frothing at the mouth. Combined with the likes of She’s My Religion or the pop-punk coded Jealousy, Pale Waves couldn’t help but deliver a truly incredible set. Catch them on tour yourself in October. 9/10 (JOS)
After spending some time interviewing the band backstage earlier in the day it was now time for Glasgow trance-punk band VLURE to take to the Giant Squid stage and what a show they put on! We had the band members in a mosh pit, rapper Psweatpants joined the band on stage for two tracks and when not doing that you could find him causing mayhem in the middle of the crowd, then in true punk style the two vocalists climbed the steel pillar and managed to smash a microphone! And we haven’t even started on the music yet … This is how a VLURE show normally goes, high energy mayhem may be the best way to describe it. Hamish Hutcheson and brothers Conor and Niall Goldie know how to work a crowd for sure as they ran through a set filled with screaming lyrics backed up with excellent synth from Alexandra Pearson, the best of the set being Shattered Faith, This Is Not The End and Euphoria. You really need to experience a VLURE concert for yourself to understand the pull that they seem to have over the crowd. The London and Manchester shows later this year are almost sold out so be quick to grab a ticket! Look out for the bands interview with Bring The Noise soon. 10/10 (AB)
Ist Ist are a band many would be seeing live for the first time at Y Not, their music is dark and the punk sound is very unique as they took us through a half hour set of mesmerising post-modern punk. The Manchester band have released three albums to date – Architecture (2020), The Art Of Lying (2021) and Protagonists (2023) – and a new album Light A Bigger Fire will be released on 20th September. Frontman Adam Houghton pulled the fans in during first song Lost My Shadow and didn’t let go until they played biggest track to date You’re Mine, the last of the set, the all-round performance from the band was solid. Ist Ist head out on an album tour in October with many dates already sold out. 9/10 (AB)
And now, time for something different. The first ever Barrioke took place just over five years before, born on the peaks of Y Not; and now it had returned. With a tent so far past busy as to not even be able to see the outside world, it was time for the soap star/comedy actor/ compère/ legend that is Shaun Williamson. Maybe you know him as Barry from Eastenders, or ‘Barry from Eastenders’ from Extras — “and I will be Barry in anything anyone is willing to pay me to be in”, the crowd were reliably told — but that pales in comparison to the rabid fun of Barrioke. The sets saw everything; from a shirtless, sunburnt and glitter-sparkling Rhino belting out Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You to the Ziggy Stardust-esque singing Livin’ On A Prayer, with the crowd crying and singing along, you couldn’t ask for more fun. 9/10 (JOS)
Staying in the Giant Squid Spector were another new band to us, their sound can be likened to The Vaccines at times then again there were also lots of punk influences running through the music. Fred Macpherson on vocals gives the crowd a memorable performance backed up by fellow original member Jed Cullen on guitar, they are also joined by Russian-born bassist Jen Sanin, who also provides backing vocals. Forming in 2011, they’re a band with five albums behind them including last year’s Here Come The Early Night. They oozed class on the stage, the highlights for us were Chevy Thunder and All The Sad Young Men, the crowd really good during this set with even some crowd surfing breaking out at one point. Would love to see Spector play a headline set in the near future. 8/10 (AB)
Fife indie-rockers Shambolics rocked the Allotment tent with half an hour of high-energy songs starting with Sharp As A Razor, immediately getting the crowd moving and singing along, there were definitely a few dozen Scots down for this performance! The band are now Glasgow-based but have never tried to lose the Fife accent, they released their debut album earlier in 2024, Dreams, Schemes & Young Teams, being signed to Scruff Of The Neck Records last year. For anyone that has had to suffer the benefits system in the UK at any point in their life Universal Credit is a song that will speak some truths to you, the crowd reaction to this one was memorable. The album title track was a great singalong moment from the eight track set as co-singers Darren Forbes and Lewis McDonald belted out the lyrics “Now you’re running far away from those streets/Are you chasing every one of your dreams?/We’re gonna take on the world”. As we say in Scotland ‘Mon the Shams! Catch these guys on tour later in the year. 9/10 (AB)
Glasvegas were our headliners for Saturday night at Y Not in the Giant Squid tent, a very quick run over from the Allotment it was one Scottish band to another and what a performance the Glaswegian band put in for us, the hour-long set was packed with the band’s past and present hits. All the big tracks came out tonight including It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry, Euphoria, Take My Hand and even a cover of Ellie Greenwich’s Be My Baby. Cousins James and Rab Allan were cool as ice as the crowd sang the words back to the stage, the last three songs of the set were very memorable starting off with Go Square Go, a look back at a playground fight in a typical Glasgow school as James Allan gets the crowd singing the lyrics “My heart is beating faster, My dad told me/Not to come home if I don’t kill this bastard”, powerful lyrics indeed. Keeping the powerful lyrics going as the emotional rollercoaster of a track that is Daddy’s Gone receives a big cheer from the hundreds in the tent, everyone has their own interpretations of this song, some from loss and some from guilt. If you are ever looking for a song that will touch your soul then Daddy’s Gone is it, “All I wanted was a kick-a-bout in the park/ For you to race me home when it was nearly getting dark/How I could’ve been yours and you be mine/It could’ve been me and you until the end of time”. Most of the crowd stood in silence taking in the lyrics and this song has without a doubt gone a long way to help make Glasvegas as popular today as they ever were. The energy levels rose once again for the last song as James and Rab raised the roof for Geraldine, a song about a social worker, what an end to the set this was, the explosive energy all around was unreal. Glasvegas will be touring in October and is one not to be missed. 10/10 (AB)
Clashing with a festival headliner is never a fun proposition. You’re directly competing against someone who typically served as a main draw for the weekend; it’s their big name on the poster, after all. Will anyone turn up? Well, for Frank Turner, himself a Y Not headliner in years gone by, it was child’s play. The Quarry tent was packed, ready to see the newly minuted Guinness World Record holder in action for his fifth time at Y Not, and the excitement was palpable. It was time.
With no Sleeping Souls behind him, Frank struck a solitary figure on stage, a mass of inky darkness surrounding him; all that meant though was that it was up to the crowd to become Frank’s band, to scream along to songs new and old and bring them to life in as explosive and loud a way as possible. That they did, and more. A sixteen ong set soon followed, travelling from 2006’s Ballad Of Me And My Friends to tracks from this year’s Undefeated, seeming to stop along at every point along the way, and ranging from anthemic, chorus-led fan favourites to gentler, tear-jerking ballads; whatever you wanted, it was easy to find in Frank Turner’s 2,929th show. 9/10 (JOS)
Written by: Alan Brown and James O’Sullivan
Photo gallery featuring Mr Motivator, Dorothy Ella, Ben Walker, Deco, Pale Waves, VLURE, The Snuts, Barrioke, Declan McKenna, Jamie T and Frank Turner.
