Whitelands have solid basslines, dreamy jangly guitars and vocals not dissimilar to Tim Burgess. This sits at the dreamier end of shoegaze, think tonight's headliners, The Sundays or the Cocteau Twins rather than Swervedriver or Loop. 'Setting Sun' has some lovely Johnny Marr style guitar work whilst 'Cheer' has a hypnotic chorus. The guitars are more discordant on the closing track 'Now Here's The Weather', which gives it a slight My Bloody Valentine edge. It is still dreamlike but the increase in intensity is a nice variation. Bands like this are probably better judged on the overall effect rather than individual songs and theirs is a sound you can happily lose yourself in for half an hour.
One thing that really strikes me before the headliners appear is how young the crowd is. I expected lots of people my age and there are quite a few but there's just as many (if not more) teenagers here. Maybe I've missed something (probably Tik Tok or a TV show).
Slowdive enter the stage to a couple of moments of throbbing, pulsing electronics before they launch into the New Order influenced opener 'shanty' with its Hooky style bassline. 'Star Roving' is swirling indie rock which reminds me of The Charlatans' 'Sproston Green' and the soaring guitars really lift it. Old track 'Catch The Breeze' sees their signature swirling shoegaze make an appearance but it seems quicker than the studio version which also gives it more of a Charlatans feel as the sped up bassline is reminiscent of 'Then'. The bass also makes it seem heavier than the recorded version but the ethereal vocals and chiming guitars still give it a dreamlike quality, just one that is heavily sedated. Their sound has been updated to incorporate more modern electronic elements but even the thirty year old songs sound fresh. One of the sound engineers messaged me midway through the set to say how fantastic it is and that's really a complement considering it's not really his thing. Encore 'Dagger' sees the vocalists singing a downbeat torch song just accompanied by gentle guitars and it has real emotional impact. Final track 'Golden Hair' builds to a crescendo of My Bloody Valentine style feedback whilst a leering Sid James stares down at us from the big screen. Excellent.
Slowdive ****
Whitelands ****
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