Sunday 10 March 2013

Editors Diary//Transformation at Threshold 2013: Day Two.

It's the second day of Threshold Festival 2013 and the ever excellent Camp and Furnace has been transformed into a forest of multi-disciplinary fun. There's music, art, vintage craft, costumed persons, pegs with supportive messages on and much much more besides. It could be said that Threshold Festival needs a superhero mentality to be able to get around everything on offer and in some cases some tough decisions. If you saw anybody rushing about in a happy-go-lucky panic with an iPad or notebook furiously writing or shooting it was probably one of the blog team. 


An oft-quoted line is that Threshold is like a funfair. And if you didn't believe that before then today was the proof. From the offset it was, as one of the doodles in the Draw The Line scribble fest in furnace  had it, excellent and buzzing. There was a dazzling (and physically impossible to see all of) array of art, inspiration, creativity and music. Yes, the music! My route for today had been planned in advance butin the end I followed my ears, heart and inner tastemaker and found pure gold.

Yesterday evenings array of entertainment was excellent but this first full day of festivities was mindblowing. It was a real tough decision on what bands to see, where to go and above all when to stop. Hunger would call. Thirst would call. Then the music would call, imaginary notes floating around invitingly. Perhaps Kate Bush had it right when she wrote Eat The Music?!
A packed day of gigs included the always entertaining Gastric Band, with a poster warning of nudity during the perfromance and a notably large crowd in attendance. of course, the music was excellent, challenging and often hilarious despite the topics on offer. The dancers accompanying them were a surreal yet dystopic accompaniment to the music and worked surprisingly well. 

Over at Elevator, Laura and Claire, a folk duo with strawberry hued hair and equally drama hued music impressed, reminding me of an up and coming Smoke Fairies. Other treats, some seen fleetingly others savoured longer, included the always excellent Science of the Lamps at the chilled out The Picket. Mashemon also impressed at The Roost with their multi-media performance. Even though when I'd bumped into the band earlier in the day they jokingly suggested I give them a bad review for change I just can't. The band improve their particular genre constantly and the extra muscle now added to the band has paid off immensely. 
Of course,  there was much to take in and one of biggest spectacles was the Stankh takeover in Camp, with much to be enjoyed incuding the return of the Mr Wolf Collective's magnificent elephant during Fire Beneath The Sea's excellent set. And as for We The Undersigned, they still have that voodoo working it's wonderful magic over the crowds. Ordinarily that alone would have been the perfect end to the festival but with one more day of surprises to go it can only get better! 

Of course I also caught the excellent art installations in the upper floor's Art Attic as well, with most notably Robyn Woolston's latest creation for the festival of which we'll talk more in the next entry. Some other visual arts highlights were Shoot Gallery's installations X and Y Axis, the chance to Make Your mark in the adjacent gallery space with paint and lots of dance and Pamela Sullivan's forest of trees on the corridor to The Blade Factory, which also held a nice set from Graham Massey's latest project on offer for those lucky enough to squeeze into the packed gallery space. 

Could it get any better? In the microcosmic world of Threshold Festival time is transformed into something that seems to stand still, the need to know anything else other than your favorite band's set time negligable. If escapism occured on Friday then the transformation is now almost complete as we reach the final day. Bring it on!

Words by Sebastian Gahan. Photography by Sebastian Gahan and Michael Kirkham. 

Threshold Festival Past...