Very cool photo! By Sarah Stevens

Doves go stratospheric on day one of Green Man

With a beautiful venue, a stellar line up, a great variety of real ales and the best festival food you could ever desire (with a special mention to the rotisserie chicken!) what else could you want to make the perfect summer festival? Oh, did I mention that this heavenly sounding weekend takes place in the land of my fathers, Wales? On the way to the rolling hills of the Brecon Beacons the rain starts, right on cue, halfway across the Second Severn Crossing. After a respite from the rain in 2009 it was clear that 2010 was going to be business as usual.

Taking on the moniker of “Band most likely to do an Elbow” are Doves which is strange as they have had two number one albums but is most likely because they are ‘northerners’ and perhaps more ‘mature’. They have promised to go stratospheric for some time now but have never quite managed to make that crossover but with more performances like their headlining set on the Main Stage could see that happen sooner rather than later. Closer ‘There Goes The Fear’ leaves everyone humming the riff on the way back to their tents or to continue the evening at one of the smaller stages.

To read full efestivals review, click here.

A festival with real ales? Sounds like heaven.

Picture by gigwise.com

A few pics of Doves appearance at V Festival Weston Park. Sadly from reviews at Doves board it sounds as if Jimi wasn’t sounding himself first night.

According to the NME, Jimi also didn’t have the best of times at the second set in Chelmsford thanks to some twats..

Doves played their “last festival for quite sometime” on the final day of the 2010 V Festival (August 22) – though it was marred after a section of the audience who appeared to upset the band.

Performing on the 4Music Stage, the group played a career-spanning set, though midway Jimi Goodwin was antagonized by something in the crowd apparently directed at him.

“Real classy shit, yeah?” he angrily asked part of the audience, though it was unclear what had upset him. “You think you’re shitting me? I’m going to have to come out there and kick the shit out of you, and I mean it, yeah!”

The sour note came in an otherwise upbeat set from the Manchester three-piece, who bantered with the crowd throughout the slot, often asking “Essex how ya doing?” in a comedy southern accent.

To read the full NME report, click here.

Setlist from Chelmsford:

Snowden
Push Me On
Pounding
Winter Hill
Jetstream
Kingdom Of Rust
Black & White Town
Caught By The River
There Goes The Fear
Spaceface

Fans posting on Doves facebook wall confirmed that it was a bunch of idiots throwing bottles at the stage, some of which had hit fans in the front rows! What a disgrace. Sadly its not the first time this has happened at V. Hopefully those of you affected were able to enjoy Doves one last time. Only a couple more gigs left (assuming nothing else is added..) then that’s it for a wee while for Doves.

With that, I expect the blog will take some time out too. Will take a wee rest, then spring back to life when one of the talked about side projects surfaces.

Can’t say I’m surprised tickets aren’t going so fast for this one. I think the organisers set the price abit too high. Especially seeing as there is a free gig up the road in the Hartlepool on Monday. That said, it is a great setting for a gig. If you do fancy going, use THIS link for a 2 for the price of 1 ticket offer.

You may recall a wee while back the good folks at Caught By The River made available a remix of Birds Flew Backwards by Chris Watson.

To coincide with Doves appearance at the Green Man festival, the track is being featured on a very limited edition bonus Rough Trade 10″ with initial copies of Rough Trade Shops Psych Folk 10. At the time of writing, only 73 copies are available at the Rough Trade online store.

For more info, visit Rough Trade.

Delighted to announce the   charity that will benefit from the Echoes In The Alleyway A Tribute to Doves project.

When the idea was first discussed after a Doves gig in April, I wasn’t sure about it to be honest. My first question (of many!) was what would be the point?

Today the Teenage Cancer Trust confirmed their involvement with the project.   Whilst all downloads will be free, we (everybody involved with putting this together) will be ask that you consider making a donation to the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Donations are voluntary. You will be able to donate using our page at the TCT website, where we will be able to track how much is raised. Our fundraising target is a rather modest £500. But of course if we can make more that would be fantastic.   More news soon!