GIG: Resistanz Festival (Friday)

I got my Resistanz ticket last year, without knowing the full line up or indeed which day who would be on when...? Aesthetic Perfection pulled out of the festival at the start of January which left five bands I actually wanted to see (not counting Serephim System who were a maybe): Neuroticfish, Terrolokaust, Cyferdyne, Grendel and Ginger Snap5. Then Ginger Snap5 pulled out a few weeks ago but Neonsol were announced in their place.

As it turned out, Neuroticfish were scheduled for the Friday and all the others were lined up for Saturday, which meant there was no need for me to drive up to Sheffield again on the Sunday (hurrah, twice is quite enough). Plus I didn't mind driving up just for Neuroticfish, because they were probably the band I most wanted to see (although in recent weeks I have got a lot more into Grendel than I was before).

I was going to Resistanz on my own, but a couple of weeks ago Rose decided to come on the Saturday. Which was fair enough as it's a lot of money to buy a day ticket to see one band. So I arrived at the venue at about 1:45pm (Neuroticfish were due on at 2:25pm) and watched the second half of Iszoloscope's set.

I wasn't familiar with Iszoloscope, and initially it did sound a bit like being inside a washing machine. After about fifteen minutes it kind of started making sense, but by then the set was pretty much over and with no vocals it's hard to really 'get into' the tracks because it's all much of a muchness. Definitely more of a 'club' thing I think.

I waited for the set to finish, and then pounded onto the barrier (just like last year). This paid dividends as again I got to watch the whole Neuroticfish set from the front! As usual with electronic gigs, the between sets set-up consisted of laptops being set-up and cables being inserted, unplugged and reinserted. This was done by Neuroticfish's keyboard player and a roadie, while NF's singer Sascha watched on in his crumpled lumberjack shirt. 

With the right cables in the right holes, eventually the all clear was given to start and NF's intro song started to roll just as Sascha was walking offstage, he disappeared for a moment and then walked back on and everyone cheered his arrival even though he'd been standing on stage for the last fifteen minutes... 

Neuroticfish opened their set with the awesome 'Silence', following it up with 'Former Me' and 'Bomb' before returning to the new album for 'Behaviour'. I'm not to sure on the rest of the tracks, though 'Suffocating Right' was definitely played, as were 'Wake Me Up!' and Velocity. It was a good show, if not exactly a visually arresting performance. Like Assemblage23 this was more about hearing great songs being played, rather than watching a band 'perform'. Neuroticfish just aren't that kind of band.

During the gig I made friends with a girl called Tina. She was trying to take photo's of Neuroticfish over my shoulder, but her hands were shaking because of her medication. She was very friendly and it transpired that she was from London. She was also a Metal fan who also liked electronic music and we had a bit of a chat before I left to drive home.

I told her I would be back on Saturday with my wife and she said that her motorbike was called 'Hollywood Rose' (I think that's what she said anyway).