Airwaves: Day Three

Last night was not a good night for seeing all the bands I wanted to see. Luckily though, that ended up being a good thing – the unplanned often turns out that way, don't you find?

I saw Islands, Call to Mind, Coral, Wolf Parade, Shadow Parade and Trost.

Every band I saw last night became my new Airwaves favourite – and remained so until the next act started. It was THAT good! Islands were my first favourite – loud, energetic and unusual. The unusualness comes from their cunning use of two violinists, whose string-breaking enthusiasm stole the show. My friend missed all but their last song and still rated them as his new Airwaves favourites.

Next was the British band, Call to Mind – oft lauded as being a harder sounding amalgam of Coldplay and early Radiohead. But in my opinion they were more to be described as 50% Oasis and 50% Sigur Rós. An odd mix perhaps, but it worked. Heartfelt vocals backed up with honest guitar and just the right amount of drums. But with hindsight, they are not my favourite of Friday night.

As a result of Jeff Who? playing to a presumably capacity crowd, Coral played Grand Rokk to significantly less than a hundred people – and this is a shame, because they are magnificent. No other word for it. Like Franz Ferdinand on acid, their lead singer intimidates with his weird looks and impressive stage presence, but by the end of the show he is your best friend. To be honest, I can't remember anything specific about their music, other than I liked it a lot. But the music is only part of the show with Coral: the show itself is just as important.

Next was Wolf Parade: a full room of expectant fans and not a disappointment. I couldn't see the band at all, due to so many of their fans being incredibly tall for some reason, but the music still got me jumping. They sound significantly less like their Canadian counterparts, Hot Hot Heat than I had been led to believe: much heavier and less cute. Four stars…maybe three-and-a-half.

I only caught the end of Shadow Parade, who I'm sure were very good, but who were a tad overshadowed in my mind. I don't wish to be unfair to them, so I'll leave it there. From what I saw, I would go to see them again though.

Finally, you need to meet Trost. This band of German misfits makes use of xylophone, trombone, a ship's bell and a captivating bundle of energy – otherwise known as the lead singer. Wine bottle in hand and wearing dangerous stilettos, she loves audience interaction and likes to use their tables for standing on. The songs are in German, French and English and are either proper rock or quirky real-life stories told with passion and heartfelt emotion. Even if you don't like their music, you'll love their sense of theatre. My life will be better if I get the chance to go and see Trost again.

Tonight's highlights include the Kaiser Chiefs, Leaves, The Cribs, Daniel Ágúst, Worm is Green, Stórsveit Nix Noltes, Brazilian Girls, Hsirdoctor and Foreign Monkeys.

Enjoy!

Alex Elliott