Gig Review: Level Up Festival 2019 Day One 19/7/19

In just three years, Level Up Festival has become a staple in any self respecting fan of the UK DIY ska punk scene's calendar. The three day event, put together by Be Sharp Promotions, Fishlock Promotions and El Topo Bookings, showcases many of the best bands currently in the UK, some special reunions and friends from further afield. Of course, the festival was taking place at the home of ska punk in London – the New Cross Inn. As is tradition, Friday night was an evening gig to wet our appetite for the two full days of ska punk shenanigans ahead of us. And what a way to start the weekend with The JB Conspiracy, a reuniting ClayPigeon, Tree House Fire and BaldHead And The Dreads!

(Note: Colin's parts are in regular text and Emma's parts are in italic.)

First up were local heroes BaldHead And The Dreads. These five guys pretty much formed to play Level Up Festival and now here they were opening the whole weekend! Before the set, the band had promised some surprises. When they took to the stage it quickly became apparent what they meant. Wearing matching caps, ginger beards, band t-shirts and, of course, shorts in ode to the man they love, adore and perhaps worship – Mr ska punk himself, Paul Smith. Playing that most well known of musical genres PaulSmithCore, BaldHead were a lot of fun as always. This was my third time seeing them this year and they seem to get better and better every time. As is the way with a BaldHead's set there were plenty of songs about dogs and drugs as well as Mr Smith and the New Cross Inn and also a special cover of Daniel Bedingfield’s Gotta Get Through This. The band ensured that Level Up Festival began in the best possible way.

Tree House Fire returned to Level Up Festival for the third year, making them one of the few acts to appear at every festival to date. After appearing as a semi-acoustic act downstairs in Stocks Bar last year, the Welsh five-piece were back to get the, now rather busy, upstairs of New Cross Inn bopping along to their sunshiney reggae tunes and continuing the good times vibes where BaldHead And The Dreads left off. The band released a new EP titled Fool’s Gold last year and so their set understandably featured a handful of tracks from that as well as classics like Dutty Girl and Mr Aggressor. There was dancing a’plenty and just general feel-good vibes throughout, with Tree House Fire’s set flying by in seemingly no time at all. I don’t listen to the band all that much on recording but they’re always great fun to see live and this was no exception.

ClayPigeon's reunion set was one of the most anticipated of the entire weekend and I'm pretty sure that a big portion of the crowd were here especially for them. Other than a show supporting The Skints earlier in the year, this was their first show in years and the level of anticipation was high. As soon as they began their set you could see how happy the Level Up crowd were to see ClayPigeon back on the New Cross stage for one more night. Jak, Jon and Az still have that magic that made them such firm favourites back in the day. The crowd were singing every word right back at the stage as ClayPigeon rolled back the years. Trying to cram as many songs as possible into their forty minute set, they squeezed in all the classics such as Circles, This Ain't War, Mentality and Compass as well as a cover of Madness' Must Be Love alongside some teasers of Korn, Rage Against The Machine and Marilyn Manson. As the set went on, the crowd got increasingly rowdier with the pit really getting started and some crowd surfers too. There was, unfortunately, one chap down the front who was already way past being drunk and decided to drop a whole pint over Jak's guitar pedals. Luckily the DIY ska community was on hand to ensure it got cleared up very quickly so nothing was broken and we all continued having a lovely time. At the end of their set ClayPigeon looked so humbled by the reception that they had received and it was a absolute pleasure to see them back again even if it was only for one night (unless you happen to be at Boomtown this year). It was, however, a bit weird to see a ClayPigeon gig without Tyrannosaurus Alan – I think that was a first for me.

The JB Conspiracy don’t play shows all that often anymore. In fact, their appearance at Level Up 2019 was only their second gig of the year – the first being at the MPF pre-show, which we also went to so 100% attendance for us! The rarity of their live shows brings a high level of anticipation however and, of course, the band never disappoint with their combination of ska, reggae and punk. I thought ClayPigeon were going to be a tough act to follow but from JB’s very first notes they had the whole of the New Cross Inn dancing and singing along. Their time away from a live setting – and a seemingly ever changing line-up – certainly doesn’t hinder their live performance one bit. The setlist, which was a pretty lengthy one, included tracks such as 1989, Time To Leave and Drop Your Anchor among many others. We were also treated to a taste of what’s to come from the band’s eagerly anticipated and long time coming third album – which vocalist and guitarist Matt insists is coming later this year. It all sounds very, very good so we at CPRW cannot wait. The highlight of their set however had to be the neat cover that they threw in – dedicated to Mr Be Sharp himself, Paul Smith. Shed Some Skin by 90s Californian ska punk band Slow Gherkin is perhaps a bit of a niche cover but I know Paul – and Colin – very much appreciated it as I watched them run down to the front, skanking and singing along like crazy. Here we had The JB Conspiracy proving once again that they’re still one of the best bands in the DIY ska punk scene.

What a great start to our ska-fuelled weekend the Friday night had been! Not even the fact that we had to walk for 15 minutes in torrential rain to get to our AirBnB in Deptford could dampen our spirits (yeah, pun intended).

This gig review was written by Colin Clark and Emma Prew.
Rubbish photos also by Emma.