THE GREAT ESCAPE: Day Two [The Great Escape Uncut]

THE GREAT ESCAPE: Day Two

Posted on May 19, 2008 6:53 PM
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Review by Zarina Raja

A day of interviews saw in a relaxed second night of The Great Escape. We spent the day running around after bands and going to ‘industry’ type conferences. God, we’re so damn music biz.

The first interview took place at the Spiegel tent with Tom Baxter and later, Born Ruffians. Hungry and tired, we then hot footed it down to the Pavilion Theatre to chat to The Young Knives.

Interview footage coming soon.

After all the interviews were done, squashed into The Water Margin - a venue with ridiculously low ceilings – we eagerly awaited for Australian band, Operator Please.

Half way through the set, I pointed out - to the delight of my little Aussie colleague - that so far, the best acts that we had seen were from Australia: Sarah Mcleod at the Brighton Coalition and Operator Please.

This, however, all changed by Saturday, but more on that later.

Being crammed in at the back of the Water Margin meant that we couldn’t see the band during the set. Although this decreased the atmosphere of the performance, it forced me to be focused on really listening to the music.

Operator Please are a young band - all jumpy-Punk-fun – but their vocals sounded like they were being sung by someone a lot older. Lead singer, Amandah, has a strong, determined voice that easily filled the venue, her charged screaming hit the walls and zigzagged back into the hungry crowd.

Fans screeched along to Operator Please classics such as Just a Song About Ping Pong and Get What You Want, all the while sloshing their beer and jumping up and down like over excited monkeys.

Operator Please put on a enthusiastic gig that heightened the end of an exhausting day.