Live: Dot To Dot Festival 2014

Gallery 47 at Dot To Dot Festival 2014 - Photo by Thom Stone

Spread across a variety of venues and with a wide range of talent it was pretty hard choosing who to go see, but the first act had to be Nottingham's very own Gallery 47. The 21 year old has been making quite the name for himself, bagging many spots at various festivals around the UK this summer, and even being announced as the warm up act for Paul Weller's German leg of his European tour. In true Weller style Gallery 47 wore his mac and donned a slightly similar Weller-esq hairstyle. His perfect and smooth voice didn't miss a note, it's obvious how focused and determined he is. His on-stage presence is endearing in a quintessentially British, charming kind of way.

Southern at Dot To Dot Festival 2014 - Photo by Thom Stone

Sticking with Rescue Rooms to discover who was on next was a good shout. Brother and sister Belfast duo Southern have a rock 'n' roll bluesy vibe and the siblings have such effortless stage presence; their musical connection was undoubtedly obvious with Thom's rough voice combining with Lucy's s pitch perfect harmonies.

Georgie Rose at Dot To Dot Festival 2014 - Photo by Thom Stone

Being completely partial as she is from Nottingham, but the highlight of the day was definitely the exceptionally talented Georgie Rose. A firm favourite in the local music scene, this young soul (she's only 19 can you believe it) performed with her new band to an audience of eager, excited fans. Her raw and unique voice sounds more mature than her age implies; it's warming and soothing and we drank it in like a warm cup of hot chocolate, loving every minute.

Wolf Alice at Dot To Dot Festival 2014 - Photo by Thom Stone

Acoustic Rooms were hosting an array of gifted musicians in the Rescue Rooms Bar and this being the year that more Notts talent featured at the festival than ever before it seemed fitting to go and watch another local act, this time in the form of Molly & Jack. As soon as they started to perform and work their magic the audience fell in love with them. They have a real uniqueness, something that's quite hard to muster in the acoustic folk scene. With beautifully devised harmonies and lyrics about old friends and lack of sleep, combined with their obvious deep connection, makes them stand out in this sea of guitars and floppy hairstyles.

Pizza Underground at Dot To Dot Festival 2014 - Photo by Thom Stone

Another firm favourite were the effortless and uber cool Wolf Alice. Rock City was absolutely packed out by this point and as soon as they rocked-up on stage you could sense that this was going to be a great performance. Ellie Roswell’s ethereal voice echoed perfectly around the room as the band blasted out crowd pleaser's like Blush and Bros.

Drenge at Dot To Dot Festival 2014 - Photo by Thom Stone

The evening festivities kicked off with a boom, or rather a boo coming from those who went to watch Pizza Underground - Home Alone fans everywhere were probably filled with disappointment. There was no need to dwell on negativity as Derbyshire's Drenge came to save the day. As their name suggests, they aren't easy on the ears, in fact they are the complete opposite: Hard, heavy and filthy guitars; a polar opposite to the acoustic vibes from earlier in the day, but in a good way.

Saint Raymond at Dot To Dot Festival 2014 - Photo by Thom Stone

It would be really rude to have not gone to see Saint Raymond, ANOTHER Nottingham guy on the road to big things, and he knows how to write feel good anthems. The packed out Notingham Trent Student Union crowd lapped-up his set, especially Thread and Everything She Wants. He loved his audience and his audience loved him. He deserved every moment of the fans screaming back his songs to him. No doubt good old Saint Ray will be following in Mr Buggs footsteps in to the charts soon.

Peace at Dot To Dot Festival 2014 - Photo by Thom Stone

Peace absolutely knocked it out of the park for the final Rock City performance. Every song sounded anthemic. By now everyone was tipsy, dancing around their friends and every random-er in the depths of Rock City having a brilliant, messy, drunken time, exactly the way festivals should be.

Dot To Dot was a massive success, the fun continued on into a blurry mess of silent discos and DJ set's and stumbling around different venues. Nottingham bands and musicians should be proud this year, not only did we have a huge variety of acts in the line-up, but their performances were superior, not that I'm biased or anything...

Dot To Dot Festival took place in various venues in Nottingham on Sunday 25 May 2014.

Dot To Dot Festival website