Dot to Dot (Nottingham) peaks with Gentleman's Dub Club

Dot to Dot festival remains somewhat of a gem on the festival scene, usually overshadowed by Download, Leeds/Reading and the like, and it's a shame. At the very least it's an incredibly interesting and well-run event and at most an exciting journey through many of the best of Nottingham’s venues.

Unfortunately this doesn't always auger the best acts. My review for this festival last year reflected disappointment in the line-up and I'm afraid those opinions have to be echoed here. Dot to Dot is still unbelievably strong in the atmosphere category, and like the previous year it's rare I see an event like this run so damn smoothly.

For example, the first venue I entered was the main hall of Rock City. Here Morning Parade seemed to be warming things up nicely as the modest capacity hall held an impressive cross-section of early fest stragglers waiting for things to kick off for real. Sure, things felt mellow and I caught no air of hostility but Morning Parade (although somewhat bland) did seem to be regarded as more of a background piece. This is unfortunate considering that their tones and sense of dynamics evoking early Muse and Radiohead where well honed, and deserved maybe a little more attention paid to them. This is especially considering one or two of the performances I was to see later on the bill.

Next it was a small trek just down the stairs to the basement of Rock City, a cool little pocket of a venue I didn't even notice at last year's outing, for what appeared to be an aspiring high school band in New Education. Now here is the inherent problem with Dot to Dot. Inviting fresh and new talent to festivals is a truly excellent thing to do, but the doors seem to be open to anyone. Recently I've heard several bands equally as boring as New Education, who simply strummed their way through lazily structured songs and charmless cliché, and I'm starting to wonder if our standards have dropped.

This was accentuated further upon entering the Rescue Rooms just round the corner. This venue didn't strike me quite as much as others did but I guess after all it's just another hall for more bands, but one wonders why they bother when they're putting on bands like The Cheek. Oh, they're charismatic all right but quite what they’re trying to achieve eludes me. You may say they're simply trying to write music, fine, but although they strut round the stage it does seem rather synthetic and their music is definitely devoid of interest. Dot to Dot's set-up really is a powerful one, and it could become one of my more treasured festivals if they could just refrain from these banalities. When good talent plays this festival it really is one of the better atmospheres to be had.

Therefore, I took the five-minute walk down to Nottingham Trent's main room to catch Liars, who by now have definitely proved their stopping power. People here were now more pumped and in tune as Liars thrust through a cerebral and minimal rhythmic rock show, occasionally foraying into their trademark misty magic land voices and noise loops. This was more like it, but I still wasn't satisfied yet returning to Rock City's Main Room to catch Ellie Goulding, as required. Personally, she isn't my cup of tea, blending into a sea of female electro-acoustic pop nonsense that seems to be written by one shadowy person, but after all I'm a miserable bastard. I would still grant her a successful choice for the line-up this year considering her burgeoning career and the bulging crowd now mobbing Rock City with incessant cries of "Ellie! Ellie! Ellie!" Sure, I've admitted my particular distaste for her but she performs a good show and her evidently many fans dance and shout in appreciation.

Thinking about wrapping the evening up I enter Stealth for the first time to catch Gentleman's Dub Club, simply because their band name appealed to every fibre of my personality. Clad smartly this fantastic group walked onto the stage in a venue with about five people on the dance floor, everyone else adorning the bar. Within two minutes of blowing their trumpets and a breathtaking blend of old school dub influences, more contemporary dub-step tinges and live grooving percussion the dance floor filled to the maximum with smiling, contorting people. I quickly realised this would be the peak, and a perfect representation of how great this festival could be. It's interesting how last year it was also in Stealth were the electric Shapeshifter would break the monotony. Is it just something about Stealth? Or should Dot to Dot simply try and filter out some of this indie craze rubbish and get things more interesting like I keep seeing in Stealth.

Deciding to end up with Trent Main Room headliners, Los Campesinos!, things again took a little turn for the worst. This band were trying ever so hard to be interesting, but it just wasn’t working, people were just more interested in popping the balloons released into the crowd. Some frontline crowd members were more loyal to the playing band but I think the general concensus (at least as far as I was concerned) was that they just didn't quite live up to other bands who have tried to ride on that violin gimmick, anyone remember Hope of the States?

So, Dot to dot is still remarkably organised and implemented, and is always a joy to attend, but I repeat my reservations in my review for last year. It's simply not got the bands to keep my attention at least, whether this is a problem with the festival or the popular music scene itself we'll need to wait to see. But until then, at least keep your eyes on this festival, it still has many things to offer.

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