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Middlesbrough Music Live 2009
Warm up Parties at The Princess Alice, Middlesbrough
We were delighted to have been asked to take part in this years Middlesbrough Music Live. Due to the popularity of the festival there is just not enough time or space to include everything on the one day. The solution for this year was to create a fringe festival spanning Thursday to Saturday in preparation for the main event on Sunday 7th June.
 Starting off on the Friday night we held two full days of live music at The Princess Alice, Newport Road, Middlesbrough. Every Friday we usually hold our Showcase night in the Alice but for this week we extended the line-up. Starting at 7.30 we had no less than 5 artists/bands playing in the Alice going through to midnight!
If that wasn't enough, we continued on the Saturday from 1pm with a further 11 bands playing us through to midnight!
As usual and keeping with the spirit of Middlesbrough Music Live entry to our events is was FREE! This years Music Live is set to be the biggest yet with many other warm up events taking place across the weekend and of course the day itself which has some fantastic acts including The Zutons who will be gracing the main stage at 8.45pm.
On the Friday night we kicked things off with a performance by Andy Granville of Fallen Phoenix, Andy often performs solo acoustic sets and although the band were scheduled to play tonight unfortunately due to unforseen circumstances they were unable to. As Always Andy stepped in and represented the band by starting off our warm up weekend.
Up next we had Carl Jackson - a firm favourite at the Alice and often described as Boro's Billy Bragg. Carl plays a range of his own material which is hard hitting and refreshing in the honesty of the lyrics. This was possibly the final time we will see Carl perform as a solo artist, his new band - The Young Hegelians are currently in rehearsals and set to play their first live gig at The Princess Alice on 4th September. Definately one we are looking forward to!
The final solo performance of the night was by local singer/songwriter carl Eaton. Carl is extremely well known in the area and has played a lot further afield. His range of songs kept the audience in the Alice captivated and proved once again he is one of the finest Teesside has to offer. His set included many old favourites as well as some new material and even a couple of covers which kept everyones feet tapping.
Next up we had The Koren Affair, a recently discovered band all the way from Knairsborough. The Koren Affair made their debut with us in our last Battle of the Bands and we were so impressed by them that we have invited them back several times since to play full sets at our Unsigned Nights. They are a refreshing young band with catchy tunes and a fantastic stage presence. Given time we feel we will be hearing a lot from The Koren Affair they have the potential to go a long way!
Headliners tonight were This Years Headlines. Again this band are fairly new to the Teesside scene but once more we recognise potential when we see it and they did not let us down tonight! All dressed in specially printed Music Live T Shirts, This Years Headlines took to the stage and played an excellent extended set. Female fronted by the gorgeous Hayley this band absolutely rocked the Alice and ended a fantastic first MML warm up night.
After a great start to a great weekend we returned to The Alice on Saturday to continue with the entertainment. Barbara Helen kicked us off with her haunting tunes and thought provoking songs, due to a slight change we cut her set short to enable our first band of the day Squarewave to take to the stage. Squarewave are possibly one of the most promisong new bands we have had the pleasure to host over the last few months and we were delighted when they agreed to play for us at the warm up event. After a class performance from Squarewave, Barbara returned to the stage to continue her set! Although we very rarely split a set in this way at least it meant the patrons of the Alice were treated to more of Barbara's beautiful songs and she ended her set to a thunderous applause.
It has to be said that we were unprepared for how busy we would be in the bar throughout this event. From early doors on Saturday The Princess Alice was packed out. Who says paople do not appreciate Live Music in Teesside?
The Chaps were the next ones up - we have heard these guys described as a modern version of The Smiths and each time they have played for us  they have put on a great show. Today was no exception, they were superb to say the least and we knew that if things were going to continue the way we started then we were in for a great day! We are due to see The Chaps again in September at The Alice, well worth a watch so come down and support them if you can - the date will be on our listings page.
Anonymous Farewell took to the stage after The Chaps. Another fairly new and female fronted band, Anonymous Farewell already have a huge following around the area and are becoming very popular. I think its because over the last few years most bands have been male dominated that it is so refreshing to see these ladies performing. Already we had seen three female fronted bands in the form of This Years Headlines, Squarewave and Anonymous Farewell play this weekend and we still had Femme Fatale to come on next. After a great set from Anonymous Farewell we were ready for The Femmes.
Femme Fatale can only be described as polished. They have been together a few years now and just get better and better. Winners of our Autumn 2008 Battle of the Bands they continue to give outstanding performances every time they play. Over the Summer months they are set to play The Linthorpe Festival, Party in the Carpark at The Gables and many other local gigs. Their sound is unique with front woman Emma belting the songs, Sim on Synth and backing vocals, Bren on Bass and Mart on drums they were recently described by The Crack Magazine as having Chutzpah!
Up after the Femmes we had The Digital, another young, new band who are already proving themselves locally. This band also set to play at The Linthorpe Festival have the potential to become a regular on the local circuit and are already planning their first recording session.
This ended the first session of our Warm up Saturday and we retired for a short while to take a much needed shower!  We returned at 6.00 to get the night session kicked off with LSD - Lithium Speed Dementia. Recently LSD have seen the departure of Louise on bass and replaced her with Sherilyn Anjelika. The new line up of LSD has not had much impact on the calibre of the band. Sherilyn played as though she had always been with them and Dan and Ste put on their usual entertaining, focused performance.
 Next up came The Shivers, this band are exciting in that they are constantly evolving and becoming tighter every time we see them play. They out on a great show to an even fuller Princess Alice and went down a storm! Due to play several high profile gigs over the coming months including The Keys and Uncle Alberts, The Shivers are more seasoned than a lot of the newer bands out there at the moment with several of them coming from now disbanded outfits.
 Only three more acts to go before we finished out marathon weekend and we had possibly the three finest bands in Teesside all set to play. The Purnells took to our stage next and played a full set of self penned tunes. The Purnells have to be described as one of the most unsung bands in Teesside. They played for us last year one Friday at Doctor Browns after we had moved our Unsigned Night down there due to the booked band not turning up. Its unusual for Doc Browns to put on an Original band on a Friday the regular crowd who came down to see a covers band absolutely loving The Purnells. Previously a bit scattered in that some of the band members lived out of the area they are now all in one place and looking to gig more regularly. Definately ones to go and see!
 The penultimate act tonight was Radio Dynamics. This band never fails to totally engage their audience and put on a superb performance. Tonight the guys were definately on form and played out a fantastic set with a few covers thrown in for good measure. Ending to shouts for more they played one last song before heading out to another warm up party across town - makes you wonder why they weren't on the main event! They are however playing at Stockton International Riverside Festival this year so make sure you catch them there! Radio Dynamics are most definately a tight unit - they seem to know exactly what each of them are going to do before they do it! Seamus is a fantastic front-man, totally captivating and half way through the set he hands over to Dan - Bass guitar to do a rendition of Mollys Chambers. Superb!
 Our headliners for the whole event were The Princes of Monte Carlo. Wed eliberatley chose The Princes of Monte Carlo to end the event as we know them to be the most professional and entertaining band currently out there gigging. They play a range of funky blues which never fails to get you up and dancing - yes even me! The Princes played us out to around midnight with a mixed set of original material and covers and went down a storm. If we had let them then the audience would have had us go on all night! Such was the performance The Princes put on they have been booked to play Saturdays next year at The Princess Alice so you will be able to see the guys for a full night then. Don't miss them - they are brilliant!
The whole two days were a fantastic success and we hope to be included in next years warm up events. Middlesbrough Music Live is all about promoting and supporting our local talent as well as the national acts the event attracts. The Fringe parties were the perfect way of giving more of our homegrown talent the chance to take part in the festival. Hats off to Ten Feet Tall for allowing this to happen and long may it continue.
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