EOTD in review: Sunday night shenanigans

On Sunday, Younger Hall played host to the final acts of this year Eye o’ the Dug festival. With a program replete with some of the best alternative-folk acts Scotland has to offer the event promised to be one of the biggest days of live music St Andrews had ever seen. So naturally the Stand dispatched a crack(pot) team of press-packers to cover the festivities.

The way the organisers tolerated the eccentricities of The Stand’s reviewers spoke volumes about the relaxed vibe of the evening and festival as a whole.

We wandered, mooched, flounced and danced around Younger hall flashing our silver wristbands whenever we were found to be doing anything which would normally be deemed inappropriate.

Having personally spurned all my money on Puddledub Pork, I embarked on a campaign of barter with Fisher & Donaldson and the Union bar with nothing to my name but a couple of painted matchsticks which had served as currency at the Dewars stand before it ran dry. I ended up with an apple tart and a rum and coke.

I imagine that, had I tried the same trick in Fat Sam’s in Dundee, I would have have lost not only what little remained of my dignity but also at least a couple of teeth.

Sunday’s line-up featured a long list of local artists from the Fence Collective and beyond including the Pictish Trail, Diagrams and Kid Canaveral.

We were also treated to new material from KT Tunstall, and an acoustic set from the arch-miserablist of Scottish music, Malcolm Middleton, whose most popular single on Itunes is titled ‘We’re all going to die.’

I managed to snatch a few lines from a few of the performers and audience members.

Patrick O’Hare, Association President, had no comment for The Stand other than: “Really Adam, they’ve got you covering the event?” Thanks Patrick.

Fortunately I was able to garner some more substantive feedback elsewhere.

“I think the baby wearing a giant pair of headphones over there sums the whole thing up” said Lucy Keen, “It’s a super chilled-out, family-friendly event. The crowd are absorbed by it all. it felt like the performers actually wanted to be here, instead of being paid loads of money to do some mainstream festival. It almost doesn’t feel like Younger Hall.”

Chloe Hill said she felt “cleansed” being at an event which didn’t only involve students.

Jos Kirkman remarked that she “really enjoyed how bouncy the floor was”.

The Stand also caught a few minutes with Diagrams. They distributed balloons between their complex, catchy tunes for the audience blow up and a balloon rave ensued. They told us “Eye O’ The Dug is such a cool little festival. I hope it happens next year. Even though we had some technical diffculties at the beginning of our set, we’ve never had such a lovely, patient audience!”

The festival came to a close and a culmination with King Creosote and Jon Hopkins. The pair played straight through their Mercury-nominated album Diamond Mine before calling KT back on stage for a cover of ‘The only living boy in New York’.

My own favourite song was Bats in the Attic. As the music played I turned to look at the crowd and saw the lights in a hundred eyes gleaming and gazing transfixed at this one weathered old Fifer, but full humility and with a voice that just transformed the place.

As Jon Hopkins gentle, understated piano-backing melted away, Kenny Anderson’s voice was left alone to soar with a power which needs no forcefulness. Like the best of all prose and music, like Alan Paton or Florence & the Machine, and we were lucky to be there for those few short minutes in which Younger Hall became a Holy Land.

Overall Sunday seemed a very nostalgic experience for a lot of the performers. James Yorkston ended his set by sharing a story about the time he set off fireworks on the 18th hole of the Old Course (somewhat inebriated.) KT Tunstall spoke of the sense of community which radiated from almost all of Sunday’s acts, she said.“It’s brought a lot of people back together who’ve known each other for a really long time. It’s a very special evening.”

And it was nostalgic for me too. Having grown up in a Fife coastal village myself I feel a very strong sense of attachment to the local area and for the music of King Creosote in particular. He doesn’t sing about much, but he sings about the world I know. He sings about my home. And it was an absolute treat for me to chat with him after the show.

Once again I doff my hat to everyone who contributed to the Eye O’ the Dug this year. And to everyone else who was there, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Photos: © Ben Kenny for The Stand