Review: Under Canvas

Painted canvases, food stalls outside, colourful lighting, free popcorn, a couple of free cocktails, powder paint fights and the romantic setting of St Mary’s Quad created an incredible, unusual and eclectic setting for Under Canvas’ first event – and based on its success, certainly not the last.

Following Theo Weiss’ rhythmic dubstep set – a nice change from the usual sounds of St Andrews – Stokes, William changed it up again. The group included a diverse range of instruments from accordion to viola, which added a lovely diversity of sound to what was going to be a night of predominantly house music. Despite the odd technical difficulty with the lead singer’s guitar, the band managed to get the crowd going, and genuinely seemed to really enjoy playing at the event, something that came across onstage and helped buoy the crowd.

People really ran with the ‘festival dress code’; there were prints, sunglasses, face paints, feathers etc. And really, it was so refreshing to see people really able to go for the dance floor, rather than loitering and tottering in heels and suits. It would have been even better with louder sound (but that seems to be a regular issue at St A events – or perhaps my ears are going,) and darker lighting. No one likes to feel the glare of lights whilst going wild with the grooves.

And when I say, grooves, I seriously mean it. After swaying and bopping along to folk, Moodroom took the stage: lights down, sound up and oooh, they were good. It was an incredibly cohesive set, though not too repetitive. They carried you along with subtly shifting sounds. In fact, quite a few people (myself included) have expressed the opinion that our guys were best act of the night – but hey, that’s all subjective. And anyway, it says more about the moodjs, because Eliphino and Fort Romeau were by no means underwhelming.

Eliphino, who I’d say was the better of the two, played a surprising (slightly schizophrenic – but it kept you on your toes) set, which included some poppy hits, house classics and his signature tune, More Than Me. Though people started heading for bed at 1ish (the fault of people, not the event), the final act, Fort Romeau, really kept those who remained lovin’ life with progressive minimal sounds on a straight vinyl set. He clearly knew what he was doing. 

What an incredible first event, Under Canvas. I can only imagine how much work has gone into it – and for such a worthy cause: the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. We’re looking forward to next year!

Photography: Alex Williams