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Summer of Music

It’s been a busy summer of music, with big events such as Latitude, Ipswich Music Day and Global Rhythm showing that there is a desire from people to see live music. It brings people together like nothing else.

There’s always a renewed hope that some of the 40,000 people who attend Ipswich Music Day, but don’t often make their way into the town’s small pubs, will be inspired to later make a night of going to see a local band at The Swan, the Smokehouse, or wherever.

Oranje (the artists formerly known as Orange) are one of the bands who turned heads at Music Day. In Dez Jones they’ve got a frontwoman who looks so comfortable on stage I wouldn’t be surprised to learn she grew up on the road with her parents, who in this version of events were in a globally-popular grunge band. Stranger Things, which we’ve played a couple of times on the radio show, sounded anthemic live.

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Oranje also stood out for doing their own thing. While I understand the role cover bands play in events like Music Day, I started to wonder if they were dominating the day. Most of the bands we’ve championed over the past year, with the exception of Hot Tramp, Tilly Moses and a couple of others, were sadly nowhere to be seen on the bill.

Hopefully it’s a temporary blip, and perhaps attending this year will inspire more of the acts we love to apply for next year’s event. There aren’t too many opportunities for emerging acts to play in front of thousands of people.

A week later and it was Global Rhythm, also at Christchurch Park. The Peppery stage had act after act of outstanding musical talent, while the Global Village at the top of the park was a vibrant hub of DJs, print makers, poets and musicians.

It was another chance to see Impilo play live, and they remain a joy. The band provide the perfect backing for Bhebhe’s vocals, and together they were the ideal soundtrack for a summer afternoon. As the nights draw in they’ll soon be back in the small and intimate surroundings of Ipswich’s nightspots – go seek them out.

 

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