Last weekend I returned to the role of Stage Manager at Marrapalooza, an incredible grassroots multi-venue music festival run by David at Portions For Foxes. I was stationed at The Old Coal Yard where, in my personal opinion, the line-up of artists was best.
The Old Coal Yard is a great live music venue with a bar, space for darts, pool, and table football, and with a big stage and spacious dance floor made for the perfect backdrop for Marrapalooza! The day kicked off smoothly with fantastic local rock outfit Wild Spelks, man-with-guitar Withered Hand mesmerised with soft songs, Melanie Baker brought her story telling alt rock tracks in stripped back form with guitarist John Evans, after we picked up the pace and volume with Fast Blood, All Girls Arson Club, Soapbox, Knives, and headliner Native James!
A personal favourite, if I had to choose one, would be Soapbox, who I’ve seen support Snayx in Newcastle before, and they once again delivered on a blinding live set to which I am now undeniably addicted to. Hopefully the band will make their return to the north east soon, on a bigger stage without a doubt, as they are soon off to the Netherlands for sets at its biggest and best music festival; Lowlands, and Left Of The Dial this October.
A new favourite would be alt-rep artist Native James, who blew my expectations out of the water with an explosive set and tracks still ringing in my ears. A bit of hip-hop. grime, punk, metal, and garage, because he couldn’t possibly fit any more genres into his sound, a pleasure to watch and listen to! It was a joy working with such a great team of artists and professionals from across the country, and hopefully we’ll all be back together again for a next iteration of Marrapalooza!
LLIVELY Music 