Live Review: Supersonic Festival 2024 – Day 2, Saturday | Digbeth, Birmingham | 31/08/2024

With an eccentric mix of artists kicking the weekend off, Supersonic’s Saturday delves deeper into darker experimental musical realms. Things are gonna get a bit heavy as we take you through day two of Supersonic Festival 2024.

After some of the Supersonic crowd partied late into the night, it seems rather fitting to shake off the rust with the all consuming hypnotic drones of main stage openers SMOTE. Sitting somewhere between the defiant post-rock of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, touches of post-metal lords Neurosis and Amenra with folk inspired melodic flute explorations. These are lengthy compositions, taking plenty of time to seed the psychedelic grooves and mesmeric droning, sprinkling in manipulated feedback and synth leads. The audience are hooked, nodding along to the lumbering riffs when they skirt close to stoner territory or lost in the grand atmosphere’s, eyes closed and swaying along. SMOTE sound unbelievable, the subs are pumping out chest rumbling bass, guitars and melodic instruments soaring over the top and the drums cutting through the mix like butter making for a hell of an introduction for day two.

As experimental Indonesian duo Senyawa get ready to take the main stage by storm, its already notably busier than day one, with a gleeful crowd packing out the main stage to witness one of the more unique acts and rare sets of the weekend. Its hard to pin down the bands sound; described as avant-folk and neotribal, but with an experimental perspective alongside influences of industrial, groove and doom metal, Senyawa are very much their own beast. Vocalist Rully Shabara is incredibly emotive when performing, using a range of vocal styles from throat singing to extreme metal inspired roars to almost ritualistic chanting. Wukir Suryadi uses a custom, self-built instruments from bamboo and traditional agricultural tools, at times bowing like string instrument, others using small mallets like a dulcimer to create percussive beats. The way its all mixed together with electronics to alter and loop the vocals and instrumentals is mesmerising, unlike anything else you’re likely to see in the alternative music world, leaving the audience stunned with pure adoration as their set comes to a close.

Photo Credit:
Taya Llewellyn

After such a wild experimental showcase, its nice to be grounded on familiar plains back in XOYO with local west midlands hardcore punk outfit Flesh Creep. Its a no-nonsense, straight shooting half hour set of unbridled hardcore fury. No time is wasted, the stage is almost a blur with the pent up energy of the band tearing through cuts off their hellacious debut album We Need You To Bleed. The sound starts off a little thin, but it doesn’t take long for Flesh Creep to sound absolutely monstrous. They’re joined by local guest vocalists for two of their tracks, Lexi Bushell of Transistrrr, who immediately jumps into the crowd to throw down and stir up more mayhem after their guest spot and Evie Thresher tearing through their part of the vicious “INSECT POLITICS” is exhilarating. They exude so much onstage charisma through their pummelling beatdowns that its easy to see why they’re gaining so much traction in the HXC scene.

Despite how busy the second stage just seemed, there is a packed out crowd back at the main stage to experience LA “ecstatic black metal” four-piece Agriculture’s debut UK show. Ecstatic is seemingly the right word, the band look overjoyed just to be on this stage in front of such a busy crowd as the melodic fury of “Living Is Easy” emanates from the PA. They sound unbelievable, everything sits in the right place and the band are locked in harmoniously. The soaring melodics of the lead guitars and more ambient post-rock inspired passages are breathtaking only to be punched square in the gut when black metal furore rears its head again. Playing a mix from their self-titled debut and the pair of excellent EP’s; the live experience of hearing “The Well” bursting straight into “Look, Pt 1” is almost indescribable in its emotional intensity. It’s cathartic, it’s ecstatic and it was worth waiting every single second for them to arrive on these shores. Agriculture are truly a live force to be reckoned with and should not be missed.

Photo Credit:
Taya Llewellyn

Back in XOYO, this slot was originally scheduled to have Atlanta punk upstarts Upchuck, who unfortunately had to cancel their appearance due to flight woes, The Shits were moved up the bill later in the day to take their place. The Leeds based sextet channel The Stooges sleazy proto-punk stomp with a defiant “fuck you” punk attitude as they showcase tracks from their new album You’re A Mess and debut Punishment. It’s a busy stage, three guitarists and a bassist layering some lush harmonies between face melting chord strikes and a drummer beating their kit like it still owes them money. Callum Howe makes for a wild front man, and at points it looks and sounds like he’s attempting to swallow the microphone whole, constantly with a drink in hand hell bent on antagonising the audience any way he can. Tins are flying, some of the audience reciprocate the sentiment and despite missing a touch of the noisy edge prevalent on their albums, they provided that sense of abject chaos as promised.

It’s a special set for tonight’s headliner Emma Ruth Rundle, performing (most of) her debut album Some Heavy Ocean as a solo performer. Opening with the somber “Living With The Black Dog” as soft lighting and quaint water related visuals play on the screen behind her, Rundle puts on a masterclass performance. Even though she’s just playing with a nylon string acoustic she sounds absolutely massive in the grand theatre space, the combination of effects and juxtaposition between abrasive distorted textures and the luscious warm twang of the clean guitar bolsters her moving vocal performance. The soft natural harmonics of “Your Card the Sun” threaten to overwhelm the stage with feedback for a moment before being reigned in and smoothly transitioning into “Run Forever”.

The set is a stirring reminder on just how compelling Some Heavy Ocean is as an album experience, just as poignant and moving as it was on release 10 years ago. Unfortunately though, as the set continues on The Institute slowly but surely starts to thin out, a large portion of the crowd seemingly hell bent on ensuring they get into XOYO to see The Body + Dis Fig’s set (scheduled to overlap with the end of Rundle and with a half mile walk between the venues). “Arms I Know So Well”, “Haunted Houses” and “Shadows Of My Name” flow seamlessly as if they were always meant to be played this way, hypnotising those wanting to be lost in the emotional journey. As Emma points out partway through the set, the album itself is only 37 minutes long, which leaves a little time in set for a few extras. We get treated to On Dark Horses classic and fan favourite “Darkhorse” before the final track from Some Heavy Ocean for the night, “Savage Saint”, swiftly followed by Marked For Death’s harrowing album closer “Real Big Sky” to send the crowd home in awe of Emma Ruth Rundle’s spellbinding headline set.

Photo Credit:
Taya Llewellyn

The room seems to be at capacity, the busiest crowd of the weekend are packed in to XOYO to see The Body and Dis Fig. With The Body not playing the UK since 2019, it’s not surprising they’ve pulled such a large turnout. The three piece keep things straightforward, no solo tracks from either respective artist, they stick to playing their collaborative album Orchards of a Futile Heaven from start to finish. As a live performance, the trio sound on impeccable form, replicating each track flawlessly with little noise laden interludes between tracks as they set up for the next. Dis Fig is absorbed in the experience, jumping down to climb the barrier when given an opportunity to unleash her powerful vocals in the faces of the front row. The LED screen is lit with haunting visuals of run down and abandoned places, graffiti of The Body and Dis Fig sprayed on decaying brick walls and desolate road scenes that look like they were ripped straight from the B-Roll of David Lynch classic Lost Highway. Similarly the room is filled with fog, the lighting is a oppressive onslaught of strobes and vivid colours. Their set is overwhelming, damn near claustrophobic both visually and audibly in the best way possible.

Photo Credit:
Taya Llewellyn

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