Hubs 3-day Festival, day 1. Groundation, Nubiyan Dub plus K.O.G., Solko. Open, Norwich 6 November 2014. Photos by Richard Shashamane (c) all rights reserved.
Hubs this year kicked off the festival in mighty fine style pulling off the amazing coup of bringing Groundation to Norwich, one of only 3 UK dates the band are playing on this tour. The evening kicked off with Solko themselves (being a seven piece they were probably the smallest of the bands in number tonight! Groundation were due to play a two hour set so Solko kept theirs to a punchy 30 minutes. They were followed by Nubiyan Dub, an offshoot of Nubiyan Twist, stepping in at the eleventh hour for The Drop who, er, had to drop out due to unavoidable circumstances. Illness I believe.
Solko
(c) shashamane
Solko
(c) shashamane
I really enjoyed Nubiyan Dub, a very heavy live dub act, with an instrumental dub opening before their singer made his way through the crowd to the front of the stage and climbed up, took his hat and coat off before launching himself at the mic. Very cool.
Nubiyan Dub
(c) shashamane
It’s not possible to overstate just what a feat it was for Ash and the Hubs crew to get California#s rootsy Groundation here. I first became aware of them some ten or so years ago when I chanced up their first two albums, Young Tree, and Each One Teach One, and never imagined I would see them play in Norwich, let along in the atmospheric club room at Open. The sound was massive and the room as packed as I’ve ever seen it. The sound for all acts tonight was sensational, as it always seems to be in this cracking room, with an atmosphere to match.
(c) shashamane
Groundation
(c) shashamane
Groundation
(c) shashamane
Another gig to catch up on was the brilliant Grazing Saints, with their dirty, grungey, angsty sound at The Blueberry, a venue that has been brilliantly run by the wonderful Sarah and her team for the past year or so, breathing new life into the venue … but sadly for not much longer. She’ll be sorely missed, and it remains to be seen if music will still feature in the same, splendid way as it has under her tenure.
Grazing Saints
(c) shashamane
Grazing Saints
(c) shashamane
Many thanks to Hubs and OPEN
Words and photos, richard shashamane 2014 all rights reserved. Photos not to be used without permission.
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Norwich: Music City, UK 