Live Review :: The Fringe At Tramlines :: Various venues, Sheffield - Jul 19 - 21 2019

Live 

The Fringe At Tramlines 

Various venues, Sheffield 

July 19 - 21 2019

Words: Leah Raymond 

Pictures: As credits 

Back for its second year as the side partner to the main Sheffield Tramlines festival, The Fringe at Tramlines returned to the city centre to bring a host of local and further afield music - all for free.

In between catching the main festival, Little Indie also hopped in and out to catch some of what was going down on The Fringe stages, and these were a few of our highlights.


THE BROOKES brought their 'Spaceship Rodeo' to Record Junkee on Friday evening. With last single ‘Constellations of You’, the Grimsby band showcased a less frenetic approach to their previous fast-paced punk-rock, and here they put a set together that showed off their new adaptation.

The Brookes 

Credit: Paul Cartwright 

Over at DINA, "angry, feminine, queer, nerdy rock band" MOLLYANNA dropped a bucketload of raw grittiness into their well-received set.

MollyAnna

Credit: Paul Cartwright

Who needs the Spice Girls when you have Leeds' five-piece all girl rock band VENUS, who followed MollyAnna on the DINA stage; living up to their name bringing love to the room and plenty of girrl power.

Venus

Credit: Paul Cartwright

One of the loudest bands of the weekend were FEMUR who played a midnight show on Friday at Cafe Totem - kicking the balls through the witching hour into Saturday.

FEMUR

Credit: Paul Cartwright

Grimsby's MINT were, just, well, mint, on the Crystal stage early in Saturday aftetnoon. Fronted by Zak Rashid, their self-described “music to make you kiss strangers”, may not have induced the crowd to that level, but their powerful, dominating set had balls a-plenty.

MINT

Credit: Martin Clark

Meanwhile, at Cafe Totem around the same time, SAPHO hit the decks. Fronted by Liam Abbott, the St Helens alt-rock trio (still in their late teens) have been gradually building on local North West support, and

SAPHO

Credit: Martin Clark

Londoner NADIA SHEIKH's low-key vocal is misleading, as the singer can rock with the best of them - which  she did in her teatime slot a Frog & Parrot, treating the audience to her rocky-pop-folk genre style.  

Nadia Sheikh

Credit: Paul Cartwright 

With their late appearance announced only two days before, those who found their way to Pontefract's GLASS CAVES at 7pm on Saturday at Walkabout, were in for a treat. Before heading out on their own headline tour in November, they brought their melodic pop-rock to a delighted room.

Glass Caves

Credit: Paul Cartwright

Leeds-based electro-infused pop-rockers THE DUNWELLS have been around for almost a decade now, and although thet haven't pit anything out since 2916's 'Light Up the Sky' album, they still retain healthy fanbase. Those who piled into Crystal for their late set heard some of their best numbers, from 'Animal', 'Show Me Emotion' to 'I Could Be A King' and 'Follow The Road'.

The Dunwells

Credit: Paul Cartwright 

SHEAFS took late Saturday evening at the Forum with a mosh pit, a crowd-surfing vocalist, and generally living up to their live reputation, and getting the kind of crowd response a Sheffield band would expect in their hometown.

Sheafs

Credit: Paul Cartwright 

RASCALTON are another band who can blow the doors off any venue, and although the Old House just about stood up to the punk 'n' roll Glaswegians' onslaught, the crowd barely did! A raucous set, punctuated with singing, moshing, dancing,

Rascalton

Credit: Chris Merrick

Being much talked about, THE MYSTERINES proved themselves to be as ace as the hype through their Sunday night set at Bungalows & Bears. The high energy Merseyside threesome, Lia, Chrissy and George, delivered a fierce flow of their repertoire, including this year's 'Gasoline' and 'Bet Your Pretty Face'.

The Mysterines

Credit: Paul Cartwright