Editors, Slowdive, Peter Hook & The Light, Nadine Shah: Day Three at Birmingham’s Beyond The Tracks Festival - with pictures

The crowd seemed lesser in number than the previous two days, but those who were on hand were ready to enjoy themselves.

Here we look at those who brought their A-game to the stage on day three.

Nadine Shah, Main Stage

Tyneside lass Nadine Shah performing live is what the word ‘sass’ was created for. She positively oozes attitude as she bops around laying her distinctively deep vocals over the top of her band’s playing.

She is a bright and engaging presence. Her between-song patter includes tales of her life – good and bad – and reveals her political influences. “I am a second generation immigrant,” she says, “and I am proud of it.”

But it is when she starts singing that the really engaging part begins.

Hits from her second record Fast Food from 2015 sound cracking. Fool, an angry attack on an ex she uses a word we can’t print to describe, is a sumptuous stumble through a bass-heavy world that sounds just as captivating live as on record.

She also impressed with Stealing Cars, a slick and slow-burning number that has a Karen O-like vocal.

The rockier sound of the tracks off her latest record Holiday Destination – released last month – sounded great, too.

Peter Hook & The Light, Main Stage

From one portion of sass to another, Peter Hook and his band took to the stage to steamroll through a selection of Joy Division’s biggest numbers to really get the crowd moving.

The set was, simply, phenomenal. From start to finish Hookey and his crew had us eating from the palm of their hands – smashing through renditions of Ceremony, She’s Lost Control, Transmission and Warsaw that were gritty and almost snarling.

There is something undeniably watchable about the founding member of both Joy Division and then New Order. His primal screams whenever an instrumental or solo was approaching geared the crowd up to bounce, and there was no shortage of merchandise for his former project in the watching throng.

Disorder, too, sounded fantastic with that swooping guitar between the verses, while Procession was the pick of the few New Order tracks they chose to cover.

This was, arguably, the set of the weekend.

Slowdive, Main Stage

Another band whose fans had been flashing their image around the festival site all day, Slowdive played a strangely haunting set in the early evening that may have differed in pace a lot from what else hit the main stage that day, but sounded just as emotive.

Their slowed, thoughtful synth sound mixes all manner of guitar pedals with the deceptively strong vocals of Rachel Goswell.

Some of their tracks evoke an almost floating feeling, the spaced out reverberations of Souvlaki Space Station being a prime example. It’s half song, half sci-fi blockbuster soundtrack.

When they mix in the male vocals of Neil Halstead too are when the emotions really run high. The heartbreak of Sugar For The Pill hides a vulnerable underbelly over deceptively cheery guitars.

They too created a stir in the watching masses and plenty were swaying in the disappearing sunshine.

Blackash, Second Stage

One of the many local bands who graced the second stage across the weekend, Blackash certainly stood out from the crowd.

Whether it was their post-apocalyptic dress sense or their deep and dark sound they proved one of the surprises of the festival when they had hundreds ignoring the rain above to rock out with them.

They mix beats with guitars to provide part metal explosion and part 90s racing video game soundtrack.

Black Witch was one track to really impress. The growling guitars throughout providing head nodding riffs that are punctuated by absolutely thumping percussion.

You couldn’t help but be with them as their elusive stage presence had you meandering from left to right along with their frontman without really realising you were doing so.

Their aura is very much one of psychedelia and mystery – they don’t deal in names – but it is one bandwagon that is very much worth jumping aboard.

Editors, Main Stage

As with Ocean Colour Scene last night, the volume of karaoke taking place during this set showed who the crowd had paid to see.

Tom Smith and the boys celebrated starting writing while living in this very city to deliver a thunderous set of their hits.

It was the perfect festival performance, playing to your crowd and giving them all the songs they want to hear rather than focus on newer material. It showed perfect festival management by the boys.

Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors was a magnificent sing-along with its crescendo finish, while An End Has A Start from the same record sounded positively ferocious.

A Ton Of Love also got a great reception and the electro vibes of Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool oozed more venom than normal.

The encore was a special affair, with Tom declaring: “We’re going to play you a few songs now we wrote maybe 15-to-20 years ago here in this very city.”

Open Your Arms, Bullets and a thumping Munich followed, before they closed with a raging, rock-fuelled rendition of Papillon whose new and screaming outro was one of the weekend’s best moments.

It was, overall, a brilliant debut weekend by the festival, which, with a few slight tweaks to layout – seating for those who need a break from the rocking is in pitifully short supply for example – and offerings will be a welcome addition to Birmingham’s calendar.

Thoroughly enjoyed by revellers, we all can’t wait to go Beyond The Tracks once again in 2018 in the early autumn glare.