Get Together, Sheffield’s now-annual independent day festival, has returned for its third instalment. With the sun shining and a stacked line up awaiting them, crowds filtered down to Kelham Island for a celebration of independent music in some of Sheffield’s premier DIY spaces.
After two successful years on the University of Sheffield campus, the Get Together organisers decided that now was the right time to return to their original plan and host 2023’s edition of the festival in the Kelham Island area of the city. The change of location brought with it a distinct demographic shift compared to last year’s festival, with student-types and Radio 6 dads alike descending on Sheffield’s trendiest neighbourhood to celebrate independent music and bask in the early summer sun. This year’s Get Together was held across a range of music venues populated densely in the heart of Kelham Island; the short walks between the venues meant that the fatigue that comes with trekking between venues on opposite sides of town, a common feature of other city-based festivals, was thankfully minimised.
This year’s line-up offered a wide range of live music to see throughout the day and first on the agenda was Sheffield-based hardcore punk outfit Drastic//Automatic at Neepsend Social Club. Neepsend Social Club doesn’t regularly host live music and unfortunately it shows; with a stage crammed somewhat awkwardly in the corner of the bar-cum-music venue, one of the many exciting bands coming out of Sheffield at the moment was able to produce a great set in trying circumstances. Drastic//Automatic’s live shows are loud at the best of times, but a last-minute replacement guitar produced after lead singer and guitarist Sean Hession discovered his wasn’t working about 30 seconds into the set really cranked up the decibels and tested the ear drums of everyone in the building. An intense set ended with blood all over the fretboard of the replacement guitar as the band facilitated the first mosh pits of the day (very rock’n’roll). Drastic//Automatic were able to overcome difficulties both technical and medical to produce a barnstorming set, ending on a particularly rowdy punk cover of Basement Jaxx’s Where’s Your Head At?
Next, over to the Antiques Emporium stage as Glaswegian seven-piece Joy Hotel brought their big sound to the small room at Yellow Arch. The band boasts four guitars (including a twelve-string), two keyboards, dual vocalists (one topless, one not), synths, and a triangle; they were able to entice those passing by with their 10-minute songs and upbeat energy, filling up Yellow Arch’s secondary stage. Despite everyone in the room struggling a bit in the heat (band included), Joy Hotel’s set was a highlight of the afternoon.
The Antiques Emporium Stage was located next to an antiques emporium (shock) selling clothes, books, furniture, and various other bits and bobs for seemingly no more than a fiver each. The antiques emporium at Yellow Arch was one of many independent vendors at the festival, with a Spinning Disc’s pop-up shop selling records and t-shirts just down the road at Grafters Bar, and a range of independent food vendors curated by Peddler’s Market, Sheffield’s monthly food festival. To be honest, you could have had a great day at this year’s Get Together festival without seeing any live music and spent the day shopping, eating, admiring the posters created by local artist Corbin Shaw, or enjoying the refreshments provided by a range of local breweries.
As the day went on venues started filling up and after catching the second half of THE GOA EXPRESS’ set from the back of a very full (and very warm) Purity Stage in the main room at Yellow Arch, we headed over to the main stage at Peddler Warehouse where it was one-in-one-out to see Irish singer-songwriter CMAT produce one of the best sets of the day. After coming on stage to Celine Dion’s It’s All Coming Back to Me Now¸ Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson and her exceptional backing band completely engaged the packed-out Peddler’s Warehouse crowd for 45 minutes. CMAT interspersed renditions of new tunes and old favourites with plenty of crowd interaction and banter with audience members. Her impressive soprano voice and catchy country-inspired indie-pop music certainly won over some new fans in South Yorkshire last Saturday, despite her (admittedly pretty good) Yorkshire accent making an appearance or two throughout the set. CMAT’s set ended with the crowd two-stepping along to her 2022 hit I Wanna be a Cowboy Baby!, with audience member Fred invited onstage to play the maracas.
Festival goers were spoilt for choice when headliner time came round with Friendly Fires, Coach Party, and O. just some of the acts providing the closing sets on Get Together’s abundance of stages. For me it was back to Yellow Arch to see Panic Shack close out the day with their unique brand of lively female-led punk. The Cardiff-based five piece brought an energetic and unapologetically feminine presence to the Purity Stage and as the band stopped halfway through the set to do some shots, they reminded everyone in the audience how much fun it can be to watch a band enjoy themselves on stage. Panic Shack’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics, heard on tracks like The Ick and Jiu Jits You, went down well with the crowd, who showed no signs of fatigue after a long day of live music. The mosh pit reached its peak at the end of the set as the band closed out another successful Get Together festival with a lively rendition of Who’s Got My Lighter?.
In an age where too many festivals are continuing to put out male-dominated line ups, it was refreshing to see a Sheffield-based festival buck the trend and book plenty of exciting female talent from a range of genres.
After all the headline sets had concluded, some brave souls made their way over to the Antiques Emporium stage for a night of DJ sets and dancing until the early hours. For most, though, 10 hours of live music, sunshine, and day drinking had taken their toll and the radio 6 dads (and mums) headed home, reflecting on another successful Get Together festival celebrating everything great about Sheffield’s music scene.