Pitch­fork Music Fes­ti­val Lon­don end­ed on Sat­ur­day with Dal­ston Takeover. This was a diverse show­case of pri­mar­i­ly US artists, encom­pass­ing a wide mix of gen­res. One minute you’re sit­ting in Earth Hackney’s beau­ti­ful the­atre watch­ing dreamy shoegaze by Full Body 2, the next you’re in the tran­quil­i­ty of St Matthias Church for the clear-voiced coun­try-folk of Alex Amen. And then get­ting a sweat on at the Shack­lewell Arms to upbeat indie band Golomb.

Over at the Vic­to­ria pub, Seat­tle band Great Grand­pa were as emo­tion­al­ly rous­ing as I had expect­ed. They played sev­er­al num­bers from their lat­est album Patience Moon­beam (reviewed) – and it was good to see the crowd felt as enthu­si­as­tic as I did. Let’s hope the recep­tion – and their merch sales – encour­age their return to these shores. The night end­ed at Earth Hall for a upbeat set by Panchiko who looked equal­ly hap­py and bemused by the reac­tion from the main­ly young crowd. And what a back sto­ry the band pos­sess. They formed and dis­band­ed in the late 90s, after very lim­it­ed suc­cess. A dusty Panchiko CD was dis­cov­ered in a char­i­ty shop in 2016 and its buy­er, curi­ous to find out who Panchiko were, asked the inter­net. The search went viral, and hav­ing been redis­cov­ered, the band reformed. 

The range of artists at Dal­ston Takeover was impres­sive and the fes­ti­val attract­ed an enthu­si­as­tic and friend­ly crowd of music fans. Peo­ple were lis­ten­ing to the artists rather than talk­ing through the sets – what a treat. Can’t wait for next year.

Artists on pho­to gallery: Mamalarky, Full Body 2, Teethe, Golomb, hey, noth­ing, Mom­ma, Alex Amen, under­scores, Great Grand­pa, Panchiko

Pitch­fork Music Fes­ti­val 2025