Organised in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust, Immersed Festival took place at Tramshed last Thursday, on the 30th of January, USW and Music Managers Forum held an event, that brought together over 800 people, including students and local musicians.
On Thursday, all the local music lovers and makers could gather together and empower each other, especially when local music venues are in the risk of being shut down. It was a reminder of the importance of the places where small bands can grow, and how significant music culture and local venues are in Cardiff.
Tramshed provided three stages, Gwdihŵ stage in the waiting room, where you could grab a drink, have a taste of Welsh vibes, get cwtchy on a sofa, and enjoy the acoustic session with young artists such as Mari Mathias and Otto, surrounded by lots of fairy lights and warm colours.
Upstairs room was created in imitation of actual Womanby Street and offered a bit more badass sounds provided by bands like Al Moses, Black Elvis, Bandicoot, French Alps Tiger, or Welsh singing Adwaith. Tiny stage with a big power, just like short Womanby Street with a long line of bars with live music.
Main Room, headlined by Richard Ashcroft, Tom Grennan, Bad Sounds opened as the last and filled with people immediately. The main acts were supported by fantastic local bands of various genres range from grunge Clwb Fuzz to funky Year Of The Dog, who have been featured in the Netflix’s series Sex Education. Regardless of being in work that time (yes, you’re right, I multitask, so I can focus on a gig, and provide excellent customer service at the same time, as always) I had the greatest time bopping to “Zacharia” by Bad Sounds, which I think put everyone in a bouncy mood for Tom Grennan, who then performed “Found What I’ve Been Looking For”, what quite a big chunk of the crowd was so excited about.
That half an hour break before Richard Ashcroft jumped on stage were longest thirty minutes of my life. During the break I had a customer who was telling me that Richard has been his favourite artist for a very long time, and how happy he was to see him tonight, which was my highlight of the night.
It’s 10 o’clock and I hear the crowd cheering and whistling, Ashcroft is on the stage and I’m thinking about that customer. God bless him, wherever you are mr customer, I really hope you managed to get to the front.
Ashcroft, accompanied by a former bassist of Ocean Colour Scene Damon Minchella, begins his performance with a love song “Sonnet” wearing a scarf and a jacket. He’s singing “Break The Night With Colour”, now without his scarf. Before “The Drugs Don’t Work” he takes his jacket off and that’s how I know Richard is going to perform Bittersweet Symphony soon.
I was not wrong.
He then performed his last song from the setlist, Bittersweet Symphony, which is the cherry on top of the event, when everyone including organisers could sign with relief for those couple of minutes. There was no way someone could not be familiar with the song, so the whole crowd was singing along.
Despite the rainy and windy weather, the atmosphere was amazing, positive and vibrant. Immersed 2020 was the place to go if you wanted to spend time in company of music lovers and makers, get to know more about local music, be a part of the music environment listening to hottest local bands, or even just hang around on a lazy Thursday afternoon. All dedicated to Teenage Cancer Trust, in aid of which the festival was organised, all in a good cause.
With Bad Sounds, Tom Grennan and Richard Ashcroft headlining this year, I’m already buzzing to see next year’s headlines and the line-up for fresh local bands. Shout out to everyone who contributed to Immersed 2020 and highlighted the importance of local music venues and keeping music culture in Cardiff alive. Events like Immersed are well needed in times when venues are in risk of being shut down, being able to appreciate live music at the festival organised in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust is a brilliant way to balance having fun with help and support for others.
Kinga Balasz
