Jarred Up Fest ‘25: The View From The Gallery
Can you believe it has been a month since our festival? We certainly can’t. You know, some are calling it the greatest festival to have ever happened. Maybe they’re right. Who’s to say! Well, Ollie Haggart is. This week, we have a bunch of content from the festival; reviews and interviews with all the excellent acts who played. First up, Ollie’s write-up of the Gallery Stage!
Long nights are here, I’m afraid. The end of Summer brings a change in the leaves, a turning in the weather – and of course, the close of the festival season. It’s a good job Jarred Up didn’t get the memo, ey?
Returning for the second edition of Jarred Up Festival, Sheffield’s premier party collective promised their biggest event yet. The pull, in part, lies with the slew of talent secured for the event; There are bands that jingle and jangle, bands that twist and bands that SHOUT. Essentially, “bands that stray from the usual indie-pop/rock that gets regurgitated in Sheffield” according to co-creator, James Watkins.
Tickets go. All of them, in fact. And just like that, Sidney and Matilda faces a second sold-out Jarred Up party. As the venue begins to fill, so does the air – with warmth and welcomes between friends and strangers alike; it’s no wonder the festival is affectionately dubbed as Sheffield Christmas to me on separate occasions.
Three o’clock in the afternoon and just in case you haven’t had your morning coffee, Jeanie and The White Boys are welcoming you to the gallery stage; their brand is sleazy blues – something scuzzy dragged down the back-alleys and left under flickering neon signs. Maybe it’s the fact that Jeanie is “fucked off with the white boys” following a spat during soundcheck, but there is a real aggression to their set.
Jeanie and the White Boys (Photo: Ollie Franklin)
It’s hypnotising. It’s the kind of set that earned them a slot at Glastonbury for only their second ever show, and not unlike the one that convinced Orange Juice’s Edwyn Collins they were worth recording an album with. “If it wasn’t for events like this for us to play, we wouldn’t be playing anywhere,” Jeanie tells me after the show. “It’s important for grassroots venues and promoters doing shows like this because rock n’roll has been bastardized into some cheap tacky fridge magnet.”
The White Boys are playing a largely unreleased set, somewhere between the theatrical flair of The Cramps and the skulking coolness of Roland S Howard. It’d be daft to just label the band as rock n’roll, however. Championed by the queer scene in London, and with a background in visual arts – inspiration comes from all angles: “I just need to go feral. I’m not very palatable to a lot of scenes, because I don’t fit into what it is to be cool. Yeah, I know who the velvet underground are but that’s not all I’m gonna talk about; I wanna talk about the Venga Boys too. I wanna be the next Britney Spears! (Look at me bloody extensions!)”
Unfortunately, The Venga Bus Is Coming for The White Boys, who must leave for a DJ set in the big smoke. Our party here is just beginning though, as we are welcomed into the comfort of Grandmas House…
Like their namesake, Grandmas House are deceptively homely – talking to me about how their different music tastes give no limits to their creative output, and how they’re part of a scene in Bristol that celebrates each other. But as the gallery fills, that big, bad wolf hiding inside is unleashed; for 45 minutes or so, it’s all snarling and tightly-wound. A raucous group catharsis that captures all watching.
Grandmas House (Photo: Ollie Franklin)
The four-piece have a soft spot for Sheffield. It was at Get Together Festival that they played their first show outside of their hometown: “Every time we get the chance to come up for a show like this, we see so many new faces,” singer and guitarist, Yasmin reels excitedly. “I think all-dayers are so important for that – bringing the community together to just watch loads of great bands. Sheffield does that well I think.”
It's hard to believe that all four members are self-taught (Zoe learnt bass so they could play Dot to Dot festival, and Poppy started on cardboard drums with pencil sticks: “Our music has no rules,” Polly, the latest addition to the band revels in this complete freedom. “I think because we don’t know the rules of writing, our music follows that.” On this note, the third band to perform on the main stage float into the dressing room.
Our Girl is the project of Big Moon guitarist, Soph Nathan, along with Josh Tyler and Lauren Wilson. Today, Fern Ford - fellow Moonian and co-producer of the band’s sophomore album, ‘The Good Kind’ joins on keys. The band’s prestige shows not just in their peers’ admiration – with Grandmas House citing them (and The Big Moon) as major influences, but in how quickly the venue swells before they play.
Our Girl (Photo: Ollie Franklin)
It’s all very lovely when it begins. The music is made for rooms like this, “rooms where you feel more connected – where the sound really bounces all around you,” according to Nathan. The connection is undeniable; grins from the stage are mirrored in the audience, growing until everyone seems to be smiling together.
“I wanted this record to feel warm and enveloping – it’s hard to describe but it’s just a feeling that I know,” Nathan looks longingly into the packed courtyard after their set. The band was born from a community like this – hosting shows in their Brighton basement, and collaborating with friends (Marika Hackman, Stella Mozgawa) to make something really lovely: “It wasn’t till the end (of recording) that I realised this is something I really need – luckily we can all figure it out together!”
The Sun’s shift is up, leaving a nip in the air. Slacker. But that’s life. Oh, and that’s LIFE, our penultimate band on the main stage, heading in for soundcheck. They have travelled from Yorkshire’s East Riding, donning brand-new material like some emperor’s new clothes.
LIFE (Photo: Ollie Franklin)
“We’ve been away for a bit, recording our new stuff,” frontman, Mez Green asks for a lighter. Aside from a small run of shows for independent venue week, the band’s charged live presence has been in short supply. “We’ve built ourselves up from festivals and venues like these, so it’s amazing to return to play it all with such a great crowd.”
From the barrier to the back wall, the crowd writhes like a magic carpet in flight. Mez is dangling from a beam - half frontman, half mad shaman – chanting his dancefloor hexes. Old favourites Popular Music, Bum Hour, Friends Without Names are thrown in between unreleased cuts – the crowd’s response to which satisfies the band, who’s last album came in 2022. Mez continues: “We all missed these sweaty shows dearly. We can’t wait to come back to Sheffield with our new album next year.”
We can’t look too far ahead yet, as this year’s headliners, contrary to popular belief, are about to Do Something. Something really great, actually. Nottingham band, Do Nothing have their fair share of new music to perform, what with a second album all recorded. Unless you’ve seen them at one of their recent sold-out shows for independent venue week, it’s all unfamiliar – the size of the crowd a testament to the enduring charm of their earlier releases.
Do Nothing (Photo: Ollie Franklin)
They start with something new: “It’s a natural evolution. Not a hard left-turn, by any means, but not identical to Snake Sideways either,” according to frontman, Chris Bailey. It’s like sardines in here, everyone craning up to the singer – the fisherman pulling them in with every word. It’s rare for a live band to sound just like the record, but favourites like Nerve and Handshakes seem to hit that familiar frequency, leading to hugs and smiles all-round. “Let your new friends stay / for a night, or for forever / and see if I care” echoes around the room, the band characteristically nonchalant about the power of their music.
On Sidney and Matilda, Chris believes “we’re inextricably tied to these venues. They have a strong sense of community, and it really influenced us as a band - partly because most of us worked behind the bar there at some point”. It’s a sentiment echoed by all of the bands playing today – each carefully selected by the festival promoters. Everywhere you look there are people together, in a working or just drinking-copious-beers-and-pissing-about sense. Jarred Up, once again, encapsulate what it is to be a music fan in Sheffield – and oh boy does it feel GOOD!
The crowd in the Gallery (Photo: Ollie Franklin)
What a write-up! God, don’t you just miss the Jarred Up Festival. Oh, you do, do you? Well, maybe you should take a look at this fancy new Instagram page…
Words: Ollie Haggart
Photos: Ollie Franklin
