Pandapalooza Festival

Pandapallooza 24th September

Bucks Students’ Union held its very first ‘Pandapalooza festival’ on Thursday night (24th) during its action packed fresher’s fortnight. In true festival form there were live Bands, market stalls, food and even a chill out area, making sure that all the fresher’s needs were properly catered for.
Kicking off the festival was Southampton band ‘Burn the Fleet’. Combining their heavy rock riffs with frontman Andrew Convey’s melodic voice was a real winner for the crowd, and they ensured their audience was captivated for the whole of their set.
Next we crossed over to the Venue, where we were treated to an extra special acoustic set by Tom from Towers, (formally ‘Waiting for Sirens’). Armed with just an acoustic guitar and his beautiful voice, Tom won over most of the excited audience, and when joined by Andrew from ‘Burn the Fleet’ for an acoustic duet, the rest of the crowd followed.
Back in the White room, eager fans were waiting for ‘Post War Years’ to take to the stage. Describing their sound as ‘ambient’, their set was 30 minutes of pure electronic beauty. Despite feeling stupidly sleepy after they’d finished, I thoroughly enjoyed it along with the rest of the crowd. Stand out tracks for me were ‘White Lies’, and ‘The Whole World on Its Head’, which can be found on the album ‘The Greats and the Happenings’. The band is also embarking on a UK tour supporting indie band White Lies. Kicking off on September 21st, the band will tour until October, releasing their new single in November as they prepare to stamp their mark all over 2010.
Going back to the Venue for the final time this evening, we were joined by ‘Eat Sleep Attack’, aka Sammy Little. Having spent most of the afternoon busking outside the union Sam decided to venture indoors and unleash his powerful pop tunes on the eager audience. His songs are both charming and sweet, definitely a worthwhile listen if its catchy pop music you’re after.
Finally, as the night was drawing to a close the crowd shuffled back into the White room for one last time, as the headliners, ‘Hot Club De Paris’, took to the stage. The three piece from Liverpool, who describe themselves as ‘3 lads having a laugh’, combine catchy riffs with their love of experimental indie, to create wonderful pop punk tunes that you can really dance to. Having earlier mocked the crowd as being ‘the stillest audience in the UK’, they were soon proved wrong, as a mini pit formed and a mass of sweaty students abandoned the room as the band left the stage.
As resident DJ’s took to the stage I decided to call it a night and I think overall it was an enjoyable night for everyone, even if the freshers got so drunk they forgot everything..