LIVE - Grimes @ Digital (Great Escape) 11th May 2012

I've been a champion of Grimes ever since I heard 'Genesis' on Beat, and with the release of 'Oblivion' and the album 'Visions' I have been super keen to see Grimes live. Previously I had YouTubed past performances and I have to say some looked incredible and others were a tad underwhelming. Having missed the chance to go to her XOYO show, Great Escape was my next opportunity. Luckily it happens to be my favourite festival, so was planning on going anyway.

Even though I was donning a delegates pass, which to the uninitiated  gets you into the festival's amazing seminars about the music industry and also allows you to queue jump at shows, which is incredibly handy.  However some shows are so in demand that these become obsolete and you have to queue in the delegates pass line.  Now having already experienced a 'One in One out' scenario earlier in the day I was determined to get to Digital (where Grimes was playing) on the sea front by 8pm and endure a grueling 45 minute wait before her stage time of 8.45pm.

Now one thing about a festival like this is that as you meander your way around the streets from venue to venue you inevitably end up bumping into friends, which is probably why I like the festival so much, as not only is there cool music industry things happening and great shows but you can catch up with old friends as the festival progresses and thus have plans change and see something you might not have planned for.

Needless to say I ended up getting to Digital at 8.20pm, which while on route thought the delegates queue wouldn't be too bad.... how wrong I was, apparently people had been queuing from 6.30pm to make sure they got in (that's dedication) although I imagine the delegates started queuing a bit later than that.  8.20pm quickly turned into 8.45pm and the queue behind me was humongous, and with little sign of any movement I decided I'd give it until 9pm max.  As 9pm approached, two things happened, people started leaving the queue and the security started letting people in slowly but surely.  Needless to say by 9pm I was in and luckily due to a late start had only missed two tracks.

The place was wall to wall and floor to ceiling packed with people, and as we came into the venue paused at the sound desk to start taking it all in.  After one track I slipped a little closer and further into the crowd.  The sound was incredible, and Claire aka Grimes was on formidable form, bopping along to the music with her face painted white and what can only be described as two "zombies", either side of her set up, free-stlye-zombie dancing!  I'm not normally a massive fan of how keyboards look onstage but surrounded by synths, samplers and god only knows what else, Claire looked completely in control swooping between all the different instruments and triggers with the mic at times wedged between her shoulder and neck.

Tracks like 'Circumambient' and 'Genesis' set the crowd on fire to what was a flawless set and did the album (and all the hype) justice.  I was so enthralled with the show, that if I had only managed to get in just to see one song I think I still would have thought to myself I had seen something incredible. I went away from the show completely on a high, as I was well and truly blown away.  Any hints of those dubious shows I'd seen online have become a distant fragment of a dream I once had so long ago that it hardly seems worth remembering....