Port Isla got the Bushstock party started at Bush Hall with their energetic and catchy blend of indie, folk and pop.
By the time the doors opened for the Bush Hall stage of this multi-venue festival in Shepherd’s Bush, an eager bunch of people had formed and were listening to the end of the soundcheck. These included a group of young women swaying and singing along to the snippets of songs drifting through the doors. “Who’s that?” someone asked. “Port Isla!” was the excited squeal from the waiting fans. After a 30 minute set, I can understand how they’ve acquired a devoted fanbase.
The four-piece from Norwich get their set off to a punchy start with Risk It All and you can hear those same young women singing along on the front couple of rows. It’s easy to imagine this song played on a bigger outdoor festival stage with thousands of people singing along. Thankfully they sound heavier and more interesting live than on their current EPs. Will Bloomfield’s voice is reminiscent of David Gray and this is particularly evident on the intense and soaring 1953, which he belts out while playing keyboards.
Musically they are very tight, which is more impressive as they are playing with a fill-in drummer. There is some awkwardness between songs as demonstrated by Bloomfield introducing Window with “this is a song”! However, they seem to relax again as soon as they start playing and nothing can detract from the energy they put into each song. They are unassuming but there is nothing nonchalant about this band, with both Stanley Spilman (guitar) and Willem Olenski (bass) not only playing with passion but also providing great harmonies while Bloomfield takes centre stage.
A.L.I.V.E is the new single and is hard to get out of your head with it’s sing-along-chorus and memorable riff. Unsurprisingly it gets a good response from the crowd, including some clapping along from a few guys who looked pretty disinterested at the start of the set. Before they finish with Better Love Bloomfield encourages us to approach them afterwards with what I can only assume is their usual modest style, saying “do stop and tell us that the D string is out of tune or that you like Stanley’s hairband”.
With cries of “we love you Stanley” ringing out from the front row and a positive response from the rest of the crowd as they exit the stage, it’s obvious that Port Isla have succeeded in warming up the audience in a difficult festival slot. They have well-crafted songs and with enough of a marketing push it could be easy to imagine them bothering the Top 40…but would they want to?
Set list
Risk It All
Volcano
In The Long Run
1953
Window
A.L.I.V.E
Better Love