It has taken five years, for a number of reasons (!), but Sunday 8th September has seen the return of our unique festival Fresh on the Net Live with day one taking place at The Lower Third, situated on what was once the site of The 12-Bar Club, now part of the Outernet on Denmark Street in London’s West End. And what a day we have had with ten amazing acts maintaining a breathtakingly high standard from start to finish.

NX Panther 

The event kicks off with a set by Londoner NX Panther and wow, what a way to start the day. Switching between her observational and free-flowing rap style and soulful singing, her performance is captivating. It is the second time I have had the pleasure of seeing Panther perform live in 2024 and it is great to hear familiar tunes. She ends with new single Man In The Moon and last year’s Jashu. The sound in the room is pristine and brings out the rich flavours in Panther’s music. Her commanding, compelling performance and easy manner with the audience make this an outstanding opening set.

Roisin Quinn

This extremely high standard is maintained by Roisin Quinn. The Harlow-based singer-songwriter has a full band backing her and these guys can seriously play as can Roisin. Roisin mixes soulful, agile singing with an earthy Essex-London style of rap and spoken word. She is an engaging character and her music is funky, jazz-tinged in parts and cleverly constructed. My friend Lorraine Solomons, founder of the amazing Success Express, remarks to me on how much Roisin’s sound has evolved since she last saw her. It is an impressive, accomplished performance. This is going so well.

Alexandra Leaving 

It is probably pointless for me to keep repeating this line about each artist maintaining a very high standard because there are no exceptions. Literally every act excels. So next we have Alexandra Leaving, originally from the Black Country (English West Midlands) but now based in London. Playing a stripped back set, where usually she would have a full band, she is accompanied by a long-time friend who is also a superb guitarist. Alexandra is in exuberant mood, enjoying her rapport with the audience and bringing humour even to anger-inducing subjects in her songs. Her voice is so strong, powerful and expressive and the chemistry between the pair highlights the quality of her songwriting. At times, even with just two guitars, they seriously rock but there is also plenty of dynamic contrast and subtlety in their sparkling Alt Pop.

Alice Offley

Then we have Oxford’s Alice Offley. A multi-instrumentalist and prolific artist, tonight Alice has opted to play live Bass Guitar with backing track. She strides onto the stage in probably the most striking outfit of the day and exudes style from the outset. Her bass playing is punchy, powerful and funky and her voice is soulful and nimble. Alice’s songs display a lineage that includes so many classic names including Bootsy Collins, Elton John, Prince and Madonna to name a few. She stirs up this melting pot to create a fresh Funk-driven Pop style and that, along with her engaging character, makes seeing her live an amazing experience. It is quite lovely to meet her mum and dad afterwards too.

Arpraxis

The event now takes on a new twist with a one-hour DJ set by the amazing John Davis aka Arpraxis. John takes a traditional approach in the sense of using twin record decks and a tonne of vinyl. I am quickly transported back to my days as a club promoter in the late 90s/early 2000s as John mixes in one banging choon after another with familiar hooks and a great balance between the pumping House beats and melodic sensibilities. This is a DJ who knows exactly what aura he wants to create and knows the combination of tracks needed to achieve it. Old Skool in one sense, fresh and invigorating in the other. The hour flies by and the audience dances with unbridled joy throughout.

Retropxssy

So the second half of the day gets underway with the genuinely inimitable Retropxssy. This is the third time I have had the pleasure of putting her on at a live event I am involved with and she is electrifying. Backed by her DJ Mina Cuffwright, Retropxssy gets straight into character, owning the stage as she struts back and forth, pulling poses and faces that enhance her in-yer-face energetic lyrical style mixing rap and singing to great effect. But inevitably the stage is soon not enough and she dives dramatically into the audience and, for a moment, lies spreadeagled on the floor as if unconscious. It is momentary though because next thing she is up and striding around the room, interacting literally with the audience. At one point she has everyone kneeling and hopping with her, then up on their feet bouncing in time with her as she continues to give a masterclass in performance art. It is a thrilling, unique and invigorating performance.

Chinwe

After the intensity of Retropxssy, we demonstrate why Fresh on the Net Live is all about contrast and diversity with the next two acts. First we have the most chilled set of the day courtesy of harp-playing singer-songwriter Chinwe. I have been dying to see Chinwe play live for a long time and it has been worth the wait. Her harp playing is dreamlike and, combined with her distinctive, dexterous and beautiful voice, I am whisked away into an ethereal world of peace and tranquility. Chinwe tells me afterwards that she has been thrilled to be invited to play Fresh on the Net Live. We are thrilled that she accepted. Amazing stuff.

The Youth Play

We do love contrast though and next up we have by far the loudest performance of the day courtesy of North London quartet The Youth Play. The band topped the poll at the Listening Post earlier in the summer with the highest number of votes I can remember seeing anyone achieve in my nearly seven years on the team! Tonight they are on a mission. This is full-on wall-of-sound Shoegaze-infused Alt Rock. The guitars combine to create an attractive kaleidoscope of colours while the bass and drums provide a power-driven foundation. The lead singer has a distinctive voice and he switches sometimes between spoken word and a dynamic singing style. All four members add to the vocals too. There are echoes of classic 90s bands like Ride and Slowdive mixing in with shades of contemporary ones like Been Stellar and Beach House. If anyone is starting to flag at this point in the proceedings, The Youth Play have provided the shot in the arm they need!

98 Poly

The penultimate act of the night is the amazing 98 Poly. I have had Pippa performing with another band [who I am not allowed to name!] at two other live events I have promoted but tonight I finally get to see her perform as 98 Poly and what a set. With a backing track of rich synth-electronic tones and beats, she owns the stage with an energetic performance and her beautiful, expressive vocals dominating. At times she turns up the speed dial and we get some pumping dance choons but she can equally be subtle, dark and melancholy, testament to the depth of her songwriting and arranging skills. It is a lovely set and an accomplished performance that has the audience grooving and engaging.

Sansha

Last act of the night is the irrepressible Sansha; another artist I have had the pleasure of putting on at several live events stretching back to 2021. Anyone who has seen Sansha perform live knows they are in for two specific elements. One is the stellar quality of her jazzy soulful synthpop-infused songwriting and singing. The other is the hilarious comedy that she brings too with her experience of doing stand-up. Tonight she turns the entire set into one long story charting the highs and lows of her complex love life! Early on in the set, the comment about her Nan, which I won’t repeat here (!), has the audience in stitches and the tales that she recounts with a sardonic but also self-effacing humour add to the set. It is her songs and musicianship that are really important though. Effortless melodic flair, sweet harmony and goose-bumping electric piano chords are all Sansha trademarks along with lyrics that reflect the same mix of humour, sarcasm and compassion and some sumptuous violin playing, reminding us of her multi-instrumental skills. It is a heartwarming and highly entertaining finale to a very special day.

Travelling on the London Underground with Del afterwards, we contemplate who might have been our favourite act of the day. We quickly realise it would be impossible to have one when all 10 acts were so superb. As Del rightly remarks, they should all be playing Glastonbury!

Day Two will be in Leicester on a date to be confirmed very soon. Today has been a magical start. Before rounding off though, a few thank yous are in order. Firstly to my FOTN team-mates Del Osei-Owusu (our leader), Sherry Sahayaraj and John Davis. Also to our founder and mentor Tom Robinson who, despite an incredibly busy schedule, still made it along for a good while and made himself available for conversations with a lot of eager fans and admirers. Thanks to all the FOTN mods, and especially to our fellow festival panel members Louise Toal and Poppy Bristow. Thanks obviously to the team and staff at The Lower Third, to the outstanding sound engineer James Luxton and to the lovely supportive audience. As for our impending excursion to the English Midlands, watch this space!