Preview: Beacons Festival 2013

Leeds Festival is not the only festival to make a major scene in the Summer festival period. Entering its second year (third if we count the year it was cancelled due to floods which luckily didn’t spell the end as many of the artists set to perform held free gigs at Leeds’ Nation of Shopkeepers that weekend), Beacons Festival has made a big splash in the Summer festival circuit, despite some hiccups last year. But now it is back, with significant improvements and a line up to drool over. Mixing big name bands of the now with bands that are sure to make it big in the future, alongside some good old Yorkshire charm, it’s definitely worth paying attention to. Here are where you’ll probably find us over the weekend.

Friday:

Lulu James – Loud and Quiet, 18:50

North East newbie, Lulu James, has been well and truly blowing up in 2013. ‘Closer’ has been all over the radio airwaves, as has ‘Step By Step’. Bringing her soul/disco vocals that scream Donna Summer and Grace Jones attitude to club bangers that wouldn’t sound out of place on Newcastle’s Diamond Strip, this girl is most definitely worth a watch post-tea time.

Bonobo – Loud and Quiet, 22:45

You’ve lasted a whole day. You’ve probably eaten a lot. Drunk a lot. Not properly sat down for more than ten minutes while you wait for your mate to come back from the loo. What do you need? Bonobo. Yorkshire born and bred Ninja Tune legend will be on hand with his downbeat, chilled out tunes to give you a much needed break.

John Talabot – Resident Advisor, 00:00

After being thoroughly chilled out by Bonobo or ripped to shreds by Fucked Up, a choice I am admittedly still torn by despite recommending Bonobo, it’s clear that, come midnight there’s only one place you need to be to end the night. That place is in the hands of Spanish DJ and producer, John Talabot, set to bring his blend of Balearic house to the Yorkshire countryside, hopefully transforming the by then well trampled field into the beaches of Ibiza.

Saturday:

Wolf Alice – Loud and Quiet, 14:30

OK so Friday night was pretty heavy, especially staying up so late for John Talabot. You roll out of your tent, grab your breakfast of a pie or some BBQ food (because why not? You’re at a festival. Breakfast can mean anything here!) and sidle on over to Loud and Quiet. Wolf Alice will definitely blow away any cobwebs you have from the night before. Already making a name for themselves on the festival circuit, their ability to mix the loud and the quiet (making the stage they’re adorning all the more relevant) will wake you up but then give you a bit of time to gather your thoughts before barraging you once more. Just wake up already!

East India Youth – You Need To Hear This, 15:00

Music website The Quietus recently got in the record game. After trying to get labels to sign William Doyle AKA East India Youth after Doyle gave Quietus editor John Doran a copy of his CD at a Factory Floor gig, they thought “Let’s just do it ourselves!” set up The Quietus Phonographic Corporation and released Doyle’s debut EP Hostel. Exciting chilled out pop, it might be a bit of a punt if your timetable is full then but, hey, if The Quietus loves him, he must be at least half decent (NOTE: He’s very good!)

Wire – You Need To Hear This, 23:00

Wire have been going long before you were probably born. They’ve influenced everybody under the sun from REM to Sonic Youth to Elastica (who “borrowed” heavily from a number of Wire tracks) to Bloc Party to The Futureheads to…well….everyone. Now’s your chance to see what everyone has been banging on about for the past 30/40 years.

Sunday:

Sky Larkin – Loud and Quiet, 13:00

Another local band who, until a few months ago, seemed to drop off the map entirely. Already with two fantastic albums under their belt, they took a brief hiatus while lead guitarist and singer Katie Harkin went touring with Wild Beasts as their new keyboardist. A quick shimmy of the line-up, adding These Monsters’ Sam Pryor, and an announcement of a new album, they’re back with a fury and well worth rolling out of bed for.

Savages – You Need To Hear This, 21:00

You’ve probably heard enough about this lot this year. They’ve already proven themselves as an amazing band to smash up the tour circuit, blowing minds on every stage they walk upon. And with debut album Silence Yourself well and truly making waves, head to You Need To Hear This because you need to see this as well as hear this.

Django Django – Loud and Quiet, 21:40

Right, you’ve made it. The weekend is nearly over. Pissed as a fart and probably a little bit heavier (unless you took part in morning yoga to get rid of those burgers from the day before; if so, kudos, you’re a better person than me), you might as well go out with a good old boogie. Django Django will surely provide that with explosively danceable tunes filled with joy. Grab your new mates and just dance the night away.

Special Mention:

Hate the usual festival food? You’re in luck because Beacons have got a line-up of vendors which might just surpass the music on show, or at least it will when you’re stupidly hungry. From Leeds’ Red BBQ providing pulled pork and flame grilled meats to Skipton’s own Pie & Mash and some of the best fish and chips you might ever have at Fish& (operating out of a beach hut, I’ve only managed to catch them once but their chilli batter fish is unbelievable), this isn’t your standard noodles and burgers. To wash it all down, the fantastic Layne’s Espresso, based in Leeds, will be on hand to perk you up with some of the best coffee in Yorkshire. Or, if you’re leaning more towards the alcohol (if so, maybe find a bin to prop you up), Whitelock’s Real Alehouse is holding an ale festival with ales from all over the world. Let’s be real here. You’re probably just going to find me rolling around outside the food and drinks tents all weekend.

Televising Glastonbury is not going to "ruin the world"

At Glastonbury this year, NME interviewed Two Door Cinema Club about what they thought about the festival. In the interview, lead singer Alex Trimble declared that he believed the over 250 hours of live footage provided by the BBC of the festival was stopping Glastonbury from being “as special”. That isn’t quite that high on the “Wiley-o-meter of ridiculous things said during Glastonbury weekend”, but it’s certainly on there, making a significant mark.

In all disclosure, I did not go to Glastonbury this year. I was unable to get tickets because, when they went on sale, I was on a train going through the countryside trying to use what little 3G connection I could on my phone to give it a shot. Obviously, I failed, though I did surprise myself and get shockingly close. I did end up watching a lot of the coverage of the festival live and kudos must be given to the BBC for the sheer amount of coverage they managed to put out online, on the radio, on TV, and on the red button. Sure, the quality was often not too great, with glitches here and there, but on the whole the coverage was pretty great.

But now back to Trimble’s comments. I can sort of understand where he is coming from. Although he doesn’t explicitly mention this, it could be seen that it is unfair on those that have paid full price for a ticket to the festival to then have thousands sat at home also experiencing the same live performances they are but for the price of the TV license and the electric bill. But he misunderstands the whole ethos of a music festival; the togetherness and the memories created. He even discusses how festivals are an experience shared with the people around you, the friends you make and the memories you create, but then argues that those watching at home “poke their heads in”, seemingly as a distraction or a deterrent from making these memories. This is a comment I don’t quite understand. I can’t grasp how exactly a group of people you can neither see nor hear, whose presence is only marked by the existence of the BBC at the festival, can impact your enjoyment of a festival. They’re not getting involved in your memories. They didn’t experience that time your mate got mashed on pills and started dancing with a bunch of hippie folks in Stone Circle as the sun went up. They didn’t experience that time you lost everyone in Shangri-La and so hung out with some girl and her friends that you met by the pizza van earlier in the day that you bumped into.

There’s nothing like experiencing an event first hand. It feels like I’m stating the obvious here, but there’s a huge disconnect between experience an event and watching it on TV. Watching it on TV, for me, was about watching bands I really like perform fantastic sets, but I don’t get swept up in the atmosphere of the crowd. I can see that the crowd are having a great time but it doesn’t have the same effect on me at home as it would if I were there. I can create a bit of atmosphere myself by turning out the lights, whacking on a strobe and necking several bottles of gin over the course of the day but it wouldn’t be the same. For people watching it at home, the broadcast is about the performances themselves; seeing moments like R Kelly hopping on stage during Phoenix’s set at Coachella or Nile Rodgers and Chic doing every amazing number 1 hit he’s ever had his prints on. For those actually at the event, there’s a whole other dimension to it. It’s the meeting people, the food (sometimes horrible, sometimes great), the plethora of other things to do if there isn’t a band on you fancy watching.

It’s still special in spite of the ability to watch it on TV, same with any live show that is broadcast. I didn’t feel a connection to the artist or the audience during my viewing, something I know for sure I would’ve felt had I been there live. Broadcasting takes very little away from the performance, apart from there perhaps being more cameras around. It sure isn’t going to stop ticket sales as I, and many others, having watched the broadcasts are perhaps more keen to experience it for ourselves. It’s a gateway for people at home to see a world that they did not manage to gain access to. This has no bearing on the people at the actual festival. Sure, you might have people when you get back taking the piss because they had a nice warm bed with access to nice food and a good toilet, but did they really meet as many interesting people as you did, or really experience the performances how they were meant to? The answer is obviously no. Broadcasting, put simply, does not reduce anything about the festival experience for those that are there. And to say it’s “ruining the world” is just ridiculously hyperbolic.

Gin & Tea: An Evening Of Indulgence

Newcastle is a place that you wouldn’t entirely expect to have exciting places to have a drink, both alcohol and non. As with most cities, it has plenty of chains such as Tiger Tiger and Starbucks (placed so close together that if you walked at an average speed with a coffee you bought at one, it would still be way too hot to drink by the time you reached the next). But if you’re willing to step off the beaten path and head down some of the side streets, instead of instinctively going towards Sinners as a result of your treble hungry Sat Nav for alcohol, there are some real treats to find and, as more places begin to open, the amount of choice becomes more of a treat than a burden.

And here lies the beginning of one of the more middle class evenings of my life, containing both new places and an abundance of choice. To begin with, we take a trip to Pleased To Meet You. Tucked away on the excellent Highbridge, which is slowly becoming the place to go for all things a little bit different including The Stand Edinburgh’s little sister, a spin off gallery space run by the Baltic, and a number of independent boutique stores, Pleased To Meet You is Newcastle’s first gin bar. Well, at least the first modern gin bar. 

After the recent successes of The Lady Grey and Redhouse (an excellent pie and ale pub I highly recommend), the Ladhar Group have decided to take over what was the Old Turk Hotel and transform it completely with a postmodernist feel; all exposed pipe work alongside plush seating and a copper topped bar. As we entered the bar on opening day, just after clocking off time on a gloriously sunny afternoon, the place was teeming with business men and women just getting off from work, students looking for somewhere to relax during exam season, and curious passers-by. The atmosphere was buzzing but the lack of seating was somewhat a problem. However, it is possible that some of it was removed so as to make room for the expected rush on opening day.

The unique selling points of PTMY is the abundance of gin on offer. With over 50 varieties from your standard Tanqueray and Bombay Sapphire to the more exotic, such as Sweden’s Right Gin, the choice is spectacular. The choice is so large that you get to decide how you want your G&T, with a range of tonics and garnishes to go alongside your choice of gin. The problem with choice, however, is it’s difficult to find exactly what you want. Luckily for us, the complimentary bar simply provided us with Tanqueray gin along with our choice of tonic and garnish (BottleGreen’s Elderflower and Pomegranate with a grapefruit garnish was extremely refreshing in the early evening sun) but, other than the four recommendations on the menu, there appears to be no real help in deciding the best and most interesting combinations with no real details about the different gins. Of course, perhaps the staff might be more attentive to suggesting combinations when the bar isn’t so busy, and it’s understandable that they were swept off their feet with the demand for gin on opening night so, hopefully, on a regular night, the staff can be your guide through the extraordinary amount of choice available.

For those not too keen on gin, there are a wide range of whiskeys available (around 4 pages worth in the menu) and, luckily, there is some detail on the different types making choosing a whiskey to your taste a lot easier. There are also plenty of cask ales and craft beers on offer, bottled and from tap, and at a reasonable price, making PTMY a viable threat of BrewDog’s monopoly on the craft beer market in Newcastle. Although, as PTMY’s heart is firmly with gin, there isn’t the same amount of love given to the craft beer which you will be able to get from a trip to BrewDog, where the staff seem to know all their products inside and out.

No food was available to try on Friday, but the menu looks diverse with a real gastro feel to it; littered with pulled pork on brioche and crab linguine. To me, however, PTMY doesn’t really feel like somewhere you would go primarily to eat. Of course, trying the food might change my mind but it feels exactly like what it was on Friday evening; a place to go after work on a Friday to celebrate the weekend with a range of gins to get through every visit, which it does with aplomb.

Immediately following this, we took a trip a bit further out of the centre for a special preview of a new teahouse that could give Campus Coffee, its closest rival, a lot to be worried about. Quilliam Brothers’ Teahouse is situated in what used to be a disused building belonging to Newcastle University close to the Great North Museum. A family run business, led by the three eponymous Quilliam brothers, they produce a vast variety of teas to suit everyone’s taste: from Rooibos to Oolong to your ordinary Breakfast tea with a number of different flavours for each.

Like Pleased To Meet You, the emphasis here is on variety and there is a lot to try. Luckily for us, the staff are knowledgeable of their products and the menus provide a nice insight into what is in each tea. This makes the decision of what to have all the more easier, and with plenty on offer, it’s always nice to try something new and find a new favourite. After trying a number of teas on the Friday evening, I ended up returning again for Saturday lunch, when the place had officially opened and was instantly drawn back to the Ice Age and Tingly Fresh Masala, both refreshing teas that were perfect for the glorious sunshine outside (even if it had poured it down earlier that morning).

Admittedly, things were a bit haphazard on the Saturday but, as with Pleased To Meet You, opening day jitters are always to be expected. No salads were available apart from the Coq au vin salad, which scuppered my plans to have a Waldorf salad, and my second choice, a falafel and hummus stottie, didn’t come with any garnish (the staff did later realise this and apologise). The falafel, too, was a little too chewy for my tastes; I prefer my falafel to be of the more crumbly, almost melt in your mouth variety. However, it is hard to complain about the portion sizes which were huge. Definitely good value for money either way. The rest of the menu is rather interesting for what many would perceive to be a café, with interesting stotties (including one with heaps and heaps of pulled pork on top) and a large breakfast selection.

The teahouse itself is wonderfully situated, halfway between the main university and the university’s library, making it a perfect destination for many students. The huge floor to ceiling windows mean the place is mostly always lit by natural light in the day, and also add a fantastic people watching element from pretty much anywhere in the café. Downstairs houses a small gallery is tea inspired art (often painted or sculpted entirely out of used tea bags) and a cinema. The owners want the place to be not just another café, but a place for people to come and experience art and just talk. This, too, is the inspiration behind the 1am closing, making it perhaps the latest closing establishment that does not serve alcohol giving you a nice alternative to Sinners and perfect for a late night break during an essay all-nighter.

It was extraordinarily busy at Saturday lunchtime, with people often unable to find seats despite the wide number of tables and chairs available, proving that there is a market for this and, accompanied by friendly staff and an excellently diverse range of teas on offer (plus coffee and soft drinks for those not too swayed by tea), there’s real potential for Quilliam Bros to take off.

Images of Quilliam Brothers' Teahouse courtesy of Georgie Moule

Live at Leeds 2013 review [May 27th 2013 in The Courier]

Leeds has an extraordinarily vibrant music scene, perhaps the most vibrant outside of London. Its music venues are frequently ranked amongst the best in the country and nearly every band touring in the UK makes at least one stop in this fair city, sometimes even two stops.

The idea that Leeds is The Music Lover’s City is most obvious when May Bank Holiday Weekend rolls around each year for this weekend is when the music lovers finally grasp control of the city during the spectacle that is Live at Leeds. 80% of the people you see running around the city centre are most probably going to be those in a rush to get from one end of the city to the other in order to see the most hotly tipped band this year. It sounds stressful, but it’s this rush that makes Live at Leeds so exciting. Plus, what better reason to head home for a bit of a rest the weekend before my dissertation was due in!

With an unrivalled number of acts in its seventh year, both big names and the local ones, it looked like the Saturday would be a busy one, with queues winding down the street from City Museum just to pick up wristbands. At that point, I’m sure pangs of fear shot through everyone that they might not get in to see the band they most wanted to see but it appears that the Live at Leeds gang have managed to streamline the experience and queues were moving at a decent speed. Plus, if the queue was too big, there was plenty else going on throughout the city at the same time.

Kicking off the day as I do most visits to Leeds with a trip to Nation of Shopkeepers, it was an encouraging sight to see the place buzzing with anticipation just after lunch time. I’m here to see Night Engines who were sold to me in the guide as a Talking Heads influenced, garish shirt wearing 4 piece. Channelling Davids Bowie and Byrne, they’re the perfect start to the day with their blend of foot tapping rhythms, hip shaking grooves and a lot of yelping. Managing to grab the attention of the notoriously apathetic early crowd who are just killing time until the bigger bands later on is no mean feat, but these guys certainly did that with some, albeit slightly dubious, style.

Deciding to stick around in the newly refurbished Nation of Shopkeepers, now feeling much more open in the stage half of the venue, to see On an On at 4, I waited with anticipation for Nadine Carina, a song writer from all over the land (half Italian, half Croatian, born in Switzerland and living in Liverpool) with a penchant for swooning and whirling melodies. Unfortunately, whether this was a sound problem or a crowd problem, I just couldn’t hear anything beyond the occasional grandiose finale to a track despite the persistent attempts of a few in the crowd to make everyone shut up. Luckily, no such problems exist for On an On who manage to dazzle the crowd with a mix of back-and-forth boy-girl-boy vocals and fuzzy riffs, main single The Hunter taking the crowd by the throat and leading them on a synth-driven trip through the sunshine.

With a brief bit of respite to grab a bite to eat, it’s up to Leeds Met for London Grammar, a band I had heard a lot about but never really heard; the packed out room a good sign of things to come. What we get is Florence Welch-esque soaring vocals alongside something which wouldn’t find out of place alongside Zero7 or Massive Attack’s back catalogue; a dark and brooding concoction made only more intriguing by the restrained drum and bass fuelled finale. What followed this was one of my most highly anticipated bands of the day, Wolf Alice, and rightly so. Although the room was nowhere near as the packed out as it was for London Grammar, perhaps not yet well known enough to fill a room like Leeds Met The Stage, they throw their scuzzy rock sound around into it fills every inch of the room, single Fluffy enrapturing the crowd with its balls to the walls ferocity. Even the softer songs, such as Bros, manage to keep the crowd in a headlock.

After a last minute cancellation for AlunaGeorge last year left me a tad disappointed (although it did mean I could head over to Leeds Met to see Savages on a whim who, at the time, I had never heard of but now can’t escape), they returned this year to place O2 Academy, ironically again at the same time as Savages. After finishing the BBC Sound of 2013 Poll in second place, it seems like this duo can take on anything, including a surprise cover Montell Jordan’s number one single This Is How We Do It. With a number of hit tracks under their belt, AlunaGeorge get the crowd moving, the whole place becoming one big party with Aluna Francis as our master of ceremonies leading us all in a merry dance. And boy can she dance, captivating the crowd as she glides across the huge Academy stage, taming the stage to her command.

All this seems, on paper, like the perfect warm up for what is to come next: Rudimental. Now, I don’t consider myself a drum and bass fan at all but, whack some brass over the top and get one of the most promising songwriters in pop to help you out (MNEK, an 18 year old guy from Lewisham that’s had his hand in the best The Saturday’s song All Fired Up and surprise number one for Duke Dumont and A*M*E, Need U 100%), and baby, you’ve got a stew going. It’s infectious and the gloriously sunny weather all day meant that the crowd were in the mood to be taken away on this equally sunny ride. Sure, some of the album tracks sounded a tad flat, but when they get to the likes of Not Giving In, inviting John Newman on stage who had been playing The Faversham earlier in the day, the crowd went wild to the sounds of, what is most likely going to be, the most used track on BBC inspirational idents replacing any Sigur Ros song ever (seriously, Festival and Hoppipolla are so overused now guys!).

As the crowds disperse, we decide to head over to the relatively quiet Faversham for MSMR, a two piece with soaring synth driven melodies and wonderfully gravelly vocals. Knocking through their singles, Hurricane and Fantasy, the wash of chillwave-y goth-pop akin to Zola Jesus with a touch of Wild Belle makes this a perfect end to a wonderful day, marred only by a few sound troubles here and there.

United States of Television review [May 13th 2013 in The Courier]

If you’re reading this section of the paper, you probably enjoy TV to some degree. Whether that’s simply in a ‘sit on the sofa with your flatmates and a cuppa’ capacity or in ‘feverishly marathon the entire Sopranos boxset in a weekend’ capacity, you’re all still fans of TV.

We’re definitely at another high point in TV right now. With the likes of Breaking Bad captivating audiences, New Girl and Happy Endings finally breaking the curse of Friends, and properly original shows that, although getting cancelled due to low viewers, at least shows writers are thinking about doing something different, leads me to argue that perhaps we are living in a Second Golden Age of TV.

The United States of Television is here to show you why TV is so bloody good. Originally airing on PBS in 2011, this re-edited version also features contributions from Alan Yentob. It is perhaps one of the cleverest shows about television to have ever aired, capturing why exactly we love TV while gauging how a square box has managed to change society in America and the world.

Split into four parts, each focusing on a different types of TV characters (The Misfit, The Crusader, Independent Woman, and Man of the House), the series looks at the history of these characters throughout history. Accompanied by talking heads from many of the people involved, both in front of the camera and behind, it not only gives us a great look as to how these shows came to be, but also how certain shows have influenced society, with I Love Lucy redefining the way women are portrayed on screen.

If you love TV in any way, I highly implore you to watch this show if not simply to add more shows to the list of things you need to watch.

New Girl review [April 29th 2013 in The Courier]

Zooey Deschanel is perhaps the most ‘marmite’ actress of the moment. Some find her ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ shtick wonderful and want to ride off with her into the eternal sunset over fields of roses and daffodils on bedazzled horses that smell of Lenor. Others want to run as far away as possible when a ukulele appears for fear they might be “treated” to an indie twee rendition of The Wire theme tune (cause that’s what the kids today do, right?)

Herein lay the problem with the first season of New Girl, it pushed Deschanel’s character Jess to the forefront while keeping the supporting cast far out on the periphery as simply characters she interacts with as opposed to primary characters in their own right. This is often a problem when creating an ensemble comedy, even more so when the character focused on is one that could polarise an audience. I’m somewhere on the fence about Deschanel; she does what she does well but it can get grating in large doses. What annoyed me more about most of the first season of New Girl was its squandering of an excellent supporting cast.

But something happened over the Christmas break. It seems as though Elizabeth Merriwether and her staff of writers realised that they were holding on to some real comic gems in Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris, and Jake Johnson and suddenly they began to flourish. Things weren’t so focused on Deschanel as the show started to pair up the likes of loveable douche Schmidt and the try-hard Winston leading to a fantastic end to a shaky series.

Now that New Girl is back for a second season, this streak continues and shows no sign of dwindling. As Jess loses her job as a teacher, she’s thrown into an unemployed limbo. As she goes about her own thing trying to find a job while trying to find love, Schmidt is distraught to find Cece dating another man while Nick just goes around being Nick (meeting a version of himself from the future, consoling in a silent man in the park and dating numerous girls he meets in his bar). This is also a great season for guest stars, particularly in regards to parents. Jamie Lee Curtis and Rob Reiner are wonderful as Jess’s parents and Nelson Franklin is perfect foil for Schmidt as Cece’s new boyfriend.
If there’s one problem with this season is that Winston stays very much in the background until the return of everyone’s favourite nonsensical drinking game “True American” when he begins to get decent separate storylines.

The rest of the season really is something to look forward to, with a “will they, won’t they” story arc that might just be the true successor to Cheers’ Sam and Diane (sorry Ross and Rachel) and the discovery that Schmidt and Winston are the greatest comedy pairing the show has made so far. Never has my show on an opinion fluctuated so much from apathy to pure adoration, but I’m just glad it has!

The Final Countdown [April 29th 2013 in The Courier]

There’s something about watching or listening to something for the first time and knowing that it’s going to have some form of impact on your life. The minute it ends, you’re not only sad that it’s over but also that you’ll never experience that feeling you just felt again.

It’s a unique feeling that is only replicated by finding something with a similar impact. But there are certain things that, no matter how many times you watch or listen to them, they still feel extraordinarily fresh, even if you can predict when the jokes will hit, when the twist will be or what’s coming up next. For me, that list is quite short, mainly containing Monty Python’s Life of Brian, LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver and Arrested Development.

I discovered Arrested Development in my first year of university. Recently in clover, or so I thought, thanks to discovering the joys of the student loan, I popped over to HMV for a regular browse with no intentions of buying anything (OK I lie, I was definitely going to buy something….) and spotted a wonderful boxset in the sale section. I’d heard about Arrested Development from a few people but just never bothered to get around to watching it. Sacrificing money that should really have gone towards that week’s food shop, I took it straight to the counter and rushed home to put it on. First episode over, I felt OK that I was going to having 20p instant noodles for tea instead of a salmon pasta. Second episode over, third episode, fourth episode, fifth episode; I quickly began to lose track of time.  But as I watched more, that sense of dread that I’d never have this much fun watching this show again began to creep.

Alas, I was terrifically wrong. Thinking about certain episodes, a smile cracks on my face making things a tad awkward when walking around thinking about George Bluth Sr’s lessons to his children with the assistance of his one armed friend J. Walter Weatherman or GOB’s short lived honey business. Revisiting some of my favourite episodes is one of the easiest ways to lift my spirits. It has an infectious quality to it. Seeing other people enjoy it, listening to other people talk about it or just seeing something about it in a paper or on the internet is exciting in itself.

The appeal of it seems to be that the show is atypically eccentric. It’s very difficult to think of another show anywhere within its radius. Sure, it’s base plot is very simple: George Bluth tries to keep his dysfunctional family together which includes an opulent, frequently drunk mother, a brother in law with a tendencies to slip innuendos in wherever he can without meaning to and a father who spends most of the show in jail for fraud. Yet it’s these eccentric characters and their eccentric adventures that make Arrested Development what it is. From Tobias Funke attempting to become a member of the Blue Man Group, to Steve Holt who shouts his own name often and loud, to Bob Loblaw, proprietor of Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog (say that 5 times after a few drinks), the show is so loaded with characters that the only show it really resembles is The Simpsons.

The jokes are equally ridiculous and attention to detail even moreso. Spotting little recurring jokes makes every viewing of an episode of Arrested Development (references to Charlie Brown, anything to do with Ann Veal, foreshadowing of an incident with Buster Bluth and a seal) with the show even ostensibly breaking the fourth wall, such as when Scott Baio’s Bob Loblaw is brought in to replace Henry Winkler’s Barry Zuckercorn as the family lawyer (Baio’s Chachi replaced Winkler’s Fonz in Happy Days) or when Barry Zuckercorn literally jumps over a shark, a reference to the now infamous Happy Days scene.

It’s very easy to go on and on about this show. For what seems like a simple sitcom, it is ridiculously layered which is what makes it a treat every time you watch it and it’s insanely quotable to boot. Luckily for us, Netflix are set to release 15 new episodes on May 26th, similar to how they released House of Cards, so we can experience new episodes 7 years after it was cancelled by Fox (which the show did end up referencing a lot in its final few episodes). They’ve definitely not made a huge mistake here.