Skiddle's Teletech Festival 2023 review: a broadly positive verdict on atmosphere and sound

Skiddle's review of Teletech Festival 2023 at Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester is worth revisiting as one of the more favourable accounts of the act's live work. The piece is a broadly positive assessment of the festival rather than a narrow appraisal of a single performance, and it was published without a rating, so its weight rests on the reporting and the reviewer's overall tone.

What the critic responded to first was the atmosphere. The review paraphrased as highlighting a strong sense of camaraderie across the event, the feeling that the crowd had gathered around the music in a genuinely friendly way. Sound quality on the stages also drew positive attention, which tends to be one of the first things a festival-goer notices and one of the easiest things for an organiser to get wrong.

The verdict was supported by specific praise for several performers. Azyr, Sara Landry and Alignment were all singled out, and the Azyr B2B Lessss set stood out as a particular highlight. Naming individual sets gives the review a concrete footing, showing that the positive impression was built from particular moments across the weekend rather than a general goodwill towards the event.

The reviewer did not present the festival as flawless. Rain was noted, along with some set cancellations and reduced volume on the outdoor stages. The lack of water taps was criticised directly, a practical complaint that sits oddly alongside the praise for the event's sound and spirit. These points were kept in proportion, and they did not overturn the broadly favourable conclusion.

For readers trying to understand the act live, the review offers a useful picture. Its strengths, as the critic saw them, lay in the people in the room, the quality of the sound and the strength of several sets, rather than in any single headline moment. Looked at now, the piece suggests that Teletech's live reputation has been built as much on atmosphere and sound as on individual performances, and that its most persuasive case is made by the crowd itself.