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 Saturday August 26th
Bramhall Park, Leeds
After a night of celebrating Pearl Jam’s epic performance the night
before, we decide it’s for best if we take it easy on Day 2. As such,
we spend the first few hours over at the Comedy & Cabaret tent where the
likes of Andrew Bird, Jon Richardson and Welshman Lloyd Langford wax
comical on everything from old people falling over on busses to magic
carpets, a joke which is funny at first, but rapidly looses its appeal
when your girlfriend repeats it to everyone you meet for the rest of the
weekend.
And so, feeling pretty perky after a good chuckle, we head over to the
Main Stage to check out The Subways.
Whilst some critics argued that the power-pop trio would be ill-suited
to the Main Stage, Billy Lunn, fiancé Charlotte Cooper and brother Josh
Morgan certainly make the most of what they’ve got, and look like
they’re having the time of their lives.
As they belt out fan favourites such as ‘Oh Yeah’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll
Queen’, Lunn leaves the stage and begins walking around atop the
speakers and scaling the stage framework.
It’s an energetic performance from a promising young band who seem to
enjoy every moment just as much, if not more than, their enthusiastic
fans.
Fall Out Boy are up next, and do little more than disappoint. Despite
the current popularity of all this Emo malarkey, and despite the huge
reception they get, FOB seem to be simply going through the motions.
Patrick Stumps vocals are just as unclear live as they are on record,
and the songs they churn out seem a wee bit shoddy and rushed.
Meanwhile, spokesman Pete Wentz is just annoying, spending most of the
time between songs reminding people that the band are from America.
Yeah, we kinda guessed.
Indeed, the only highlight for us in an otherwise lifeless set is when
Wentz splits his pants mid-song.
This is all rather a let down, since on record, tunes like ‘Sugar, We’re
Going Down’ and ‘Dance Dance’ are all rather fun catchy little numbers
that get stuck in your head for hours on end.
From the huge Main Stage, we next make our way over to the tiny Radio 1
Lockup Stage to catch one of the most underrated bands in the UK,
Hundred Reasons.
As with most acts this weekend, there’s a full crowd here this
afternoon. Yet there’s an extra reason they’re here other to check out a
relentless set of melodic post-hardcore anthems.
Today is Paul Townsend’s last gig on these shores, the guitarist
departing for good following a September tour of Japan.
But for now, he’s very much a part of things as the band let rip with an
awesome display of emotionally driven, passionate hard rock that sees
their loyal following going crazy to old favourites such as ‘If I Could’
and newer tracks from latest album ‘Kill Your Own’ in what becomes a
surprise highlight of our weekend.
An even bigger surprise comes in the form of Dizzee Rascal.
Though we don’t stick around for very long to catch much of the
Londoner’s mix of rap, grime and MCing, plenty of people do, and seem to
be enjoying it.
In this alone, Dizzee succeeds were fellow hip-hopper 50 Cent, who was
bottled off stage the other year, failed, putting on a successful
hip-hop show in front of a predominantly rock orientated crowd.
We round off our night with a set from the fun loving Eagles of Death
Metal.
OK, so they don’t actually play death metal, and they’re erm, not
actually eagles, but they are good, and surprise surprise, the Carling
Stage is packed. Half the folk are here to get down to some feel good
garage rock, whilst the other half are here out of curiosity to check
out Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme doing a reverse Dave
Grohl and taking his spot behind the drum kit.
We’d like to pretend that we’re cool and are part of the first group,
but sadly, we can’t, and have to admit that we too are here to quell our
curiosity.
Yet regardless as to why we came, we’re certainly glad we did.
Owner of the coolest moustache in rock (which is perhaps the only place
you’ll ever find the words ‘cool’ and ‘moustache’ in the same sentence),
Jesse ‘The Devil’ Hughes makes an entertaining frontman, approaching
every bit of ‘tween-song banter with as much enthusiasm as he does the
songs.
It’s a fast, furious and fun show filled with lively, robust songs that
sees them entertaining their fans and picking up new ones along the way,
us included.
Recommended Links:
►
www.leedsfestival.com – Official festival website
The Subways
►
www.thesubways.net
►
www.myspace.com/thesubways
Fall Out Boy
►
www.falloutboyrock.com
►
www.myspace.com/falloutboy
Hundred Reasons
►
www.hundredreasons.com
►
www.myspace.com/hundredreasons
Dizzee Rascal
►
www.dizzeerascal.co.uk
►
www.myspace.com/mathsandenglish
Eagles of Death Metal
►
www.eaglesofdeathmetal.net
►
www.myspace.com/eaglesofdeathmetal
►
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