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 Sunday August 27th
Bramhall Park, Leeds
What a start to our final day of festival fun and frolics.
We could’ve taken it easy at first. Perhaps worked ourselves up gently
in the early going so that we were nice and ready to rock out later in
the day, but no.
Instead, we find ourselves at one o clock in the afternoon in the thick
of the ‘survival of the fittest’ rampage that makes up Flogging Molly’s
hardcore crowd.
And there’s no chance the Irish-Americans are going to take it easy
either. Finding themselves in the unique situation of playing twice in
one day (one now and again later on in the Radio 1 Lockup tent) you
might think they’d be looking to break in gently.
No chance.
Right from the get-go, Flogging Molly pick up were opening act Aiden
left off, whipping the Main Stage crowd into an inevitable frenzy with
their off-kilt, rambunctious folk-punk fusion.
Despite wearing a big black suit in this warm sunny weather, vocalist
Dave King looks jubilant, dedicating ‘Selfish Man’ to old Georgie Bush
and leading his band through a rollickingly good set.
We would have come to see Flogging Molly anyway, but it’s a good job we
did, otherwise we might have had no chance of getting a spot for
following act, Wolfmother.
With only one album under their belt, the Ausie rockers have already
attracted a huge following in the UK thanks to their scuzzy, old-skool
rock with a modern twist.
It’s probably fairly safe to say that 90% of this crowd weren’t around
to catch Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin back in the day, but no mind,
because in Wolfmother, they have, arguably, the next best thing.
And whilst the Sabbath/Zeppelin comparisons are easy to make, they’re
also essential in describing this monolith of huge riffs and retro cool.
Take a bit of each, add a cool-looking organ, songs about unicorns and a
frontman who reminds us of Mars Volta man Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, and low
behold, you have Wolfmother.
And today, they’re awesome.
Whilst songs such as ‘Apple Tree’ are sped up to a million miles an
hour, others, like ‘White Unicorn’ are stretched to long, drawn-out rock
epics. There’s scarcely a dull moment, especially when recent single
‘Woman’ kicks in and the place goes loco.
This is good old fashioned, unashamed, horns in the air, head banging
hard rock, and it is nothing more than excellent.
Having exhausted our first wave of energy, we next opt to chill out on
the field adjoining the Main Stage, ice creams in hand with The Cribs
playing in the background.
The Yorkshire boys put on a spirited performance for a lively and
receptive audience, and for the duration of their set rename the entire
weekend ‘The Wakefield Music Festival’, which amuses us slightly.
From there, it’s back to the Comedy Tent for more giggles from the likes
of Rob Rouse (of TV’s ‘Grownups’) who does a funny rendition of Wheatus’
‘Teenage Dirtbag’, and the portly Rob Ferry, who is pretty amusing when
he isn’t full of faux rage, going off on vitriolic rants against the
harshness of life, which, quite frankly, scare us a bit.
Having caught our second wind, we head back over to the Main Stage to
catch the end of Dirty Pretty Things.
Whilst Carl Barat’s new outfit have some decent tunes, there’s not much
here that separates them from The Libertines. Even the guitars from
sing-a-long hit ‘Bang Bang, Your Dead’ could’ve been pilfered from any
number of tracks from The Libs’ self-titled swansong.
Regardless, they draw a huge crowd, made up of the indie in-crowd and a
few dozen Pete Doherty wannabes in their silly polo-shirt and bowler hat
get ups like second rate Mods of the new millennium.
Anyway, any hostility we may have towards Doherty clones is quickly
forgotten about as Feeder take to the stage.
With their ‘Singles’ LP not long since released, today’s set is little
more than a run through of their greatest hits, but that’s OK.
Everything is present and correct here. ‘Buck Rogers’? Check. ‘Pushing
The Senses’? Check. Impromptu jam on the beginning of AC/DC’s ‘Back in
Black’? Er, check.
And when they launch into ‘Feeling a Moment’, never has such a song been
more apt. A few hundred people with arms raised high in the air, singing
along to every word in the glorious mid-day sun, these are the sort of
moments festivals were designed for.
Feeder put on a great show, closing with a raucous rendition of ‘Just A
Day’ that sends the place into hysterics.
We leave the Main Stage to the sound of The Streets Mike Skinner
claiming to be everyone from the Arctic Monkeys to The Automatic, and
head over to the NME/Radio 1 stage to check out Jet.
The Ausie boys put on a decent set of tight, solid rock ‘n’ roll built
on strong grooves. It’s all good to a point, but unfortunately there’s
nothing other than their biggest hit, ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’, that
stands out as being anything special.
And then it’s time for the big two.
With the sun all but gone and dark clouds looming, the masses swarm to
the Main Stage ready for the musical phenomenon of the last two years,
Arctic Monkeys.
It all starts promisingly. Opening up with a thunderous version of ‘I
Bet That You Look Good on the Dance Floor’, complete with brash strobe
lights and a monstrous chorus.
But from then on, it all goes a bit down hill.
Alex Turner and his bunch of Sheffield scallywags look totally lost on
the big stage. Like deer in the proverbial headlights, The Monkeys fill
the gaps between songs not with witty banter or rock ‘n’ roll anecdotes,
but with silence.
It feels like a good few minutes have passed before anything happens
again, and when it does, it’s all very underwhelming.
Which is a shame, since the Monkeys do have a string of good tunes up
their sleeve. Tonight however, those tunes, such as ‘When the Sun Goes
Down’ and ‘Fake Tales of San Francisco’ just seem to drift off into the
wide open space.
The inclusion of B-side ‘Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts’ cheers us
up a bit, but it sadly isn’t enough to make up for a lacklustre
performance.
Which leaves us with one final band to bring the weekend to a close.
With the night sky now in bloom, the crowds rapidly gather to see Muse’s
highly anticipated live show, huddling together beneath a shower of
miserable rain.
Yet despite the poor weather, nobody budges. The ‘Bellamy! Bellamy!’
chants grow louder and the lanky lord of lavish rock arrives as Muse go
straight into ‘Knights of Cydonia’ and for time, seem to call the rain
to a halt.
We’re right up near the front at first, but after getting flattened,
stretched and squashed like Play-Doh, we drag ourselves a few rows back
to truly witness the show in all it’s O.T.T glory.
And it’s a hell of a show.
As Matt, Chris and Dom continue to blast out the anthems, huge video
walls like something out of an 80s Sci-fi flick flash images, patterns
and random lyrics as lights flash and crash around.
The setting is equally as impressive as the music itself.
New tracks such as uber-groovy ‘Super Massive Black Hole’ and
‘Starlight’ are thrashed out in the early going, joining forces with the
likes of ‘New Born’, ‘Bliss’ and ‘Plug in Baby’ in a grandiose spectacle
of rock at it’s most extravagant.
Unfortunately, the rain kicks up again, only this time seeming like just
as much a part of the experience as everything else as the band go into
their bass-heavy cover of ‘Feeling Good’.
Throughout all the pomp and full on rock, one thing becomes clear: Matt
Bellamy is one of the few remaining rock gods in the new millennium.
Standing tall, looking cool and enigmatic, he leads Muse on a rampage
through musical decadence.
And so the answer to the great Arctic Monkeys/Muse debate is no more.
Muse win hands down.
The dilemma of the weekend for us however, is who to declare kings of
the festival, Muse, or Pearl Jam?
After some thought, it’s decided that we just have to side with Pearl
Jam, if for no other reason than that solo.
Recommended Links:
►
www.leedsfestival.com – Official Festival website
Flogging Molly
►
www.floggingmolly.com
►
www.myspace.com/floggingmolly
Wolfmother
►
www.wolfmother.com
►
www.myspace.com/wolfmother
The Cribs
►
www.thecribs.com
►
www.myspace.com/thecribs
Dirty Pretty Things
►
www.dirtyprettythingsband.com
►
www.myspace.com/dirtyprettythingsofficial
Feeder
►
www.feederweb.com
►
www.myspace.com/feederweb
The Streets
►
www.the-streets.co.uk
►
www.myspace.com/thestreets
Jet
►
www.jetmusic.co.uk
►
www.myspace.com/jet
Arctic Monkeys
►
www.arcticmonkeys.com
►
http://www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys
Muse
►
www.muse.mu
►
www.myspace.com/muse
►
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