Friday 24th
Biffy Clyro, Stage Two
Thank goodness for the rain we’ve
been blessed with. The tent is full of people, which is great because it gives
Biffy Clyro the large audience they deserve. The set is, what I’m gathering
will be the basis of the debut album and it’s great. Despite being dismissed
in the NME for being stuck in 1992, in the height of grunge, this does not
necessarily bode true in their live show. The three pieces provide a vibrant and
cheery set and get the audience really into the set with the upbeat numbers and
the released singles. The ‘Kidswhopoptodaywillrocktommorow’ tracks go down
particularly well, not only because people know them but also because they are
such well crafted songs. ‘57’ and ‘Just Boy’ get the crowd moshing along
happily ( Biffy seem to be able to get the crowd going wherever and whenever
they play) and the softer ‘Hope for an angel’ does the trick for me as well.
The quiet/loud formula is used to a considerable extent in their songs without
making the tunes predictable. Biffy Clyro are slowly but surely building up a
big fan base outwith Scotland. Their yells, screams, crashy guitars and
harmonies are a perfect start to the weekend.
Here, with an album full of new
tunes to play, its nice to see that the band will still bring out some of their
older tunes in live sets. We are treated to songs from ‘Surviving the quiet’
as well as the new ‘When do we start fighting’. The audience is quite
complacent and don’t really seem to be quite so into Seafood, although moods
are lifted and an eagerness to watch the band is heightened with gifts of water
pistols thrown into the audience. The band provide an intense set,
leaving the stage to hums of blissful feedback, which was thankfully drowning
out the atrocious System of A Down. A personal highlight of their set would have
to be ‘Porchlight’ which they ended with, allowing it to amass into a good
punk rock crescendo.
Standing alone in the midst of many
‘disillusioned youths’ and
‘disposable teens’ waiting for ‘P Roach’ to start is mind numbing
enough- a crowd with as much originality, personality and vibrancy as a Cliff
Richard record. The band don’t really do themselves any justice either-
ammasing into a huge Americanised ball of Coby Dick shaped cliché. He bangs his
head of the microphone ( cos, he, like, feels your pain) and sings the songs the
kids want to hear. The songs are quite catchy and you can’t deny yourself the
comedy of moshing along to ‘Last Resort’.
It’s all good silly pop fun but I don’t think most people here see it
that way.
Although his music is probably the
biggest Nine inch Nails rip off since, um, the Nine Inch Nails last made an
album, there is no doubt that Marilyn Manson puts on a spectacular stage show.
We all wait in anticipation to hear what he has to say tonight, althought his
antics are pretty tame- a desire to yell ‘Leeeeeeds’ very loudly and stick a
glow stick up his bum are all that surpass. The most exciting parts of the show
are probably not the music ( mostly
a mixture of punky pop and industrial ,although ‘Disposable Teens’ and his
cover of ‘Sweet Dreams’ are classic and ‘Fight Song’ is quite
rousing)but the outfits he wears and the stilts and raised stages he writhes
around on. At one point he comes out dressed as the Pope, the next he is up on a
podium, the next he is clambering around on stilts with a leather corset on. He
shows the crowd what they want to see- their hero, doing what they’ve all
heard he will do. The songs aren’t bad either ( a little bit I
hatemyselfandmymomanddad for my liking) but Marilyn Manson is something that has
to be experienced, for the show alone. You can hear the music in exactly the
same shape + form from a cd in your room.
saturday 25th
Crack
Having been touring with Raging
Speedhorn and Amen recently, this three piece seem to be scaling new heights in
loudness, punkiness and general racket making. They aren’t bad at what they do
either. For three teenage ( ish) boys they make a lot of noise. The set is a
short snappy one as they open the stage for the Saturday. I think this is
probably the best way to see Crackout- in small does. This is not neccesarily a
bad thing, its just that although their songs are pretty well written and
enthusiasticly preformed, they are all quite similar.
This is a band who wouldn’t be out
of place back in the height of Britpop, touring with Menswear. They look like
King Adora in indie boy clothes
with Hilary from JJ72 on bass. The tunes themselves are expolosive and have some
of the catchiest choruses you will hear around at the moment. The music is
nothing new or inovative ( except maybe their interesting use of a plastic
recorder on some of the songs) but nontheless pretty damn good- if it ain’t a
broke formula then don’t fix it, no?. The set is quite punky, without being
angry- a good ‘wake up sleepyheads’ set to set us on the road to see as many
bands as possible that day.
One of the most anticipated acts for
me of the whole weekend. As a
support act to the Strokes back in June this year ( accoustic only) the Moldy
Peaches had shown to those who had managed to make it to those shows how
talented and original they really were. Now they are back, with the full band
and a wardrobe full of cool outfits. With their quirky New York lo-fi rock they
managed to take this genre to new heights, with songs with names like ‘Whos
got the crack?’ and other debaucherous tales of the sleazy underbelly of their
home city. It’s all lightened with lovely melodys and a great attitude from
the band themselves. The band almost seem like they can’t believe their luck
at playing to such a big crowd, all who seem to know the words and crowdsurf (
which is greeted by bewildered looks and big grins from Adam and Kimya). If your
looking for the real heroes of this new New York genre created by the NME, etc
then look no further than the Moldy Peaches- original, inovative ( lyrically and
musically) and you wouldn’t catch Julian Casablancas in a pixie outfit, would
you?
Strokes, Main Stage
You will, however, catch Mr
Casablancas on the main stage though. The Strokes have been moved at the last
minute to the Main Stage due to the success they have recently been having in
the UK. The success is undeniably deserved though. A large crowd gathers to see
the band play and they seem to be on top form as they drum through the songs
from the album, due out two days later. It makes a change to hear some nice,
melodic punky art rock this weekend on the main stage, which has been dominated
by a lot of formualic ‘woooargh’ men in leather type bands on the Friday.
Highlights definitely have to be the tunes ‘Someday’, ‘New York City
Cops’ and ‘Last nite’ , the
latter two being quite familiar to the crowd and getting everyone jumping.
It’s hard to explain, but the Strokes seem to have blown a fresh breathe of
air into a scene dominated by metal at the moment. They aren’t doing anything particularly
new ( Lou Reed should be suing for copyrights in some songs) but the
enthusiasm, looks and timing of a band like this coming along is perfect.
After hearing ‘Fevers and
Mirror’ earlier in the year, I knew Bright Eyes was one act which was
something that couldn’t be missed this weekend.
Conor Oberst is probaly the most emotionl 20 eyar old I have ever
witnessed on a stage and this comes through in both his lyrics and the tunes
surrounding those. As he sits strumming his accoustic guitar, almost spitting
out some of those lyrics, he has the audience captivated from the very word go,
with beautiful tunes and a strong stage presence.
A newish band, champoined on Steve
Lurpac’s show and a definate group to catch the next time they are touring.
The current EP ( ‘Sink Lodge’) is pretty good and their live set is even
better. Don’t know much more of their stuff, much the band’s tunesseem to be
hot, punky and Stooges-esque and could gove the Strokes a run for their money.
Oh yes.
Some people I have heard call them
the ‘Dull Historical Society’ but a good tune can never go down badly in my
way of thinking. MHS seem to be in essence quite a simple band- they make their
mark with natural, down to the basics tunes. The lush melodies and harmonies
which these tunes contain, however are wee gems although they are probably
suited better to a smaller venue or something because Colin’s voice tendd to
grate slightly. Not bad though- Elbow they ain’t but a damn good duo, with
heaps of talent.
King
Adora, Stage two
Never a band I had witnessed in the
flesh ( ahem) before, but here we are, watching the mighty ( ahem) King Adora,
do a karaoke Manics, a performance and cocktails Pixies. Their tunes are okay,
I’ve got a few of the singles and they are undeniably quite good indie/pop
tunes. Highlights from the set were probably ‘Big isn’t beautiful’ and
‘Suffocate’ for me. King Adora can play live, depsite rumours that they are
god awful when left to their own devices on a stage. They seem to have filled a
void in the market, left by the old skool Manics, as they seem to attract the
same sort of crowd. However, they have neither the Manics talent, charisma or
looks and will probably be desitned to always play Stage two in the 6 o clock
slot and never move any higher up the bill. King Adora are all glammed up with
nowhere to go.
Polly Jean Harvey is greeted as she
walks on to the stage with wolf whistles. Harvey is undeniably the most
glamourous and beautiful singer to grace the stage this weekend ( Marylin Manson
coming a close secong, obviously). She
has a strong reprtiore of songs to show case, mostly from the newest album
‘Stories from the city, stories from the sea’ and the climax probably being
‘Good Fortune’. A strong singer with a classic backing band, she allows the
crowd a glimpse of a timeless song writer.
Evan Dando is back, although I have
to admit I’m a wee bit yound to have known him much before he went away-
ofcourse there is the obvious songs covered or penned by him- ‘Mrs Robinson’
back in the Lemonheads days and others such as ‘The Outdoor type’. The set
seems to be a good one though, even thought the material is unfamiliar. The
combination of accoustic with electric is lovely and the country rock folk tunes
are a nice way to end the day, before seeing Ash. Evan Dando seems to be in fine
spirit, with a cool new band and some new tunes for his fans. Sadly the set is
too short, sitting pretty at less than an hour.
An Edinburgh band down in Leeds, the
band bring down with them some of the loveliest indie sounds on the Scottish
indie scene at the moment. Their vocals are powerful and deep and they are not
unlike Belle and Sebastian in parts- with lush strings complementing their well
crafted desolate tunes, except heavier and not so kitsch. A bit Mogwai, a bit
country tinged- sehr gut! A band to definatey watch out for, go get “When the
sky comes down, it comes down on your head”.
….And you will know us by the
Trail of Dead, Main Stage
Right, if you are looking for proper
hard punk rock indie noize mongers, these are the Texan quartet for you. Trail
of Dead are on early in the afternoon, which is a shame because they could
easily have made a good job of headlining a wee tent or even Stage two ( okay,
I’m biased but it’s true I tell ya!). The sun has come out for the Dead and
they arrive on the stage, all dressed in black, ready to give Leeds a bit of
punk rock, the Trail of Dead way. They blast through some new songs which are
all as good as anything of they have perviously done– they are full of angst,
distorted guitars, Sonic euphuisms and a mighty level of noise which pretty much
blows the socks off most of the bands on the main stage ths weekend, noise level
and talent wise. Although they don’t treat us to ‘Natural’, ‘Mistakes
and Regrets’ goes down a storm with the people who actually have the sense to
witness this performance. The band are all about “playing rock and roll,
becoming famous and dying” apparently. Not mainstream enough to truly become
famous, too young to die- the ..Dead play rock and roll and they play it damn
loudly, awash with apocolyptic noize and aching drums.
Is it so terrible that I’m waiting
to hear the Pixies numbers? Probably not, quite a lot of people are judging by
the way the crowd reacts to the various songs. Frank Blacks new, post Pixies
material is quite good and sounds not unlike the his previous bands efforts.
Some of the new material is very rock and not much else, unlike the Pixies
numbers he drags out for old times sake, which remain some of the most
influential songs to bands of today. We are treated to three old ‘uns, the
highlight being ‘This monkey’s gone to heaven’, which despite being amzing
to hear, still lacks kim’s haunting backing vocals. owever, A lovely treat to
see Frank Black in action and also somebody who could teach a lot of musicians
here a thing or too about writing and playing.
A good clean fun festival band,
Supergrass are. One that you go to with people who like pop music, people who
like metal- infact everyone can groove on down to the ‘grass. They rattle
through a good medley of songs from all three albums ( except they don’t play
‘Alright’- argh!) and Gaz barely needs to sing the words to some of the
tunes- the crowd are pogoing in unison and singing along. A band full of love
rather than hate, they bring some sunshine to what has been a somewhat dark
stage this weekend.
Teenage Fanclub wander through their
undoubtedly lovely tuneful songs, which is a bliss to the eardrum. Not trying to
reinvent the mould or make their amps crank up higher thank anyone elses,
Teenage Fanclub roll through a greatest hits set, with songs from ‘Bandwagonesque’,
‘Grand Prix’ and ‘ Howdy!’. Teenage
Fabclub are the godfathers of the so-called NAM movement
( they were playing charming Byrds-esque tunes when Starsailor were still
in nursery school) having been on the go a good 10 years now. The sound
doesn’t sound dated though- classic tunemanship doenst go out of fashion. The
set is a good hour and a half and the time glides past easily, with good natured
banter from the band and some nice wee tunes.
Okay, I promised I was going to get
the full Mogwai experience this time, but the opening chords of old skool Manics
favourites ( ‘You love us’, ‘Little Baby Nothing’, ‘Motown Junk’,
‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ - believe it! ) were just too amazing to tear myself
away from. The Manics are on top form, running through all the good ‘uns and
making us jump so hard that feathers from all the boas can be seen coming from
the mosh pit ( well, almost). The actual stage show isn’t bad either, slightly
surreal maybe- a video of a man professing to be Karl Marx starts us off and
then we are treated to the stunning video from ‘You love us’ and all the
stuff with Rich and Nick getting glammed. Talking of glammed , Nickly plays the
firsthalf in a sort of gothic comabt outfit and then a nurses outfit in part two
apparently.
I think I caught the good part of
the set- they finished with all the stuff of the newer albums plus ‘Masses
against the classes’. The Manics
from what I saw- were furious, fabulous and the old songs are still staying as
beautiful and relevant as they day they were written.
Mogwai surpass all description. A
band who fail to conform to fashions, styles, trends, noise pollution levels.
The provide the most intense and the loudest set this weekend, leaving evey
kid’s ears ringning and begging for some more. The power of the band is
poignant when they only have ninety minutes to get their very speaicla message
across to you. ‘ My father, my King’ ends up climaxing into almost half an
hour’s imperious guitar godliness and you know that the rage and focuss of
Mogwai as they play ‘2 Rights make 1 wrong’ makes so such sense. The music
of Mogwai transcends through the tent with heavy noise levels and lush melodies.
Mogwai give the ending you’ve always wanted to a festival- they manage to play
with passion and an escapism which few bands fail to capture an audience with.
Some other great wee bands I
caught parts of- Fuzz Light
Years, Terris, The Donnas, Boy Hits Car,, I am Kloot, Cooper Templer Clause, Gloss,
Haven, Vex Red ( oh yes, and not forgetting that memorable set by Godhead)