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home » festivals » Lovebox » Lovebox Weekender 2010
Lovebox Weekender climaxes with a visually thrilling SundayLovebox Weekender 2010 reviewTuesday 27th July 2010 Yet another scorching hot day at Victoria Park and the camp factor had already risen. Never in my life had I seen so many Adonis' in tight pants, even in the mid afternoon the Rizla dance tent was banging. The strobes and banging tunes were too much, too soon, so I chose to enjoy a spontaneous barn dance at Gaymer's band stand. After my fill of dosey-doeing, it was time to catch my first proper band of the day, Hurts were just starting on the main stage. One of the most promising new acts of the year and with 'Better than Love', one of the best singles. Hurts live up to their reputation, though they may have wished they left their penguin suits at home. The sweat pouring from front man Theo Hutchcraft's face didn't take away from his focused performance, only moving to comb his hair or conduct the audience, Hutchcraft is the epitome of cool. Possibly the only pop group to have an opera singer in their arsenal, Hurts do have the tunes to match the hype. 'Stay', 'Wonderful Life' and 'Illuminated' all stand up along side 'Better Than Love' which got a huge reaction from the masses. Definitely a band that are going places.
Fronted by three singers, one who resembled Gok Wan and the other a fat Rik James in drag. With their sailor DJ Andy Butler pulling the musical strings, Hercules and Love Affair went down a treat. Though not really my bag, I couldn't help get lost in the groove of 'Blind' and had a little bit of wee trickle down my leg when Bloc Party's Kele Okereke came onstage to perform a track. New Young Pony Club were due on at Gaymers, so I dashed over to check out my share of ice-cream. Tahita was so excited to be playing to their home crowd before dropping summer anthems 'The Bomb' and 'Ice-cream' to a frantic crowd. They looked as great as they sounded and it was a shame that Peaches over lapped their set, but if there is one artist I had to see live during the weekend it had to be Peaches. The huge crowd was waiting; she finally made an entrance, kitted out in what seemed to be a sexy Chewbacca get-up, she and her backing band all dressed in s&m leather and long black wigs, flung themselves around the stage oozing dirty sex appeal (would Queen Victoria herself approve of her park being used this way?) Peaches then pulled off her costume and started to 'interact' with a nearby monitor. But no! This was an imposter. The real Peaches made her way onto stage, but in a wheelchair and her leg in plaster cast. That wasn't the strangest part, her nurse was a totally naked transsexual Lady GaGa look alike with breasts and painted black willy( and I thought Empire of the Sun made a big entrance). From then on anything could happen, it was the best freak show in town, drag queens, roller skating dancers and dance moves that really shouldn't be seen before 11pm. All to the soundtrack of 'Fuck the Pain Away' and 'Shake Yer Dix', truly incredible. The only thing that would have topped her performance was if Iggy Pop had come on to sing 'Kick It'. Grace Jones would have to put on quite the show to top that. Cut Copy on the other hand, are one of the best electro acts in the world, they really should be playing the main stage. Quite a few hundred Australians and me certainly felt lucky to witness their only summer UK festival spot. Most of their set came from their 2008 'In Ghost Colours' including fan favourite 'Lights and Music' but they added a few newbie's and made a flawless show. Hot Chip had just taken their place on the main stage and had easily the biggest crowd of the day. They seemed to be having far too much fun, as they pulled off a greatest hits show to the delight of the half naked crowd. Even the band felt comfortable enough to shed clothes whilst performing hits like 'Over and Over' and 'One Life Stand'. The tracks had a whole new persona live, with extended versions of many of the older tracks. It's hard to decide out of them and Cut Copy who were the best band of the weekend. It was a shame they only played for an hour. Finally Miss Jones arrived 20 minutes late in her own diva fashion, on top of a cherry picker with the kind of head wear that even Ascot would be ashamed of. Many of the festival goers seemed to be ecstatic about her performing but it seemed everyone was more in love with her outfits than her actual music. She seemed to get more of a reaction to her endless costume changes than to her sub reggae material. Apart from her obvious hits 'Pull Up to the Bumper', 'Slave to the Rhythm' and her choosing to perform her cover of 'Love is the Drug' (odd since Roxy Music only performed it the night before) little of the audience seemed to acknowledge any of her material but still, it's not everyday you see a 60 plus year old, pole dancing in a leotard. In all visually interesting experience, but maybe a wider range of artists and a less strict police policy would have improved the weekend. What did seem odd, is that Groove Armada release what is so far one of their best albums of their career, and choose to not perform at their own festival. Madness.  review by Fran Jolley photos by Richie Soans 
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