Summer Sundae Saturday ends in an unbeatable dance frenzy
Summer Sundae Weekender 2010 review
Wednesday 18th August 2010
Early on Saturday afternoon, another artist making a return visit to the festival was Liam Frost, this time as a solo artist rather than, as with his successful 2006 set, with former backing band The Slowdown Family. Frost has a dedicated following in his hometown of Manchester, and a decent handful had travelled to see him here. He played tracks from both his melancholic first album and his happier second, particularly pleasing a smallish but enthusiastic crowd with 'The City Is At A Standstill' and 'Try, Try, Try'. Frost closed, somewhat expectedly but very happily, with Channel 4's Planet Sound 2006 Single of the Year 'Mourners of St Paul's'.
The site had been redesigned this year. The most significant change was re-siting the Musician Stage away from the top of the Main Stage hill, a move which virtually eliminated sound bleed into the tent. Making the most of this on Saturday afternoon were London band The Leisure Society. Heavily promoted on Radio 6 by Guy Garvey and on Radio 2 by Radcliffe and Maconie, their folk based pop and rock provided one of the sets of the weekend. A cover of Gary Numan's 'Cars' done on fiddle and flute sounds like it should never work. With this band, it worked like an absolute dream. Keep your eyes and ears open, bigger things could and should be destined for them.
On the mainstage on Saturday were two of the more 'controversial' festival bookings - certainly if one judged how many other bands took the piss out of their presence on the bill. The afternoon saw Diana Vickers bring her sugary, saccharine pop, whilst headlining Saturday night was mainstream UK grimester Tinchy Stryder. Whether you thought they should be on the bill or not, whether they were your thing or not (and one fancies Stryder got a bigger crowd than many expected because of The Fall completely filling the hall), what cannot be denied is that Diana Vickers can most definitely hold a tune (as you might expect from a West End musical performer) and Tinchy Stryder definitely knows how to entertain a crowd. Whilst both attracted a predominantly young crowd - exactly as one would expect - they were both popular and extraordinarily well received.
As a possible antidote to Diane Vickers, the set of the weekend, perhaps, was provided earlier in the evening on the indoor stage by Tunng. The electronica enhanced folksters are always a decent live act, but this performance was simply mesmerising. The critical acclaim of this year's fourth album release And Then We Saw Land has given them a confidence that shines through in the experimentation and soaring live performances. This was a truly memorable experience.
Following on after Tunng on the indoor stage was another weekend highlight Caribou. The dance music project of Canadian Dan Snaith had a full hall dancing to his synthy house beats and put a smile on everyone's face ready for the mainstage performance of The Go! Team. The Go! Team are clearly a band that likes to have a good time - and to make sure the audience has one too. Fronted by lead singer/MC Ninja, the crowd are constantly exhorted to dance and have fun by her absolute dynamism on stage, and it didn't take long for even the harshest doubters to be joining in the fun and frolics.
In a piece of programming genius by the festival organisers, putting The Whip on the indoor stage after headliners The Fall takes some beating. The festival returning Manchester based dance magicians brought an already excited crowd to a dancing frenzy and by the time they closed their set with 'Trash', nobody wanted it to finish.
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