The Ordinary Boys (Other Stage, Sunday)

I’d already seen the Boys at the Isle of Wight and I’d liked the sound they had produced and so made my way to the Other Stage to see them. When I got there I was glad to see a respectable sized crowd and the sunshine.

The newest mod band on the block have no album already under their belt yet their catchy lyrics and showcased tunes had us all singing along and joining in, clearly many like me had seen them before and had a better grasp of the songs.

When they play Week in and Week Out and the crowd tap along to it, clearly it hasn’t reached many of the audience before and it’s a varied range of ages. The main thing for me is how young they look. First footballers and policemen now rock bands it's not right kids today are looking way too young, ‘Boys’ indeed!

Their music is pretty a kind of cross of The Jam and The Clash and great to get your feet moving to in the morning. At IOW they seemed to take a while to get into their set. At glastonbury they burst straight into it full of energy from the off and it’s infectious.

They do a storming Talk Talk Talk which has a chugging riff and many of the crowd are moshing down the front to the Brighton boys’ accessible indie pop. I hate the word indie but they are the latest most popular thing and with the new record out soon no doubt they’ll soon be far from ordinary.

They do a blasting rendition of The Specials’ Little Bitch and pull a special guest on stage to join in, funny man Phil Jupitus. For those of us who know the two tone hit it’s a great sing along. Their last track too is a cover of Summertime Blues but all dressed up to the nines. With pace and a mighty drum beat.

They have masses of energy and a lot of presence on stage and really pack an entertaining punch even for those of the audience who have never heard them. I still say give it a few years and with a beer in hand I guarantee they’ll be my festival faves for a sing along back at the Other Stage.

Their music may all be very similar but hey it works, no doubt they’ll have to work harder for a second album and possibly engineer something different every so often. But much like the other bands playing on the Other Stage they have a formula that works and holds our attention while we take stock from the night before and enjoyed the sunshine while it lasted.

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