Saturday

Citadel – Main Stage
A huge soaring classical egotistical intro brings the Swedish band to the stage, where they pillaged every single metal band that’s gone before them. The lead singer blasted out cheesy vocals admittedly in a very proficient manner but over all it was quite unsettling. I gave up concentrating on them, writing them off as dreadful and wishing this Swedish version of Spinal Tap had stayed there. But of those I bumped into later in the day, the majority liked them.

Intervurt – Uncut Stage
I would wonder if a hangover had put me off the heavy sounds of Citadel but a skull shaking set by Intervurt, who I’d seen last year at the Andertons Stage proved it was Citadel’s cheesy style that had put me off. Intervurt were closer to real modern metal. A fantastic way to wake up and the contrast in the two bands showed how much more likely it is that the hard hitting Intervurt will go on to play bigger rock festivals, and not long from now.

United Stoats of America – Uncut Stage
Some giant of a man had been painted head to foot in stars and stripes to herald the arrival of the Stoats and it was this that inspired me to watch them. I’m so glad I did - I had no idea they were a cover band in the same vein as The Ukelele Orchestra, hilariously funny versions of popular classics like ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ and ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ plus some Atomic Kitten number and a stage invasion of Fezheads, a camel and some strange ladies. Superb!

The Black Velvets – Main Stage
Liverpudlians I suspect by the Liverpool flag waving in front of the stage (why are they never Everton flags?) and sure enough within a nano-second of lead singer Paul Carden opening his mouth it’s clear he’s a scouser. But the music isn’t your typical Liverpool fare, it sounds more like Led Zeppelin and East Coast rock. Punchy guitars and riffs a lot of it might be robbed from Page and Plant but they do it well. It’s certainly good to listen to, well apart from between the rockin’ tunes, where Paul queries, “Where are all the Scousers?” and someone heckles “Other side of the fence in the car park!”. He shouts at us to “Wake up!” and after a while he’s irritating. But the songs are good enough to keep me watching and they have a bunch of great heavy tunes. But the irritating Howie exits with, “Gerrard, Gerrard, Gerrard!” and it takes the shine off the performance for me.

The Subways – Main Stage
The new darlings of the festival circuit (how many have they done in two years?) have attracted a huge crowd to bake in the soaring temperatures. Most people you talk to have them on their must see list and the trio certainly pull off a decent set. I’d seen someone’s review of them at T last weekend who said they looked a bit jaded but there were no signs of that this afternoon. Charlotte in a very short skirt and big boots leaps about with her bass, hair flying about her. Billy’s singing is confident, edgy and soaring. Perhaps The Subways have got the hang of smaller festivals but find the big ones too daunting. Their high energy tunes like the singles ‘Rock N Roll Queen’ and ‘Oh Yeah’ are all hugely well received and with these two songs it appears many of the crowd know the lyrics. Their songs are all surprisingly decent considering they are such a new band, I’ve seen some established bands that play with less big tunes. They receive a great ovation at the end of their set and I wonder how long ‘til they start headlining.

Jorane – Uncut Stage
The programme suggested ‘haunting voice and soulful cello playing’ which sounded quite appealing so I headed for the Uncut stage. Certainly the Quebec singer is eloquently described but I was shocked when after this peaceful frailty, the air was shattered with a blast of thunder from the band around her. This continued throughout, virtuoso cello playing juxtaposed with loud thrashy guitar. It was quite inspiring and very weird, personally I think she should lose the noisy band and produce just the mellow, draw droppingly wonderful cello. I often get the impression with classically trained musicians they can’t quite get rock and roll, and I suspect this may be the case. But when Joran let lose with her bow on those strings she reminded me of that cello scene from ‘Witches of Eastwick’. An inner passion that’s very sexy to watch.

Nizlopi – Uncut Stage
Two blokes, one on guitar and one on double bass, both beat boxing and singing crazy lyrics. I wouldn’t have thought it would work but it does. Not sure half the time they weren’t just making up words that sounded terrific with lots syllables like Dutch or Greek but it was hugely entertaining had a wonderful rhythm to it and made me grin when trying to copy the obscure phrases. Listening to the crowd was like some bizarre form of Chinese Whispers. Highly recommended whatever your musical tastes they’ll provide it momentarily.

The Others – Main Stage
With a thumping bass beat, in fact I was very impressed with their bass player, some fantastic guitar riffs over some noisy guitar and screaming vocals from a man who thrashed, leapt, writhed and then dived into the pit and on into the crowd all the while urging us to join in with this bizarre musical odyssey. A bunch of interesting tunes, not so much punk and clearly in the style of The Libertines etc. I’ve made it my intention to get their debut self titled album so at least I too can join in with the charismatic Dominic Masters on his songs and get into their live gigs as much as the crowd at the front did.

Echo and the Bunnymen – Main Stage
Who would have thought that one of the surviving bands of the Eighties would be the mighty Echo and the Bunnymen. Not that I’m complaining, it’s great to see Mac and the boys on stage and they can all play their instruments a bit better than the new rising stars having had so much more time. Better still they only play one new track and very little from the mid-nineties on, so pretty much all tracks I knew. Tonight they sound wonderful, with the crowd singing along pretty tunefully and the sun still shining but now noticeably cooler. Mac is sparkling and the hits sit happily alongside some cover material, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’, ‘Killing Moon’ and ‘Cutter’ were my Echo highlights, timeless well crafted music. There was the obligatory Doors track, I forget which but think it may have been ‘Roadhouse’ However the ultimate Echo moment of the whole set had to be a medley that merged into ‘Walk on the Wildside’ with Mac changing it to Walk on Merseyside and everyone loving the whole thing.

Paul Weller – see separate review

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