Saturday overview

Now in its second year, one could be forgiven for asking if this festival would even go ahead this time. First off, it had to be moved from the first week of September (as it was last year) to the second week of July – just 6 days after Scotland’s flag ship T in the Park. Secondly, rumours suggesting The White Stripes would headline the first night proved to be untrue, meaning that Idlewild stepped in at the 11th hour to fill the early evening slot. Matters aren’t helped when the gates are 40 minutes late to open.



The day finally starts off in the BBC 6 Music Hub tent, with Fife youngsters Sergeant. These boys (some might say toddlers) have been causing quite a stir in recent months, and have amassed a fair following due to their association with The View. They have a distinct early 90s (Stone Roses, La’s) vibe about them, the front man certainly has the Ian Brown “march” down to a tee. However, I’m afraid to say the songs just aren’t yet in the same league as those who they so obviously aspire to.

Livening things up next on the Main Stage are Silversun Pickups. Sonically speaking, they remind me of Sonic Youth, with Bits of My Bloody Valentine thrown in, for good measure obviously. They are without doubt the loudest act of the day.



However, in a close 2nd come Idlewild. Now in their 10th year as recording artists, they now seem to have found a compromise between their punk/celt roots, and their more commercial successes. They seem like a band in a good place right now, which shows in their performance.


In amongst all this, come Au Revoir Simone. 3 giggly American girls walk on to the stage with nothing but keyboards, playing songs which took me back to music class at school, when everyone used to muck about with the Casio keyboards. I genuinely could not quite believe what I was hearing or seeing. The vocals weren’t much better, and the whole thing definitely had a joke element about it, whether it was intended or not.

Thankfully, my faith in dance music is restored almost immediately, with perhaps the best act of the decade in this field. Ladies and gentlemen, thank god for The Rapture. Here are 4 guys who are genuinely superb at what they do, and as a result get the best crowd reaction of the day.



Saturday’s proceedings are brought to a close with Wilco. Quite simply, they should not have been headlining. Although there are a fair few folk there to see them, The Rapture would have surely provided a better ending to the night.

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