Friday overview

With the exception of possibly Slayer and Pearl Jam the main stage looked rather substandard in comparison to the other days and I spent most of Friday wandering between the smaller stages in a quest for something a little bit special.

Despite technical problems from the outset Humanzi pulled off an attention grabbing set, infusing crunching bass lines with brilliant little guitar hooks. Electro subtleties shine through in what is predominantly guitar-based music, making the whole package sound rather like classic Primal Scream.

The striking similarities both lyrically and musically between Kasabian and Kinesis are also apparent, and Humanzi’s treatment of political issues shows a group who have matured well beyond their age.

The pulsating ‘Fix the cracks’ is a fine example of Humanzi’s gritty Kasabian-like message, but it’s new single ‘Diet Pills and Magazines’ that really rams home a few truths. A promising start for a band loaded with potential.

Over on the Radio 1/NME stage I caught the last few songs of Metric, responsible for ‘Monster Hospital’, a cracking little tune that manipulates the much covered Sonny Curtis tune ‘I fought the law’ and changes it to ‘I fought the war, but the war one!’ It’s a cheerful song that motivates you to bounce along to the repetitive drum beat and anthem like chorus.

‘Dead Disco’ doesn’t quite have the same pulling power of ‘Monster Hospital’ but it fills out an entertaining set for a band that managed to draw in quite a crowd for one of the first few acts to perform on the Friday.

I hung around for a while to see Bullet for my Valentine, and was rather surprised they managed quite a good show, despite heckles from the beefy Slayer fans who seemed to have forked out a fortune just for that one band.

Over in the Carling Stage I was disappointed by a lacklustre performance from The Research, whose quirky high pitched vocals nestle in the back of your mind like the irritating drone of your next door neighbours lawn mower. The harmonies don’t really work and the keyboard solos all seem a little unnecessary as well.

Most of the material sounds a bit like a village primary-school band that have been creating sing-a-long versions of children’s nursery rhymes. Even ‘She’s not leaving’, a track I used to be reasonably fond of, came across amateurish live. Most of their songs were annoying enough on the first listen and I dread the prospect of The Research braking onto the airwaves.

I don’t think there’s much danger of Slayer popping up on drivetime on Radio 2 somehow, and the cult thrash metal band had drawn in an army of die-hard fans, none of whom I wished to mess with. They appeared on stage with tattoos, the most impressive beard collection ever, a flying V style guitar, and a controversial backdrop with the letters ‘jihad’ printed symbolically on a mutilated body. As Slayer descended into their typical metal grunge I decided to look elsewhere, as good as it was, it wasn’t exactly my thing.

Repeated attempts to try and get into the Radio 1/NME stage for Boy Kill Boy were thwarted in succession so I decided to check out a little comedy in the comedy and cabaret tent, and was only mildly amused by Canadian Jason Rouse’s jokes about sexual intercourse with mentally and physically handicapped girls and the technicalities concerning being the last member to participate in gang rape. Even for all his gross-out material he was still a darn sight better than the embarrassingly bad headline act Rob Deering who struggled to get so much as a sympathetic half-giggle from anyone in the crowd.

Over on the main stage the resident Slayer fans were now heckling the other band that weren’t Slayer, My Chemical Romance. The crowd dispersed for the next act and I was left wondering who really cares about Placebo anymore? The now almost bald Brian Molko delivered their Placebo-by-numbers back catalogue to a sparse crowd while most of the Leeds festival inhabitants made their way over to the Radio 1 NME stage for The Kooks.

I watched most of The Kooks set on the big screens outside the tent, which meant having to weirdly listen to Larrikin Love and watch The Kooks at the same time, due to the close proximity of the Lock Up stage to the Radio 1/NME stage. The hits were all there including ‘Eddies gun’, ‘Naïve’ and ‘She moves in her own ways’ and the band closed, rather obscurely, with ‘Pull me in’. The Kooks finished with a slight scuffle between lead singer Luke Pritchard and one of the members of security, before making way for next band of the night The Rakes.

The tent is again heaving and The Rakes rip through their debut album ‘Capture/Release’. Despite some critics leaning towards the art-rock scene as The Rake’s inspiration they share more in common with bands from their native East London punk scene. From the moment they open with ‘Strasbourg’ they have the audience in the palm of their hands and it’s clear that whatever they play it’s going to have the crowd hooked.

’22 Grand Job’ and ‘Work Work Work (Pub, Club, Sleep) all get the biggest cheers and the crowd break into a frenzied group of sweaty moshers while Alan Donohoe performs his own version of the Peter Crouch dance, awesome to watch and one of the highlights of the entire weekend.

Friday was closed by veteran rockers Pearl Jam, making a surprise return to the festival scene after the atrocities of Roskilde 2000 where 25 people were injured and 9 died during a massive surge towards the front of the stage for Pearl Jam's performance. The band were visibly still struggling with the effects of that day and commented that it was difficult for them to play festivals again after what happened, and thanked the crowd for their trust in the band. I have no doubt that the second barrier that had been installed on the site this year had something to do with their return.

Although Pearl Jam are regarded by a lot of music fans as legends, I never considered them to be in quite the same league as previous headliners Guns n’ Roses, Metallica or Iron Maiden but nevertheless the performance Pearl Jam gave was fantastic.

They opened with ‘Don’t Go’, and opted for a set list of old classics rather than focusing on any newer material. Given the reception they received that could only have been a good move. Old favourites like ‘Alive’, ‘Daughter’ and ‘Black’ were all included in the set list before they closed with a cover of Neil Young’s ‘Rocking in the Free World’.

The atmosphere throughout the first day had been great and there promised to be some even better performances over the next couple of days.

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