MOVE - day 3

One thing was clear on the trip to Old Trafford Cricket ground on the final leg of this unusual three-dayer, and that was that the crowds were at last flocking in. There was no doubting which band thay had come to see. REM were making their first visit to the city of Manchester since 1999. Though it was the draw of REM that was brgining the crowds in, the rest of the day's bands were to reap the benefits.

Oranger probably benefited the least, as they played when the first of the crowds were still streaming in. This quirky local band were well worth another view if only to see the antics of their bleach headed drummer.

Athlete had worked the crowd at Glastonbury and had the perfect opportunity again today. It looked as though it might not happen as the first couple of songs, including recent single El Salvador, received a luke warm reception. However, the crowd pleaser You Got The Style, and new single, Westside got them interested and they left to a good reception.

John Squire didn't have to try too hard. In front his hometown crowd the ex Stone Rose could do little wrong. Penultimate number, Stone Roses' favourite, Fools Gold had the crowd in raptures. He closed with Tightrope and left the stage to much adulation.

If Idlewild's set at Glastonbury had been disappointing and beset by sound problems, they got it right today. Roddy Woomble was definitely in better spirits. He even cracked an early joke stating that the crowds reaction to Little Discouragements had been encouraging. He followed that with the favourite You Held The World In Your Arms and the crowd loved every minute. Roddy appeared to love it too though when he went down to the crowd during American English he didn't appear to know what to do.

Badly Drawn Boy was next. It didn't encourage me to see the stage set for an acoustic session. When he had tried a similar thing on the Pyramid at Glastonbury in 2003 it had been largely disappointing. A bizaare opening followed, consisting of piped music and a type of karaoke singalong of the Jackson Five number I Want You Back. Damon Gough was in better form than the previous year enjoying banter with the crowd and regaling us with new songs and old standards.



Then was the moment everyone was waiting for. The crowd buzzed for REM and they were not disappointed. You can read more about the set elsewhere as it was far too excellent to just cover in a couple of lines.



Suffice to say what other band can do an encore which consists of classics such as Everybody Hurts, Imitation of Life, The One I love, and It's The End of The World As We Know It. On the back of that how could anyone leave home not buzzing. As far as Move was concerned, the best was very definitely saved to last.

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