Review - Day 2

What a difference a day makes! Saturday brought good weather, a fantastic line-up, huge crowds and a complete transformation in almost every aspect of the festival (except maybe the extreme advertising – although with the increase in people it did seem more diluted).

Opening the Xfm stage, Killa Kella’s furious beatboxing attracted a crowd three or four times larger than that of the previous night’s headliners, setting the precedent for things to come. Returning to the sunshine, The Mitchell Brothers proved that riding on the wave brewed up by The Streets isn’t a sure fire path to success, as their main stage set flopped into mediocrity. Back at the Xfm stage, Canadian synth-disco knob fiddler Vitalic captured the first true festival moment of the weekend, as people united in dance for his earth-shaking early afternoon set.

Lady Sovereign was singled out for big things back in 2003, but somehow she never quite lived up to the hype. In the two years since, grime has had its fifteen minutes in the spotlight and having withdrawn back to the underground this pint-sized MC seems dated. It’s a sad indication of the fickle nature of popular culture. Still, full marks for effort.

Wireless peaked with LCD Soundsystem’s punk-funk extravaganza on the main stage. Super-hip DFA producer James Murphy’s beat driven live band, best suited to dark smoky nightclubs, could have easily been swallowed by the huge outdoors, but they commanded the large audience like snake charmers, using their tunes and chants to make us dance. Ten-minute masterpiece and set-closer ‘Yeah’ highlights contemporary dance music at its best... anyone who says it’s dead need look no further than the gyrating audience members to be proved wrong.

As LCD Soundsystem played their final note, people rushed to the Xfm stage in an attempt to catch the end of M.I.A., but the tent was closed off due to over-crowding long ago. It remained this way right up until the end of Mylo’s headline set... we only managed to get in by waving a press pass at the security. Currently amongst the biggest things in popular music, the Isle of Skye’s greatest export cooks up a tempestuous live show that surpasses the affable lightness of album debut ‘Destroy Rock & Roll’.

With those who actually made it into the Xfm stage for Mylo leaving on a high, it was going to be nigh on impossible for certified pop-renegades Basement Jaxx to disappoint. Drawing on a selection classic singles from their furtive career to date from ‘Red Alert’ to recent single ‘Oh My Gosh’, combined with blistering mix-set interludes (An appearance by The Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Apache’ never harmed anyone), it made for a perfect ending to the second night of this rather mixed up event.

Two days down, two more to go!

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