We headed to the "Secret Garden" and had a look at what it
had to offer. There were oversized Birds
Nests, Rocking Chairs & A Miniature Theatre. Then we waltzed into the tent that proclaimed
“Turn Back Now” above the door and were greeted by a young lass wearing a teddy
bear head and a miniature plastic face to cover most of her dignity. Not my cup of tea but she drew a good crowd
and it certainly added to the feeling that there was more to this festival than
a list of bands and truck loads of piss.
We arrived at the “The Great Lawn” to see a few tunes by
the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. The group
is a made up of a drummer and seven or so Brass players from Tubas to Trumpets. It was kind of odd seeing a really gangsta
looking fella sporting a tuba but they had a great sound. A mixture of hip Hop and Funk and they
created a serious groove. I wasn’t a big
fan of the rap sections but they put on a good show and certainly got the crowd
moving early on in the day.
Off to “The Windmill Stage” to check out The
Walkmen. I was really interested to see
this band after being turned onto them many years ago via their single “The
Rat”. A surprisingly large crowd turned
out to see the band. Their set was quite
slow and didn’t quite make it over the conversation in the crowd. I was pretty disappointing and the music just didn't connect but maybe this music would be better in a club or inside.
The Walkmen Setlist:
While I Shovel Snow
Woe Is Me
On The Water
In The New Year
New Song
Juveniles
New Song
Blue as Your Blood
The Rat
All Hands and the Cook
We dashed back to the “The Great Lawn” to catch the last
three songs from The Family Stones set.
The band showed what veteran players can do and did these songs (M’Lady,
I Want To Take You Higher & Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin))
complete justice. While watching them I
thought “Sly who?”. Wish I could have seen their whole. Great choice to for a sunny
Sunday afternoon.
It was back to the “The Windmill Stage” to check out
Mercury Rev. It’s an odd proposition to
see Mercury Rev on a sunny afternoon but the band pulled a good crowd and put
on a Deserters Songs heavy set. Frontman
Jonathan Donahue is totally committed to this music and really seem to be
feeling it even seeming oblivious to the constant feedback coming from the
stage. The band is quite subtle and
textured in their approach and never over do it. Highlights were the lush “Endlessly” and
“Opus 40”, “Goddess On A Hiway” and a great cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury
Hill”.
Mercury Rev Setlist:
Snowflake In A Hot World
Holes
Endlessly
Butterfly’s Wing
Opus 40
Solsbury Hill
Goddess On A Hiway
The Dark Is Rising
Made a dash back to “The Great Lawn” to catch the
remainder of the TV On The Radio set.
This is a band that I love at times but I’m quite perplexed by at others. This is certainly the case in a live setting
and with the songs fighting against themselves with Soul and Funk up against
Indie and Rock. It's a great sight to
behold and gave me a new appreciation of the band’s music. Again because of the
strong line-up another bands set I missed seeing the whole thing. “Staring At The Sun” and “Wolf Like Me” were
the highlights.
TV On The Radio Setlist:
Halfway Home
Second Song
Caffeinated Consciousness
A Method
Golden Age
Will Do
Staring at the Sun
Repetition
Wolf Like Me
The break between bands of “The Great Lawn” gave time for
a fuel up of food and beer before Bright Eyes hit the stage. Conor was in fine voice and the band were on
the mark with their delivery of tracks from different points in the history.
The set went from Lifted’s “Lover I Don’t Have To Love” through “Digital
ash...” tracks “Take It Easy (Love Nothing)” and “I Believe In Symmetry” to
more recent tracks “Jejune Stars” and “Shell Games”. Highlights was opener “Four Winds”, the
formerly electronic “Take It Easy (Love Nothing)”, the vitriolic “Lover I Don't
Have to Love” and closer “Road To Joy”.
Bright Eyes Setlist:
Four Winds
Jejune Stars
Take It Easy (Love Nothing)
Lover I Don't Have to Love
Shell Games
Landlocked Blues
Cartoon Blues
Poison Oak
I Believe In Symmetry
Road to Joy
Another stage detour was taken to “The Windmill Stage” to
check out 25 minutes of Scots Mogwai.
Smoke was the first thing I noticed making my way to the stage. The band is quite an experience with a mix of
build post rock music mixed with visuals of cars on streets of digital imagery
and a fuck load of smoke. This is the
kind of set you could really lose yourself in.
Awesome stuff and another unfortunate clash.
Mogwai Setlist:
White Noise
Friend of the Night
Mexican Grand Prix
2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
Back again to “The Great Lawn” for personal favourite The National. The band gets bigger and
bigger everytime I see them and always put on a great show. The set was heavily weighted to most recent
effort “High Violet” with a few Boxer and Alligator track through into the
mix. It moved from slower paced tracks
“Slow Show” and “Anyone’s Ghost” to upbeat tracks “Mr November” and “Mistaken
For Strangers”. The band sounded great
and delivered a set with allot of energy and conviction. Highlights were “Slow Show”, “Squalor
Victoria”, “Conversation 16 “ & “Mr November”
The National Setlist:
Anyones Ghost
Mistaken For Strangers
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Slow Show
Squalor Victoria
Afraid of Everyone
Conversation 16
Apartment Story
Sorrow
England
Fake Empire
Mr November
Terrible Love
Back to the “The Windmill Stage” to see what we thought
would be the remainder of The Flaming Lips set to find they hadn't even
started and end up starting 20 minutes after we arrived. Unfortunately this put the band and the
audience on the back foot from the get go.
At their best “The Flaming Lips” are one of the best live acts around
but on the night they were anything but.
The set started with their customary intro video and balloon frenzy which
was greeted with a strong response from those who got to play. But from this point on the band and the
audience struggled to give each other what they needed. Apart from the hits in the set the rest was
made up of a very average cover of Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” to some pretty
boring psychedelic tunes. This is the
third time I have seen the Lips and it could very well be the last.
The Flaming Lips Setlist:
The Fear
Sweet Leaf
Worm Mountain
She Don't Use Jelly
The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)
Is David Bowie Dying?
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
See the Leaves
Do You Realize??
The last band of the night was of course was Portishead on “The Great Lawn”. The sound and
visuals were amazing but the band lacked the spark that a live band should
have. The sound was so perfect that it
almost seemed like it was the album playing through the PA. I’m sure that if I had more love for the band
I would have been singing their praises.
A really amazing live sound just not my cup of tea so I took any early
mark and headed for the train.
Silence
Mysterons
The Rip
Sour Times
Magic Doors
Wandering Star
Machine Gun
Over
Glory Box
Chase the Tear
Cowboys
Threads
Encore:
Roads
We Carry On
As far as festivals go this was an absolute success. The vibe, the space, the line up and the attitude
were all right and if they keep the numbers down this festival will easily
become the festival I look forward to each year. Thanks a bunch for a great day.
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