Isle Of Wight - Seaclose Park - 3/6/02
1/5
By: Toby L
'It's been 32 years,' states Tim Wheeler of Ash, frontman of one of the day's finest moments, before continuing, 'You must have been f**king starved of rock 'n' roll...'
The previous statement seems to be an expected and recurring sentiment for today's event, The Isle Of Wight Festival 2002 - but is it likely that such momentous performances from the likes of Dylan and Hendrix, all that time ago, can be matched in the sheer fervour, quality and importance they once became associated with when ranked alongside this year's talent? After all, this is only a one-dayer anyway, and ticket-sales have hardly been as soaring as they had been in the past...
Yet, to compare such a time as then to now would be missing the point. The Isle Of Wight - a small island off the south coast of the UK, for those geographically-challenged pupils amongst us - is hardly a cultural dreamland, instead largely starved of major performing-artists appearing on its shores. Thus, if only for the locals, as well as the die-hard fans that have battled the mighty seas of the Solent in order to attend, this year's event was an important milestone in re-developing a platform for future music to be celebrated and provided for within such an oddly remote destination.
The mini-plethora of talent to be consumed today actually forms a dynamic and refreshingly strong line-up for a single day's entertainment. Aside from a couple of very new and unsigned bands getting their kicks to start the proceedings off, there's island locals The Bees, who startle all with their jazz-funk-pop noodling, conjuring up a sound comparable to the possible music that would be created by a bunch of hyperactive gorillas left alone in a guitar-shop, all prior to a rather exquisite encounter with hotly-tipped act, The Coral.
The latter douse their all too brief half-hour set with enough technical instrumental hi-jinks to rival any live-effort from the likes of even the soon-advancing Strange Sensation (Robert Plant's backing-band - more on this later), and play the likes of frontman James Skelly's fave tune of theirs - debut-single 'Shadows Fall' - an earlier stunning 'Calendars & Clocks', and the early-80s sweetness of 'Dreaming Of You', all three prior to the six-piece collapsing into a manic 'Skeleton Key'. Naturally, what with the smell of sea-salt and, erm, sea-gulls in the air, nothing could have been more fitting than such a collection of sea-shanty-enriched pop. Unless maybe an umbrella to prevent some of the shambolic weather.
Yet, out to boost morale and defeat disappointment at the present meteorological state are Hundred Reasons, who literally bounce on-stage and, well, continue bouncing for the entirety of their 40-minute performance. Such is their determination to win over the masses as well, they pull dozens of rock-'n'-roll hand-signals, and go on to bellow with all the ferocity of a neutered hamster, 'Let's rock,' several thousand times. Tunes such as the opening 'I'll Find You', poorly sung 'Silver' and 'Falter' - dedicated to guitarist Larry's parents - still spill over with the odd sensitive urgency that they always did, yet complement the menacing riffs of 'Dissolve', 'Remmus' and a set-concluding 'If I Could'. The audience roar with appreciation around the front, the elder attendees waiting for Plant later on meanwhile queuing up to find that their preferred food-outlet of choice has, most probably, run out of food. Helpful, eh?
At least the strong music-levels last, unlike the nutrition on-site, with Starsailor's first UK show for what seems an age, proving a largely-popular and exciting proposition. Perplexingly, despite triggering the largest responses of the day thus far, ever-strengthening frontman James Walsh - fresh with a new boy-like hair-cut - has to put up with the occasional plastic-bottle thrown over to his stage-position. Rather than becoming shirty, he smiles, laughing assuredly, and knocks out with the assistance of an ever-tight Stel, Baz and Ben - not to mention two backing singers and a cellist on occasion - a set beginning with hit-singles 'Fever', 'Alcoholic' and then 'Poor Misguided Fool'. 
The strength is only heightened with 'a song for all the northerners in the crowd' (a stirring rendition of 'Love Is Here'), plus a new number, 'Silence Is Easy': the hybrid between 'Radiohead and Blur' according to internal sources, let alone the group's most upbeat and optimistic-sounding tune to date; a future hit-single? You bet. A concluding 'Good Souls', complete with the additional musicians, supports Walsh's earlier claims in the set for people to revert back to buying British music, for, when it gets this special, the man's got a point.
What occurs next is incredible, too. Arthur 'Hellfire' Brown wobbles on to the vast cavern which is today's performance-space, echoing the footsteps made by the man all those decades ago, and introduces the following revelation - Ash. And, boy, are they on fire today. Want to know why they were so special? Well, let's just give you the set-list, that'll help:
'Lose Control, 'Submission', 'Angel Interceptor', 'Goldfinger', 'Cherry Bomb', 'Shining Light', 'Jesus Says' (banned in Indonesia apparently), 'Oh Yeah', 'Jack Names The Planets', 'Girl From Mars', 'Sometimes', 'Walking Barefoot', 'Kung Fu', 'Pacific Palisades', 'A Life Less Ordinary', 'Burn Baby Burn', 'Numbskull'.
So, yes, to say that it was 'crowd-pleasing' would be a gross understatement. Ash played with all the vigour, passion and - actually - professionalism which allows them to stand justifiably above many of the UK's finest rock-acts. As if that wasn't enough, Wheeler reveals during their set that the group are celebrating their ten-year anniversary this month, concluding their show with a mysterious 'Maybe we'll see you next year' comment that visibly excited many audience-members. Really, if this is the first ten years of their career down the line, then let's raise our glass to the next - it's gonna be good.
And, speaking of staying-power... Robert Plant, the legend himself, is up next, performing with his new ensemble of session-musos, including amongst them a knobs-man from Portishead, plus characters that have shared stages with the likes of Supergrass and Brian Eno, plus, more worryingly, Bryan Adams. 
Still, worries that the Led Zep wonder would grandly disappoint all were reassuringly, if surprisingly, shed aside, when witnessing the ever so slightly impressive mechanical musicianship on-show, not to mention experimental guitar-numbers that only just hovered clear of the 'cheesy, new-age' nonsense tag, including the quite wonderful arrangement of some of the material from his emerging 'Dreamland' studio-album. Plant the man was on fine form too, maintaining the unique vocal-tone to which he made his name, simultaneously mooching around the stage with the typical style as possessed by a high and ageing rocker... Wait a second...
So, after a clean sweep of triumphs, whose turn is it next? Oh, The Charlatans. But it's such an easy feat with a band such as this; the hits roll out so swiftly and sleekly that their seventy-minute set feels closer to twenty. Tracks such as the opening epic grandeur of 'Forever', its mid-90s preceding 'North Country Boy', and then a following 'Judas', prove a natural groove and eclecticism in their work which explains quite helpfully what constitutes an act of timeless endurance.
Elsewhere of note, frontman Burgess seems characteristically disinterested, though shows his real excitement in being present via spirited and feisty renditions of 'You're So Pretty, We're So Pretty', 'How High' and the festival-closing 'Love Is The Key' and 'Sproston Green' - culminating in a deafening and lengthy fireworks-display. Enchanting, daring and as thrilling as ever, The Charlatans will dazzle at further festivals this year.
And, so, this was it. Eclectic. Exciting. Musically satisfying. Seemingly, all the candidates for a successful festival. Now, let's just hope that if there shall be a return to the Isle Of Wight for future events, not only will more people be able to enjoy the experience - but it will run for longer than just twelve hours, too.
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