Leeds Festival DAY ONE 28/8/09 Bramham Park, Yorkshire
4/5
By: Alex Lee Thomson
Leeds Festival isn’t as known as its older sister Reading, but it is however arguably the better of the two. For all of Reading’s legacy, it doesn’t quite have the same magic of Leeds which is wonderfully tucked away in the Yorkshire countryside, boasting crowds like no other, and a sense of detachment from the ‘trendier’ south.
[WILD BEASTS - PHOTO COPYRIGHT GEORGE COPPOCK]
Kicking off a Thursday night warm-up was the fellow Yorkshiremen of Dance to the Radio hosting Airship and the untameable Wild Beasts on the BBC Introducing stage before the main event landed the following morning. It’s nice to know this once great label still has somewhere to flex. As the crowds gather, even this pre-festival night of music is swarming with lovable northerners, flailing around the field in summer garb and tribal neon face-paint.
[THE RAKES - COPYRIGHT GABRIEL GAVIN PHOTOGRAPHY]
Friday at Leeds was given an early retro feel by The Rakes, dipping into new album Klang with set highlight ‘1989’ and ‘The Light From Your Mac’ alongside classic indie dancefloor fillers ’22 Grand Job’ and ‘Retreat’ while ‘The World Was A Mess…’ closed their surprisingly grand main stage performance. As they opened there was scepticism that the wistful band could fill the giant space, but as Alan Donohoe flicked his hair, threw an inexpressible dance shape and shuffled his arms a bit to what are fast becoming very appreciated songs, they just about convince.
[PATRICK WOLF - JAMIE BOYNTON]
Now, somebody will have to explain to us what exactly Patrick Wolf is. We’ve always been fans, some of us maybe a bit too much over the years, but as he enters the second stage looking like something Britney Spears would sticky-tape into her inspiration book we have to ask if he’s now, honestly, just gone too far. With long, blonde sinuous hair and a silver, glittery leotard, his outfit was topped only by the head mic which hung beside his lipstick-ridden chops. ‘Bluebells’ and ‘Tristan’ were fantastic, and reminded us of what Wolf was sonically capable of, but as ‘Accident and Emergency’ prompted a costume change and far too much of his over-the-top burlesque stage prancing, we’re worried the music is now coming second to the image of his persona.
The second stage was brought back to reality (well, not really), by a surprise set from Them Crooked Vultures, the side project of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. It was an occasion in itself; one which would be enough to fill the giant tent if they only did a set of McFly covers, however with grimy, chronic guitar chords in that very stomping QOTSA way and Grolh’s relentlessly taut drumming manner, it was actually a real treat for the ears as well as the diary. A few standout tracks here which will make what’s sure to be a phenomenal record in a few months, full of ridged emergency.
[THE MACCABEES - COPYRIGHT MARK BROUSSLEY www.loudpixels.net]
You Me At Six were nothing to shout about, so onto The Maccabees parading tracks from Wall Of Arms’ cavalcade of noise… as though it’s not one of the best albums of 2009. Orlando’s voice is warmly miserable, opening on ‘No Kind Words’ and building forlornly into ‘Lego’ and ‘Precious Time’, the crowd swathes and moshes to the very understated brilliance of the dark pop outfit until Blur-like ‘Latchmere’ sends them over the edge, panting. They leave on ‘Love You Better’, battered with kisses from an epic bass line and choral chant that would have Arcade Fire sweating, this band doing it all so wryly and naturally it breaks your heart.
[MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS- COPYRIGHT MARK BROUSSLEY www.loudpixels.net]
Elsewhere on Friday and Fightstar were trying their hardest to be an American rock band and Marina and the Diamonds were trying to keep up with trend while Dinosaur Pile Up notched a near perfect set from the NME/Radio 1 stage that undoubtedly overshadowed most of the day’s antics by more established acts.
The Prodigy were always going to be a weird one for Leeds, their 90’s dance rock not too comfortably at home here, which is maybe why they gave it such a Cathedral-sized kick up the arse, throwing as many hits as they could into their hour long set. They ferociously get the crowd into action, causing a mosh that forced a small portion of the audience into a nearby perimeter wall, crushing onlookers at the outskirts of the main stage crowd, and causing so much disorder the music was minor to the sheer magnitude of the atmosphere. It’s a shame then when all that comes crashing down as the headliners make as much commotion as a duck farting in a swimming pool.
[ARCTIC MONKEYS - COPYRIGHT GEORGE COPPOCK]
The Arctic Moneys deserve our respect as a band; they make quality records that we all, in some way, love. That said, when they stand on stage like they’re the coolest thing since Ultimate Frisbee, and in a very Liam Gallagher way churn through their material with as little passion as is feasible by a band playing to tens of thousands of people, it’s a wonder how they ever got here. F**king-up fairly swiftly into their set, ‘Brianstorm’ causing some sort of technical blip, they struggled from the offset to get the audience enthused, even with ‘I Bet You Look Good…’ landing pretty early on. Their new material, possibly influenced by Turner’s Last Shadow Puppets outing, doesn’t really work aside snappy tracks like this, but does raise the music standard. It’s all rather a mess, and doesn’t quite seem as significant as it should… all rather so-so, but the show is sure to split opinion almost as much as Radiohead will as Saturday’s headliner.
[THE GOSSIP - COPYRIGHT JAMIE BOYNTON]
Such is their disappointment we find a small gathering around a big woman. Live, The Gossip are astounding, Beth Ditto’s soulful and ambitious voice careering you into a bass heavy keyboard bleep-a-thon with a growing, steady pace that explodes into full on disco anthems. When Ditto makes a chorus, slowly shaking you toward it, she makes sure you’re paying attention when it detonates in your ear canal. She pops a boob out, shuffles around the front of the audience and every now and again makes you cringe with rapture. What a way to end the first night of the Leeds Festival 2009.
LEEDS FESTIVAL DAY TWO / LEEDS FESTIVAL DAY THREE
Artists in this article: Arctic Monkeys, Wild Beasts, The Rakes, Patrick Wolf, Them Crooked Vultures, The Maccabees, Dinosaur Pileup, The Prodigy, The Gossip
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