Leeds Festival DAY TWO 29/8/09 Bramham Park, Yorkshire
4/5
By: Alex Lee Thomson
Opening the Dance Arena on Saturday was urban scamp Master Shortie whose University Ball antics you can imagine going down very well with a roomful of drunken students on a Friday night, his occasional sampling not being used too disrespectfully, but at midday at Leeds Festival, we’re not too sure.
[NOAH AND THE WHALE - COPYRIGHT SIMON MOSS]
That said, neither are we about Noah and the Whale’s new sound. A year ago we’d have been treated to perky folk pop full of whimsy and the odd cover of ‘You Can Call Me Al’; now though it seems all that daydreaming has been replaced by a more “serious” sound which has them coming over a little Fleet Foxes. It’s more grown up, but utterly dull live with guitar freak-outs seeming just a bit 90’s and self indulgent to fall in love with.
The XX are likewise as monotonous, but musically too surprising not to be absorbed by. Their engrossing material on the Festival Republic stage is fragilely restrained, but darkly interesting while everybody running around in ‘X’ t-shirts helps add to the drama.
[METRONOMY - COPYRIGHT JAMIE BOYNTON]
Metronomy’s new sound, much like Noah and the Whale’s, isn’t as exciting as their previous incarnation, so bravely we leave in search of Grammatics. They pester the heck out of obscure indie but for all their merry efforts, it’s a shade too unconscious and old hat to be that moving. In steps Broken Records then, with all the folkish warmth of Frightened Rabbit and all the grandeur of Arcade Fire. It’s delicate but extravagant, like The All New Adventures of Us, ‘Slow Parade’ being part Tom Waits part Captain, with an intriguing balance of showmanship and intricacy.
[VAMPIRE WEEKEND - COPYRIGHT SIMON MOSS]
Back out in the sun and Leeds Festival have tried to recreate the light-hearted afternoon slot that The Shins made their own a few years ago. It’s not quite got the same weight, but what Vampire Weekend lack in authority they make up for in understated soundtrack anthems. ‘A Punk’ has a real shine to it while ‘Oxford Comma’ has just the slightest amount of throttle. At times they’re almost making no noise, ‘One’ consisting of the faintest drum fluster with just a hint of seductive strings, held back until the swaddling audience shout back, “Blake’s got a new face”, all done in Vampire Weekend’s very trademark Beach Boys manner.
[YEAH YEAH YEAHS - COPYRIGHT GABRIEL GAVIN PHOTOGRAPHY]
Every time we see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs we love them just that wee bit more. There’s some wildly violent aspect of them we forget when listening to their records which explodes on stage in a river of sequinned, thunderous pop. Our frontwoman Karen O is dressed is her Woodstock gone outer-space finest frock, her fringe unable to be coaxed from in front of her eyes for the whole show which features ‘Gold Lion’, ‘Heads Will Roll’ and the ridiculously animated ‘Zero’, with an acoustic version of ‘Maps’ thrown in for diversity.
White Denim and The Rumble Strips play new material over on the Festival Republic stage, the latter fine-tuning a few overwhelming wrecks from Welcome to the Walk Alone, one of the best records of 2009. On the Main Stage and Bloc Party are reinventing themselves as a massive festival act, their melodious indie snippets replaced by epic dance numbers like ‘Flux’ and ‘Mercury’. In essence, the set is virtually the same as it’s been at every other Bloc Party gig this side of the decade, and they struggle to make too big an impact, even with their new neon spray-painted fans.
[RADIOHEAD - COPYRIGHT Andy Shepherd www.lowlightphoto.co.uk]
Radiohead headline the Saturday night at Leeds Festival, and with so much material to nibble at, from old school guitar belters to the more obscure, personal songs of late, the set list could really take you down any rabbit hole. They opt for the blue pill and we find a slightly leftfield, utterly fan-orientated performance with ‘Jigsaw Falling Into Place’ and ‘The Reckoner’ setting the tone for their dazzlingly persuasive slide from melancholy indie fan-boy faves to massive headline act within just a few rolls of Thom Yorke’s glazed-over eyes, and the shuffle of ‘Paranoid Android’ and the giddily anarchistic ‘Bodysnatchers’. It’s ‘Just’ which kicks a glass poker into the show, originally marked down as ‘Karma Police’ the band veer towards their potent height with this unreserved track before ‘Everything In Its Right Place’ closes the exhilaratingly confident show from one of the most important bands of the past 20 years.
LEEDS FESTIVAL DAY ONE / LEEDS FESTIVAL DAY THREE
Artists in this article: Bloc Party, Rumble Strips, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grammatics, Broken Records, Metronomy, The XX, Noah & The Whale, Radiohead, Vampire Weekend
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