While almost every decent act in the world had been sucked into Glastonbury, what was left turned up to open the Olympic Park. And just for starters, a word on how even now the Olympic Park looks good. This event was held at the Northern End, near the Velodrome, across 3 stages - a huge main arena with two "tents" providing the minor stages.
The two tents started the proceedings off, so first the Pepsi Max stage (unlike Glasto, Hard Rock Calling goes heavy on corporate sponsorship) opening with the Vuvuvultures. No haven't heard of them and don't expect to again.
Yellowire on the third stage were a more promising outfit.
So having had a little perambulate around the whole site, and eaten a Jamie Oliver sandwich (surprisingly not filled by the great man himself but by some little immigrant "chef", I settled in for the main stage to await my friend who would be coming long later.
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| The main stage before 50,000 arrive on it. Unlike Glastonbury, pristine green astroturf. Looks good doesn't it? |
The Weeks had the unenviable task of trying to get some enthusiasm from the gathering crowd, given there was a good 10 hours to go. Some task, and its fair to say this American outfit failed.
Lower than Atlantis on next made a better fist of it. A fairly standard rock outfit though.
Kodaline up next had better things said about them. An Irish band but to be fair I didn't hear enough of them as that is when my mate turned up and we went for a walk and a chat.
And took in a performance by the View in the Pepsi Max tent. They went down very well with an enthusiastic crowd, especially on their signature hit, "Same Jeans". Regrettably I feel this Scottish band have had their shot at fame and its not going to get any better for them.
So then we decided on a drink. Obviously the brew of choice (ie only if there is no choice) is a pint of Carling. Carling have a monopoly on beer at these events, a wise decision on their part as why else would anyone choose Carling? However, if you are middle-aged and middle-class, like Mark and I, the better option is the queue for the wine bar, from which we extracted a carafe of rose. I know, not very rock and roll, but it hit the spot perfectly sat at a picnic table in the sun,.
Following which it was a trek back to the main stage for the top end of the bill. First the veteran Paul Weller, who stared the set off with some of his newer work before settling into some older crowd pleasers like That's Entertainment, Changing Man and Town Called Malice. While Mick Jagger can clearly strut his stuff at nearly 70, Paul Weller still cuts a fair dash as a rocker at 55.
Which left Kasabian. Who really can headline a big show like this. Indeed they are rumoured to be Glastonbury head liners for next year. Tom Meighan certainly has all the swagger, with guitarist Serge Pizzorno adding a bit of sophistication. They do have a good set of rock numbers to play now with 4 albums behind them in the last 10 years, although only Velociraptor off their latest release is really worth playing. But it was an enthusiastic crowd of I guess about 50,000, mostly behind us, who enjoyed the whole performance. All on such a lovely mild evening. Just hope the weather holds for nest weekend when Mumford & Sons hold the same venue (sensibly laid down with astroturf rather than grass) followed by (for me) New Order at Jodrell Bank. More summer like this please.
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| No, we had no idea why they kept on putting up random words in mirror writing either. |
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