This was a day which fell into the "Phew, what a scorcher!" category. And had an inauspicious start when having made the long walk from Stratford station in the sweltering heat and then the long queue to get past the ticket barriers, I headed to the nearest cold drinks vendor. No queue for that I thought. Yes, but no cold drinks either. They had sold out almost before the gig had even started, and with another 8 hours to go. Still I thought, maybe I will treat myself to a nice ice cream. Next to the non-cold drinks vendor was an ice-cream van advertising Cornish ice-cream. So what do you think they didn't sell? Yes you got it, an ice cream van that had no ice creams. Machine broken down. But it did have cold drinks so I went away with a bottle of water from my less than perfect shopping experience.
This was a less elaborate "festival" than the previous Saturday. There was only the one stage, so no choice. First act I caught was Haim, 3 American sisters with a bloke on drums. Frankly very limited rock band and if it was 3 blokes they wouldn't have got on the bill. Curiosity value only.
Then Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros. By far the most shambolic act of the day. And the most enjoyable. Its a festival. Things like rapport with the crowd count for a lot. The fact that they seemed to be making it up as they went along just added to the charm. Usually when a band gets to double-figures on the stage I just think its an exercise in overmanning, but this lot were great, dishevelled, weird and wonderful. The stage looked like a junkyard taken over by squatters. My highlight, not least as I had never heard of them.
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| You can never go wrong wearing a top hat on stage |
Best I can say for Ben Howard is that he wasn't as bad as I thought he would be. Not a fan of solo singer songwriters strumming guitars at festivals, but he was quite "rocky" and so didn't get too lost. Remember he was playing to a crowd of 65,000 here. I was "rescued" by the arrival of my friends part way through, so I extricated myself from the middle of the crowd to meet up with them. (And photos here on in deteriorate with further distance from stage!)
Vampire Weekend are an American band I have wanted to see for sometime. If you like jangly guitar music (not a technical term) then they are for you. Nice sweet guitar sound, they didn't disappoint.
Then off to join a queue for chicken and chips from a chicken and chips vendor who ran out of chips (temporarily) while we queued, before settling down for the main act. Jo who was hungover from the night before seemed to be reviving a bit after a good mound of fat and carbohydrate, but had probably not turned up for the perfect antidote to a hangover - bands aren't known for playing quietly.
Anyway, on to the main course, Mumford & Sons. Now someone should do a thesis on how Mumford became this successful. They are essentially playing blue grass, a type of music that has been around for a long time without ever selling anything more than a few copies to a tiny band of aficionados. They don't exactly sell on sex appeal. Personable enough but its not like they are the Stones. Basically quite posh boys from London, playing American folk. (I believe "Nu-Folk" is the technical term.). And yet they have gone down a storm in the States, headlined the last day at Glastonbury and able to attract 65,000 here. Enjoyable enough, but frankly not the best act I have ever seen. I must be missing something. Or maybe the appeal is that they don't quite sound like everyone else. Not many bands play banjo and double bass.
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