Pimms o'clock anyone?
Jul. 28th, 2008 12:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lonelybritSo this weekend I made my way to Clapham Common for Ben & Jerry's Sundae on the Common for a day of music, free ice-cream and hugging giant eight-foot chickens who were nobly braving heat exhaustion on behalf of the RSCPA. A general, fun, family day out. Good times.
Musical summing up:
The Troubadours - I may look these guys out. They were fun, bouncy and cheerful and a very good choice for kicking-off the proceedings in that they put everyone in a smiley mood, even if they didn't particularly inspire you to sit down when the alternative was to go raid the Pimm's bus and grab your first round of free ice-cream.
The Brightlights - unoffensive, pleasant indie-rock. Can't remember much else.
Florence and the Machine - she may have been completely insane and off her face, but she was good. Kind of folk-y, with a bit of blue and rock thrown into the mix. At moments she vaguely reminded me of Kate Nash, except with soul and fire and probably far more crack. It was the first (and only) act to seriously and actively pull people out of the stalls / off the rides to come and stand and listen. I am definitely looking out more of her stuff to see if it's as spellbinding recorded as it was live. Great entertainment act and an incredible voice.
Charlotte Hatherley - I think she was fine, but Florence and co. were a very hard act to follow, leaving most of the audience in need of a drink to recover. Which me and the mates duly did, but I don't remember my ears bleeding from any snippets we did overhear as we wandered past.
Delays - it was a shock to realise I actually knew two of their songs, and to consequently realise that the lead singer I'd always assumed was a woman was in fact a man. He just had the ability to sing falsetto and used it to sing entire verses. They did have some catchy moments but suffered from a poor sound set-up which meant that it was hard to actually hear the final tunes.
Guillemots - musically very interesting, obviously know their stuff and all round very proficient. Unfortunately, whilst their music might have been the most imaginative of the day, they really did not have the crowd entertainment gift to go with it. It was the kind of music I'd be happy to listen to at home when I can consider each track, but at a festival you need good banter between the audience and band to keep things ticking over.
The Charlatans - I've heard of them, and certainly they got the biggest crowd and the most enthusiastic crowd directly in front of the stage. Still, again, there was just something lacking from last year. Last year the headliners were The Feeling, who bounced onto stage and opened with a cover of 'Radio Star' that got everyone up and clapping and singing along at the tops of their voices. This time around, and the songs were mainly for those who were already big fans of the Charlatans and had kept up-to-date with their most recent tracks. (My mate followed them years back but admits she hasn't listened to anything more recent and as a consequence only recognised one song.)
Still, even if the music was a bit too serious for a day of ice-cream and Pimms, it was still a good day. We got free pancakes from the RSPCA, we marvelled at the air guitarists, and then two of the mates took out general frustration on each other on the FairTrade banana jousting (think 'Duel' in Gladiators, except over a bouncy castle and with inflatable bananas rather than pugel sticks).
Today I also caught the last episode of Top Gear. It was entertaining, and I'm sad to see this series over so quickly, a little because it just hasn't had the spark of some of the previous series. Not enough Stig, not enough of the three of them just cocking about and accidentally setting fire to things... it's like they think we're honestly watching this for the cars. Pffft.
I also caught some of the reports filtering out about John Barrowman, Gareth David-Lloyd and Naoko Mori at the San Diego Comic-Con. Highlights have been JB and NM singing a duet from Miss Saigon, and pictures of JB and GDL in green fairy wings that were apparently being handed out free from a Disney stall. Ah fandom :)
Musical summing up:
The Troubadours - I may look these guys out. They were fun, bouncy and cheerful and a very good choice for kicking-off the proceedings in that they put everyone in a smiley mood, even if they didn't particularly inspire you to sit down when the alternative was to go raid the Pimm's bus and grab your first round of free ice-cream.
The Brightlights - unoffensive, pleasant indie-rock. Can't remember much else.
Florence and the Machine - she may have been completely insane and off her face, but she was good. Kind of folk-y, with a bit of blue and rock thrown into the mix. At moments she vaguely reminded me of Kate Nash, except with soul and fire and probably far more crack. It was the first (and only) act to seriously and actively pull people out of the stalls / off the rides to come and stand and listen. I am definitely looking out more of her stuff to see if it's as spellbinding recorded as it was live. Great entertainment act and an incredible voice.
Charlotte Hatherley - I think she was fine, but Florence and co. were a very hard act to follow, leaving most of the audience in need of a drink to recover. Which me and the mates duly did, but I don't remember my ears bleeding from any snippets we did overhear as we wandered past.
Delays - it was a shock to realise I actually knew two of their songs, and to consequently realise that the lead singer I'd always assumed was a woman was in fact a man. He just had the ability to sing falsetto and used it to sing entire verses. They did have some catchy moments but suffered from a poor sound set-up which meant that it was hard to actually hear the final tunes.
Guillemots - musically very interesting, obviously know their stuff and all round very proficient. Unfortunately, whilst their music might have been the most imaginative of the day, they really did not have the crowd entertainment gift to go with it. It was the kind of music I'd be happy to listen to at home when I can consider each track, but at a festival you need good banter between the audience and band to keep things ticking over.
The Charlatans - I've heard of them, and certainly they got the biggest crowd and the most enthusiastic crowd directly in front of the stage. Still, again, there was just something lacking from last year. Last year the headliners were The Feeling, who bounced onto stage and opened with a cover of 'Radio Star' that got everyone up and clapping and singing along at the tops of their voices. This time around, and the songs were mainly for those who were already big fans of the Charlatans and had kept up-to-date with their most recent tracks. (My mate followed them years back but admits she hasn't listened to anything more recent and as a consequence only recognised one song.)
Still, even if the music was a bit too serious for a day of ice-cream and Pimms, it was still a good day. We got free pancakes from the RSPCA, we marvelled at the air guitarists, and then two of the mates took out general frustration on each other on the FairTrade banana jousting (think 'Duel' in Gladiators, except over a bouncy castle and with inflatable bananas rather than pugel sticks).
Today I also caught the last episode of Top Gear. It was entertaining, and I'm sad to see this series over so quickly, a little because it just hasn't had the spark of some of the previous series. Not enough Stig, not enough of the three of them just cocking about and accidentally setting fire to things... it's like they think we're honestly watching this for the cars. Pffft.
I also caught some of the reports filtering out about John Barrowman, Gareth David-Lloyd and Naoko Mori at the San Diego Comic-Con. Highlights have been JB and NM singing a duet from Miss Saigon, and pictures of JB and GDL in green fairy wings that were apparently being handed out free from a Disney stall. Ah fandom :)
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-28 12:21 am (UTC)Hahaha, I remember once seeing a mix someone had made of female-fronted bands, and they'd included a Delays song. And people were commenting going, "Er, Greg's a man." Brilliant.
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Date: 2008-07-28 10:39 pm (UTC)