25 July 2009 (gig)
31 July 2009
When people think of a Music Festival, it brings to mind muddy camp fields, weekend long partying. The bizarre, the crazy and the downright stupid all play a role in the festival atmosphere, where individuality can be forgotten and the general public who attend can immerse themselves into the spirit of a music festival.
Ben & Jerry’s Sunday on the Common however, is different and unique. It is a family themed festival, where entertainment includes banana fighting, toe wrestling, life sized macadamias, air guitar and some family fair ground rides. To my amazement there were even real hens, ducks, chickens and a cow named Ben, with the opportunity to get your picture taken with one of them. Ben & Jerry’s aim even claim to know all their 10,000 cows by name. I think we should test them on this.
Have I mentioned the Free Ice Cream yet? All the flavours you could wish for, and after some hefty queuing you could eat them all, no limits imposed.
And i havn't even got to the music yet... Saturday saw headliners The Super Furry Animals take to the stage, while Sundays highlights were The Human League and The Futureheads. Keep your eyes peeled for music-news’ backstage chats with the bands, which will soon be uploaded into lovely video format soon.
Saturday
Early on in the day, Tommy Reilly warmed up the stage with his introverted charm. The 19 year old Glaswegian can only be dubbed as Indie moan rock, but let the word moan not put you off, for his unique blend of melancholy Indie songs seem to be adored by all the young kids (and indeed the nations T4 fans), who are happily jumping at the front. He won the Orange unsigned act but shows that he has a lot more to his repertoire than T4 favourite 'Give me a Call.’
To continue with the Scottish theme of the day, King Creosote aka Kenny Anderson, played a gentle acoustic set, paired with the drummer of the Pictish Tail who intermittently also joins in on vocals. A lovely country sing-a-long for sailors (or Indie kids) on a Saturday afternoon. Penultimate headliners and aged grunge rockers Teenage Fanclub, also from Glasgow, show us that you can still rock aged 40 + and keep the mums and dads in the crowd happy.
Saturday’s Headliners, The Super Furry Animals played a well received set, with signs for 'Applause’ 'The End’ and 'Thank you’ used to communicate with the crowed. Perhaps the thick smoke emanating from their dressing room gives us insight into their lack of verbal communication (both on stage and in their reluctance to interview). Still, crowd pleasers such as 'Mountain’ and 'Juxtaposed with You' imprint their dulcet tones into our minds long into the night.
Other highlights of the day include I am Kloot, where their gauche front man was entertaining if a little foul mouthed, and his grungy voice and stories about Gods And Monsters were enjoyed by fans and new listeners alike.
Sunday
Early on on day 2, when a hint of sun was still visible, Marina and the Diamonds, fresh from supporting Paolo Nutini at the iTunes festival, gave an energetic performance with a clarity and range of vocals; growling, aah-ing, dancing, and, wait for it, all that with no shoes on - a lady to surely keep an eye on this year. If she can conquer Britain the way she does the stage (with NO shoes), she'll soon be the focus of more than festival goers who happen to accidentally catch her set while queuing for ice cream.
Next we saw young upstarts The Answering Machine, whose vocals have been alikened to The Pixies. Whoever wrote that needs to take out those ear plugs, put on a couple of Pixies tracks and realise the error of their ways. The Oohs and Aahs of the backing vocals do give us a moment to jump around but sadly a young nondescript Indie band will find it hard to catch more than a momentary breath of attention.
Refreshingly, Red Light Company showed real potential to become festival favourites, with their driving melodic Indie Rock, and feel good guitar driven tunes. A glowing set (or was that just front man Richards lusciously long blond hair?) Back stage, Chris, humbly gave me the best spontaneous song lyrics about Ice cream..."see that cow standing over in that field..." Perhaps the fake cows scattered around gave him deep inspiration.
Camera Obscura came on to tone all those hyperactive, ice cream filled children’s energy levels down a notch. What? Another Scottish band? Scotland's certainly got talent if the Ben & Jerry's line up is anything to go by, or maybe it has something to do with keeping the hard-faced Scottish security company happy? Nobody wants to mess with those lads... This Glaswegian female fronted folksy indie pop left the crowd swaying, dreamy eyed and nearly falling asleep. Their sweet, heartbreak songs cannot be faulted but is a little more movement on stage too much to ask for?
The Futureheads, the festivals 2nd last band on, play a fervid set with songs for bopping heads too. Their fast guitars and pumping bass lightened the gloomy rainy atmosphere. This roller-coaster rock and their polyphonic harmonies give us all renewed energy, and heck, they even claimed to play "One of the fastest songs in mankind, ever..." which went down a treat to the kids with enough energy left to dance the cold away.
Sundays Headliners, The Human League, were firm favourites of many of the older generation present. These original synth poppers, if a bit out of tune, closed the festival in style, singing 80’s favourite 'Don’t you Want me Baby.’ Unfortunately due to the steadily increase of dreary rain, those without umbrellas found the exit a more enticing destination than the stage.
Highlights: The music, the free ice cream, the friendly atmosphere, free sun-cream, the Eco-friendly stalls, the blue Oxfam face paints, the Ben & Jerry’s merry go round, fairtrade candy floss, the farm-yard animals, the friendly Scottish security.
Bad points: The long queue’s for EVERYTHING, the rain on Sunday, the giant macadamia who I thought was attacking me (he was actually after a high-five), the free ice cream (anyone get sick?)
Funnies from my American friend: 'In the U.S. B & J's is how some people refer to what happens in Jamaica when you drink yard margaritas with sorority girls.'
Quote of the weekend: 'The past don’t exist if the present don’t last.' – Futureheads
