Day One At Latitude*
OK, so I survived my first ever night camping and it was time to rock. Or something, first up was Mark Steel. I'd seen him before in the theatre at Headington Girls School of all places, so knew I'd enjoy it. He was doing his lecture on Marx (Karl, not Gary) and it was funny. I have to say, the man is a genius when it comes to accents - his Tony Benn was spot on and his George Galloway... well, suffice to say that lots of people come a cropper when doing a Scots accent, as they somehow try to make it sound too Scottish (and don't get me started on the strange jutting chin motion), but he was pretty damn good.
Before I start with the music, I am notoriously bad at describing what genre bands are. So, I've decided to use the description given by Wikipedia. This could be fun. First band up were Murder By Death - a band from Indiana who play a "range of music including instrumentals, punk rock and alt-country" - on the main Obelisk stage. Have to say they were pretty good and it was nice sitting on the grass in the sunshine listening to them.
They were closely followed by The Aliens, who have a "more upbeat and psychedelic pop sound in contrast to the trip-hop-based Beta Band", from whence they came. Also pretty good.
I caught most of British Sea Power, a band whose "style ranges from the sweeping, often epic, guitar pop sound to the visceral and angular". They worked really well on the big stage. I had seen them earlier this year, at the Zodiac (where strangely the girls I was with all enjoyed it, and the boys thought it was boring), and they didn't lose anything playing a much bigger venue (if what is ostensibly a field can be called a venue).
So far all the bands had been on the main stage. We went for a wander in the woods to try and fine the Sunrise Stage, and when we did, caught the last 2 songs of The Dø, "a French rock duo" who "incorporate a great range of instruments in their songs, as well as being a duet completing each other member, Merilahti bringing the melody, and Levy the symphonic or jazzy structure". At least, I think this was the band that I saw. They were good, anyway.
From there to the Uncut arena (basically a big tent), to see Howling Bells, an "indie rock" band. This served a double purpose. I was interested in seeing them and Julian Cope would be following. Howling Bells were really great, and went down really well. She has an amazing voice, and they rocked the canvas hard.
So, it was time for Julian Cope, the British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist and poet. First of all, I love Julian Cope. I've seen him countless times, in various guises, and think the man is awesome. With me on this occasion was a friend who knew virtually nothing about him and so had no idea what to expect. Before he came on, I said "be warned. You never know what you are going to get with Julian". How prophetic. He was about 25 minutes late in coming on, and in spite of this, it started OK. He played 2 new songs (at least, I had never heard them before) and then played Sleeping Gas, one of my favourite Teardrop Explodes song, which I was most excited about, given I was too young really to have ever seen them, and he tends not to dip into that part of his musical life anymore. His guitar seemed to break at the end of it, and he proceeded to smash it up (an act of which I thoroughly disapprove) and then proceeded into full wig out, while the band played on. We got a fragment of Reynard the Fox, and then what seemed to be him saying that they were going to play Pristeen; and then the plug got pulled. I don't know if it was because he had gone on late, or because the powers that be were nervous about his increasingly strange performance. But off he went. I was disappointed, especially when I saw the setlist that could have been. Chaotic, wandering... It was either the greatest spectacle of the weekend, or immensely frustrating because you know how great the man can truly be. I've read both opinions. I'll be interested to read what the man himself as to say about it in his next Address Drudion, if he does mention it.
Last band of the day were the headliners Franz Ferdinand, a "rock" band. They did not disappoint. The rain came on, but no matter. They rocked (as a "rock" band should), I danced (as only I could). We got new songs, we got old favourites, and a very cool backdrop of the band's faces in a kind of 1930s, boys-own style. Alex smoldered (I seem to be the only one of my friends to see him in this way). Gripe? No Darts of Pleasure. I knew it would be a long-shot to get Tell Her Tonight (although we did get Jacqueline, which I would have happily swapped), but I did expect Darts of Pleasure. Oh well. At least they aren't predictable.
I fell asleep in my tent with the strains of various tunes from the Guilty Pleasures disco in my ears.
Highlight - Franz
Lowlight - Julian (although only because, in the words of our headliners, You Could Have It So Much Better)
Surprise Discovery of the Day - The Dø
Non-surprise Discovery of the day - I really have no sense of direction
*OK, technically, it wasn't Day One. On the Thursday night, we had gone a-wandering and heard a bit of Ross Noble in the Literary Tent. Then someone else joined him, and they proceeded to do very funny John Peel impressions. So good, it would have been remiss not to mention them.
No comments:
Post a Comment