V Festival - Day Two

Morning Runner

Never heard there stuff before but sounded pretty cool. No stand out track though.

The Feeling

Hmm………it started well enough and I thought these might be one of those bands that surprise you and you go back home wanting to by the album. But no. They turned into a boy band giving a go at Rock. The song that sounds like Athlete is pretty cool though.

Hard-Fi

A bit aggressive on stage (in the not winning friends sense) and they made me think of a bunch of chavs performing.

Oceansize

Saw the last four minutes of their last song. It sounded ok!

Gomez

Saw about twenty mins of these before leaving. They didn’t play “Whipping Piccadilly” whilst I was there so was a bit disappointed.

V Festival - Day One

Kula Shaker

Just heard a couple of their hits from the nineties whilst wondering around the festival site. Put a smile on my face.

We Are Scientists

Best part was when they came on to the sound of Harleys and cycling these little tricycles whilst wearing motorcycle helmets.

Magic Numbers

Very pleasant but didn’t blow me away.

Bloc Party

Pretty solid set from Bloc Party that got the crowd going early. Kele Okereke also was seen jumping into the pit at the end of the set. I didn’t see him again!

Beck

Beck was absolutely fantastic as usual. It started with a bunch of puppets who looked like the band, singing and playing mini instruments. The band then came on dressed as the puppets (or the other way round) and the puppets stayed there for the whole gig copying everything the real band did. There was even a puppet cam and a five minute video of the puppets backstage chatting up the girls, getting ready to come on stage and singing Karma Police. Very funny. There was also a part of the show where Beck played some acoustic numbers whilst the band eat at a table brought on for the occasion. The band then played the cups, plates and cutlery as if they were instruments.

Radiohead

Very tight and equally good. Fantastic way to finish Day One. We even got a listen of Creep. Thom Yorke was doing his crazy dancing like Ian Curtis from Joy Division and they also played three new songs that sounded very promising. The Play list was;

01 Airbag
02 2+2=5
03 The National Anthem
04 My Iron Lung
05 You and Whose Army?
06 Bodysnatchers
07 The Bends
08 Nude
09 No Surprises
10 The Gloaming
11 Paranoid Android
12 All I Need
13 Pyramid Song
14 Lucky
15 Just
16 Idioteque
17 Street Spirit

Encore 1:
18 A Wolf At The Door
19 There There
20 Karma Police
21 True Love Waits/Everything In Its Right Place

Encore 2:
22 Creep

The Royal Hunt of the Sun @ The National Theatre

Went to the theatre the other day and saw this play about the Conquistador’s and their quest for Inca gold in Peru. It follows the story of Francisco Pizarro as he leads his two hundred men into Inca territory. It explores themes such as the friendship between Pizarro and the Inca King/God Atahuallpa which is both distrustful and inquisitive but ultimately tragic. It explores the clash of religions that shows Christianity as both arrogant and brutal, whereas the Inca’s religion is portrayed as humane and giving where everyone is equal, apart from the King (a touch of communism perhaps).

As a play to watch it is much more interesting if you have some knowledge of this subject beforehand. The second half is the more exciting with the first half setting the scene to the story that blossoms later. The stand out quote that I took was from the narrator, Old Martin, “So fell Peru, We gave her greed, hunger and the cross, three gifts for the civilised life.” Now that’s a nice achievement!

John Steinbeck “Grapes of Wrath”

Just finished “Grapes of Wrath”. This is a really interesting study of the low income classes and peoples fear of touching these people or being too close to them as if it’s a disease they might catch. This tale of migrants in 1930’s America has a moral stand point as pertinent today as it was back in 1939 when it was written. It follows the adventures of a family from Oklahoma as they get turfed off their farm and head west in search of work and a better life, west being California in a beaten up old truck. The novel switches between the micro story of the family and the big picture story of the recession with plenty of conspiracy theory and philosophical and political debate to keep you thinking. Check out page 156 and 157 for some serious thoughts on man’s incessant desire for progress. I was going to put the quote in hear but it would take forever!

Clap Your Hand Say yeah @ the forum

Went to the forum on Friday to see CYHSY and it was fantastic. It wasn't packed which adds to the enjoyment and we were able to get quite close to appreciate the band. I saw them at the roskilde festival last week which was also good but this was a longer set where they played some new songs which went down really well. Everyone was up for it and well...........clapping their hands. Their songs are really upbeat with dark undertones so there is always this dilemma of whether you should be smiling or not. Check them out if you get a chance.