Ill open by stating that London transport and logistics are a giant crock of faecal matter, boiling over. Me and my friend Steve have had nightmare issues with the tube. Steve who I had travelled with and I both expected Japanese efficiency and were greeted with a Spanish siesta. Delays caused us numerous headaches and also meant we each had to fork out a further £25 on train tickets after missing our coach back this afternoon by mere minutes
With that aside, Hyde Park proved to be a great location other than the problems getting there. It was busy but not heaving, the stages and facilities were well laid out and other than some issues I will come to involving the acts it was ideal. There were some nice sideshows such as Capoeira dancers, fit bikini women on stilts and various O2 provided activities.
On arrival we saw some of Captain on the main stage, who seemed to deliver a good performance but because of our arrival time we had missed a good number of tracks. I would have liked to have seen more of them.
Wandering over to the XFM stage and we caught Two Gallants playing. Technically they were great and the drummer was outstanding, a real heavy performer with long hair thrashing about. The songs themselves were a bit depressing however, the singer is far too whiny and nasally
We left the XFM arena and caught one of the best acts of the day on the main stage, Missy Higgins. Shes a very cute Australian folk-rockstress and she put out a blinder of a peformance that put KT Tunstall to shame... The crowd were very involved and there was lots of dancing going on. If you havnt heard her and you like KT, check out her website, shes excellent and you might like her.
http://www.missyhiggins.comBack in the XFM tent, John Cale (ex Velvet Underground) put on a solid performance of what was totally middle of the road material. Few people seemed to really get involved here other than a handful of middle aged men gyrating about. He closed with one Velvet Underground track and that was the highlight of his performance.
We could not be bothered with Ray Lamontagne and instead indulged in food and much more beer before KT Tunstall. Violent Femmes were playing in the meantime I think, they seemed to be some kind of generic country act, nothing spectacular from what I could tell but then I didnt watch enough of them to pass comment.
When KT finally appeared on the main stage, it was a bit of a let down. She played all her signature tracks but her performance was not great IMO. Her singing was spot on as was her guitar work. Maybe it was the setup, maybe it was the backing she is working with, but something was missing from many of the tracks. We were both eager to hear a blinding rendition of Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - which she indeed played towards the end of the set - but it was so forgettable we headed off right after to the XFM tent for the highlight of the evening.
After some time in sound check with people flooding across KT Tunstall, the XFM stage area was rammed solid. I was parked right at the front luckily, looking behind it was packed out. The lights dimmed and the Rocky theme started, then out walked the Fun Lovin Criminals to great applause.
Huey picked up his guitar and opened by blasting out the Van Halen solo from Eruption with perfection, and the band followed it up with a worthy tribute to Led Zeps Rock n Roll. What followed was a combination of well known tracks, anthems and some smooth gems from across their albums: Back on the Block, Korean Bodga, Mi Corazon, Loco, King of New York, Love Unlimited. At this point Huey screamed "Its rock and roll time, mother f*****!" and out came Scooby Snacks, Coney Island Girl and Where the Bums Go, followed by Smoke Em andThat Aint Right. They of course closed to a frantic crowd with Big Night Out and The Fun Lovin Criminal. Children were crowd surfing and Crowd Control attendents were singing along while the crowd were wild! They really should not have been put on such a mild day, they deserved to go on with the Strokes on Wednesdays lineup, or be given the main stage. On leaving I heard many people comment "We have to follow
this with dull David Gray?"
It was easily the highlight of the day, anyone there would confirm it.
As mentioned, what followed was David Gray. His performance was excellent but the tracks were simply too mellow to keep the audience. Many people had already missed the start as they were watching the FLC so this was poor planning on the part of the organisers. An extended play of Babylon kept the crowd happy and he had them singing along, but it was to no avail. This Years Love closed the night and many people were already heading for the exit as it was dark.
Overall it was a bad choice saving David Gray for last act of the day and better planning certainly could have gone to the flow of acts as well as the playing time. It certainly was an eventful and great show though. Id do it again any time.
Forgive the thumb marks, they were taken on a phone.
