Having
now cleared the stones, erected the tent and sampled
the sweaty delights of the restaurants on wheels, it
was then time for the ladies at Brighton Calling to
commence our Friday danceathon at Europe's largest wakeboarding
festival "Wakestock" in Oxfordshire.
We kicked off the proceedings with London
based dance favourites the Audio Bully’s, who
perform at their usual crowd pleasing best, playing
a mixture of classics and new tracks including ‘Gimme
that punk’ which went down a treat with the fluo-kids.
After that cockle warming aperitif it was time for the
Plump dj’s who played to a very full crowd, and
served up a full on set of edgy breaks and electro,
even throwing in a personal favourite - Fake Blood's
'Mars', which of course sent us into a frenzy.
Next was the Leeds based grime punk 5
piece Hadouken, having racked up over a million plays
on their myspace page we knew we were in for a treat.
Overall we felt they were a supertight band conveying
lot’s of energy, they created a good danceoff
amongst the festivalgoers and it literally left us wanting
MORE!
Groove Armada were their usual crowd pleasing
professional selves with impressive visuals thrown in
to complement the journey each track took you on.
The over exciteable crowd then marched down en masse
to hear Pendulum who put the crowd through their paces
with their rock tinged drum n bass and breaks, euphoric
break downs, and enormous drum rolls and drops. This
was the last act of the night and after that dance off
we were more than ready for a rest before day 2.
Having completed our Saturday morning
ritual of showering, queuing for a bacon sangwich and
slurping a can of Relentless, we felt ready for action
again. The day started off perfectly with a walk
through the lush green fields (ground to the rather
breathtaking Blenheim Palace) to spectate the exciting
pro qualifying wakeboarding competition that was supposedly
the main purpose of this wonderful festival. We
were lucky to witness some of the world's best boarders
showcasing their talents on the lake. Having come
practically from all 4 corners of the world these guys
and gals did not disappoint.
Back in the music arena the first act
we went to see were The Nextmen. Despite drawing in
a relatively small crowd, those who were lucky enough
to be there felt truly blessed through having experienced
something rather special. Our next few hours on
this gloriously sunny afternoon were spent yo yoing
between the Pimms tent, margherita cocktail stand, and
watching the skate boarders doing their tricks on the
skate ramp.
The Saturday evening's delights started
with The Mystery jets. Ailing from Twickenham’s
Eel Pie Island, Mystery Jets owe much of their musical
inspiration to ’70s prog rock, and their first
track had a scuzzy eletro wave and some smart beats
before careering giddly into an indie-electro disco
frenzy that Klaxons might be proud to call their own.
The band's highlight for us was Two Doors Down which
is great fun in a hopelessly retro kind of way. The
guitar loops that flit in and out feel ripped from the
’80s – but don’t grate as much as
some of that decade’s revivalist tendencies.
Next stop was veteran festival favourites
Happy Mondays, who opened with “Kinky Afro. Many
of the songs go off in both musical and lyrical tangents.
The Happy Mondays seem like they are trying to be the
ultimate party band and in that they very nearly succeed.
Some standout tracks for us were “Bob’s
Yer Uncle”, and the title track and the quintessential
Happy Mondays favourite “24 Hour Party People.”
The Happy Mondays live show was to be
honest a bit like a ship wreck; A spectacular mangled
mess that you must witness and is nearly impossible
to turn away from. The Happy Mondays are far from perfectionists
but that is part of what makes them so appealing.
The night ended with a spectacular from
the clubland legend that is Sir Norman Jay. In this
two hour 'Good Times' set the he managed to blend everything
from drum and bass, hip hop and soul to early 90's house
classic sending the crowd on a musical extravaganza,
us and the other tens of hundreds of revellers were
left at the end standing there arm in arm shouting "We
want more"
It was the turn of the bands on Sunday
to woo the crowd on what was the final night of the
Wakestock festival. A good mix of up and coming
talent such as Light Speed Champion and Black Kids showed
what they were capable of and seemed to hit the spot.
Although the latter did seem to have a few sound issues
they still managed to pull it off and are a band that
are showing real promise.
A good turn out for The Futureheads saw them put on
a good show and you can’t beat a good ‘Hounds
of Love’ sing-along. Their latest track
‘beginning of the twist’ was also a highlight.
Throw in a top set from personal favourites The Young
Knives and you are well and truly on your way to a grand
finale. And what better way to finish the night
than with local legends Supergrass. Having made
their mark here in the early nineties this felt like
a kind of mini-homecoming. A flawless
performance consisting of classic tracks such as ‘Caught
by the Fuzz’, ‘Richard III’ and ‘Sun
hits the sky’. Add to that the soulful beauty
of ‘Late in the day’ and it was easy to
see why the crowd kept cheering for more and didn’t
want them to stop.
Written by Darren Symonds and Berni Adamic
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