Photo: Press
The UK’s festival season is well and truly over, with The XX, A Tribe Called Quest and Pet Shop Boys capping off a truly invigorating summer of tunes down at the newly-located Bestival in Dorset. Meanwhile, in London, Blackheath played host to a somewhat less-enthralling festival in the creatively-named On Blackheath.
Heading to any festival, the main sponsor of which is John Lewis, you’re sure to experience a few things you’d never expect at any other festival. This was summed up beautifully by a 15-minute lull of no music on Sunday afternoon, which could only be filled by queueing at the McGuigan’s wine stand or attending a cookery display, with smoked salmon on the grill… Yeah, let’s stick to reviewing music.
Saturday
After an uplifting start to proceedings courtesy of the Greenwich & Lewisham NHS Choir, She Drew The Gun are charged with kicking things into gear on the Main Stage, doing so within seconds as singer Louisa Roach introduces herself to the crowd with the not-so-subtle critique of modern society that is ‘Revolution of Mind’. It only got more blunt from there on in, with ‘Poem’ driving the message home - “Well I hope you feel more comfortable doing your sight seeing/taking pictures, buying fucking Union Jack magnets and keyrings.” Cutting.
Elsewhere, south London four-piece Marine are impressive on Stage 3 with their ‘songs about mythical creatures’, while on Stage 2 (yeah... they went all out on stage names this year) Keir is displaying his vocal prowess, which, while superb, occasionally wanders into Jack Black territory, especially on 'You Will Never Feel The Same', not something you want written about you too often. There’s plenty of potential there though, as 'Probably' proves. If the 22-year-old learns to control his voice, he’s a potential star.
Craig Charles’ Funk & Soul Club nails the mid-afternoon slot, with all sorts of shapes being thrown in the sun around the mid stage by those not in danger of tripping over one of a few hundred inflatable loungers littered around the arena. Metronomy make a late bid for the day’s highlight with an all-out party affair with 'The Bay' lighting a match under the visibly weary crowd before the synth-heavy 'The Look' adding fuel to the fire - a superb performance.
Having sold 2.8 million records in the UK alone, it’s safe to say that Travis’ ‘The Man Who’ is one of the best albums released in this country in the last twenty years and the Scottish four-piece prove its longevity, playing it from start to finish to open their headlining set. Songs such as 'Turn' and 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me' sound every bit as good as they did in 1999 with Fran Healy’s vocals showing no signs of decline.
Following The Man Who, the band play the rest of their hits, with a duet with the aforementioned NHS Choir on the sickly-sweet singalong special that is 'Flowers In The Window'. It's a highlight before closing the set with the song that started it all, 'All I Wanna Do Is Rock'.
SUNDAY
Hangovers are soothed by the London Soul Choir as doors open on Sunday before Black Honey blast the cobwebs away with a raucous set. Three fan favourites 'Somebody Better', 'Hello Today' and 'Corinne' are played in quick succession getting the crowd's vehement approval, proving that the Brighton natives are deserving of their Main Stage slot. In fact, they should have been much further up the bill. The legion of young fans in the front row will doubtlessly agree.
Pip Blom gives a similarly stellar performance on Stage Three with the Amsterdam native’s brand of lo-fi rock inspiring some head banging among the early comers to Blackheath. Yonaka, meanwhile, blast through a number of high-tempo tunes that look great on stage, but lack sonically. Back on the main stage, Tom Grennan’s Paolo Nutini impression is pretty convincing, apart from the lack of depth in the songwriting. Cookery school anyone?
A somewhat dreary mid-afternoon is briefly dissipated by Huey Morgan and his Fun Lovin’ Criminals who seem intent on swearing as often as fucking possible in between shots of tequila. It’s a bloody good rock show, but considering the demographic of those in attendance, it’s just a bit cringeworthy.
Speaking of cringeworthy, KT Tunstall’s desperate attempts to act half her age leave a sour taste as deep down, she’s a solid songwriter, but the on-stage antics and screechy ‘banter’ force this writer to make an excellent decision to go see the enigmatic My Baby on stage two. The trio deliver a half-hour set of Jethro Tull- and ZZ Top-inspired goodness to provide the biggest surprise of the weekend, definitely ones to keep an eye out for.
The Mariachis novelty karaoke performances grow weary very quickly. A cover of Bruce Channel/DJ Otzi’s Hey Baby enough to drive many out of the tent and into the rain to see Seasick Steve sift through an array of “guitars” - he says with air quotes - while drummer Dan Magnusson gives a lesson in how to not look after a drum kit in the best possible way. Seasick is one of music’s great guys and no doubt he gained a number of new young fans on Sunday evening.
It’s left to The Libertines to bring the curtain down on the weekend and tear it down they did, rifling through a 19-song set. As if On Blackheath couldn’t prove itself to be any less of a rock festival, a visibly perturbed Pete Doherty informs the crowd that he’s been threatened with a £1000 fine if he lit a cigarette on stage. However, he wasn’t going to let that affect him, as he and Barat traded riffs and vocals throughout, sharing a single mic as often as possible, as is their trademark.
'Can’t Stand Me Now' induces a sea of attempted crowd surfers and out-of-place moshpits as the dedicated fans tried their upmost to turn this summer féte into a festival, to little avail. “It’s getting a bit messy, let’s get the kids out of here,” says a voice nearby. Yeah, it’s been that kind of weekend. Despite the lacklustre reaction, What Katie Did, Music When The Lights Go Out and Don’t Look Back Into The Sun are highlights as The Libertines sound as tight as they’ve ever done - long may it continue.
