The Festivals 2007 - By The Stars

As the last tent peg was pulled from the ground at this past weekend’s Bestival music festival on the Isle of Wight, so was the ‘official’ plug on the 2007 British festival season. A spell which saw the return of the giant; the affirmation of some of its biggest rivals, and; the arrival of some rather natty, intimate alternatives to the old guard. In short, in often bleak, muddy conditions; the festival summer in Britain has positively blossomed once again. From Glastonbury to Get Loaded, Latitude to Lovebox, what’s flowing down the metaphorical plughole are memories that will last a lifetime, or, long enough, at least, to keep everybody going until next summer.

This triumph was always on the cards though of course. I remember looking at the festival rota at the beginning of the year and thinking: “Where can’t I go to a festival this summer? What top band can’t I witness play on an outdoor stage? From the depths of Cornwall to the tip of Scotland it seemed every town in every county had its own music event. Understandably, this saturation did cause some problems that, in hindsight, a better location or a less ambitious first year objective would have prevented, but for every Field Day disaster, there were five raucous Readings. To the experienced, frequent festivalgoer, a ratio that strong would rationalise everything. And to the inexperienced one? Well, if you’re going to spend a weekend under a canvas sheet in a field then you’ve got to expect the odd debacle here and there.

And what about the music? Well that was strong enough to pull even the most nervy, high heeled shoe wearing scenester out of their temporary accommodation. The Killers, Arcade Fire, The Who, My Chemical Romance, Arcade Fire, Klaxons, Smashing Pumpkins, Arcade Fire...wait, have I mentioned them yet? Anyway, you get the picture, you were there, somewhere; the line-ups were profound – from the world’s greatest to the urchins snapping at their g-strings.  

At the start of this month, in a somewhat reflective mood I travelled to the Jersey Live festival in order to evaluate the 2007 festival summer. It seemed like the perfect location. Firstly, still part of the UK, thanks to the English Channel, Jersey is far enough away to have not suffered the same chock-a-block Arcade Fire featuring festival calendar of the mainland. And, secondly, its line-up of essentially 2007’s biggest, best and newest acts all crammed into two days of sand-between-the-toes mayhem provided the chance to get the insiders perspective on what the British summer was like for them. 

“We’re just at the point now where everyone’s kind of been awakened by us,” explains a reflective Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist and songwriter of Kasabian, in a sticky dressing room minutes before the band prepare to close Jersey Live - their last festival of the summer. “We’ve been kind of charging around and we’ve been put on the main stages now so everyone’s kind of seeing what we’ve been doing.” Indeed, for Kasabian, the festival season has been a coming of age. In June they made their long awaited debut on a UK festival main-stage when they played before headliners Muse at the Isle of Wight festival, and ever since they haven’t relented, captivating crowds at Glastonbury and the V Festival along the way. If, in 2006, when the band released their matter-of-fact entitled second album, ‘Empire,’ they laid the foundations for it, then in grassy fields across the UK in 2007 they built it – block by block.

“I think it’s surprised a lot of people, but it’s always what we knew we could do – so it’s been great you know,” admits Pizzorno, before he adds with a smile, “I think a lot of the headliner’s that have gone on after us have found it quite difficult, which is quite funny.” What it is about Kasabian that struck fear into those around them on bills this summer is that they’re made for the outdoors. Even at their most withdrawn, their work has the kind of anthemic elements that expansive grassy fields are freshly mown for every year. As Pizzorno reveals, when the band came to make their second album the festival circuit was very much at the forefront of their minds. “The kind of venues we were about to play, we needed big tunes you know, we needed to command an audience. It’s something that registers, you don’t really realise you’re doing it but we finished up with eleven really big songs, which worked.”

To see Gigwise's top festival bands of 2007 in our special gallery, CLICK HERE. To continue the article follow the link.