Hard Rock Calling: The Tuborg Blog

Nothing is free in this world, apart from Nelson Mandela I guess. A day after a star-studded bill played in celebration of Mr Mandela's 90th birthday, rock royalty came to Hyde Park. If, as many of his devotees believe, Clapton is indeed God then surely that would make John Mayer Jesus? Mainly playing tracks from acclaimed album 'Continuum', the fiancé of Jennifer "Please won't somebody love me" Aniston thrilled those fans who'd elbowed their way to the front of the stage as he opened with 'Waiting For The World To Change', and by the time he closed with 'Charity' even those soaking up the sun at the back had at least pricked up their ears. Earlier in the day the brilliant Robert Randolph had entertained the main stage crowd whilst on the 'other' stage as it is cleverly named, The Charlatans ran through a greatest hits set including a rabble-rousing 'The Only One I Know'. Lead singer Tim Burgess, recently choosing to revert back to his early 90's bowl-cut, was whipping the small but devoted crowd into a frenzy. Superb. Now, I wont lie to you, I missed most of Sheryl Crow's set, but i can inform you that she did do that song from back in the mid 1990's and a couple of others that were quite good. Oh and also a cover of the Cat Stevens classic 'The First Cut Is The Deepest'. She looked splendid in white jeans and a sleeveless shirt though, I must say.

These were mere hors d'ouevre's to whet the appetite for what was to follow. The big EC strode on the stage, muttered something and got on with the show, opening with 'Tell The Truth' and striding through ten or so blues classics by such luminaries as Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson without breaking sweat. The legions of fans were visibly underwhelmed by the bearded one's song choices, but a well timed acoustic break turned it back in his favour. A trio of classics - 'Wonderful Tonight' T, 'Layla' and 'Cocaine' - had the crowd eating out of his weathered palm, and were only topped when Sheryl Crow (a possible virgin Mary in my earlier analogy?), John Mayer and Robert Randolph came out for the encore, a scintillating run-through of the Cream classic 'Crossroads'. Clapton may not be god but he's certainly incredibly good at what he does.

Instead of the usual antics of washing the car, mowing the lawn and reading the Sunday papers, this Sunday I was heading for Hyde Park again for part 2 of 2 of Hard Rock Calling. As everybody's favourite all-girl 1980's Los Angeles band you'd think The Bangles would have a bigger crowd but it took at least ten minutes for most of the fans to realise who they are and only due to them bringing out the 'big guns'. 'Eternal Flame' followed by 'Manic Monday' transported the majority of the crowd back to a happier place (the mid 80's). They closed with 'Walk like an Egyptian' and if i were to tell you it was the greatest moment of my gig-going career it would be an absolute downright lie.

So, I won't say that. I negotiated the tricky threat of wine, cider and beer with barely a scratch as I made my way past karaoke tents and EA 'hubs', and on to a safer place - the other stage. Mick Jones was leading his band Carbon/Silicon through some Clash classics as well as some of their own material. Crazed fans in Strummer and Clash t-shirts worshipped their hero and he deserved it all as he played a blinder. After watching a fantastic but poorly received set by Starsailor (they never quite lived up to their 2001 NME billing of 'The band that will change your life' Arf arf) in the glorious sunshine, I shimmied on over to the dark side to watch the stranglers only to realise that I'd missed all but one song from them. I did, at least catch 'No More Heroes' but I will forever hold whoever gave me the stage times in the utmost contempt (it was probably my own fault). 'C'est la vie' as Del Boy would say.

What can I say about KT Tunstall that hasn't been said a million times before? Probably quite a lot but I won't bother as I don't really like her. And now for something completely different, the main event. The thing is, when you're watching The Police you can almost, and I did say almost, forget what a twat Sting is. 'Message In A bottle' sounds as good as you could hope for, as do 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' and 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'. I was dancing (badly) to my personal favourite 'Walking On The Moon' and found myself empathising with that poor girl 'Roxanne'. I do hope she's sorted herself out by now. To top it all, Sting, Summers and Copeland ended with a re-working of the Puff Daddy classic 'I'll Be Missing U' (I'm joking of course!).

It was a great way to end a great weekend and I went home skipping into the sunset. Who needs Glastonbury?!