The final day of Kendal Calling was a slightly chillier affair than the Friday and Saturday, with the usual procession of zombie-like figures wondering how they were going to warm themselves up for one more day of festivities.
Thankfully The Dub Pistols swiftly put pay to any thoughts of letting the weekend drift away quietly with a rollicking early afternoon set on the main stage. By sheer force of will they brought the crowd back to life with tales of being gangsters in the night that reminded people there was once a time they didn’t feel like death.
The Sugarhill Gang then completed the reanimation process by bringing some feelgood hip hop to a huge crowd. Tired legs meant a large contingent were sat on vast rows of chairs on the back hill, which sometimes gave the impression of being at an outdoor Radio 3 picnic. But those at the front were rewarded with an opportunity to pull out some impressive moves to the veteran rappers’ cuts.
‘Rapper’s Delight’ was of course the highlight. And an act who has that in their back pocket is going to go down just fine at any festival worldwide.
The Kendal Calling tent added a welcome harder edge to its line up on Sunday. Hidden Charms were one of the highlights, bringing erudite guitar music to the second stage that was lapped up by an impressive crowd for that time of the afternoon.
Back on the main stage the arrival of The Lightning Seeds prompted mass collective thoughts of ‘play the songs off the strawberry one’ and ‘Oh look it’s Abi from The Zutons! God I forgot how much I fancied her’. Although it’s possible Gigwise is slightly projecting here.
But soon, thoughts moved to just what a ridiculous canon of pop hits Ian Brodie has in his locker. ‘Lucky You’, ‘Life Of Riley’ and ‘Sugar Coated Iceberg’ were just some highlights of a set packed with more pop bangers than you could possibly hope for. And it soon became clear what a shrewd addition Abi is to the line-up. A tonally excellent saxophonist, she added something different to songs that, although beautifully crafted, could fall flat live without a little extra oomph.
Thankfully we were spared ‘Three Lions’, possibly as it just would have seemed like a cruel joke after England’s shambolic Euro 2016 campaign.
Pretty Vicious shock the whole of the Calling Out tent (again, possibly just Gigwise) by not being the ones with Taylor Momsen from Gossip Girl. But they soon made up for it by delivering a ferocious set of thrashy garage rock that woke up those with thoughts of clocking out early and set them up for one final assault on the night.
Full-time banter legend Noel Gallagher took some time off the day job close the festival with his High Flying Birds. The second half was almost wall to wall Oasis hits, which was welcome. He did seem to hit a bum note when he dedicated ‘Half the World Away’ to The Royle Family and not Caroline Aherne, which surely would have been the obvious choice.
But by the time ‘The Masterplan’ and ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ rolled around, not even the most cynical reviewer, rendered slightly grumpier by three days of festival living, could help but crack a smile and put his arms around a group of grubby strangers for one last dance.
Kendal Calling, you were fantastic. Gigwise is now going to bed, which surely we can all agree is a good idea. Here’s to many more years of music from the Cumbrian powerhouse.
Noel Gallagher played:
Everybody's on the Run
Lock All the Doors
In the Heat of the Moment
Riverman
Fade Away (Oasis cover)
The Death of You and Me
You Know We Can't Go Back
Champagne Supernova (Oasis cover)
Ballad of the Mighty I
Talk Tonight (Oasis cover)
D'Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman? (Oasis cover)
The Mexican
Half the World Away (Oasis cover)
Listen Up (Oasis cover)
If I Had a Gun...
Digsy's Dinner (Oasis cover)
The Masterplan (Oasis cover)
Wonderwall (Oasis cover)
AKA... What a Life!
Don't Look Back in Anger (Oasis cover)
As well as headlining Victorious Festival this summer. Noel Gallagher's upcoming UK tour dates are as follows. For tickets and more information, visit here.
Wednesday 03 August 2016 - SCARBOROUGH Open Air Theatre
Thursday 04 August 2016 - LANCASHIRE Lytham Festival Proms Arena
Friday 26 August 2016 - GLASGOW Bellahouston Park
Sunday 28 August 2016 - PORTSMOUTH Southsea Castle Field
Tuesday 06 September 2016 - LONDON Brixton Academy
