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It’s gonna be a long night. Gigwise arrives ridiculously early into the arena to catch the tail end of Rufus Wainwright’s set, why festival organisers put him onstage so early is beyond everyone as he packs out the Fiberfib.com stage. When Gigwise arrives Wainwright has donned a dress and some red lipstick and is prancing around the stage for his finale with some dancers performing a brilliantly camp cabaret version of ‘Come On Get Happy’.
What follows is an incredibly long and pregnant wait for Anthony Heggarty of Anthony & The Johnsons' fame to take to the stage. Seeming to have a touch of stage fright, Heggarty appears and disappears numerous times over ten minutes and eventually tiptoes onto the stage dressed ominously in a black jumper despite the evening’s heat and casting a stark opposition to the Johnsons, dressed elegantly in white.
A bundle of nerves he wrings his hands and looks entirely uncomfortable as he breaks into ‘For Today I Am A Boy’ but manages to hold the audience with his still chillingly haunting vocal.
Hidden behind his piano for his most recognised hit, ‘Hope There’s Someone’ Heggarty really comes into his own, allowing his voice to carry away and float around the tent like a spectre.
Breathless but exhilarated Gigwise slip away for something a little lighter. To the Vodafone Fibclub tent for Sweden’s Herman Dune. Bearded main man David Herman Dune graces the stage dressed in a light blue kaftan and jeans swapping electric guitar for ukulele and chatting with the crowd, apologising for not knowing more of the beautiful Spanish language.
Herman Dune’s mix of enchanting indie pop with Beach Boys vibrations and amusing lyrics win over a crowd, most of which seem unfamiliar with the band. ‘1-2-3/ Apple Tree’ shows the universality of the bands songs and has everyone dancing, as well as the instrumental track ‘Giant’ from their most recent album of the same name. Overall highlight comes in the shape of ‘I Wish That I Could See You Soon’ minus angelic female vocals which the crowd fill in nicely, ‘How long ‘till you can see her? Do you really think she will wait for you?’
The ‘Dune’s end see’s a mad rush by almost the entire tent over to the main stage where Klaxons are supposed to be playing. Immediately obvious to Gigwise though not to some of the less sober members of the crowd, the stage is inhabited by a group of skinny guys dressed in lycra skeleton outfits. Who Made Who rattle through their set which includes a cover of Benny Benassi’s ‘Satisfaction’ and finally end with the immortal lines, “We are not Klaxons! We are from Denmark!”
Staying at the main stage to next catch a glimpse of quite possibly the most miserable front man in rock, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. But what’s this? He’s smiling?! Maybe it’s the sea air and bright sunshine but Tweedy seems to have shed his miserablist demeanour and appears to be genuinely enjoying himself.
The band’s sound truly comes into it’s own on the main stage where guitarist Nels Cline really gets a chance to rock and creates expansive riffs, especially during ‘Impossible Germany’ and the amazing climax of ‘Spiders (Kidsmoke)’. The band also please the crowd by including in the set the anthemic ‘Shot In The Arm’ from their 1999 album ‘Summerteeth’ prompting a mass sing-along. Never has alt-country sounded so rawk.
Next another mad rush back over to the Fiberfib.com stage to catch some of the dance-tastic tunes of The Rapture. It’s hard to imagine that a band that look so tragically unhip could pull such an unfeasibly large crowd.
Shunning most of their first album in favour of the most recent release, ‘Get Myself Into It’ and title track ‘Pieces Of The People we Love’ really get the crowd jumping, and the band don’t disappoint by providing some sexy cowbell action on classic indie-disco track ‘House Of Jealous Lovers’.
A quick bop-along and then its straight on back to the main stage where some rock legends are performing. As we approach it’s impossible not to recognise the characteristic growl and distorted guitar that defines the grunge sound of Dinosaur Jr.There isn’t a lot of movement from the band physically, they let the sound speak for itself as they churn out tracks from their latest album ‘Beyond’ as well as some old gems including ‘Feel The Pain’ which see’s Mascics let his legendary hair down.
The second sprint of the night across the festival to catch Klaxons, but we needn’t have bothered. They are supposed to be in Who Made Who’s slot at half past midnight but at around one am they take to the stage.
Travel delays have meant that they have only just made that slot and it does show, maybe not to the hoards of wallet-sniffers or dodgy sunglassed-ravers but definitely to Gigwise. Far from remarkable they rumble through ‘Totem Timeline’ probably the weakest song on the album, and then played all the expected hits including ‘Atlantis to Interzone’ and ‘Golden Scans’. They had most of the crowd dancing but may as well have just put the record on for all the kids really cared.
Even the fibber newspaper, usually so enthusiastic about every act could say nothing about the gig other than to list the celebrities who were in the crowd. Too much hype? We think so.
