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Last year’s Southside Festival will always be remembered for the cataclysmic storms which ripped through the campsite, throwing thousands of tents in the air and destroying the stages - which sadly resulted in lives being tragically lost. But thankfully Southside 2008 was all about the bands, with countless memorable performances all delivered over a glorious sun-drenched back drop. The festival is not one of the most conveniently located, but that wasn’t going to stop Gigwise hopping on a plane, many trains then the inhumanely cramped shuttle bus to bring you one of the most impressive festival line-ups this summer.
Situated on a disused airfield, The Cribs made sure the festival ‘took off’ in some style as they rattled through their usual relentless racket at the smaller tent stage. The Wakefield trio were as infectiously hyper as usual, with only a few sound problems hindering their undoubted title as a great live act. The German crowd were more keen observers than full-blown fans but set highlights ‘Hey Scensters’ and ‘Mens Needs’ certainly left their ‘Deutsche’ mark.
Prior to the festival, a quick study of the band’s set–times made for interesting reading. One of the biggest surprises was the lowly placing of previous Leeds/Reading festival headliners Razorlight. The showman that is Johnny Borrell found himself coming out to play in the stingingly bright sunshine in the middle of the afternoon. But with his John Lennon-esque sunglasses he was certainly prepared. ‘In The Morning’ was an impressive opener, and due to the rather sparse crowd the decision for an earlier slot was merited. Though Borrell was in no mood to resort back to being just a filler band, he strutted about and delivered a headlining set that only Razorlight can do. ‘Golden Touch’, ‘Somewhere Else’ and ‘Before I Fall To Pieces’ were sumptuous slices of indie goodness, while ‘Don’t Go Back To Dalston’ saw Borrell venture into the crowd, his topless torso been caressed by the hundreds of fans lifting him up. Finishing with the undeniable gem ‘America’ Razorlight had made their point pretty clear - they are no support band. Surely a return trip would warrant a much higher billing.
With a small walk over to the adjacent stage, Gigwise found a sizeably larger crowd already bouncing up and down to the furious Celtic-punk of Flogging Molly. Their blend of Irish jig violins slapped over chugging punk riffs never fails to raise spirits. Over 20,000 fanatics waved their hands and clapped along with such impeccable timing, as only Germans could. Front-man Dave King is dressed more like a school supply teacher, with a suit, tie and the accompanying glasses, but he is a born performer nonetheless. His gritty vocals are delivered with such belief and passion, every line so personally bared for all to hear. Playing the majority of their latest album ‘Float’, Flogging Molly triumph in uniting thousands of strangers, as they all become part of the best Irish party ever thrown.
Check out pictures from the event below...
Southside Day One
Southside Day Two
Southside Day Three
If Flogging Molly were the hallucinogenic drug in which everyone started seeing four leaf clovers and eating imaginary bowls of lucky charms, Radiohead were the scarily painful comedown. More depressing than an Eastenders omnibus, the hero-worshipped Oxford lads put on the gloomiest display of self-involved gargling and moaning over dreary pianos and suicidal riffs. Opting to hardly play any of their earlier work, in which vocals could actually be understood, Yorke failed to fully open his mouth for the first handful of songs. Instead, a noise similar to a drunk mumbling on his own as he struggles not to pass out on the last train home was the order of the day. The mass crowd gathered seemed to be divided, with many lapping it up, but also a fair few looking more uncomfortable than John Leslie at a reunion party. Radiohead are undoubted masters of classic songs such as ‘Karma Police’ and ‘Creep’ but for every masterpiece there’s absolute dribble. With their greatest hits album just being released, and repeatedly advertised on the stage screens throughout the festival, it was a mystery why they chose not to play the majority featured on it.
Thankfully when their set ended, the gloom and air of despondency could be lifted by headliners The Kooks. A bulging crowd were more than up for it - with Pritchard and his merry men feeding their ravenous appetite. Their profile is massive in Germany, hence even playing later than Radiohead, every word of recent single ‘Always Where I Need To Be’ were sung back in distinctly German accents to the amusement of Gigwise. Being given a generous hour and a half set length seemed to cause a slight problem for the Brighton boys, with only two albums they struggle to fill such a void. Thus main-man Luke Pritchard attempted to kill the odd spare minute or two with his witty banter, but there was one problem – he had none. So instead Pritchard just slurred into the microphone with only Thom Yorke being able to translate the inaudible dribble. But as soon as he stuck to what he was there for, all was forgiven ‘She Moves In Her Own Way’ incited delirious dancing from the hoards before them, while ‘Shine On’ showed they still had the envious knack of producing an infectious pop nugget of a song.
Scheduled to play till 2am, the quartet knew they had to keep the crowd bouncing, and so Pritchard turned to guitarist Hugh Harris mumbling “should we just crank it out now” before the seductively sublime riff of ‘Naïve’ sparked mass hysteria. Criminally over played granted, but ‘Naïve’ still stands as one hell of an indie stomp and tonight it sounds so important. Pulling a predicted encore track out so early left a little pressure on the rest of the set, but The Kooks soon showed they had plenty of gems still to sparkle. ‘Ooh La’, ‘You Don’t Love Me’ and ‘See The World’ were all gobbled up like the last snizzel burger. Then it was time for the drummer, guitarist and bassist to leave Pritchard on his own. Accompanied only by his trusty acoustic guitar he revelled in the stripped down surroundings, displaying such a stunningly distinctive voice as he reeled out ‘Seaside’ and ‘Jackie Big Tits’.
The Kooks had played a landmark set, headlining in front of 50,000 fans, and following such giants as Radiohead, they held their own and made sure they closed Day One in undoubted style.
Check out pictures from the event below...
Southside Day One
Southside Day Two
Southside Day Three
