Thursday 08/04/10 Snowbombing 2010 - Day Three

So, having somehow shaken off the after effects of last night's excesses, Team Gigwise has an even longer evening to look forward to. Kicking off with arguably the most innovative band on UK shores at this moment, Wild Beasts. Their quirky, intelligent pop is nothing short of a revelation, and welcome respite from the week's pounding beats.'

'All The Kings Men' and 'We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues' soar with an intricate precision sadly missing from the rest of tonight's Racket Club line-up. Whilst older material like 'Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants' and 'The Devil's Crayon' resonate with a devilish intensity that has grown men waving inflatable guitars in awe. The only downside is that less than 100 people made the effort to watch them compared to the 2000 or so packed in for the monstrosities that follow.

One of the Queens of Noize forced the people in Narnia through a set that fell below the chasm between budget wedding and a Monday night in the student union. Hopefully tongue in cheek, the alternative was The Enemy in the main room. Warming up for 2ManyDJs the next 3 hours proved perfectly illustrated a festival crowd gravitating towards the Radio1 playlist. Tom Clarke introduces 'We'll Live and Die In These Towns' by saying 'if you know the words then you know what to do.'

Gigwise duly went back into Narnia to take turns self-harming with a rusty nail to Lionel Richie's 'All Night Long.' The Enemy getting Thursday's prime time 11pm slot and Doves getting Wednesday's graveyard shift of 1.15am was a bigger tragedy than Iain Dowie's face. Fact.

2ManyDJs playing their usual intro of 20 minutes non-descript techno before dropping The Clash's 'Rock The Casbah.' Gigwise was there 5 years ago when they did the same thing in Stealth, Nottingham. An acapella version of The Human League's 'Don't You Want Me' into the frankly ridiculous Mr. Oizo was all too much to bear.

Having sat through this relentless shite in the hope of watching Carl Barat's first ever solo show, the sight of him climbing behind the decks was the only reason Gigwise needed to leave. A quick dash up the Hauptstrasse to Schlussel for 2 hours of Jamie Jones' pulsating deep house recovered the evening. The disco induced set saw Schlussel's biggest crowd of the week, Jones single-handedly making Wales worthwhile.

The only surprise came as The XX's Crystalised mixed into an obscure Depeche Mode tune from way back when. Gigwise exchanged puzzled looks leading to a retreat to the bar before Clive Henry (the best thing to come out of Birmingham since HP sauce) smashed his trademark chunky bassline and parity was restored.

De La Soul in the forest tonight to finish the week is gonna be special.