Saturday 12/06/10 Isle Of Wight Festival, Day Two @ Seaclose Park, Isle Of Wight

The Isle of Wight festival may not be the furnace of rock nostalgia that it once was, but music is a very different mega-sponsored affair these days. It can still declare itself easy going and one of the best festival line-ups this summer.

No one would have thought it would take ten hours to get from South London to the Isle of Wight, but these are the cruel twists of fate that find us very much relieved to hear Vampire Weekend’s ‘Holiday’. A delicious festival band, they make the incredible sunshine resonate across the festival site with a set that really underlines how many hits the lo-fi reggae-resonate band have had. Supermodel Erin O’Connor was lolling hazily on the floor in VIP to watch the band, and she was joined by many happy punters.

"Nice to actually be in England when it's summer time so we can bust out the summer songs," announced front man Ezra Koenig.

While the obvious crowd pleaser was ‘A-Punk’, ‘Oxford Comma’ and 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' saw the pre-England vs USA football crowd weigh up their options, the band made it clear they would be watching the match backstage – this made it hard for punters to stay put but if they left they were about to miss a treat.

That treat was an energetic Biffy Clyro. Ever topless, sweaty as hell, the Scots smashed into the hardcore crowd that remained. A hard slot to play, they barely drew breath to notice, and the crowd staunchly stayed put. The stomping ‘Who’s Got a Match’ created a sing-along with passion, plus hits ‘Mountains’, ‘That Golden Rule’ and set finisher ‘Captain’.

Having the kind of back catalogue that Blondie have, it’s no surprise that Blondie’s slot was hotly awaited, particularly with new album ‘Panic of Girls’ on the horizon. After a quick football score update from Absolute Radio, Blondie postured across the stage in a gothic black net skirt and translucent platinum hair. The set wasn’t the predictable raft of greatest hits that perhaps some punters hoped for, but gave us a glimpse of newer tracks ‘D-Day’, ‘Love Doesn’t Frighten Me At All’ and ‘Mothers in the Night’. 1999 hit ‘Maria’, and classics such as ‘Hanging on the Telephone’ and ‘Call Me’ are welcomed by the crowd, but the band are determined to announce their edge, and include a cover of Taio Cruz’s ‘Break Your Heart’. While Debbie Harry’s voice has lost some of its punch, guitarist Chris Stein is blistering on guitar and the tracks can’t help but nurture the Isle of Wight’s reputation for lining up young guns and classics. No wonder Kate Moss and Jamie Hince were jamming up the side of the stage.

A nearby Strokes fan assures me that they weren’t as good as at Reading a few years back, but this is a comment Gigwise would attribute to nostalgia. Although the fathers of garage pop initially seem a little rusty, the appetite of the crowd is never in doubt. With the first three tracks fired out straight from ‘Is This It?’ (‘New York City Cops’, ‘The Modern Age’ and ‘Hard to Explain’), they can appear a little rusty. However you realise that this lush imprecision is in fact the opposite. The band are still stunningly in tact, particularly considering that this week has marked The Strokes’ first UK gigs since 2006. Frontman Julian Casablancas is crisply cool, wrapped leather-clad around his mic stand. Surprisingly and disappointingly there are no tracks from the new album, only classics like ‘Last Nite’, ‘Juicebox’ and ‘Take It Or Leave It’.
A quick detour reveals that Orbital are packing out the Big Top. Gigwise knows how to party with the best and does so.

Isle of Wight Festival 2010 - Day Two