Once our
old pals Scouting for Girls were added to the line up this year's Splendour Festival became unmissable
obviously... well, not really. It’s becoming a bit of a tradition to go to
Splendour even if, like this year, there is absolutely nothing on the main
stage I fancy but the second stage looks ok, so here we are.
There are actually five different stages, but we don’t
really go a wandering, and a visit from boxer Carl Froch but we don’t see him
either.
The Beat are playing as we walk up, after delaying our
departure due to one of the many cloudbursts. They are oddly way down the bill.
Amber Run are the first band we catch in the flesh on the
Confetti second stage, just one of thirteen Nottinghamshire acts on the bill
today and the first of many cut and paste indie outfits.
Saint Raymond is another local and is next up on the main
stage. Singer Callum Burrows has upgraded himself to ‘Saint’ and this year
Splendour have upgraded him from second stage to main but we’re in the beer
tent from most of it...
And here’s another Notts act, A Plastic Rose are up on the
Confetti stage. More cut and paste indie but certainly a cut above stage’s previous
occupants.
Then the next downpour came, it must be something the Foxes said
up on main as most of their crowd run for cover. The bouncers block the
entrance to the allegedly full beer tent, which it isn't. L nips in the exit, her
second most heinous festival crime after she got caught smuggling a bottle of orange
squash into the Leeds festival one year and I follow. I’ve
no idea why they have separate entrances to the beer tent, perhaps this is the
reason.
The rain abates a bit as The Rifles take to the second
stage. I saw this band eons ago and I’ve always felt I should see more of them
but they don’t do anything to particularly stand out today.
You can hear Scouting For Girls quite clearly from the second
stage, so there’s no need for us to move closer, even if we wanted to. In fact,
there’s plenty of need to move further away but we await Reverend and the Makers
who are late due to technical problems or perhaps due to a late running Scouting
for Girls. The Makers arrive and launch into the irritatingly lively Bassline.
The Makers pull out everybody’s favourite tunes and put on a
slick show. Unfortunately for them all those favourites hark mostly back to
their début record. Their new album provides just two tunes tonight. Still, theirs
is probably the best set of the day.
I've always felt I should see The Happy Mondays before I die
(or they do). Not that they're my sort of thing because they're not, just
because they are sort of 'legendary'. So I try, briefly, to like them but soon decide
that they are still nothing like my thing.
Along with Reverend and the Makers, tonight’s second stage
headliners the Boomtown Rats are the reason I’m here. Although I’m sure The
Rats couldn’t possibly top their amazing performance at Rock
City last year but, to be fair, they
come close. A truncated version of that set, including the same stage banter
and Geldof in the same suit, goes down exceptionally well even if the crowd do ignore
Sir Bob's instructions to take off their clothes.
Most of the crowd depart after the set closing Rat Trap
which is a shame because Diamond Smiles in the encore probably steals the show
and the Rats push the Makers close for performance of the day. McClure and co just
shade it though, with the real ale tent coming in at third, as for the first
time ever it lasts well into the evening this year.
Finally to close the evening there’s Tom Odell, who I don't
really know and he looks about 15 although he's actually 23. So I can't even
say he's a young person’s Jake Bugg, who’s not my thing either but by now we’re
heading for home.