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Before going to Leicester I have
to admit that I was one for the big festivals. The
Glastonbury's, T In The Park's and Reading's. I am glad
to say that this has now changed. I used to think that
the little festivals were no more than village fetes
with a stage. A stage where really bad bands play
really bad songs. I forgot of course that I have seen
really bad bands at the really big festivals.
The Summer Sundae at De Montford
Hall is now in it's forth year, and judging by the
line-up, the crowd and the setup, it will no doubt be
around for a while to come. I guestimate that there
was perhaps four thousand people at Summer Sundae
(this may be completely out, if this is the case,
please enlighten me) and after the rain of Friday
night all eyes were skyward come Saturday Morning.
They needn't have been: The rain held off and by early
afternoon all four stages were in full swing.
It may lack the hedonism of
Glastonbury and the attitude of Reading or Leeds but
it makes up for it in other ways. The atmosphere was
extremely relaxed and friendly, and the small crowd
made sure seeing any band (with the exception of The
Belles) was very easy.
The small site meant you were
never more than five minutes from anywhere, the
toilets were clean and the scally kids of Leicester
were, thankfully, nowhere to be seen. Also
surprisingly, with so many families around, the
security were blissfully comfortable with the more
anti social amongst us.
Smaller festivals give smaller,
up and coming bands the chance to play further up the
bill than they otherwise would. This was true on
Saturday with two performances from The Ordinary Boys and the much published Dogs Die In Hot Cars. Both bands showed the vigour, energy, and,
especially in the case of Dogs, invention, that have
had the music press chomping at the bit. The increase
in crowd numbers also displayed the Leicester public's
awareness of the future and they were rewarded well.
There was no arrogance or couldn't care less attitude,
they both appeared to really enjoy the spotlight, as
did the crowd.
Saturday was turning into a very
good day of music and the appearance of The Kings Of Convenience on the indoor stage just added to
the brew. A few mindless hecklers could not diminish
the talent, musicianship and originality of this band
that will no doubt be playing further up the bill next
summer.
A clash of headliners meant I
had to make a choice Saturday night. It was a choice
between The Super Furry Animals on the outdoor
stage, and Lambchop indoors. I am not Luke
Rhineheart and I didn't roll a dice. What I did do is
stay outdoors and catch The Super Furry Animals
because you can't smoke at the indoor stage.
I heard that Lambchop were good
and I know that The Super Furry Animals, with their
cult status, were excellent. The set was well mixed up
with songs of their latest album Phantom Power as well
as classics from Rings Around The World, Radiator and
Fuzzy Logic. Run Christian Run, Juxtaposed Wit U
and Presidential Suite all got an outing before the
band left the stage for the first time. We were then
given an interlude by the computer player who upped
the tempo even more with what can only be described as
ten minutes of furious techno.
When the band finally appeared
back on stage they were dressed as dogs. Really. The
mad, crazy world of the Super Fury Animals. Wales, and
come to think of it, Leicester, has never sounded so
good.
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