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At the top of the bill, Wilco closed the final night with an alt country master class, punctuating quiet folk tunes with explosive white noise and pounding rhythms. Their technical prowess (especially that of guitar hero Nels Cline) combined with the tightness of their arrangements and intensity of Jeff Tweedy’s songwriting made for a characteristically powerful end to the festival.
Another obvious Garden Stage highlight came from Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam, who seemed to instantly stop the only rain shower of the day, just by apologising for the rain when he arrived on stage. Performing with an acoustic guitar in hand, accompanied by simple organ accompaniments (“We borrowed the organ from The Low Anthem, and now we’re going to show them how to use it”), he stilled the crowd, closing with his famous cover of The Postal Service’s ‘Such Great Heights’.
The rain held off for most of the weekend, with Israeli garage punks Monotonix seeing fit to leave the Big Top tent entirely, starting their set unclothed amongst the audience and closing by parading the drum kit outside the arena. Topping that stage’s bill were two Canadian bands. The New Pornographers’ power-pop filled the arena with positive vibes, whereas the four members of Caribou, probably the hippest act at the festival, stood close together at the centre of the stage to churn out a series of infectious beats and psychedelic electronic blips.
Radiohead drummer Philip Selway provided a sense of big event on Sunday afternoon, when he stepped out from behind the drums for his first mainland UK gig, playing his earnest fare warmly to an unsurprisingly large crowd of ‘Head lovers and folk fans. Continuing the theme, Gomez’s Ben Ottewell performed solo later, with his apparently unstoppable young sons invading the stage throughout to much sentimental ahh-ing from the crowd.
Whereas Selway provided a new sound from a known performer, there were plenty of chances to discover completely new and previously underground artists. Bolton-based Voice of the Seven Thunders ripped the Big Top apart with their psych-rock riffs and Allo Darlin’ (one of a handful of acts to play twice) showed off the kind of twee pop that actually rewards listening in the Tipi Tent. On the Sunday night, charming Icelander Ólöf Arnalds interspersed her own unique songs with covers of Dylan and a totally misjudged but entertaining anti-British folksong, whilst female folk trio Mountain Man’s simple a capella chants managed to beat down the heavy beats from outside.
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