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Standout performances
Muse. Playing their second album through without interruptions provoked silence at points where we didn’t rock from hit to hit, but the Teignmouth trio pulled off an impressive, professional act, complete with guitar and drum destruction, fireworks, smoke cannons, giant balloons in the shape of eyeballs, and flamethrowers.
Two Door Cinema Club – On the main stage this year, they performed songs from their first album with the gusto we have come to expect, even if they did seem a little bit hungover for the first few songs.
General Fiasco – Bizarrely given only a half hour session on the BBC Introducing Stage, the band superbly outdid themselves with exception performances of ‘Ever so Shy’ and an acoustic version of ‘Sinking Ships’.
Everything Everything: A really unique band, who’s mixture of genres really created something truly special. Deservedly nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
Yuck: Tipping their hats to Dinosaur Jr. their heavy guitar-driven music was a pick-me-up early on Sunday morning., even though they all looked terrified to be playing on the NME stage. And their drummer has the best afro I have ever seen.
Best Songs of the Weekend
Madness – ‘Baggy Trousers’. Just for the dancing.
The Naked and Famous – ‘Young Blood’. Stunning summer song that reminds you of MGMT before they went off the deep end.
Ed Sheeran – ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’. I look forward to this song growing and growing.
Most beautiful voice of the weekend: The Antler’s lead singer Peter Silberman helped a half-packed tent come to life.
Best fashion sense: Patrick Wolf. Dressed in a multicoloured outfit with a resplendent waistcoat, he looked like a crazy forest child.
Disappointment of the Weekend: The National. I’m a huge fan of this band, but they really struggled to project on the main stage and a limp crowd didn’t help. If they’d been on the NME stage I’m sure we’d have seen a better performance.
Best Crowd – Ed Sheeran. Limited to only a 40 minute performance on the Festival Republic stage, it felt as soon as the (very well done) set got going it had to stop. That didn’t stop the crowd though, crammed up to ten feet outside the tent, who sang along to every single word like their life depended on it.
Best interaction with the crowd – Frank Turner. If you can get 10,000 people to sit down in a muddy field in the pouring rain at half past one on a Friday afternoon, you know you’ve performed a blinding set.
Topical Reference of the Weekend – Madness. “This is for any of you who’ve taken the new mixture for Neurofen Plus”, said lead singer. This could have perhaps explained some of the dodgy dancing (so bad it needed mentioning twice).
Most boring thing nearly every band did: If a band was flagging midway through the songs no one knew all the words too (viz. Miles Kane, The Offspring) their tactic was to slag off Reading and say ‘you lot are miles better’. Instantly images flash through my head of them doing the exact opposite at Reading the next day.
This is not to mention other bands and headliners, such as Pulp, The Strokes, and Interpol, all of whom performed brilliantly. Despite some worry this year of the numbers attending festivals, Leeds still remains undoubtedly a jewel in the crown.
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