Notes From LEEDS FESTIVAL 2008 - SATURDAY

Saturday was a late start after a long night, so it kicked off for us with Taking Back Sunday. And it wasn't the best of starts. The sound at the main stage all day was a mess - all bass and no vocals. Accompany that with a subdued crowd [apart from these three - right], and you may as well have stayed in bed. "The sound really ruined it," said one girl.

Next, out comes Dizzee Rascal. Hat to the side, Man City on the screen and trousers a little bit too low, his knack for holding everyone's attention comes out. This time the bass is actually deafening, right to the back, but it's easy to keep spirits high when you're being entertained by thousands of Yorkshire kids trying to put on a south-east London accent. Dance Wiv Me's status as number 1 for four weeks becomes an excellent thing as everyone gets going for this last one.
Talking to NME, and the walk on:




Later, despite his pretty uneventful 2008, Jack Penate goes down a storm. Second, Minute, Hour and Torn On The Platform see the vast majority of drunks attempting to do that dance, and inject a heavy dose of happiness into the air. He says "Reading & Leeds were wonderful and I feel sad that they will be the last last shows until I finish my new album. Thank you for everyone who came and watched. It was rediculously fun, and whoever gave my gold chain to the security who then gave it back to me, thank you thank you thank you!"

MGMT were perhaps even more popular than the latter, and it's clear to see that Time To Pretend has become something of an anthem for this summer.
Here it is:




Leeds is apparently unable to resist a man in shorts. The tent is crammed, and every song is surprisingly well known. All of the singles are everyone's favourite songs, but nothing compares to APunk, which provokes the loudest chanting of 'Hey, hey, hey' you could ever hope to hear. It's easy to see that this country is already very much in love with Vampire Weekend.
Footage of One:




Late Of The Pier are one of those bands with a very loyal following. And I think it's safe to say that they were all in the middle of the Festival Republic tent, scrambling forward to get a glimpse of strange clothes and mad dancing. However erratic and unpredictable these songs might be, they're a lot of fun to dance to. They said "Thankyou thankyou thankyou to everyone who was there. You fucked off QOTSA to make them some of the best shows we've had the pleasure of playing."

The past few months have had a lot of the long-time followers of Does It Offend You, Yeah? asking themselves what the hell has happened. A line of dreary, riff-less singles has seen them gain quite a different audience, in the form of the daytime radio 1 listener. So this was a bit of a test, to see if they'd forget all that for the live performances and give us stuff to dance to. It's half and half, but the lulls in the action that are Dawn Of The Dead and Epic Last Song turn out to be real downers.

What A Waster. Peter Doherty is fucked out of his mind. You might expect this to make for a disappointing shambles of a performance, but actually it's as if Babyshambles are on top form. They play all the best songs and actually give a tight performance, in between Pete's wandering down to the crowd and towering countless hats on top of his head, of course [and apparently a Tshirt - right]. They genuinely seem to be enjoying themselves, and if they can keep this standard up, their performances might start selling out like they used to.