Mindie
West Midlands Indie Scene

 

The weather couldn't be any worse this time could it? Well, this time round it was almost perfect weather and what a different place it is when it's dry. The line was one of the best for ages and here are some of the highlights.......

Ooberman - If you could capture pop in a bottle and distil it a few times you wouldn't come close to how sugar sweet pop this group is. As soon as they came on stage you could tell that they were enjoying it as much as we were. An early play of Blossoms Falling launched everyone into pop heaven and kept us there well into the evening and then Seretonin Smile, Shorley Wall and the really funny Sugar Bum. Weakest song of the set was probably the new single Million Suns but is still a thousand times better than some of the dross around.

Super Furry Animals - Few things are certain in life, but one of them is that a SFA gig will always brilliant despite the poor crowd (what you expect at festivals) and some Cast fans in a van trying to ruin it. They opened with Wherever I Lay My Phone (that's my home) which we judiciously sung at anyone we saw with a mobile phone over the weekend. The playlist mainly consisted of material from the new album with tunes from Radiator and a few Fuzzy Logic ones as well. Last song was The Man Don't Give A Fuck and during this the most bizarre things happened that over shadowed the fact that 4 people dressed as the characters depicted on the new album walked on stage and slowly waved at the audience. I was jumping up and down merrily and happened to glance to the side and noticed that there was a van coming straight for me. For reasons I can never begin to imagine someone was driving a vehicle right through the middle of the packed crowd at the worst moment possible. Me and few others held our ground and carried on dancing but others got on top of the van and started dancing on top. This got too much for the people in the van and one of them got out climbed on the roof and started to throw the people off the roof 2 or 3 at a time. The driver was beginning to get very irate and started to edge the van forwards violently and as there was only 6 or 7 of us in the way by then I thought it was wise to move to the side. A weird ending to a fantastic time.

Chicks - Kicked of Sunday which was the best day by far. A packed out crowd meant that I couldn't get close to the stage until towards the end. The audience was one of the most inanimate ever. I was dancing around while the people around me were like statues in a statue sale (eh?). They only started getting into it for the last two songs Daria and a cover version and meant I could indulge in a bit of jumping up and down. The set also included Let Me Go, Black Boy, Rocca Rocca and Fuck Music but problems with Isabel's Bass interrupted the set but did mean that we were treated to some improvised Spice Girls and Jackson 5 songs and a bassless version of You Want To Be Me. It was during these interruptions that there were some shite comments from the subhuman sexist scum in the crowd but Annie brilliantly put one of them down telling them to fuck off the green fields and have a wank They must have been dodgy Dodgy fans (who were on next) or something, says it all doesn't it. It was great being able to hear Fuck Music for the first time as they didn't play it at Wolverhampton.

The Delgados - They were brilliant but being on the other stage meant that there was lack of intimacy. Sadly Barry Burns didn`t join on them stage and another flutist was drafted in.

Cornelius - I knew things were going to be different when 3 people moved next to me in the crowd with a pot, a tent pole and a bunch of beer cans on some string that they used to play along with during the set!! What was to follow I was totally unprepared for, it was an experience that blew me apart, I had an idea that Cornelius live was special from what I had seen on TV but to actually sample it in person is just amazing. I've no idea how long the set was, it could have been an hour or just 15mins but I don't care it was just right. How I danced and jumped around so much and not feel tired I will not know, even the intervention of a beer barrel (I said it was different!) didn't stop me. Cornelius` brand of electro/punk/pop was just the right mixture to charge up the audience who quickly latched on. A TV backdrop further enhanced the experience showing computer graphics, football action, bits from the Starfruits Surf Rider Video and of course some Planet Of The Apes footage. Other songs played were Freefall and Count 5 or 6.

Mogwai - Phew, after Cornelius I thought that nothing could top it. Well, Mogwai came very, very close. I eagerly waited for them to set up the stage with large mirror balls and screens with Mogwai Guitars Left, Mogwai Guitars Right, Mogwai Drums and Mogwai Barry. The other times I have seen Mogwai were brilliant (Reading, blowing the Manics of the stage when they were supporting) so I knew this would be great, but this was the first time that what seemed like the whole audience were ready in anticipation although it wasn't until Xmas Steps that the whole place erupted

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