Live Review

Leeds Festival – Braham Park, Leeds

• 6th Sep 2010

So it’s the opening of Leeds 2010 and who is the act best to kick us awake… well it’s local band Rolo Tomassi on the NME/Radio1 stage and they’re so up for the task at hand! Creating pits and giving festival virgins the fear of what they have got themselves into. How can such a fearful voice emanate from such a petite woman?

After a bite to eat from the many food vans, I’m sure one of them is Angelos Epithemiou’s, the next big draw to the main stage are The Gaslight Anthem. Who are very excited to be here and the crowd responds to every song they feed us, with enthusiasm and elation.

Kids in Glass Houses are however, simply the biggest crowd pleaser of the day so far. The crowd packing out the Radio 1/NME tent is whipped into excitement and holler back every hook the guys throw into the sea of fans before them.

A quick shimmy over to the main stage to see the lads from Wakefield, The Cribs. Ryan has his moody persona on but fills the lyrics with passion and raw energy. If the crowd got drowsy this sunny afternoon then they’ve been dragged back into life with tunes like ‘Men’s Needs’ and ‘Hey Scenesters’ they certainly give the crowd something to scream back to the band.

The strangest placement of an artist on this weekends line up is Dizzee Rascal following the indie hipsters. Although this sounds like it would stop him from performing in fear of piss and any other readily available things to be thrown at him, anyone recall 50 Cent? Dizzee embraces the challenge and lives up to the reputation he holds, opening with ‘Jus a Rascal’ he is bounding around the stage and proves that even though he is now more commercial pop he still is down right grimey!

Now for the main event… the band I’ve been waiting all day to see… The Libertines! Reunited after six years, the band emerge after a slideshow of pictures from the past showing the love shared between band mates. They arrive on stage to thunderous applause and cheers, even to one guy behind us shouting at the top of his voice ‘YOU’RE VERY GOOD’. Every song is sung back to the band louder than the poor soundman can amp up the audio. The performance however was marked by a small storm off by… well you can guess who… but instead of just playing on without Pete the band,all excluding drummer Gary who is left to entertain the crowd with a clap along ‘We Will Rock You‘, rush after him and bring him back to finish the set. No one is sure what happened but to be honest I don’t think the crowd really care!