Oasis (Sat)
Oasis arrived on stage to the now customary "Fuckin In The Bushes" and if memory sereves me correct started the set with "Columbia", the first thing noticed was the bass was louder, which worked well on the heavier songs but not so well on the more acoustic ones. As soon as they started though the crowd sung along to most of the songs, especially the older ones. "Hindu Times" was belted out early on, "Live Foreve"r came later, and the set featured a lot of songs from the new album, including current single Stop Crying Your Heart Out, and future one Little By Little". She"s Electric" was given a rare airing and was sung by Noel as was his more familiar vocal on "Don"t Look Back In Anger". There was no space in the set for "Wonderwall" or "Stand By Me". The sound overall wasn"t great, generally an old festival problem. The encore featured the welcome return of "Some Might Say" and an excellent cover of The Who"s "My Generation" to round things off. Liam was on form throug! h out and apart from a dig about the sound quality when he came back on stage following "She"s Electric" it was all harmonious between the Gallagher brothers.
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros (Sat)
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleroes were one of the surprise highlights of Saturday. His enthusiasm was matched by a fine band and an equally enthusiastic older audience who came to the front to see one of their musical heroes. A well balanced set featuring songs from his new band and some old Clash ones including "I Fought The Law" made it an enjoyable performance inside the King Tuts Tent.
Black Rebel Motorcyle Club (Sat)
Next on stage in the King Tuts Tent was Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The 3 piece band from San Francisco arrived on stage dressed in their familiar black leather attire, as featured in their album"s front cover. With guitarist (Peter Hayes) and bassist (Robert Turner) sharing vocal duties they promptly roared straight into there set, belting out most of the tracks from their album, including singles "Spread Your Love, "Love Burns" and Whatever Happened To Our Rock "n"Roll. There was almost no interaction with the crowd but with songs as good as "Rifles" and the amount of guitar and bass solos from the front two they let there music do the talking.
Haven (Sat)
Haven performed in the King Tuts Tent on Saturday afternoon, their debut album "Between The Senses" and their anthemic melodic guitar sound, gained a lot Coldplay comparisons. They arrived on stage and confidently recreated many of the songs from the album including "Beautiful Thing", "Til The End" and their biggest hit to date "Say Something" sounding good and pleasing their adoring (mostly female) fans.
The Hives (Sun)
Was looking forward to seeing The Hives and they proved to be a bizarre almost novelty act, led by the madcap antics of frontman Pele. All immaculately dressed in their suits and ties their set was dominated by Pele"s interaction between the crowd which mostly involved him telling the crowd how great it was for them to be here to see the Hives and most amusingly how they were infact the main act of the day, as we had our starter beforehand and would have our desert afterwards. They were onstage around 5pm. When the band got down to playing they sounded good and recent singles "Main Offender" and particularly "Hate To Say I Told You So" went down well. Their entertaining set was over within 35 minutes though which left you impressed but wanting a bit more.
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Green Day (Sun)
Green Day arrived on the Main Stage after The Hives and started their set of with "Maria". Billie Joe carried on the interactions with the crowd in a similar vain to Pele. There was a lot of "let me here you say Ho", which got the crowd going but was carried on too much. The set was good with the old hits "Basket Case" and "When I Come Around" and "Longview". There was also the wacky trumpet section who were wheeled out in various guises most notably for "King For A Day". Added to that was the part where Billie got a drummer, bass player and drummer on stage to perform a song and the gig passed on with feel good factor. After finishing up, Billie Joe arrived back on stage for a solo rendition of Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life), which finished there impressive set nicely.
Mercury Rev (Sun)
Mercury Rev were second last on the King Tuts Stage on Sunday night. They set provided a sensible mixture of older songs from their considerable back catalogue as well as a good selection from their current offering "All Is Dream", including "Dark Is Rising", "Little Rhymes", They came across more rockier than on some of their albums but singer Jonathan Donohiue"s Neil Young style voice came across well and his stage performcane saw him cast at times as some sort of disciple taking the strength from powers above and offering it to the audience. Which at the end of there performance had their fans in rapturous applause if not some of the impatient Ian Brown fans who had arrived early for his performance.
Ian Brown (Sun)
Ian Brown, headlined the King Tuts and after a delay arrived on stage with his band featuring as usual Aziz Abraham on guitar. They started with "Corpses", and during the set put out singles "Golden Gaze", "Whispers", "Dolphins Were Monkeys", "My Star" and returned for an encore with an epic "F.E.A.R.". With his time in the Stone Roses Ian Brown has developed a cult status, a fan describing him to me beforehand as simply "the man". His live performances have tended to rely on his stage presence rather than singing ability. The swagger was still there and with each album his choice of material is increasing. Ian Brown sets still tend to be relatively short though but his presence and idolising fans make seeing him live an intresting and enjoyable experience.
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