THE LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH (25) add the gusto to a hearty breakfast with a manic display of hairy acid rock and a massive Hull voice. The cricket seems to be going well, but here we have two keyboards, a drummer and … well, Paddy. Paddy is huge in every sense of the word, especially when pirouetting on one toe and swirling his bass four full turns before belting into the next verse. Where the keyboards are subtle and interesting, Paddy is big. His announcement for one song tells it better than I ever could: "This one is called Butterfly … Big Butterfly … Massive Butterfly!"
VOLTAGE UNION (26) enjoy a little Frisbee practice with copies of their rather good single. I catch one but graciously hand it to another (having nicked a copy earlier). This tight little band is keyboard Rob, drummer Vijay, vox/guitar Dave and Leeds landmark bass player Mido. They look very cool and sound even sharper than the record. They're doing fast furious rockish surges … until the fourth tune that lets a big swathe of keyboards in to give it some culture. They're not going for the obvious moves and they promise a lot more to come. I believe this is one of their earliest gigs, not that anyone would have guessed.
NEW MINDS EYE (27) display guitars and drums in a broad-based rock soul thing with a keyboard player covering the bass lines. The standout moment is the drummer playing a honkingly good sax solo while pounding away on the bass drum pedal. The whisper is that he does harmonica too. Technique wise, these guys are way ahead of many on the bill They're a bit jazzish, a bit HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS and even a bit BOOKER T AND THE MGS.
MR MOJO (28) spray the crowd with fruit flavour Mojos (the banana ones are disgustingly nice) and have the biggest banner of the weekend. (Sunday has seen an eruption of banners, but MR MOJO get the prize). MR MOJO are also a six piece band which gets points. Chord sequences are from the Book of Rock Guitar. Top song is a funky passionate thing called "Cheats and Liars". It’s nicely old fashioned without being retro, and the singer does lots of yelled encouragement to have a good time Leeds, and so on. The do a big finish for a big crowd.
BAM BAM FRANCS (29) are unexpectedly different. High wailing echoing voice and high wailing echoing guitar come out very agreeably with a bit of a bite. The music is rasping, edgy and interesting. The young guys in the band seem to realise that they don’t need to push their own egos when the music does the work this well. Checking my notes – it is Bam Bam Francs whose good line about "a nice enough time" and "going to the toilets" I scandalously (but understandably) attributed to the equally modest Ali Whitton. I'm warning to BAM BAM FRANCS a lot.
TURISMO (30) are a more established outfit with a good crowd of their own fans out for their Day in the Park. With a stylish singer wielding maracas and wearing a suit TURISMO do fat punk tunes with integrity and honest excitement. There is no pose here – just the punky rock and little bit of roll. With the ARCTIC MONKEYS polishing off a monster set in the tent next door their big crowd stays – and grows in the sunshine and Sunday is really starting to hum along. The excitement and pleasure is starting to poke out of everything that happens. Good work TURISMO.
THE SUNSHINE UNDERGROUND (31) land on the stage at the perfect moment. The whole of the front security rail had been double booked even before they came on and from the first scrunching funky tune the place goes bananas. With magazine cover good looks and really sweet musicianly songs they can make the stage bounce and get the hundreds out there pogoing, dancing, screaming and … the Lee Stage's first outbreak … crowd surfing. Security get the first excitement of the day and really seem to cheer up. Even your notoriously grumpy reviewer is grinning like a fool and loving the crowd as much as the band. And vice versa. It's a perfect pop moment. For many people I speak to later, it's their genuinely favourite bit of the whole festival.
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MR SHIRAZ (32) were constructed some years ago for this very occasion. Their entire thing is the live show with a hyped up audience, and they love this lot. There really is a big crowd, all going dizzy and delirious with the most brilliantly choreographed ska punk metal you ever saw. Even the drummer seems to run around (an illusion induced by excess serotonin no doubt). Their dancer strikes five poses a second and speaks in a physical language of arcane shapes that says (and I translate freely here) – "Go Crazy You Fools". So we oblige. Every Festival should book Mr Shiraz. Great tattoos, great hats, a crazy trumpet and lots of shouty voices. Marvelous.
THE HARRISONS (33) look terrific. They sound pretty good too. "We love you JUBBY!" shout the girls in the crowd. Their polished punky songs have style and passion and it’s easy to see why there's media interest cooked up in the background. The playing is crisp and precise, from plunging basslines to fierce drumming, the demons are driven to Doncaster and dropped in a deep hole. It’s a very pure sound and every song takes care to have a hook and a chorus (publishers will have noted this delicious truth). So, a surprising blend of subtlety and punishing tempo. Great stuff.
THE FAVOURS (34) immediately take me back to last night's Charlotte Hatherley set. But where that seemed, well, a bit mannered and dull, this is something else. Sara Bates is an absolute star – a teenage witch who grunges her guitar and sings feisty great dollops of tune. A scraggy looking punchy rock band keep the airbrush perfection and rock chick posing down at ground level (almost). I'm gibbering by the end and dollar sings are spinning in front of my eyes like those old Donald Duck cartoons when the rich Uncle turns up. I find myself texting an A&R contact. Crazy or what?
LYCA SLEEP (35) are pronounced like lysergic. They are indeed a wonderfully trippy end to a beautiful weekend and I am deeply grateful. I wander round in a trance, with The Music vinyl singles being played at thirty three and third in my addled brain. They are announced as the headline band, but given the quality that we have had from the very first act on Friday, their true role is the perfect wind down to a weekend's show that has been programmed with amazing skill or great good fortune. Either way LYCA SLEEP spool their endless tunefulness out into a dark sky for a weary and happy audience.
THE LEE SOUNDS STAGE (36) has been such a good idea. Location and shape have worked well, and the sound has been great. If you were there and loved it as much as I did – why not give Mean Fiddler or Raw Talent at www.bbc.co.uk/rawtalent a call and tell them? This has got to be on again next year. Even The Stage itself looked special – a landmark that kept drawing people back for more. I spotted a canny few who were just quietly enjoying the freshness and up close communicativeness that you just couldn’t get from the bigger stages. The standard has been cracking but I know for a fact that of the 3,000 and more bands that sent demos there are easily 30 more every bit as good as the ones we have had this year.
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