O2 Wireless Festival: Wednesday

United Kingdom | 08 July 2005

After snatching an acoustic set by The Longpigs trio backstage, James Blunt kicks off from the Main Stage with his lullaby lyrics and folky undertones - if you're a fan you would be impressed and 'Beautiful' has the diehards waving arms in unison in appreciation, and it has to be said the appreciation for Rufus Wainwright is no less impressive, even if his set is slightly disappointing, Rufus selecting his more moody and reflective piano-led pieces over his more crowd friendly uplifting material.

Over in the XFM tent The Engineers deliver one of the best new rock performances we've heard this summer to an audience that should have been much, much bigger - these boys can really pull off something special and need more exposure. Where next - too many tents for one person, and Supergrass win the battle - great to see them back and giving their hits a new airing, the main stage crowd certainly swell to see them and it's not just the Keane loving girls arriving early.

Martha Wainwright (Rufus's lil sis) is well appreciated on the Drowned in Sound stage, and the XFM stage grows in numbers as Brendan Benson and Secret Machines give impressive performances.

As with everything at this festival, Keane arrive bang on schedule, are bang in tune and bang out their hits. The first half of the set is almost identical to Glastonbury - in words and music - with Tom addressing the crowd of adoring Keanites in his shy, blushing schoolboy way and saying how amazing it is to be here - either he is a very good actor or he really means it, seeminly quite emotionally and taken with performing to a crowd, that, let's be honest here, has come predominantly to see Keane play in a huge London park at sunset. Working through the album of chart-toppers, interspersed with some new material, the trio from Battle work their fans well. "It's amazing to see a girl on someone's shoulders with her boobs out to 'Bend And Break'" cries Tom - yes it is Tom, and it was a lovely moment. They finish with a brace of songs delivered after a cry for more - one of very few encores you see these days - with Rufus guesting on a beautiful ballad from the yet untitled new album followed by 'Somewhere Only We Know' to a resounding appreciation. They can and do deliver, and even if it's not your thing, you can't knock 'em - they're just too good!