Wireless Festival London - Day Two

United Kingdom | | 22 June 2006

By comparison to yesterday though the indie kids are a distinct minority, the order of the day is very much the straight from the office look, respectable, sensible and clean.

Among this strange mix of upwardly mobile professionals, misplaced indie fans, and the terrifying gaggles of middle aged women lurk various celebrities such as Daniel Bedingfield who it seems is trying his hardest to be anonymous…quite hard when you have a camera crew tailing you.

Balancing out the dinner-party-music theme that is today’s lineup on the main stage there are some pretty leftfield goings on elsewhere. At 64-years-old John Cale shows the new pretenders to the throne how it’s really done. It’s hard to believe that this grizzly guy was once part of the Velvet Underground. If anything his new material is harder, edgier, louder and generally more raucous than anything he had his hand in as a younger man. Sounding like an angry Tom Jones roaring over funky Lynyrd Skynyrd riffs, it's good to see some real rock heritage, and is all the better when he closes his set with a rendition of the VU classic 'Venus In Furs'.

Whilst it’s still daylight outside, the Myspace tent is shrouded in darkness. Californian duo The Weepies are onstage and whilst the audience is somewhat sparse, everyone is focused; still and silent, scared to damage the delicate sound. Vocalist Deb Talan looks and sounds like a little girl with her stuttering, ready-to-cry expression. “This one’s a request,“ she giggles. “Well, we said we’d play it and someone cheered!“ The lack of drum kit has a captivating effect as The Weepies skulk through their set. Beautifully pure, this is one act that will hold your attention for a little longer than most.

Back on the Main Satge and the startlingly versatile Violent Femmes are getting to work with their array of instruments. The brass section features heavily, before a fiddle, a didjeridoo and a conch put in appearances, all while front man Gordon Gano’s straggly hair flows in the wind from beneath his cowboy hat. Despite looming clouds overhead, a mixed audience of kiddies, students, professionals and OAPs groove along to the Milwaukee three-piece’s eclectic set, dancing in the copious bubbles being released from the stage. This is what festivals are all about!

Greatly-anticipated, hotly-tipped, every beamingly positive cliché you can think of applies to Ray Lamontagne. Hoards clamber to get a good view in the XFM tent before the New Hampshire singer-songwriter has showed his face. “He looks like Jesus!” exclaims an excited voice.  Lamontagne’s raspy, breathy vocals demand attention, whilst the smooth guitar licks are imitated by a slew of professional air-guitarists. “He could do with a stylist,” someone mutters.  “But he can sure belt out a good tune!” Casually strolling offstage, Lamontagne has mastered the art of festival gigs in one 35-minute slot.

In the MySpace/Fender marquee there is some gut wrenching female angst rock in the form of Joan as Policewoman. With song titles such as 'Obsession' and 'Are You Not Furious?' she provides a quite startling counterpoint to KT Tunstall. In fact stepping into the marquee is like entering a parallel dimension where everything is the opposite of what it once was, light becomes dark, day becomes night and breezy pop tunes become mournful laments of failed relationships and general melancholy.

Headlining the XFM stage tonight, Fun Lovin’ Criminals are greeted by rapturous applause and fainting women screaming for front man Huey Morgan. Opening with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Rock N Roll‘, Morgan saunters around the stage in a white suit with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, personifying cool. ‘Korean Bodega’ and ‘Where The Bums Go’ rock the set, whilst ‘Scooby Snacks’ gets everyone bouncing like demented toddlers in sprung chairs. Drummer Frank thwarts his kit like a serial killer with an axe whilst Fast jumps between keyboard and synth duties, his six-string and a trumpet. Closing with ‘The Fun Lovin’ Criminal’, the whole place is glowing with euphoria. Superb!

KT Tunstall sadly gets lost in the mixer and as if to make this strange balance ever more perverse the sun is setting as David Gray begins his slot. The clouds that meant most of the day was overcast and chilly now create that perfect sunset moment, and Mr Gray could not ask for better lighting for his music. The crowd sway gently, many couples with arms around each other, as he runs through his numbers. While it's easy to have a pop at David Gray and his MOR styings, there's no doubt he can sing and several of his songs do contain a certain charm, however there's still no getting away from the fact that it's all so conventional and at times repetitive. 'This Year's Love' is a the highlight of the set with the crowd also greeting the arrival of 'Sail Away' with a massive cheers, before Gray closes the second day of Wireless with his signature tune 'Bablyon'.