Carling Weekend 2003 - Leeds Review Saturday

United Kingdom | by Sara Bowrey, Mike Eccleshall, Sara Wright | 23 August 2003

Carlin Weekend 2003 - Leeds review Saturday

The sun was shining and the crowds were already substantial by the time Texan foursome Bowling for Soup took to the main stage. The self-confessed 'biggest band in rock' (you should see the size of the guitarist) managed to win the hearts of the rather less 'metal' crowd than that of Friday, bringing a smile to even the most cynical faces. Yes they are stupid, "...when the next band says 'make some noise', blow a raspberry" - but they managed not to grate. Of course, their pop-rock smash 'Girl all the Bad Guys Want' went down a storm, but its good to know they can cut the mustard in front of a 'real' audience. They also proved themselves adept at charming the pants off the press, spending over four hours doing interviews and photos in the hospitality area after their set.

Less than Jake add to Saturday's jovial mood with their relentless energy and constant crowd banter. Their frantic ska-punk and endless good humour buoy up the crowd. Singer Chris runs in circles around the stage, whilst bassist Roger poses and leaps, swinging his dreads around him. They are however the security guards' nightmare, as they coax the crowd into moshing on each others shoulders. Chris warns the crowd about the doughnuts, stating that those at Reading have given them the shits! With their dancing brass section, stage antics and inability to take themselves (or anyone else) too seriously, Less than Jake are a refreshing deep inhale at the oxygen bar of life.

The Comedy tent is normally one of the forgotten areas at Leeds Festival. Most people stumble across it when looking for food, booze or just somewhere dry/cool (delete according to weather conditions) to sit and chill for a while. Unsurprisingly however it was completely packed for Mark Thomas and his blend of political agitation with humour (or maybe the audience were people trying to escape the over-hyped "Darkness" on the main stage?). Thomas was as colourful and funny as ever, with a set not surprisingly picking holes in the reasons for the Iraq war and generally eschewing the ridiculousness of Bush & Blair. Thomas has us in stitches, but also manages to make us think and the applause at the end is thunderous.

Thank God they moved The Darkness onto the main stage. Attracting the size of crowd that would satisfy the headline act, any attempt to keep them in the Carling tent would have been disastrous. As time for the Darkness draws near there are queues for their T-shirts and 100s of Justin would-bes appear at the front of the crowd. They're even a nice bunch of guys off-stage, obliging by giving us a "Virtual Festivals Rrrrocks!" namecheck - shame we're not streaming video yet...maybe next year! Yep...they're definitely this summer's big thing - but somehow the reality always seems to fall just short of the hype. Either it's a genuine case of the emperor's new clothes, or else this reviewer is like a new kid at school who can't get the point of the current in-joke. Their performance (and Justin's banter) is so practiced now (VF has seen them at over 9 events during the summer) that there is now a definite feeling of 'seen em once, seem them a thousand times'. Above said, to be fair, it is nevertheless a fantastic 60 minute extravaganza of self mocking rock pomposity.

Electric Six take the prize for most screamed festival anthem of the summer and rock the Radio 1 tent with 'Gay Bar' and 'Danger, High Voltage' whilst.....