O2 Wireless 2007 (London): Saturday Review

United Kingdom | by Nick Bruce | 18 June 2007

There is a maxim, that has been held for quite some time amongst the music community, that declares God hates festivals.  For example, without fail, there is always at least one torrential downpour at every major event over the summer. God is the reason why a great lightning bolt struck at the very heart of Glasto - the beer tent - in 2005, and he's why at V in 2000 a sewerage truck backed up and sprayed muck all over the dance tent. However when this happened, All Saints were onstage, so that incident had some merit.

God loves raining down on Londoners the most, but Londoners can take it. Londoners are tough. Which is why, even though the rain is pummelling down on a mid-June weekend afternoon, everyone knows O2 Wireless is going to be a great show. No matter what is thrown at the metropolitan crowd, with a Saturday line up this good, it will take more than an act of God to spoil the day.

Whether or not Mutemath wanted to be introduced as the "band who wrote the song for the forthcoming Transformers movie" remains to be seen, however as soon as Marcia from XFM who is hosting the stage leaves, the US quartet launch into a rock set that is powered by frenetic drumming and catchy tunes (mid-set the drummer actually launches his bass kick off the stage. Intended or not, it looks pretty cool). Then a crack in the marble-grey sky appears allowing the sun to peek through. The crowd all momentarily turn, hands in the air, toward the slither of golden light, coaxing it, then returning their attention to the music.

Clad in uniform red track suit bottoms and tops, Datarock look like they've just escaped from a scouse council estate, when in fact they are from Norway and are really very good. Their music is labelled 'nu-dance' and it certainly has a very invigorated feel, synthesizing electro beats with live instruments. Their signature tune 'Computer Camp Love' goes down a treat and sends the crowd into a state of frenzy, a state mirrored by the screams of thanks coming from frontman Fredrik Saroea.

With the sun now resolutely pushing through the clouds, the festival has taken on a much more up-beat tone: people are now jumping around each other as opposed to feebly huddling under the ponchos they nicked from the London Bus Company stand outside Hyde Park.

New Young Pony Club enter into this jovial, summer atmosphere with lead singer Tahita Bulmer bursting around with a stage presence so good it would have Lily Allen spitting up her White Lightning in envy.  She chants away to the crowd provoking a good crowd reaction, but unfortunately the band isn't really any good. The tracks they play are lackluster, and nothing original. Considering Datarock had whipped the crowd up only thirty minutes before, New Young Pony Club are like a swift injection of anesthetic.

Meanwhile Digitalism raucously rock the XFM tent.  Not only have they packed out the venue but they've turned it into a hot, heady, seething arena of sweaty gyrating bodies.  Everyone is either bedecked in sunglasses, or wide-eyed and grinning. There are girls mounted on guys' shoulders, hundreds of hands in the air with half-naked hotties getting off with one another. Oh and their tunes aren't half bad either!

Back to the main stage and en-vogue Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS) pump out their brand of infectious electro-pop to a crowd who have clearly heard and loved 'Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above' before.  It has been used to advertise TV shows, mostly on T4 (whose luxury bus is parked just to the left of the main stage, teasingly close, though behind a very high wall. Bastards.) CSS are a great live band, and their tunes have that funky simplicity in both lyrics and sound that always comes from foreign bands who sing in English. Frontwoman Lovefoxxx is adorable and attractive in a sequined cat suit that would not only put Joseph's Technicolor dream coat to shame, but would give him an epileptic fit in the process. The band are clearly having a great time onstage, with tunes 'Ah la la', 'Meeting Paris Hilton' and 'I Wanna Be Your J-Lo' exciting the crowd no end. They are exactly the sort of outfit you would want to come out from the exotic streets of Sao Paulo: fresh, funky, flirtatious and fun.

Perhaps not quite as flirtatious, but most definitely as fun are LCD Soundsystem who enter the stage as the night's penultimate act. They're an appropriate act to support Daft Punk, too: LCD frontman and creator James Murphy often references the French duo, most notably in 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House', which is played live here and extremely well. It is always a joy to see electronic music, produced in what is effectively a laboratory, played live and on stage, and LCD are a fantastic example of dance music mixing with live instrumentals.

Over in the XFM tent Klaxons played a set that saw the organisers have to implement a one-in one-out policy to prevent overcrowding. But the tent already seemed just that, with more 'nu rave' colours then a packet of Skittles.  Sweaty Klaxons' Jamie Reynolds tried to explain it: "We had about 10,000 people trying to cram into a tent that can hold just a couple of thousand. It kicked off, it was insane." Unable to get inside the tent to see them, I managed to hear "Gravity's Rainbow" dedicated to "the crowds outside" before Daft Punk were about the start on the Main Stage.

Daft Punk are renowned world-wide for their stunning visual displays, so it was always going to be interesting to see how they were going to adapt their show to the open-air. Or rather, it is interesting to see how the open air adapts to their show, because it is fantastic. Sporting their trademark robot masks the pair, captured in the twilight of a night closing in; look miniscule against the backdrop of the enormous LED screen behind them.

As the first beat of the opening song thuds out the crowd go mental.  Hyde Park suddenly becomes a beach in Ibiza, a free party in the Parisian suburbs and a full moon party in Thailand all in one. Every tune a fan could want to hear is played as their classics are mixed between cutting edge French house and a sprinkle of techno.

] Anthems such as 'Around the World' and 'Stronger, Better, Harder, Faster' are burnt into the tomes of dance music history and its obvious why. Daft Punk's sound is enormous, as it takes the crowd on a journey through futuristic electro while the huge LED backdrop burns red into the night air. Wireless should feel privileged to host Daft Punk's only festival performance in England this year and God should have a very big smile on his face.