Brit bands steal the show at Lowlands

Chase & Status and Arctic Monkeys dominate Friday at Dutch event

Emma Ritchie Downes - 19 August 2011

Chase & Status sprinkled some dance magic dust on to Lowlands Festival 2011 this afternoon as they injected some much needed energy into proceedings. Despite playing an early evening slot, the glorious sun and copious amounts of the event sponsor’s lager provided the production duo from London with a massive and wildly enthusiastic crowd in the Grolsch tent, a venue which they could have filled twice over.

Closing the first night at Lowlands in spectacular style the Arctic Monkeys proved an irresistible draw for seemingly all of the 60,000 people in attendance. Headlining the massive Alpha stage, the crowd spilled out onto the surrounding grass verges and cheered and stamped their frustration as the band delayed their appearance by an interminable five minutes.

Despite critics’ assertions that the Monkey’s star is waning, Alex Turner, looking like the love child of James Dean and Sean Penn, thrilled the audience with a dazzling selection of old classics, and new material from their latest album, 'Suck it and See'.

Ears and chests pounding from the raucous, dominating guitars and the relentless percussion the crowd were obviously as passionate about the band as the band were about their performance. In a day of some international mediocrity these two very different British bands proved that talent and style are an enthusiastically received export.

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