INmusic Festival 2009: Rated!

Zagreb, Croatia ­ 24-25 June

Croatia | by Luke Warren | 01 July 2009

Overall 9/10
Western culture's influence is obvious coming into Zagreb, Croatia's capital city; there are advertisements for McDonald's, Madonna and MTV. This is also reflected in the eclectic line up for the city's INmusic Festival; featuring local and international acts playing everything from metal to dance music.

Small, with a 25,000 capacity, INmusic offers an intimate experience and, with big stars performing on small stages, the chance to get near to your favourite bands. The weather was gloomy upon arrival, but the clouds cleared on Wednesday (24 June), and the sun shone on Thursday (25).

Importantly, drinks at the festival were cheap ­ a beer cost 15 Kuna, roughly £1.90. Like a ride at a fun fair, INmusic seemed a little scary at first, but at its end, you didn't want to get off.

Getting there and back - 7/10
A direct, two-hour flight takes you to beautiful Zagreb and INmusic is then just a twenty-minute taxi ride from the city. There are also trams that can take you to the festival site.

The site - 8/10
Located on an island on Zagreb's Lake Jarun, the site was small, which meant it was easy to find your way around. There were five stages plus enough bars and toilets to keep everyone happy.

Atmosphere - 8/10
On Wednesday, the first day of INmusic, the arena seemed a little empty at first, but it filled up. The Croatians were amazingly friendly and everyone was very civilised and laid back, especially on Thursday, a bank holiday.

Music:

Lily Allen - 6/10
At the T-Mobile Stage a large crowd gathered to see Lily Allen giggle and hiccup between songs such as 'Never Gonna Happen' and 'Everyone's At It', featuring a synth part stolen from The Killers' 'Smile Like You Mean It'. The vocal coaching has paid off - Lily's voice is now stronger, and her band can play. First cover 'Oh My God' blends seamlessly into 'Everything's Just Wonderful', though 'LDN' is interrupted by an invisible DJ rewinding a record, and mixed into 'Back To The Start'.

Lily sings her hits, 'The Fear', 'Smile' and the hillbilly dirge of 'It's Not Fair', which go down well with the young crowd. But Lily's songs about an ex taste bitter, especially at a festival, like a drunk pouring their broken heart out. In the chorus to a jazzy 'He Wasn't There' Lily sings, "You wouldn't believe the things he's done" No, but I'm sure you'll tell us. To compound matters, for her second cover, Britney's 'Womanizer', Lily does an excellent job of making a bad song sound worse.

Kraftwerk - 8/10
A large, grey curtain looms over the T-Mobile Stage, and waiting for Kraftwerk, the anticipation in the crowd is palpable. Out of nowhere a synth beeps, a robot voice repeats "Machine!" and, as the curtain suddenly rises,the four members of Kraftwerk are revealed in silhouette.

Standing at keyboards and laptops wearing red and black jumpsuits, Kraftwerk launch into 'Man Machine' and the excitement of the crowd reaches a crunching crescendo. Suddenly it's 1978 and everyone is futuristic robot dancing. A massive cheer follows.

The band are as animated as a cave painting, but their lack of movement is made up for by the visuals; different colours glow matching Kraftwerk's 3D soundscape. Percussive, heavy breathing introduces 'Tour de France', and the song's artwork is displayed, followed by a map and video of cyclists. During 'Vitamin' pills are dropped, albeit on screen, and later 'Autobahn' and 'The Model' keep the crowd dancing.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 9/10
Teasing the crowd with a slow, slanted intro, Karen O's screams of "Yeah!" are punctured with stabs of Nick Zinner's guitar. Reaching early climax with 'Heads Will Roll', Karen O spits water into the air and Brian Chase's hi hats dance.

Here the crowd is even bigger than the small Nokia Stage and the band could easily have played on the main stage. A euphoric 'Cheated Hearts' follows and the crowd is ecstatic. There is an explosion of confetti before 'Black Tongue', during which Karen O stops singing due to technical difficulties.

The frenetic pace is slowed for the next song, 'Gold Lion', yet later the band play the synth heavy 'Zero'. Nick takes photographs of fans (it's subversive or something), who continue to mosh through the band's set. After more confetti the band play a profound 'Maps' with Nick on acoustic guitar, and the crowd sings along.

Art Brut - 8/10
Eddie Argos is confused. The lead singer questions his heavyweight contemporaries' choruses - "Sex on fire? Are we human or are we dancer? What does it mean?!" - as well as "Why does everyone sound like U2?" and, before each song, just to check, "Are you ready Art Brut?"

The band play songs such as 'Alcoholics Unanimous', 'Summer Job' and sweet paean to teenage love 'Emily Kane'. During 'Modern Art', Eddie enters the Croatian crowd, to recount a story in English about visiting a museum in Amsterdam, and fans pogo around him. Eddie also admits he originally thought that Iggy Pop's 'The Passenger' was about riding a bus, not downing brown in a limo.

Coupled with the band's punk energy, Eddie's funny kitchen sink dramas - about disappointing sex, drunken texting and mountain goats - are hugely entertaining. So much so that a member of the crowd holds up a sign reading, "Eddie Argos for Prime Minister." Down with Brown indeed.

Editors - 8/10
Playing new song 'Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool' as well as the singles 'Bullets', 'Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors' and 'Munich', Editors get a fantastic reaction from the crowd who sing and dance along.

Playing chiming Rickenbackers and Telecaster (in black) with mind-bending Moog, the band, bar bassist Russell Leetch, all too wear black, and create fearsome, doomy rock, which makes the sun retreat behind a cloud.

Comments

Related Artists

Related Events

Related Articles