It is a real shame, as they deserved much more, but they do work hard to get the crowd going, but any real momentum front man Dan Brown whips up by getting into the crowd, it is lost as soon as his microphone gives up the ghost under the torrential conditions.
They give it their all, and they deserve the utmost credit for doing so under such conditions. As I have said previously, guitarist Liam Cromby has one of the finest vocals around in the scene at the moment, and they will certainly have finer moments than this in the coming years.
Setlist - Trouble Is Temporary, Time Is Tonic / What It Feels Like / Lucky Ones / Runaway / Overtime is a Crime / Confessions / Nothing Good Has Happened Yet /
The Waiting Room
Taking Back Sunday follow them, and do better, purely as a result of the power of their songs, and the quality jam packed into their punchy set. It is not as hard hitting as their show in Manchester a couple of nights before, but they have always been a little hit and miss on festival main stages. However, today, they are better than I have ever seen them in the outdoors, but once more, they struggle with the elements, and the weather gets more inclement, the longer their set goes on.
However, opening with Cute Without The E (Cut From The Team) is a masterstroke, and throughout a 40 minute set, they pack in hit after glorious hit. Lazarra once more works the stage and gets in the mix, and their set is hugely enjoyable, even if the crowd are getting wetter and wetter by the minute.
You just can’t mess with the likes of You’re So Last Summer, MakeDamnSure, and A Decade Under The Influence in a festival environment.
Setlist - Cute Without The 'E' (Cut From The Team) / El Paso / Faith (When I Let You Down) / Error: Operator / Liar (It Takes One To Know One) / Timberwolves At New Jersey / You Got Me / What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost? / You're So Last Summer / A Decade Under The Influence / MakeDamnSure
Following that would be a tough ask for a lot of acts, but then again Frank Turner is not just any act. Attracting a huge crowd, Frankie T does what he does best with a master class in acoustic driven folk rock songs, high on passion and cutting lyrics, yet performed by one of the most endearing and most loved men in the game. Backed by his band The Sleeping Souls, Frank works through cuts from his latest record, England Keep My Bones, but can still throw in a classic or two at will.
For those lucky enough to see him later in the afternoon during his “secret” lock up set will get some further classics, but his main stage slot today only showcases the mans majestic songwriting talent. I Am Disappeared, and particularly I Still Believe, are massive songs, the latter getting a huge call and response moment from the crowd in the pouring rain. Older tracks such as Long Live The Queen and Try This At Home are just as powerful, and goes to show that over the last five years, there are not many who have written songs of this type so well.
The man is a machine, and closing on a roaring Photosynthesis, proves that he simply owns his main stage slot here today. He may well be more at home with the intimate venues, but nobody can begrudge him his moment on the main stage. It has been well deserved, and was incredibly well executed.
Without any doubt whatsoever, he will be back on this stage in the next year or two.
Setlist – Eulogy / Try This At Home / Reasons Not To Be An Idiot / I Still Believe / I Am Disappeared / Long Live The Queen / Substitute / Peggy Sang The Blues / If Ever I Stray / The Road / Photosynthesis
Taking some much needed refuge from the rain showers, which had already sapped so much life out of the crowd, started to wreak havoc on the landscape and rendered my camera useless, heading over to the Lock Up stage, I managed to catch both The Menzingers and The Black Pacific, both of which I was very impressed with. Having never heard of either of them, it could have gone either way, but their punk rock was a welcome distraction form the rain fall, and they both put in great shifts in the tented Lock Up arena.
The latter is apparently the new band of former Pennywise vocalist Jim Lindberg and both bands put in cracking shifts, playing energetic and memorable sets, even though they both played to fairly sparse crowds.
Setlist (The Black Pacific) - The System / Time is Not The Reason / When It's Over / Living With Ghosts / Boxcar (Jawbreaker cover) / Defamer / Put Down Your Weapons / Almost Rising
I will definitely be checking more of these two out in the future.
Heading back over to the main stage,Enter Shikari were next up, putting in a big set of rave inspired rock, merging in throbbing dubstep elements to their political tinged screamo assault, that got some movement with the crowd in spite of the worsening conditions. It sounded pulsatingly heavy, and they fared well, although you could just imagine how well they would have gone down had the conditions been better. It was still an impassioned set, throwing in new track Quelle Surprise along with well known staples such as Mothership (with a huge dubstep interlude that is heavier than you would ever imagine), Sorry You’re Not A Winner (with huge hand claps from crowd and band alike) and recent beast Juggernauts. The latter may not get as much crowd surfing action as their 2009 set did, but some punters fared the mud to get up and get thrown over the barrier for one of their set highlights.
They will undoubtedly have better shows, but you cannot deny what an incredible live band they are, having honed their craft over the years.
Their next album could well send them supernova . . .
Setlist – Intro (Charlie Chaplin) / Destabilise / Mothership / Zzzonked / Havoc A (Remix) / Halcyon / Hectic / No Sssweat / Quelle Surprise / Sorry, You're Not A Winner / Juggernauts / OK, Time For Plan B
Heading over to the shelter of the NME tent, I caught a fair portion of Warpaint, playing to a packed out tent with their delicate melodies. The protection from the weather also served to fix my camera issues which was another massive bonus. Warpaint’s music was not my sort of thing at all, and is quite sleepy in places for my liking, but they seem to go down well. I recognised their single Undertow, but the majority of their set is a little arty for a rain soaked Friday in a field. They are clearly very talented at what they do, but it doesn’t really do a lot for me I’m afraid.
Setlist (probable)– Warpaint / Bees / Composure / Undertow / Burgundy / Beetles / Elephants
Panic! At The Disco are up next, and the place simply goes off for them from the minute they kick in with Ready To Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind) which sounds more anthemic live than ever imaginable, the crowd singing every word back at them at the top of their voice. What follows is a truly remarkable set which banishes any lingering memories of their rough ride both here and at Reading in 2006. The crowd are up for it, and those classic songs from the debut record get a massive reaction, The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage and I Write Sins Not Tragedies being two of the obvious highlights.
Off the new record, the set opener and The Ballad Of Mona Lisa sound massive, but I am not really a fan of most of the record, so some of the set does plod a little at these points personally, even though the new material goes down a storm in the tent with everyone else. Only Nine In The Afternoon is aired from the commercial flop Pretty. Odd. and by sticking to the hits, Panic! put in one of the sets of the day to a impassioned crowd who are clearly glad to have them back.
Great work from Brendan Urie and co, so much so that the personal buzzkiller of those weaker new tracks is easily forgivable under such circumstances.
When they crack out the hits, it really is a sight to behold.
Setlist - Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind) / But It's Better If You Do / The Ballad Of Mona Lisa / Camisado / Hurricane / The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage / Let's Kill Tonight / Nine In The Afternoon / I Write Sins Not Tragedies / Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met …)
Taking a much needed break whilst Death From Above 1979 take to the tent (and stocking up on cheesy chips and donuts in the process) meant that I was refreshed ready to catch one of the final ever performances from Mike Skinner’s The Streets. To get a good spot ready for Muse, I could only catch a portion of their set, but they went down a storm in the NME tent.
Mike Skinner is still a captivating performer, as he waxes lyrical with his unique and inimitable style. It will be a shame if he never graces these stages once again, but from what I saw, this was a fitting send off for him, if it is indeed his swansong.
I would have liked to have seen more of his set, as the likes of Dry Your Eyes, Never Went To Church and Fit But You Know It are still HUGE songs in any environment.
If we never see the likes of Mike Skinner and pals again, it will be a huge shame.
Setlist - Trust Me / Don't Mug Yourself / Lets Push Things Forward / Puzzled By People / ABC / The Escapist / OMG / Soldiers / Weak Become Heroes / It Was Too Late / We Can Never Be Friends / Blinded By The Lights / Heaven For The Weather / Dry Your Eyes / Katy On A Mission (Katy B cover) / Turn The Page / Fit But You Know It / Going Through Hell
Over on the main stage, Muse bring the first night of Leeds to a close, as they bring their seminal Origin Of Symmetry album to life, playing it in its entirety, marking the 10 year anniversary of its release.
While many Muse fanboys are in complete heaven, as Matt Bellamy and co work through each track, for the more casual listener (myself included) it veers from complete majestic brilliance on the likes of opener New Born and the classic Plug In Baby, to a little bit heavy going in places on the less familiar tracks.
The stage set is as impressive as ever (bringing the album artwork to life), and the band are on top form as always in the live environment (the sound the three of them make in unison is still completely mind blowing and other worldly).
Matt Bellamy is the guitar virtuoso you expect and is still one of the most talented people in the game and Feeling Good is another highlight of the first half of the set. The headline slot really doesn’t kick into top gear until the band return for the second half of their set, which is a full blown hit parade, consisting of all the massive radio hits from the last few records.
The atmosphere goes up a notch too as the band return to a mammoth Uprising. Resistance is another massive track, as are the likes of Stockholm Syndrome, Supermassive Black Hole, Starlight and the irrespressible one-two combo Hysteria and Time Is Running Out.
Closing on a riotous Knights Of Cydonia, the place goes suitably mental, especially when THAT riff kicks in towards the end.
It is a huge performance from Muse, and although I would have preferred a straight up greatest hits set from them, it was nice to see them experiment around the concept of Origin Of Symmetry, and for many, it would have been a once in a lifetime moment.
All in all, an incredible opening to Leeds 2011.
Consider the gauntlet well and truly thrown down to all that follow.
Muse once again cement their astounding reputation as one of the best live acts in the world.
Setlist - Origin of Symmetry in full - What's He Building? (Tom Waits song - intro) / New Born / Bliss / Hyper Music / Plug In Baby / Citizen Erased / Micro Cuts / Screenager / Darkshines / Feeling Good / Megalomania / Stadium Siren, We Are The Universe Intro / Uprising / Supermassive Black Hole / Hysteria / Time Is Running Out
(House of the Rising Sun intro) / Helsinki Jam / Undisclosed Desires / Resistance / Starlight / Stockholm Syndrome / Knights of Cydonia
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