I think that what distinguishes a so-called ‘regular’ act from a headliner is the degree of showmanship. As I have mentioned several times before fantastic music can come from anywhere, and if you place someone relatively unknown with good music on a large stage then the crowd will still have a good time. To be able to place someone on a large stage during the headline slot takes more than just music – it takes performance. Katy Perry, it seems, has showbiz pulsing through her arteries. As the set was being built (a series of rotating pink and blue doors through which dancers would later weave in and out of in a variety of costumes) it was obvious that this set would be next level. Opening with “Chained to the Rhythm” it was hard to tell what was in greater abundance – the sequins in which she was dripping or the screams of ecstasy from the crowd. With such a large repertoire of songs to choose from she could afford to ensure every track was well-known and guaranteed to get her fans started – as my friend pointed out they were all “right bangers”. While many may be too cool to admit it, people who genuinely aren’t huge fans of Katy Perry are few and far between and the result was an explosion of energy to end the most wonderful day. The fireworks may have accompanied “Roar” but it certainly wasn’t the only song to light up the sky.
If there is one season to define Two Door Cinema Club it is Summer – whether they are performing their tracks across the globe or you simply hear a distant song drifting from the serving hatch of an ice cream van they are everywhere that the sun shines, and as a result have a wonderfully warm sense of familiarity. It was therefore a treat to catch them at Radio 1’s Big Weekend Hull 2017 in the Where It Begins stage. Now with long hair, frontman Alex got the crowd going wild and their allotted half an hour trickled away faster than the ice cubes of a cocktail. Ending their set with well-loved favourites “What You Know” and “I Can Talk” was a very clever move and if the arrival of Summer wasn’t already obvious, it was now.
As a pre-confirmed Emeli Fandé (who says guitarleaves isn’t a funny platform…) I was beyond eager to watch her perform again. Every time I have seen her play live in the past was sensational, and I think her biggest talent (of the many she possesses) is being able to unite an audience through the raw emotion in her music. As I knew would happen, I can proudly say I was not disappointed. She opened with “Heaven” and the crowd went wild. The rest was an ecstatic blur of glittering stage lights and shimmering fireworks dripping liquid amber from a great height. If anyone knows how to get a crowd going it is Emeli Sandé, and she made each track accessible, even the more modern ones such as “Hurts” and “Highs and Lows” which perhaps weren’t as well known to the average attendee were met with riotous encore and a quickly-learned chorus singalong. It was a stunning performance which included in my opinion the most poignant moment of the weekend: after paying a heartfelt tribute to Manchester the screen behind her was illuminated with a Manchester loveheart and she sang “Read All About It, Pt. III” with the voices of twenty-five thousand behind her. Music really is a universal language and it is a moment that will stay with me forever.
*Spoiler alert: Lorde stole the entire weekend.*
Festival season, regardless of which form it takes, is complete without good music. The weather may vary and the toilets will probably overflow; but nothing can dampen our spirits when there is an auditory electricity blaring blaring from the speakers – and so you can imagine the excitable anticipation when staple band Imagine Dragons were announced as part of the line-up. Entering the stage with a bang and only pausing for breath when they later ran offstage to momentous applause the four-piece led the crowd through a selection of hits, including “Radioactive” and their recent single, “Thunder”. They may not be dragons but their set was certainly on fire.
For me, the most wonderful thing about festivals is that the vast line-up allows you to go and try new things and explore artists for whom you wouldn’t normally venture to see a gig. Rag’n’Bone Man exemplified this, and in the space of his half-hour set managed to completely blow me away. Of course I was no stranger to the enormous success of “Human” and “Skin” although I wasn’t aware of just how soulful he was as an artist. In his set especially I noticed just how much of a special attachment he felt through his music, and this was especially true during his rendition of “Bitter End”. Managing to simultaneously silence and somehow heal a huge throng of festival-goers is no easy feat, but I suppose even an overflowing tent of screaming fans proved no match for the might of his vocal chords.
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