I couldn't really disagree more with this review, which seems to say "great festival, shame about the bands". My view is the opposite - crap festival, but (on this day only) decent bands. Why is the festival crap? Many reasons, but the fact that they are seemingly unable to give the tickets away, for any of the dates, may provide evidence to back me rather than the review.
Amongst other things, the sound at the show was quite possibly the worst I have ever (barely) heard at an outdoor gig - they seem to have invested in a sound system to blow away an outdoor audience of 500 people - which unfortunately sounds pathetic when there are 20,000 there - it just was nowhere near loud enough. Then there is the fake VIP-ness, you can buy a ticket for £100 to get into a VIP enclosure and avoid all the plebs - but of course if you can buy your way in, it isn't very exclusive at all!
Lastly, the O2 blueroom - as sponsors, O2 have another "VIP" area, for their subscribers. With another stage (featuring bands I had never heard of), some seats, and some minor diversions that may keep you amused for 10 minutes if you are particularly easily amused. This is "for O2 customers only" - oh, and 3 guests per person as well - given that about 1/4 of the population is on O2, and they could take 3 guests in each, that probably meant that almost everybody in the site could get into the "exclusive" blueroom. But having been in, its easy to see why few bothered.
For the people that paid £37.50 each, plus £6.50 booking fee (!), plus postage, to attend this, I feel sorry for you, because compared to pretty much any other major festival, it would not have been good value for money.
Anyway, to the bands, which despite all the venue-related rubbish, were generally good. Gogol Bordello were the first band I saw, and were in many ways quite similar to the Polyphonic Spree. Not musically at all, but in the sense that I can't imagine ever buying one of their albums - their attraction is all in seeing them live. Billed as "Gypsy Punks", which is a pretty accurate description, they spent 35 minutes bounding around the stage with immense energy - playing a mixture of violin/accordion gypsy music, and simple rock - all in the same songs. Very interesting to watch, but I just can't imagine sitting at home and putting the CD on.
Dirty Pretty Things were up next, they rattled very quickly through a half hour set that really left me wanting more - they covered most of their album (Deadwood was a particular highlight) with the minimum of fuss. The sound was starting to play up by this point, even with relatively few people around, but the band were good, and the only shame is that they didn't play for 15 minutes longer.
After DPT came The Raconteurs, who absolutely rocked the Astoria when I saw them there - but there is always the question of how that translates to an outside gig. The answer was, pretty well actually. The set went along with good momentum (lurching directly from one song into the next always helps with that), and I appreciated more how well Jack White's dirty guitars, and Brendan Benson's great voice, complement each other.
After an enjoyable Raconteurs set (where Jack White's microphone cut out completely on at least 3 occasions - not his fault though), I wandered across to the XFM tent to catch a bit of Bob Mould. Bob used to be the singer in a band called Sugar, who I loved in about 1993 - he is an indie god in the same vein as Evan Dando. On stage alone, with an electric guitar, he went through some older and some newer songs. But, I couldn't help thinking how much better it would have sounded with a bassist and a drummer too - it was good, but could have been incredible!
So to The Strokes. When watching Arsenal games (and reading the reports afterwards), Thierry Henry has often been described as being "averagely brilliant" - meaning that he is always exceptional, but today he was just normally exceptional by his standards. The Strokes tonight were similar - very good, but by their standards just normally good. Highlights included a rendition of "Three Lions" by the crowd, accompanied by the band's instruments. Then, a cover of "Walk on the Wild Side", which although good, seemed to be another unneccessary reminder that the band are from Noo York.
So, back to the original point. Great bands, but a ropey festival all in all (especially the sound quality) - I can see why they have trouble selling tickets. The line ups are too sparse, and tickets too expensive, compared with a day at other festivals. You seem to be paying extra for having the gig in Hyde Park. That is very convenient, but it remains to be seen if it can be made to pay its way.
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