Waking up to a wet Saturday morning, I checked the forecast on the mobile that showed the rain stopping about 3pm. We decided to not rush in to give the skies a chance to clear as we’d be there until 11pm so a soaking didn’t sound fun. Heading for the Castle Stage today, missed Tors and the Secret Set that turned out to match the rumours with Busted taking the stage. We arrived in time for Echobelly. A great performance to a range of ages but all were enjoying themselves whether they knew it or not but it was quickly apparent the songs had stood the test of time.
Videos from the day on our Tik Tok and YouTube – links at top of site.
Followed up by Royel Otis from Australia, fantastic guitar and melodies, even a rendition of Linger by The Cranberries to use stage time effectively. The crowd was bouncing.
Next up was Shaun Ryders Black Grape. I’ve seen them before and was definitely looking forward to it, NO Kermit? Shaun joked he couldn’t get out of bed so he was doing it alone. He sang both parts clearly off a prompt screen but he smashed it. The vibe was there, crowd singing along and I bagged a setlist from the stage for the collection.
A quick half hour change over and Ian Brodie’s Lightning Seeds were on. They always deliver, with such a catalogue of songs to choose from they pulled out ‘Marvellous‘, ‘Pure’ and ‘Life of Riley’ to name a few, much to my delight then finished off with ‘Three Lions’ with the obvious audience participation. This reminded me to check Saturdays football results, we lost!
We were front and centre on the barrier and debated holding space till The Pixies later but opted to head to the main stage for The Lathums, a Manchester double with The Courteeners following them. Great to see British indie rock music still thriving and in its natural element, live in front of a bouncing, pointing, festival crowd.
As soon as The Courteeners finished we headed straight back to the Castle Stage for the last few Sugababes songs and spun and bounced along with the crowd, when in Rome! But mainly awaiting the crowd shift as roughly 59 minutes before the Pixies and the hope a chunk of that crowd would head to Jaime T.
We went forward ending up about 10 metres from the front and waited. After some crowd cheering for the lighting guy checking light directions The Pixies took to the stage, no fanfare, no banter just on and smashed through the setlist. ‘Wave of Mutilation‘, ‘This Monkeys Gone to Heaven‘, and ‘Debaser‘ to ‘Velouria‘ (inspiration for this blog name) along with many others. They killed it! To be on the Castle Stage was a treat for us as it brought them close and loud, I’m sure Jaime T was great but this was not to be missed.
After the cancelled trains yesterday I had opted to drive and found parking easily and the price of only a single train ticket for the day so note to self for next year!
Unable to make the third day this year but already looking forward to Victorious 2025
