Bingley Music Live - Saturday

• Posted: Mon 5 Sep 2011
• By: Graham Cookson

Ah lovely Bingley, the festival that just keeps on giving.

There’s something for everyone here, old or young, heavy or mellow, tuneful or boisterous – and the Saturday line up was no exception.

The conditions were perfect for festival going (and to be honest conventional swing bowling), the promised heavy rain didn’t materialise and we were left with a warmish day and cloudy skies.  Granted  if you are one of those sun gods then you may have been a little disappointed, for the rest of us mere mortals (especially those of us who are folically challenged) it was spot on.

Having queued for quite a while on the gate (whilst finishing off leftover Scooby Snacks from the night before) we arrived to see a high-tempo set from White Denim.  The Texas boys are a curious outfit really, it was difficult to discern whether there was an issue with the sound or whether the lurch around their songs in a somewhat haphazard was, many a change of direction.  Expert opinion that the sound was sound – that’s just how they roll.  It was a high-octane performance with a strong ending. It was also distinguishable by the fact that one of the guitarists looked like he was about 12, maybe the band mascot, a little like Ronnie Corbett. Sorry.

Next up was Jon Fratelli who played an OK set, the only tracks which stood out were the once from the Fratellis them including the nectar of lower division footy teams the ‘Der Der Dup’ song. Or Chelsea Dagger or whatever it’s called. It would be nice to see football clubs with more discerning tastes.  St Pauli of Hamburg play Song 2 by Blur when they score and the team enters the pitch to the sound of Hells Bells by Iron Maiden – apologies for the digression.

After the Fruitella fella had done his thing, it was time for a band who had been greeted with quite a bit of scepticism in the press area, Athlete. ‘Not really a festival band’ seemed to be the assessment of the ruthless critics near the nice toilets.  Well we would soon see that maybe they were.  A word on the press area, in the same way that people who work in Financial Services have rubbish finances and most builders’ houses are a bit of a shambles it’s time to have a look at photographers.  Maybe only a quick look because, guess what, photogenic they ain’t.  A strange old bunch of people, scuttling around in little groups, not really mingling witth the others.

Back to Athlete, the moment they kicked off with El Salvador it was clear that their mellow rock style was just perfect for a crowd who were just starting to liven up via whatever toxins they were throwing into their bodies.  They come over as decent, nice chaps and also had a complete ace in their lockers (mixed metaphor alert) which they rightly saved for last of all.

Wires is a beautiful song about the lead singer's newborn baby being  rushed to intensive care after a premature birth, and in 2006 it won them the Ivor Novello Award for "Best Contemporary Song"  You can see how much meaning the song has for the entire band.  It’s also a classic, catchy tune for the audience to sing along too.  Extra resonance for yours truly just gave it that little more.  It was a moment worthy of the £35 weekend ticket price alone – a beautiful song delivered with true meaning and genuine authenticity.  We were all invited to join in at the end ‘I see it in your eyes, I see it in your eyes, you’ll be aaaaaaalll-right’ Stunning.

Next up on the main stage were Mystery Jets (a quirky band who seem to have got rid of their biggest nuance – the fact that one of their dads is in the band) and Feeder (who will no doubt have delivered the CD Player, Player, Player) song with real gusto. 

However, even though Bingley Music Live is primarily based around one stage, there are other things going on.  The ‘Raise the roof area’ had a modest number of people to see the outstanding work of DJ Ess Dee.  Sometimes it is awe-inspiring to see a master-craftsman at work and this was no mistake.  From the opening mix to introduce our artist (a dubbed version of Slim Shady by Eminem) and Ess Dee proceded to use seemingly hundreds of tracks in a 35 minute set which was outstanding.

Hard to fathom why the organisers don’t put this type of act on the main stage in between bands – that’d work really well.

It was back to the main stage for the headline act- Maximo Park.  By this stage, the days’ refreshments had really taken their toll. (the Andy Carroll diet)  Having seen MP many times in the past, it’s fair to say, seen them better, seen them worse.  Paul Smith was his effervescent, enigmatic self and the keyboard player was his trademark stifled front man. 

The band rattled through the hits, pleasingly delivered most of their seminal first album.  Stand out track was Limassol, delivered with typical gusto by front man Smith – he kinda ssings like he means it  The final track to send the Bingley go-ers (now seemingly answering to the collective noun of Bingles).  Going Missing – a little like Wires earlier – was fantastically well received and a fitting finale for the great day’s music.

Off went the band , the ubiquitous fireworks followed (remember when you actually only saw them for one week of the year) and all that was left for this correspondent was to make sure Beat Surrender Kev’s made it home in one piece.  Job done.