Leeds Festival 2008: Thursday
An arduous trek through a particularly muddy campsite (“it’s Glastonbury,” quips one passer by) is enough to bring out the misanthrope in anyone, but at Leeds Festival it’s only worsened by the tantalising knowledge that there are bands playing while you’re wrestling with tent poles.
I finally make it into the arena in time to catch the last two songs of Broken Records’ set – which is certainly a pleasant surprise, as they sound roughly like Arcade Fire would if they’d been raised in the highlands. They’ve obviously taken to the stage late though, as headliners Grammatics should have been playing by now. Indeed, their set is curtailed after just three songs – including the glorious, six-minute-plus epic ‘Polar Swelling’.
I blame The Pigeon Detectives… shoehorned in at the last minute to play a ‘secret’ show, it later transpires that they ran well over their allotted half-hour, to the detriment of the (far better) bands who were to follow them. Still, every cloud has a silver lining: at least I was still trying to put my tent up while they were playing.
