Splendour In The Grass Day Two@ Woodford (30/07/2011)

Wed 3rd Aug, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Day Two in the Splendour forum boasts a Q&A style forum with headliners Jane’s Addiction’ frontman Perry Farrell. The tent fills up slowly at the scheduled time before a very excitable Wil Anderson briefly appears to explain that Perry has just arrived by chopper, will be answering audience questions and to prepare them now as we only have half an hour with Perry. This happens 3 times over the course of 50 minutes before Perry finally arrives. Anderson is visibly a little starstruck, but no more than anyone else in the forum.

The dedicated crowd cheers at the sound of his first word “Um..” showing a great appreciation for the legend behind the man, as he talks about the reasons behind Lollapalooza (he wanted to see the bands, so he organised the festival) and festival culture in general. He is happy to take questions about his health and lifestyle giving honest answers keeping a smile on his face the whole time (He says he still knows how to have a good time, and gives a big unsubtle wink). Perry comes across as surprisingly intelligent, modest and down to earth, and even brings his curious son Isodore up on stage with him, but due to his late arrival the crowd thins out towards the end. Not many questions are posed as the crowd is more interested in just looking at Perry and son on the couch.

Lanie Lane opened the GW McLennan Tent looking great and sounding even better. Her strong voice and unique sounding combination of jazz and blues was a treat for the early risers and it’s no surprise that she is attracting worldwide buzz. With an album on the way and the promise of a couple of tracks with Jack White, Lanie Lane is sure to be a name we will be hearing quite a lot of in the future.

Since their last Splendour appearance in 2009, Scottish rockers Dananananaykroyd have sharpened up both their sound and their act. With seemingly limitless energy the bounced between tracks with Black Wax being a definite standout, but the true entertainment value of Dananananaykroyd lies in their showmanship and audience interaction. Skipping with microphone cords, leaping into the crowd to lead a group “head-banging circle” and the now trademark Wall Of Cuddles had the amphitheatre crowd smiling, laughing and jumping around in sheer enjoyment of the non-stop show they were witnessing.

Nashville four-piece Mona has a success story similar to their towns-mates Kings Of Leon. They’re ‘church-brothers’ without being related, and have a rocking, Southern-slanted sound without being too derivative. With just a debut self-titled album to draw from the set rumbles along brilliantly with singles Shooting The Moon and Listen To Your Love particular highlights. Discovering a quality new band is one of the true festival delights and Mona is one of those.

No stranger to Splendour In The Grass, Bloc Party’s lead singer Kele Okereke opens his main stage set to almost nobody, with most of Splendour still trekking the long walk to the Amphitheatre. Joined onstage by female drummer and keyboard player, Okereke is full of energy, trying to provoke a reaction from the crowd, but it isn’t until about 20 minutes through his set that the amphitheatre fills up. The newly arrived crowd are treated to his solo hit Everything You Wanted. He asks if anyone has heard of his other band to big cheers, and then plays a mashup of Bloc Party songs The Prayer, One More Chance, This Modern Love and Flux, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

The buildup to Muscles’ splendour set seemed huge, with the man promising “something big.” The crowd turn up early and in fine festival form. Muscles greets the audience joined by giant light up letters spelling Muscles. Billed as Muscles (live) we expect a live element to the show, but he starts the performance off solo, playing a synthesiser to a backing track. He is very chuffed to introduce his new song Koala and to introduce his friends, a team of terrible dancers dressed in koala costumes. The koalas throw uninflated beach balls into the audience to attempt to create a Flaming Lips style party, but they all get pocketed rather than inflated, and the atmosphere never quite gets where it’s supposed to be. Moving to an electric piano, he plays an acoustic ballad version of Koala, before playing surprise hit Ice Cream acoustic to a massive sing along. Back to the synth, he drops Hey Muscles I Love You but his synth seems out of tune and he keeps hitting wrong notes. More older songs appear, including the electronic version of Ice Cream, and the koalas make another appearance, before a lacklustre finale of an Ice Cream/Koala mashup. So that makes Ice Cream – three times, Koala – three times. Maybe Muscles should work on some more material rather than organising tacky dancers in animal costumes.

Seeker Lover Keeper is the super-cute super-collaboration of universally loved Australian songstresses Sarah Blasko, Holly Throsby and Sally Seltmann. As expected, vocals are the feature of the music. Beautiful, complex three-piece harmonies combined with low, soft and haunting wisps. However, this new group would benefit greatly from a smaller, more intimate venue. Despite this, the crowd is interested and polite to a point.

Architecture in Helsinki throw a party in the Mix-Up Tent and everyone is invited. Drawing heavily from latest album Moment Bends, they perform a set of polished pop songs to thousands of adoring fans. The band appear to be having a great time on stage with wide smiles and synchronised dance moves for early hit That Beep! A cover of Londonbeat’s I’ve Been Thinking About You upped the ante before they closed their set with Heart It Races and Contact High, both of which had the tent and it’s surrounding crowd singing and dancing along.

British indie-rock bluesman Gomez take to the stage and proceed to give a lesson in musicianship, songwriting and band synchronicity. The five-piece play an ultra-tight crowd-pleasing set of Gomez classics drawing mainly from albums Bring It On and Liquid Skin, opting away from the lesser-loved newer releases. The three-part harmonies highlighted on tracks like Rhythm And Blues Alibi and Hangover Girl are oh so gorgeous, and the crowd participation on tracks like Whippin’ Piccadilly is a testament to the timelessness of the band and their music.

The crowd turns up in force to catch *PNAU*’s headlining slot and they aren’t disappointed, with the duo showing off their new album and some old favourites in conjuction with a high quality light show. Nick Littlemore takes charge and armed with a hard working smoke machine has the crowd in the palm of his hand. The Truth and Wild Strawberries have the crowd reaching for the disco balls hanging from the tent’s ceiling but Embrace (with vocal duties from the extremely talented and good looking Gwenno Saunders ) that showed off PNAU at their dance-pop finest. A perfect way to wrap up day two of Splendour In The Grass and one that will leave many punters waking up with come-downs and hangovers.

For the downlow on The Jezabels, Foster The People, The Grates Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Regina Spektor, The Mars Volta, The Living End and Jane’s Addiction check out our wrap of the best bits from Splendour Day Two

Words and information by Tom Mann, Sarah Smith, Crystle Fleper, Patrick Ryan, Max Gent, Jake Newell. Compiled by Crystle Fleper.