Summer Sundae 2003

As predicted by all, Saturday dawned sunny and warm and by the time Praha 7 from Leicester opened the proceedings on the Main Stage, the powerful sunshine was forcing people to seek shade. Warnings to take care were issued from the stage with reports from Cropredy Festival of hundreds of people being treated for sunburn on the Friday! Praha 7's upbeat and lively sound struck a suitable chord with the recumbent crowd and their too-brief set drew applause.



Next up, one of the highlights of the weekend for me - Rodrigo y Gabriela - two acoustic guitar players from Mexico City who proved there are sounds an ordinary acoustic guitar can make that few would think possible - mixed in with traditional flamenco sounds familiar rock guitar riffs would suddenly appear - 'Smoke on the Water' was easy to spot but I'm not sure if my ears were deceiving me when I detected Metallica chordage in there as well! ... I'll probably never know. The afternoon continued hot and chilled (urg), BBC 6 Bob Harris introduced Laura Cantrell who was sweet and soft country style and then things went more melancholic-rock as Longview took their turn to entertain the afternoon crowds but sulked perhaps a bit too long for my taste so it was off to pastures new in search of something with a faster pulse.



I found it in the cool darkness of the indoor stage in the form of Pink Grease from Sheffield. This band of high energy popsters delivered a much needed tonic to my afternoon sloathing, great fun to watch I'll certainly look out for them appearing live again - a friend commented after one of the numbers they're "like a camp Terrorvision" and I thought "I'll use that" so there it is.



After a quick trip home for a quick cold shower and bite to eat (ahh the pleasures of a festy on your doorstep) it was time for those good ol' boys from Brixton - Alabama 3 - to perform their ever-entertaining and perfect blend of country-acid-house-rock on the Outdoor Stage - the arena, now busier than before was upstanding at last and groovin' along in the Alabama3 way of the slow marching beat. Back to church (with a bit of slurring).



The Gotan Project were hard to see, at first - in an unusual move, they played behind a screen onto which swirling and endlessly repeating images were projected, the band only becoming visible through the screen as more of them became lit up by lights, unusual but quite compelling with the dark and moody Flamenco style of music they play and the end of each song was greeted with warm applause. Eventually the screen came down to reveal the band in their fineness, but the music stayed dark and a moody to the end - an interesting finale to the first day.

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