there's heavyweight acts aplenty on Sunday at SW4

South West Four Weekender 2011 review

By Merlin Alderslade | Published: Thu 1st Sep 2011

Pendulum

Saturday 27th to Sunday 28th August 2011
Clapham Common, London, SW4 9DE, England MAP
£85 for both days, £45 for Sunday (Saturday - sold out)
Daily capacity: 20,000
Last updated: Fri 17th Feb 2012

There are some real heavyweights rolling up to the Park today, and the weather even (eventually) improves on yesterday's soggy effort. So, it's straight back to business, and that business is drum 'n' bass. Andy C is a pioneering force in one of dance's most enduring popular scenes, and while he'll perhaps never have the genre-crossing appeal of tonight's headliners, on the basis of his set today, he's still got it, easy.

Simian Mobile Disco
Over in the DJ Magazine Arena, electro-house remix extraordinaires Simian Mobile Disco bring their robotic funk with a tight if less-than mindblowing set, before Sasha brings his more progressively-minded branch of electronica to close the tent for the evening. It's a banger of a set reaffirms his status as one of the premier DJs in the world last night. Annie Mac is a DJ of a somewhat different variety, but her set on the mainstage is still just as much of a crowd-pleaser, proving that Radio presenters can kick a jam with the rest of 'em.

Magnetic Man
Unfortunately, the same can't quite be said of Magnetic Man. You'd think a trio with an album as immense as their 2010 self-titled would find it easy to continue a momentum that's been going for two days straight, but the fact is, while they're tight as could be, they've brought along an MC with the personality of a cabbage. Watching him lazily stride across the stage bantering over great songs is a hell of a buzz-killer. Ah well.

Everybody knows that Pendulum are a bit naff, but there have been few more meteoric and successful rises across the festival circuit in recent years, and you really can't fuck with a tune like 'Slam'. Since that brilliant debut album the stadium dru,m 'n' bass mob have grown into a fully-fledged band and, truth be told, churned out two relatively average albums, but today, they manage to prove that they still belong in the dance scene just as much as they do at Donington or Knebworth. Fair play, boys.

Pendulum
review by: Merlin Alderslade

photos by: Chris Smout


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