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Starsailor

Isle of Wight Festival 2005 review

By Scott Williams | Published:


“F**in’ Wake Up!” yells Starsailor’s frontman James Walsh, clearly he wasn’t aware that the crowd had doubled in the minutes preceding them striding on stage and the beat they throw down gets everyone swaying or was it that command?

James says hello and says how glad he is to be back on the island playing the festival for the third time. Unfortunately his arrival coincides with me being dragged off to the kids area to help make stuff, but I do manage to hear a visceral ‘Alcoholic’ and the crowd sing fest of ‘Silence is Easy’.

Just before disappearing out of earshot as Bob Marley blasts from the Ice Cube I hear him recounting to the crowd how blown away he is that he’s on the same bill as Embrace. He remembers coming home from school and buying the NME with them on the cover. He hopes they don’t feel to old if they’re back stage hearing him say this.

No doubt a few new tunes were played, but to be honest it’s so downbeat and heavy I’m kind of glad I missed them - the songs from the Ice Cube’s reggae DJ were much sunnier.

review by: Scott Williams