Pigeon Detectives kickstart the opening of Leeds Festival

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Leeds Festival 2008

Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th August 2008
Bramham Park, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS23 6ND, England MAP
SOLD OUT

Daily capacity: 55,000

As the subject of the worst kept secret in Leeds Festival history, The Pigeon Detectives took to the tiny BBC Introducing Stage on Thursday night to support their label-mates as part of the Dance To The Radio showcase event, and to kickstart the opening of Leeds Festival's tenth anniversary with a crowd pleasing set which will no doubt be the highlight of the weekend for many people.

Given that the show took place on home turf, there was little chance of The Pigeon Detectives failing tonight, but even they must have been shocked by the level of devotion heaped upon them. Right from the off the huge crowd sang every word back at the band, and clearly realising that this was neither the time nor the place to try out new material, the lads from Leeds packed the forty minute set with crowd pleasers spanning both of their albums. Highlights from 'Wait for Me' included a storming take on 'Romantic Type' which caused security a fair few problems on the barrier, and the the indie-disco classic 'Take Her Back' during which Bowman may as well have left the stage, given that the crowd were drowning him out anyway. Second album 'Emergency' was represented by the incendiary opening number 'This Is An Emergency', and recent single 'Everybody Wants Me'.

By the time they closed the set with an impressive take on the nihilistically brilliant 'I'm Not Sorry', The Pigeon Detectives could have played all night and the fans would have lapped it up. The encore which was demanded did not, however, materialise, much to the disappointment of the majority.

The question which must be asked, however, is if this is what 'excitement' at festivals has really come to? History has Hendrix burning his guitar at Monterey, history has The Who taking to the Isle of Wight stage at 3am and defining their career, history has 55,000 people inside New York's Shea Stadium drowning out four lads from Liverpool. We have a 'secret' show announced to the national press by a band who, despite their obvious talent, are the same as every other band vying for the attention of the 'TopMan' generation. Are these really the gigs we're going to remember? Are these really the shows that will go down in history? Are these what we'll be telling our grandkids about? In a time when everything about popular music comes pre-packaged, pre-planned and pre-publicised, is there any room for spontaneity on the big stages?