Bands Day - 4th May 2003

Radio 1 is one of those classic institutions. One which nobody ever admits to listening to aside from The Evening Session. A whiff of a free gig at however, and thousands of people take to the streets to queue for their tickets. The anticipation around this mega-gig at Manchester's Heaton Park was intense. Tickets were changing hands for £30 plus. So, could the good folk at Britain's most reviled Radio station actually cut the mustard?

The signs weren't good. Saturday's dance day had been cancelled. The organisers had left it to late to put down the flooring in the massive marquee that housed the stage. The floor was too soggy to house the electrical cables. Still, not to be too hard on the organisers. Who would have expected it to rain in Manchester at the beginning of May? By the end of the day though, Radio 1 would have completely redeemed themselves.

The atmosphere and anticipation was building. Chris Moyles didn't help matters with his eighties Radio 1 roadshow type frenzy baiting. "Who wants to see the White Stripes? Woo-hoo!" Eventually it was time for the bands. Dirty Vegas and Aqualung did accomplished low key slots which were generously received. Then The Coral arrived. Whilst not entirely convinced whether filling a 30 minute slot with a 20 minute version of Goodbye was brave or foolhardy, the crowd appeared to like it.

Manchester's own cat in the hat Badly Drawn Boy appeared next. I've seen local scally Damon produce great performances but also dire ones. Luckily today's was of the former variety. Even his gentle chiding of the record buying public for buying more copies of Busted than Have You Fed The Fish was an entertaining moment.

It seemed the whole park had been waiting for the hype that is The White Stripes. With the whole media darling, man and wife or brother and sister thing, you can be forgiven for wanting to shoot the Stripes down in flames. The drummer in our party reckoned he could teach us to play like Meg in 24 hours. You can't take it away from the Stripes though, they do know how to rock on stage. Hotel Yorba and Seven Nation Army were by far the best received songs to date.

You did wonder after the adulation received by Jack and Meg whether the gig had peaked too soon. There had been an air about that the Stripes were the band that most people wanted to see. The arrival of Feeder knocked this on the head. Grant Nicholls and the boys were greeted with major fervour. They didn't disappoint. The highlights flowed thick and fast. Come Back Around, Just the Way I'm Feeling, Buck Rogers... every one a gem. My doubts about which headline act to see at V were dispelled there and then. Feeder weren't just great they were phenomenal.

I felt quite sorry for the Stereophonics at that stage. They were the ones who had to follow Feeder. During last years performances at Glastonbury and V I had thought the 'phonics to be jaded and going through the motions. It remained to be seen whether 8 months in the studio working with new material would have revitalised them. With the opening bars of the lead single Madame Helga it appeared to have done so. The new songs are laced with a heavier tinge and that was also reflected in the heavier edge given to favourites like Just Looking, Mr Writer and Bartender And The Thief. With a rip roaring version of crowd pleaser Local Boy In The Photograph, the 'phonics appeared to have done their job. Then inexplicably they stopped it. They came on for an encore and slowed it right down losing the moment. They finished on a new song, which didn't exactly leave the crowd going out on a high.

The concensus of opinion for the whole day though was a mitigatied success. Some vindication for Radio 1 and some for Moyles, who countered the you fat bastard jibes with "Yes but I'm a rich fat bastard."

Final word to Kelly Jones though. After Rod Stewart's jibe at Glastonbury about his original version of Handbags and Gladrags, Kelly took great delight in telling the crowd that this is a song written by Mike D'arbo. Touche.

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