The first big draw of day two is The Kooks, missing them is neither unfortunate nor unintended…I’m sure they were good, if you like that kind of thing.
Over on the Walkman Stage, The Stranglers are dusting down some of their finest songs, ‘Strange Little Girl’ and ‘Always the Sun’ being the highlights.
The biggest crowd of the day inevitably goes to Kings of Le-yawn. Putting on a show which can only be described as professional, they finish their ‘Because the times’ tour here in Barcelona with a set comprising of tracks from their forthcoming fourth album alongside faves such as a bass heavy ‘The Bucket, ‘Molly’s Chambers’ and a fantastic ‘King of the Rodeo’.
After a while the hillbilly rockisms start to grate so it’s on to The Converse stage where Biffy Clyro are probably playing to their smallest audience for years which is a shame as their hard edged take on rock definitely dusts the cobwebs off, especially on ‘Living is a problem because everything dies’, they do get the fans singing along on ‘Machines’ and ‘Love has a diameter’ shows how if they chose to, they could be as big as U2 but decide to keep the stadium rock under the sleeves for a rainy day. Their matching outfits of tits out and red skinny jeans on the other hand need to go.
On the same stage, The Raveonettes pack the area to the busiest it’s been all weekend, their cool mixture of 60s girl groups, Beach Boys style surf riffs, a standing up drummer and Jesus and Mary Chain scuzzed up guitars prove to be a massive winner and without doubt play the best set of the weekend.
On the main stage The Sex Pistols behave as badly as you’d expect, however it’s neither big nor clever. Coming onto the strains of ‘There’ll always be an England’, they blast out ‘Pretty Vacant’, ‘Holidays in the Sun’ and ‘Liar’ in quick succession with the vigour of a band half their age. The Pistols are an integral part of British musical heritage but they are cash hungry whores who tonight play badly and it’s the inter song banter and audience goading from John Lydon which is entertaining, not the music.
CSS prove to be a pleasant surprise back on the Converse stage, peppering their set with tracks from their latest album ‘Donkey’, they prove to be much spikier than on record. ‘Rat is dead’ and ‘Left Behind’ show how they have been listening closely to The Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago and using his brash guitar sounds to what sounds on this form to great effect.
Despite them also being from Leeds, I couldn’t possibly write anything constructive about the Kaiser Chiefs so…haven’t. Back at Converse stage, Warp artist Leila is playing gut wrenching drum n bass which could actually make you sick if you listened to it long enough.
Following her, Neon Neon play to a sizeable crowd but they can’t fill the area with their 80s influenced sound, a shame because in Stainless Style, they’ve made one of the finest records this year. They recently played Cargo in London where that cavernous venue proved perfect but tracks such as ‘Raquel’ and ‘Dream cars’ tonight sound hollow and once Har Mar Superstar turns up it’s time to get away as soon as possible.
Foals managed to capture a decent sized crowd also at Walkman Stage and despite constant gremlins during their set; their dreamy post punk rock has everyone mustering the energy for one last dance.
So ends the third Summercase, it’s been hot, people are drunk, the floor is sticky with beer and there is wee everywhere, why have it any other way??
There are minor gripes, there´s not much food in the area, the drinks are too expensive and being used to UK festivals on grass, Summercase’s concrete setting has you feeling like you’re watching gigs in a car park but as said before, they’re minor gripes.
If however, you are becoming increasingly uninspired by the usual UK festival offerings then you’d be treating yourself in finding refuge in Summercase – who needs Glastonbury anyway?
