You could never accuse Grace Jones of failing to live up to her diva reputation. As she headlined the Secret Garden Party, she had the organisers create a set of purpose-built steps leading up to the stage and made sure she had an array of 18 costumes from which to choose before she took the stage.
Her attendance added to possibly the summer’s strangest bill so far with headline sets from appearances from acts such as Saint Etienne, as well as a burning galleon at this event nestled in an appropriately secret location near Huntingdon (so secret that signs were almost non-existent).
Jones, who famously cuffed TV presenter Russell Harty during an interview and is renowned for her predictably unpredictable behaviour, swooped around the stage in her own inimitable style, although her set was curtailed by her late arrival on the stage. A midnight curfew meant the performance set was cut short and ended with the crowd booing a lone security guard as Jones chided him.
Earlier in the day, The Hoosiers had the festival on its feet with an unashamedly pop set that found room for a cover of Billy Joel’s 1989 single We Didn’t Start The Fire. The Shortwave Set were hampered by a disinterested mid-afternoon crowd on Sunday but still delivered a fine set of ‘60s-tinged summer songs. Slingshot from their self-titled debut was the highlight. Props must also go to the band who stuck with their usual boilersuits (described by the band as their ‘toilet cleaner outfits) despite soaring
temperatures.
Esser’s set on Friday night was the talk of the festival with appearances by Natty and an unbilled show by Kid British also getting the hippies hopping. Southampton quartet Thomas Tantrum played on Saturday afternoon with lead
singer Megan Thomas stalking the stage like a mutant combination of a young Courtney Love and Debbie Harry in her prime. She also showed great composure when a woman at the front of the crowd flashed her mid song.
Scando-pop queen Lykke Li played to a packed tent on Sunday night and introduced an as-yet-untitled new song castigating an unimpressive partner. ‘Who here has had a bad lover recently? This is a new song about those bad
lovers…’ she explained as she burst into an acoustic pop track which built to an epic drum-driven climax, giving some indication of the direction in which her second album is headed.
Florence & the Machine were up next with a set that justified the current buzz around the band with a stellar version of their latest single Kiss
With A Fist and two well-chosen covers (from Cold War Kids and Ludes). But a lack of material meant no proper encore because she had little else to play.
The festival provided an interesting mix of music but could do with a little
more focus next year with lack of structure sometimes making it difficult to
find the acts you really wanted to see.
Mic Wright
5:50 PM | 29/07/2008
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