Luckily the weather held as M and I sauntered down to Coopers Field, Cardiff yesterday for the inaugural (?) Cardiff Calling festival. Pictured above is the set list for the second stage which is where we spent most of our time. Caught Kid Harpoon on the main stage first, before heading in.
Saw most of the above people apart from Lethal Bizzle (just not my thing) and Jamie T. Of the rest, highlights were The Chalets, The Pipettes and Misty's Big Adventure. Originally bought tickets in order to see The Chalets & The Pipettes and we weren't disappointed! To start with The Chalets, of what I can recall from their set they played Night Rocker, Sexy Mistake, No Style, Theme From The Chalets, Red High Heels, Love Punch, plus 2 (new?) songs. There didn't appear to be many fans in the crowd to begin with, the band got the crowd enthused by the end of the set! Picture below.
Word has obviously spread about The Pipettes as the tent was nearly full for the start of their set, which contained ABC, Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me, Because Its Not Love, 2 (new?) songs not on their recent album, It Hurts To See You Dance So Well, I Love You, Dirty Mind, Judy, Pull Shapes and We Are The Pipettes. Pull Shapes got an extra special reaction from the crowd. Must mention their excellent backing band, The Cassettes!
Mistys Big Adventure should have been higher up the bill! They were really entertaining, not that easy to describe but some similarities with the Zutons. A saxophonist and trumpet player! Plus the dancing man whose robe had feet all over it... a very psychedelic performance.
Other bands on the second stage - Victorian English Gentlemans Club were ok (local Cardiff band, I understand), not sure if their setup was right tho as the lyrics were hard to hear. Louie weren't as good, frankly a bit samey/shouty. Half head 65 Days of Static from outside whilst eating, seemed better than Louie but again not very impressed. Which brings me to the second stage itself - very random sequencing of bands! Surely The Pipettes should have headlined? And there are quite a few other local and/or up and coming indie bands which would have made the stage better - Innercity Pirates to name 1. Otherwise, decent value for money anyway.
We headed to the main stage area about 8.15 in time to catch Badly Drawn Boy. A marked improvement from the last time we saw him at the Cardiff Tsunami Relief gig in January 2005. His new stuff seems to have more bite, a bit louder, and certainly came across well. Embrace's DJ set provided a break before headliners Snow Patrol. A bit here about the main stage - some of the line up did seem a bit cobbled together to provide support for Snow Patrol, who were the only band with a full length set. Having said that, for Snow Patrol fans, I suppose £20 is a cheap show! Their set was ok and certainly got a very enthusiastic response. Mixture of songs from Final Straw and their new album, plus a few real oldies.
Fireworks?!?
Anyway, oops thats a real missive I've just written! A good day out and there was more than enough options for a £20 ticket, plus ok food options as well. Will next year be an improvement? Fingers crossed....
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