The Carling Weekend 2006: Carling Stage

United Kingdom | | 27 August 2006

Reading: Friday, 25 August

Field Music's self titled debut album is full of luscious rhythms and intricate melodies that wrap around each other, producing a sound which is much greater than their three man power should generate. Unfortunately, this fails to be reproduced live and instead the audience are subjected to a tinny, monolithic sound, which doesn't do justice to the band’s obvious talents. To Field Music’s defence, they are one of the first acts on the Carling Stage so the sound levels are still being worked on and may not be as sharp as the could be. Yet the flat musical performance is matched by Field Music’s own stage presence, which, in an effort to remain aloof, sees the band looking bored rather than wanting to put on an exuberant festival performance.
 
What Field Music lack in stage presence The Sunshine Underground have in abundance, as all members enthusiastically throw themselves into their performance moving around the stage and nodding their heads in time to their music. The band have developed more into a stereotypical Arctic Monkeys style band, rather than the brash indie-dance sound, a la The Music, that they used to have. Despite the lack of originality in their sound, The Sunshine Underground’s songs stand out well in their own right, as the single ‘Commercial Breakdown’ is warmly received by the audience.

The Friday evening session, is something of a showcase for everything related to Queens Of The Stone Age front-man Josh Homme, as his side-project Eagles of Death Metal are followed by Greg Duili (ex-Afghan Whigs) band, Twilight Singers, who on this tour have enlisted the help of Mark Lanegan’s (also of QOSTA) rich raspy vocals to aid them. Indeed, the true highlight of the Twilight Singers’ set is when the ever brooding and daunting Lanegan adorns the stage, amidst a eery blue smoky stage, to sing Massive Attack’s latest return to form single ‘Live With Me’, and Leadbelly’s ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night’. The latter makes Nirvana’s Kurt Cobains take on the song seem something like a primary school sing-a-long, as Lanegan oozes true grit and snarl throughout this interpretation.

Although Homme drums for the Eagles Of Death Metal, at present he is recording the new QOTSA album over the water, so the fans who have rushed over to the tiny Carling Stage to catch a glimpse of the ginger giant are left rather wanting. However, Homme’s presence is not really missed, as lead singer and guitarist, Jesse "Devil" Hughes, oozes the soave moves (mid way through the set he take a time-out to comb his quiff) and a true rock ‘n’ roll persona by declaring to his adoring audience, “I’ve been told to turn it down, but I won’t because nothing comes between you, me and rock ‘n’ roll”, before launching ‘I Want You So Hard’. Chants of “Eagles, Eagles” ring all around the tent long after their departure from the stage.

For many EODM have already provided the headlining performance this evening, so for the actual headliners Bedouin Soundclash to overcome this was always going to be tall order. Having an all out brooding rock affair preceding the headliners, it seems bizarre to have reggae band in the top-spot tonight. However, the band’s generous billing is not totally illogical given the popularity of their performance at last year's Reading, which saw fans piling into the Dance Tent. However, tonight’s performance on the Carling Stage seems rather mediocre and pedestrian, partly due the superb performances from the aforementioned bands on the bill, as well as the fact that that the set is heavily reggae led, which would have been welcomed on a lazy sunny Sunday afternoon, but not after this raucous night of pure rock.

The crowd do start to move as covers of reggae classics, such as Eddy Grant’s ‘Electric Avenue’, and Dawn Penn’s ‘You Don’t Love Me (No No No)’, are mixed into Bedouin Soundclash own repertoire. Tonight the crowd were really here for one thing, which was to hear the song from the T-Mobile advert, ‘When The Night Feels My Song’, which sees singer Jay Malinowski making a speech to try and justify the use of the song in a commercial. Despite showing ever classic signs of uneasiness with their musical choices, the singer needs to realise that they need to cater for their festival audience who are here to have a good time. His apology is really unnecessary as this is the only song which really gets the crowd appreciating their performance.

Saturday, 26 August

The slightly ominous looking overcast clouds that greet the early birds entering the main arena at Reading could not put a dampener on The Race’s first performance at their hometown festival. Rewarding the earlier risers, The Race give the audience an energetic set, seeing the hobbit-like frame of lead singer, Dan Buchanan, leap around the stage and climbing the light rigging like a small hyperactive child; justifying his actions by informing the audience of the welcoming news that the band first album had just been finished. Their sound is nothing new, just a run-of–the-mill indie band, using the gimmick of having a girl on lead guitar and the aid of a glockenspiel on some tracks. However, The Race’s onstage presence is something that more accomplished bands would be envious of.

Norwegian band Serena Maneesh are quite possibly the most mish-mashed looking band to ever grace a stage. The violinist, adorned in tweed waist coat and trousers, looks like he just walked of stage with British Sea Power to help this band out, the bassist could be mistaken for D’arcy from the Smashing Pumpkins, and the singer looks like a reject from a Frankie Goes to Hollywood tribute band. Despite this horrific mismatch of appearances, the band cohere well, with their sound best described as epic prog-rock, with swirling guitar and violin solos that are driven by heavy bass and drum backdrop, similar to the sound of The Jesus And Mary Chain.

Vying for the award for the most entertaining performance and appearance by a band, The Noisettes enter the competition with a solo effort from lead singer Shingai Shoniwa. This evening she is dressed up like a circus acrobat performer and struts around the stage barefooted, accompanied by a bass that swamps her tiny frame. The other two male members of the band are fairly non-descript, leaving Shoniwa’s rich jazzy tone to accompany their garage punk music. At times the music does swamp her voice, but her energetic onstage performance is matched by her feisty vocal style. As Shoniwa emerges in and out of the melody, she always emerges victorious over the music produced.

This element of a feisty performance is something that all girl group The Like seemingly lack. Having just witnessed a punchy and electrifying show by The Noisettes’ front woman, the saccharine and rather sickly Californian trio epitomise everything you really dislike about the girl you remember from school who loved pony’s and was rather insipid. Having heard much praise from the critics about this band, you begin to wonder what all the fuss is about, as they appear to be just another Bangles tribute band. However, this sentiment is not shared by the majority of the audience who all seem to be taken in by their sweet girlie charm. In fairness The Like do perform their tracks well and create a lot of crowd interaction, yet there is something not quite right about their performance as it all seems a bit text-book as to how a band should perform live, rather than a natural performance.