Leeds; Sunday

This is it; The final installment of my Leeds Festival round-up. Yeah I know know-one really cares now, but if I just leave it at two posts the OCD in me will never let me forget it. So let's just get this over and done with for everyone's sake and then I can go back to writing blog posts about light sabre chopsticks and videos of Saves The Day and where you can buy the Lonewolves cd (all good record stores, amazon.com, play.com, itunes; in case you were wondering.)

After the plethora of bands that I was excited to see on the Friday and Saturday, Sunday was a lot more relaxed and there were only really a couple of bands that I was really looking forward to watching.

The day begins with The Plight in the Lock Up tent. I got to watch these guys every night when I was on tour with Cancer Bats so today's set is nothing new to me, but this doesn't stop me enjoying their brand of rock 'n' roll punk rock. Although fan-favourite 'Ball and Chain' gets the biggest reaction from the ever filling tent, it's their new outputs that impress me most, with Al's gruff, throaty vocals complimented excellently by a pounding rhythm section and infectious riffs that get everyone present tapping their feet or nodding their head.

After the snooze-fest that was Brand New's main stage set yesterday, I'm a little apprehensive about watching Alexisonfire on the same stage in early afternoon. What makes the previous day's events even more frustrating is that Alexis pull it off with aplomb and produce a massive sound, coupled with an electric stage presence. Front man George Pettit spends a large section of their set on the barrier as crowd surfers continually fly past his head from all angles and he leaves the stage with no shoes and a torn shirt and I'm left awaiting their Lock Up set later on that day with eager anticipation and excitement.

New Found Glory are amazing live. This is a fact of life that everyone should accept. Whether it's a tiny, sweaty club or an enormous, wind-swept field in West Yorkshire they put on such a good show that no-one present can fail to be impressed. After the problems that threatened to sour the show at the Highbury Garage the week before, today's set list is packed full of hits and incites mass sing-a-longs from those occupying the front section of the main stage area. Arguably I have more fun today than I did at that aforementioned show and by the end of closing song, 'My Friend's Over You' my voice is beginning to become well and truly shot to pieces.

Thankfully no-one I'm with gives a shit about Funeral For A Friend so we get another amazing vegan burger before heading over to the Radio 1 tent to catch The Horrors. A lot has been written about The Horrors in the past; both positive and negative, but today the band sound absolutely brilliant. I was never a massive fan of them before their new record was released, but that all changed when I heard Primary Colours (so much so that I thought they should have won the Mercury Music Prize; at least it didn't go to Florence and the Machine I guess...) Mixing the sound of seminal shoegaze bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Swirlies and Slowdive with Joy Division and retaining all the best bits from their earlier raw, Sonics esque, garage punk sound, they have me mesmerised for the entire set. I just can't get over that guitar tone. Seriously a contender for one of the bands of the weekend.

Fall Out Boy divide opinion like few other bands, but I'll happily stand up for them and their catchy pop-rock. Even though it starts to rain before their set I can't not smile as they bust out hits 'Sugar We're Going Down Swinging' and 'Dance Dance' and I join Chris Graham in our second sing-a-long of the day. Highlight of the set though is Chad Gilbert's appearance on stage to sing the middle section of 'I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy...' and marvelling at just how covered in tattoos the drummer is. "If my job was just playing drums in Fall Out Boy, I'd sure as hell get sealed with tattoos then grow my hair really, really long!"

Weather wise we'd been quite lucky so far this weekend. Fucking hell did that all change on Sunday tea time. A torrential rain shower means that we all run for the shelter of The Lock Up tent just in time to catch the start of The Bouncing Souls. They may have terrible stage presence and have been doing this for longer than I've been alive, but I'm never going to get bored of singing along to 'True Believers' or 'Hopeless Romantic'.

Next up Alexisonfire prove just why I was so excited for their appearance on this stage with a thoroughly captivating set. Playing songs that span their entire creative output the band never let up and are repayed with a truly amazing reaction from the assembled crowd. New songs from Old Crows/Young Cardinals are greeted with as much hysteria as 'Water Wings' from their first record and the band leave triumphant, knowing that the following two bands have a lot to live up to.

We don't get to see whether they manage it or not, because Apryl and I are running over to the Radio 1 tent to catch at least some of Jamie T's set. He's obviously wasted and the tempo and intonation of the songs are changed somewhat from their counterparts on record, but it's still a highly enjoyable set full of classics. This could be a big year for the south London troubadour, and don't be surprised if Leeds Festival 2010 sees him making the jump to the main stage.

King Of Leon round things off and while the crowd is full of idiots and it's raining I still have fun watching them. Getting to watch with Apryl is also pretty special as they're one of her favourite bands and a lot of their songs have a special meaning to me; so as with Lightspeed Champion the previous evening, it's nice to finally get to hear them in a live setting. The band also seem to genuinely enjoy their time on stage which, after the much publicised problems that marred their appearance at Reading on Friday, is good to see. For me, they are the perfect band to close a festival like this and I'm glad that they got the reaction the did as they deserve it after the year they've had.

Leaving the festival site for the last time, I'm exhausted but I'm glad I decided to go to this festival this year. Who knows if I'll return again, it depends on if the lineup is this good again anytime soon and whether I can wangle guest passes so I can avoid the toilets which pose a danger to ones health and allow respite from the hoardes or morons in the main arena, but I know one thing for certain; this weekend was one of the funnest I've had in a long time and I'm very fortunate that I got to spend it with such amazing people.


Now, normal blog service can resume. If you read all three posts about my weekend, you probably need to get out more.

xo