Leeds Festival 2008 - Saturday - Rage Against the Machine,The Fratellis,One Night Only,Dizzee Rascal,Anti-Flag Live Review @ Bramham Park (Leeds)

Rage Against the Machine

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Live Review

The second day at Leeds kicked off with a bang as American rockers Anti-Flag roused the crowd from their hangovers, starting a mass circle pit in the process. Get.Cape.Wear Cape. Fly. have been Leeds regulars over the past few years but they pulled a surprise by having a huge & controversial banner whilst they played stating the need to buy fairtrade coffee. It couldn't stop them from delivering a bland and tasteless performance. Taking Back Sunday followed suit after, failing to offer the crowd enough hits from their breakthrough record 'Louder Now'. They didn't have the charisma that you desperately need at festivals for early morning performances, and eventually people lost interest and went elsewhere.

Dizzee Rascal was another oddity on the bill, yet he surprisingly drew one of the biggest crowds of the day. After his recent number one hit Dance Wiv Me, he managed to rock mainstage with his grime styled music. He added Flex into the mix early on which was the moment when all of Leeds finally awoke from a daze. Serj Tankian had a tough act to follow especially as the crowd was massively depleted after Dizzee finished, yet the former Leeds headliner [In old band System Of A Down] showed a surprisingly charismatic and playful side to his character never seen before. He opened with debut single Empty Walls before getting Lebanese & Israeli flags to unite in the crowd. His set continued in an array of kicks and dance moves in Lie Lie Lie which also featured a local opera singer helping out too.

A switch over to the Nme/Radio One tent sees youngsters One Night Only laying on an impressive little set. The bands biggest hit Just For Tonight provoked mass singalong from everyone within the vicinity, whilst re-released You & Me also proved popular with the crowd. Wherever The Enemy go they always seemed to be followed. Their amazing rise to popularity is abundantly clear as the main stage is stormed in wake of their set. Had Enough were my sentiments immediately, although I've never been a fan of the band. Hatred aside they played a crowd-pleasing set, they'd had them in the pal of their hand before they'd even begun.

The Fratellis completely flopped. The band had decided to play almost exclusively from their new cd [Which has also flopped] and ignore their previous work. They ignored fan favourites as Henrietta and even their own biggest single from their second album Mistress Mabel. Perhaps the most bizarre event of Fratellis' set was their apparent retiring of Chelsea Dagger, by far the bands biggest hit to date. If they aren't going to be playing that anymore, they won't be playing at the top end of the bill at Leeds again. Queens Of The Stone Age had an easy act to follow and did it effortlessly. The band opened with No One Knows which revived the crowd's enthusiasm after The Fratellis big attempt to ruin music for everyone. They played their way through a classy set with included old classic Feel Good To Hit The Summer as well as Sick Sick Sick. Although the band didn't offer anything to varied or unique to their performance, they brought a strong stage presence and every song came with a festival feel to it. They closed with Go With The Flow which worked perfectly as lead singer Josh Homme described it as "A song about having sex" much to the adulation of the audience.

It was obvious from Thursday that Rage Against The Machine was the act everyone wanted to see. Having not played here eight years, the turnout was enormous with everyone wanting to catch a glimpse of the band. Such was the excitement of Rage's performance, fourth song Bombtrack was stopped towards the end as the crowd was getting crushed. The band continued on eventually finishing Bombtrack, although the words "take a step back" was all you heard from the band all night. Bulls On Parade was an early number in the set, whilst fan favourite Sleep Now In The Fire drew a huge response from the crowd. The absence of Wake Up was a little disappointing, yet this was redeemed with the inclusion of cover version Renegades Of Funk which was absent from their earlier Reading set. It was a captivating performance from the funk rockers which was brought to a close with Killing In The Name Of, by far the track of the whole festival as it saw near 60,000 people all screaming along to the lyrics. In spite of the band not speaking, they were a huge hit and will go down in the Leeds books for a legendary performance, outdoing Metallica & The Killers and creating an unbelievable atmosphere that will never be re-created.

Tom Crowther