Finally that festival feeling! I've lost count of the number of times I have looked forward to a 'festival' in a London park only to find myself at a glorified concert. So it was quite a surprise to be at the Arcade Fire concert and find myself feeling like I was at a festival. With a laid back vibe on a sunny afternoon in Hyde Park which eventually gave way to a twilight evening of fifty thousand people jumping around, this was to be Arcade Fires long awaited and biggest UK performance. The day started with Owen Pallett's earnest performance as the crowds started to gather and was soon followed by The Vaccines.
I had been looking forward to seeing The Vaccines performance after watching coverage of festivals. They seem to be riding the crest of a wave at the moment and it is always great to see a band at a moment like that and buoyed up by their recent success they put on a great show with attitude and feeling. I think we were all waiting for 'If You Wanna' that's when the crowd went wild. I can only assume The Vaccines are still on the way up and will keep on climbing. After jumping around to The Vaccines everything slowed down for Beirut. Mellow sounds drifted around as everyone soaked up the sunshine and a few beers. Perfect music for a summer afternoon with a mellow brass band feel.
Whatever it is that is so endearing about Mumford and Sons was there in great abundance. They started their set with three of the hits (Roll Away Your Stone, Winter Winds and Little Lion Man) to make sure we were all in the mood and then politely appealed to us to listen to some of their new songs. Could we bear another one? Of course we could - they can do no wrong. Whether its their gratitude, their talent, or their absolute passion for the music that is so appealing we were all swept away in the Mumford moment. So when Marcus invited us all to have a 'hoe down' for the final song (The Cave) we all of course obliged - would have been rude not to!
Amazing as Mumford and Sons were they were not the headline act, we were all there for Arcade Fire. Personally I have been waiting ten years to hear 'Children' played live but I had to sprint back from the surprisingly clean toilets to make it. Thankfully Children is a long song so I hadn't missed much and it was worth the rush to be there to see fifty thousand people all swaying and singing along. But this was just the start and there followed over an hour of songs veering from almost orchestral to quirky rock, all of the hits performed by yet more amazing musicians playing an array of instruments while we all watched them swirling on stage under dancing red and yellow lights as the sun set over London.
It was a once in a lifetime event and at the end of the night even those fans who stood stoically up at the back couldn't help themselves (it may have been the cider too) we were all dancing, hoping it would not end, but of course it did. After coming out with an encore they played 'keep the car Running' and more -Awesome!
It was such a great atmosphere - the best I have experienced in similar settings, it may have been the crowd, it was definitely the bands, whatever it was it has restored my faith in London's outdoor events!
Published on 02 July 2011 by Cathi Moore
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