09/07/22
I returned to Hyde Park last weekend for another dose of The British Summertime Festival. I had a number of interviews lined up; I was really looking forward to chatting to The Last Internationale, whom I discovered a few years ago when I reviewed their album ‘Soul on Fire’. I was also due to chat to the British four piece ‘The Wild Things’ and Italian duo ‘Peaks’.
The Last Internationale opened up the main stage with a blisteringly hot set. They were on fire and when Delila unveiled her cape ‘free Assange’ – a cheer came from the agreeable crowd! After TLI, Imelda May quickly followed delivering a great set. Imelda closed with Meat Loaf’s ‘I Would Do Anything For Love’ – both these first acts were over in a flash, each only managing to do five songs. No fault of the artist, but I wish we could have had a little longer with these two, as they were both incredible.
Ex Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr was up next. Instantly Johnny has us on side by asking if we have any requests, and offering us a Job. By the second song, everyone is on board with his suggestion to hang the DJ! The gig is a little static, but the band plays and sings with the same energy and sincerity that they did when the songs were first written. Johnny’s ‘don’t give a shit’ attitude gives him an incredible stage presence. He is who he is, and he doesn’t care what you think about him, he’s just gonna play his awesome songs and rock your world
Shout out to the tech guys Manning the smoke machines either side of the stage at 5pm on a summers evening. Im sure it would look great, but the blazing sun and breeze is rendering your efforts ambitiously redundant!
And with the last song dedicated to Pearl Jam, spreading their jangly pop chords round a delighted crowd, we all agreed that to die by their sides would be a heavenly way to die!
Petrol girls pulled me across the field with their breakbeat energy and political punk rage. Fiercely pro choice and bodily autonomy, they rock the house down with a voice every human should stand up and listen to. They were going to change the world!
I was back across to the main stage for the Stereophonics! A band who never, ever disappoint. Kelly Jones’ voice sounds as good now, 20 + years into his career than it ever did!
Despite the Phonics only having an hours set, they packed a lot in! Everything you would expect and then some. Kelly says the band have ‘25 years worth of songs to pack in’ – well, they’d better get cracking!
A great mixture of songs are delivered, special mention has to go to ‘The Bartender and the Thief’, we often overlook the Phonics for not being a heavy rock band and possibly being too poppy. Not so today, this was heavy, even having echoes of Motörhead! This rocks!! I have to mention the song ‘Catacombs’ too! This is another epic performance, with guitars and amps turned up to 11! Thunderous drums and screaming guitar solos! I loved it!
Following the Phonics set, we had half an hour or so to quickly grab a beer and then take our places for Pearl Jam. The last of the Seattle Grunge bands! I was REALLY looking forward to this!
A surprise intro, The Beatles ‘All You Need is Love’ was the prologue to the second of Pearl Jam’s BST shows! One of only a handful of bands to play two nights at Hyde Park. ‘Corduroy’ from the 1994 album ‘Vitalogy’ starts proceedings. Instantly Eddie and the band have the crowd in the palm of their hands. The energy onstage is amazing with Eddie bringing the track to a close by leaping in the air.
A grinning Eddie Vedder welcomes the crowd and says they are going to play ‘all the songs they didn’t play last night’ before launching into ‘Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town’. One of my favourite PJ songs and a great audience singalong.
The show continues, we have a few tracks from the band’s debut album ‘Ten’ before a track that Eddie Vedder and the Pearl Jam boys collaborated on with Neil Young. It is no secret that Eddie Vedder is a huge Neil Young fan and hearing him play this song was a real treat. He invites Johnny Marr to join him and they launch into ‘Throw Your Hatred Down’. Johnny Marr is in his element and all too soon he is playing the last few bars of the outro as e lifts his guitar up and points it at the ‘rock gods’ in the sky!
The show continues and Pearl Jam deliver some real deep cuts. The tour debut of ‘Rats’ from the allbum ‘Vs’ was great and the lead guitar and drumming were almost hypnotic! Eddie dedicates the final song of the set to Taylor Hawkins which brought a little tear to my eye. One of the many fallen greats. They launch into ‘Porch’ – thunderous drums, guitars turned to 11 and Eddie on fire! Amazing! The band leave the stage briefly before returning to play the encore.
By this point, the crowd has gone wild! ‘Alive’, ‘Yellow Leadbetter’ and The Who’s ‘Baba O Reilly’ brings the show to a close! What an incredible set.
Pearl Jam well and truly delivered at Hyde Park, they well and truly delighted the crowd! The whole day in fact was stunning and I for one, can’t wait for BST 2023! Bring on Bruce Springsteen!
