Isle Of Wight Festival 2013 Review
SATURDAY:
Image: Sarah Lincoln photography
Image: Sarah Lincoln photography
Singer-songwriter Ben Howards set felt underwhelming after Bastilles heightened sense of immediacy, especially when juxtaposed with Jake Buggs triumphant Saturday set, but The Maccabees sharpened things back into focus using the sweeping melancholia of last album Given To The Wild. They peppered the set with some of their earlier more jangly indie-pop numbers such as First Love, during which lead singer Orlando Weeks smiled as he seemed to sense the cheeky festival irony of the line Do you miss home?
It fell to art-punk indie-rockers Bloc Party to warm the stage up for the weekends biggest headliner The Killers. Kele Okereke and co ratcheted up the tempo with a fast and fiery set, stand-outs being angular rock monster anthem Helicopter and beat propelled synth-drenched dance smash Flux, which really got the crowds dancing.
Image: Sarah Lincoln photography
The winds were howling by this point, and looking back they were probably keeping the rain at bay, and seemed to whip the crowd into an even more wild desire to see The Killers take to the Main Stage. When Brandon Flowers finally appeared as the sun was dying against the backdrop of the Main Stage he did not disappoint: the wind pulled at his fitted black leather jacket and he looked every inch the rock god hes always threatened to be. Then The Killers truly brought the dazzling sparkle and shimmer of Las Vegas to Seaclose Park. Opening with the colossal synth-pop desperation of Mr Brightside, they went on to play a two-hour greatest hits style set that also included some amazing covers in the form of Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now and Joy Divisions classic Shadowplay. Im not sure how he does it, but Flowers bombastic overblown delivery somehow inversely makes him appear effortlessly cool. Not once did they flag, closing with the unbearably awesome triple whammy of 'All These Things I've Done', 'Jenny Was A Friend of Mine' and 'When We Were Young' . In short? Bloody spectacular. Other highlights Tim Burgess of the Charlatans' early-hours DJ set in the Carling Bar, Funs booming cover of The Rolling Stones You Cant Always Get What You Want at the Big Top, and The Scarletz bringing an amorous mix of glamour and glitz to The Strongbow Stage.