Phoenix '97
Friday
Free of last year's traffic nightmares, I arrive on time to see Brum band Broadcast, all scary keyboards and floaty vocals somewhere between Stereolab and The Cardigans. Broadcast write perfect horror movie soundtracks, albeit more "Bewitched" than "Psycho". Watching Broadcast causes me to miss all but the last song by Beth Orton, but never mind - it is very 'nice'. Instead, I hang around for The Wannadies, another band who verge on niceness, but who get away with it by virtue of writing top pop tunes like "Might Be Stars" and playing "Hit" at three times the normal speed before exploding. A three-unicycled bear unicycles past, and it's time to move on...
...to the Lo Fidelity Allstars. If this is the summer of Big Beats, then the LFA will probably be huge. They are VERY LOUD. Unlike Teenage Fanclub, who are just very Teenage Fanclub. Ah well.
And so to Travis, top Scot rockers, who are very Rock and not too Pop. There's a fine line between Slow Rock and Nasty Dirge, and Travis are on the right side. Last single "All I Wanna Do Is Rock" seems to be fairly accurate, and "U16 Girls" (a warning against the dangers of underage sex) is the best thing EVER.
Between bands, I pop out for some festival chips and Shed 7. The two are as bland as each other. So it's back to the Guardian stage for Embrace, who play slow songs well and fast songs like Oasis. Unfortunately for exciting journalism, they are very average.
I'm left with a choice between The Lightning Seeds and Lionrock - but I've got the Lightning Seeds album, so there's no point seeing them live. Lionrock, however, are on top form, and give a welcome shot in the arm to their recent album "City Delirious" through booming bass and live DJing from head man Justin Robertson.
Next up is a visit to the Radio 1 Dance Tent, to hear BT playing material from his forthcoming album. Though far more varied than his groundbreaking first album "Ima", the new tracks don't sound anywhere near as fresh, and I end up missing The Charlatans playing "How High".
It's a year since the death of Rob Collins, and Tim Burgess dedicates a stunning "One To Another" to his memory. They are on top form, and new keyboard bloke Tony Rogers wows the crowd with an amazing organ solo as they finish with "Sproston Green"...
...which would all be more than enough for one day, were it not for Isaac Hayes finishing his set on the Jazz Café stage conducting an eight minute epic "Theme From Shaft".
The Phoenix, it would seem, is back with a vengeance.
