Live Review #1: T4 On The Beach 2011

Such fun! Well, the camping was.

'T4 On The Beach' was... to say the least... utter balls. Filled with mainstream pop acts who couldn’t tell the difference between a soundcheck and a giant marshmallow being rammed up their arse, and many, many girls who seemed to think that 'Jason Derulo' without his top on, deserved a scream so loud it could have sent 1940's British civilians running to their bomb shelters.

You really could not have hoped for a worse main stage line up. It really was the dogs dinner. And by that I mean I would rather watch a dog eat its dinner that 'JLS' squeal into microphones. Not that they turned up to open the day. They left their hungry fans crying, and feeling suicidal, until 'Olly Murs' came onto the stage, and the world lit up with joy, and wonder as the magician weaved his magic and made everyones lives better.

I joke. He was shit.

Not even the supposedly good bands played well. Richard Archer of 'Hard-Fi' was so stoned that he probably thought he was the giant marshmallow Dappy was placing into his anus.

However, there were some highlights on the smaller Sunsmart sessions stage.

Top 3 Acts:

3. The View

I'm not gonna start this with 'Scottish rockers', like every other review of 'The View'. What I will say though, is that I was really impressed with how they managed such stage presence for such small people. Kyle Falconer took hold of the stage and expressed his enthusiasm through their small set as the heat of the day grew colder.

People weren't as willing as they had been earlier in the day to jump up and down and show their elation. However the view acted as a soundtrack to this relaxed atmosphere and made the winding down of the festival pleasant to be at.

'Same Jeans' on the other hand used up the last of the energy that the crowd still had, and for miles around it could be heard that a rather large number of people had been wearing the same jeans for four days.

2.Wretch 32 (And Example)

Don't judge me on this. They were actually really good together. Wretch did his bit about tractors and trains and then our good friend 'Example' joined the stage to euphoria. Of course I couldn't see what was going on due to a tall man in front of me. But it sounded good at least. And everyone else looked happy.

1.The Wombats

Let's not forget. The majority of the acts were crap. And 'The Wombats' are amazing any day of the week. So you can imagine how amazing I thought they were when all hoped seemed to be lost.

When Murph, Tord, and Dan took to the stage I literally went mental. All my pent up excitement to see them again came gushing out in one half hour set, and it appears that so did everyone else's. Their white suits brought the stage to life, and as the burst into 'Jump Into The Fog' my heart burst. They are proper musicians and stupendous performers.

The highlight of the set was of course 'Let's Dance To Joy Division'. The energy coming from both the audience and the band could have supplied the small township of Slough's electricity for a week. The continuous 'So Happy's almost aggravated the crowd as they knew the set was approaching its end.

However, as Murph jibed into the microphone 'It's gonna get a little bit rock', the crowd screamed louder than ever as 'The Wombats' broke out some amazing improvised riffs and shouting, that capped off the day perfectly for me. What do I mean by that? I mean that 'The Wombats' are bloody brilliant. 

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