Saturday 27/05/06 Hi: Fi North @ Maften Estate, nr Newcastle

Today was set to be a strange affair from the offset really. The line-up is primarily orientated towards those among us who enjoy breaks, beats and superstar DJ’s. A token effort has been made towards encouraging the rockers in the North of England to attend the festival. Rock fans are even more pissed off now that the news has broken that the two rock stages will now be merged into one. This decision was reached after the roof blew off the stage which local heroes, Maximo Park were to headline just a day before the festival itself. This merger meant other local favourites The Motorettes and Sound Explosion didn’t get to showcase their talent as well as Swedish post rock newcomers Envelopes and Yorkshire band The Research. The fans were let in so late to the festival that first band, Your Code Name Is: Milo played to absolutely no one. Has anyone at this festival actually heard of organisation?

It fell on iForward Russia! to kick start the day after the disastrous start. Front man Tom Woodhead is a photographer’s worst nightmare as he jolts around the stage like a lunatic desperately trying to break the confines of a straight jacket. The display of their album tracks featuring ‘Twelve’, which is no doubt a hit with the crowd is definitely a highlight of the set. Next up, Brighton boys Brakes received a very good celebrity reception with most of today’s bands looming around the sides of the stage. ‘All Night Disco Party’ is the first song of the day to actually create some atmosphere in the crowd. Unfortunately the rest of the set isn’t quite so enthralling and the audience loose interest a little.

The omnipresent and much hyped Dirty Pretty Things have certainly got a lot to live up to. A constant barrage of press has obviously taken its toll on a troubled Carl Barat. Drummer, Gary Powell took time to tell us of their hectic touring schedule and the fact that their summer is fully booked with festivals here there and everywhere. Could it be a little too much for Carl? Their performance felt monotonous and distinctly lacking in energy it was saved however by the wonderful Didz Hammond who as always gave one hundred percent of himself. They left the stage throwing the ‘Bollocks To Poverty’ T-shirt that Powell had sported throughout the first part of the set into the crowd.

The time had come for this festival to brighten up a bit as Maximo Park came to the stage. The weather did not seem to agree and pissed down for the first three songs. Paul Smith topped with a bright yellow and blue bobble hat shouted,’ I knew it would ****ing rain, I told you it would ****ing rain’. This didn’t stop the now rowdy crowd from enjoying the Maximo set. They opened with single ‘Graffiti’, which got a great reception, as you would expect. The youthful aggression and energy, which we have come to love in Maximo Park, was even more prominent today. After their set there was ‘thank **** for that’ feeling from the crowd as Maximo had defiantly brightened what was beginning to be a real let down of a day.

Luckily Editors kept the crowd’s energy going. Songs such as ‘Munich’ give of a real Joy Division vibe and the band admit to hailing Ian Curtis as one of their heroes. Editors prove themselves to be the best band of day by a long shot with and exciting performance testing out some new material that demonstrates there’s a lot more to come from this band.

Ian Brown is the only man who could pull the dance fans out of the DJ tents this evening to venture across the field to the band’s Main Stage. Mr Brown swaggered on stage in is unmistakable Mancunian style to a crowd of his loyal adoring fans.  After the first song he stopped his band and shouted ‘ The man with the green face who threw a sharpened two pence piece up here, you think it’s funny? You shark. If you see the man with the green face you turn to him and you put him down.’ Right OK Ian will do! I think the whole of that crowd is still searching for the man with the green face. Ian’s live set is a winner. Not really surprising when Brown is approaching his ninth year of solo work. He has passed by opportunities to reform The Stone Roses for a cash-in reunion to concentrate on his solo career which positively booming after his 2005 release of The Greatest Album.  ‘F.E.A.R.’ stands out as the best of the set with the intriguing lyrics and a driving beat. Mr Brown has certainly saved this festival from a complete and utter slating from its customers.

The sound quality of the whole event was terrible and organisers really should of thought that a few more speakers wouldn’t go amiss in a field aimed to fit a capacity of 20,000 in. Only 4,500 tickets were sold prior to the event which made it look like a laughing stock. A lot of music lovers went home very disappointed at Ian Brown being the only real big pull of the day. A couple more bands with a more established status would have certainly helped draw in the crowd size they were hoping for.

Photos by: Linda Chasteau
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