Sunday 22/07/07 Day Two @ Lovebox Weekender, Victoria Park, London

First up today and althouhg they were a little mechanical at last year's Lovebox, Hot Chip have clearly improved ten-fold with a set that takes advantage of their quirky inventiveness. It’s largely continuous and a great background to the milling plebs who dance in the sun. Yes, you heard that right, THE SUN. It’s here and we are very happy to see it. A bongo arrangement accompanies hit track ‘Over and Over’ to create a myriad of layers, but there’s only so long Gigwise can listen to a cowbell. Plus they are followed by more cowbells with The much missed Rapture. Fortunately they are fresh bouncy, fun and cosmic.

Candi Payne’s 60’s scuffles have a dusty bounce, but Gigwise quickly gets distracted by the ferris wheel. It is from here that we watch the magnificent B-52s who give their performance every effort. Despite being a little longer in the tooth, they manage a blinding set of fun and frivolity. While ‘Love Shack’ is usually the sound of a home counties’ discotheque, it cannot fail to bring everyone into the world of bad wedding singing. An encore of ‘Rock Lobster’ reminds you of how off the wall their song writing was and how their legacy was perhaps more original than younger audiences might have noticed.

Groove Armada have good reason to love their festival. Their Sunday night performance is always stunning since the crowd are chomping at the bit to support them. And with a new album on the horizon it’s good that they have something to promote. Ex-Sugababe Mutya is very humble and fleets onto the stage without introduction before bowing out after her ‘Song for Mutya’. Highlights like ‘Easy’ and ‘I See You Baby’ ensure that everyone is jumping while more downbeat tracks like ‘At the River’ remind you of their range. Groove Armada may not show the daring of Daft Punk or the force of Basement Jaxx, but they are always approaching new directions and the set can’t fail but raise excitement about the new album Soundboy Rock.

The obligatory encore of ‘Superstylin’ in the dark but warm park may not be an original conclusion to Grove Armada’s own festival but it reassures you that the duo aren’t prepared to let it go down the corporate hill quite yet.