Friday 29/08/08 Kasabian, Manic Street Preachers @ Hydro Connect Festival, Loch Fyne, Inverary

On the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Fyne crowds of people ascend upon its beauty to Inveraray Castle for this years Hydro Connect Festival, to be greeted, with well…. mud mud glorious mud. From the minute you enter the car park the conditions seem to leap out as horrendous and it can only get worse. With a mile long walk along a mud slide to the campsite, which can only be described as a bog, dampens the spirits of the happy go lucky festival goers. Poor organisation also plays havoc with people as no signs or directions to the arena sees early bands being missed. Not to mention trying to find a toilet near your tent. However once inside the boutique arena the campsite can be forgotten and the party can begin.

Howling Bells see proceedings off on the Oyster Stage with songs old and new to warm up the audience for a fun filled day of music. ‘Low Happening’ especially sees Juanita Stein’s sultry and sassy vocal fill the air. The Guitars and Other Machines Stage plays host to Noah and The Whale, who pull the youngest audience with their playful harmonies and chirpy beats. Songs such as ‘Shape of My Heart’ and ‘5 Years Time’ are typically real crowd pleasers. 

Guillemots play the Oyster Stage with an exhilarating set which opened with ‘Get Over It’ and moving through tracks such as ‘Trains to Brazil’ and ‘Don’t Look Down’. Fyfe Dangerfield swaps instruments relentlessly, including banging on a bin lid before joining the drummer Greig Stewart during a performance of ‘Sau Paulo’. Fyfe declares “This is a beautiful place, I’ve had a whisky of course - very peaty!”.

Amy Macdonald draws a massive crowd to the Oyster Stage, showing she truly is the Scots Queen of Hearts. Running through a set which includes ‘Poison Prince’, ‘La’, ‘Barrowland Ballroom’ and a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’. Closing her set she thanks the crowd, “ I opened this festival last year to about 6 people, I never expected anything like this”.

Manic Street Preachers set the Oyster stage alight with a fiery performance. Their set filled with classics hits ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’, ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’ and ‘Your Love Alone’. Nicky Wire whose dressed to kill as usual and decorates his mic stand with a feather boa, announces “This is for a legend who is not forgotten Mr Richey Edwards” as they burst into ‘Motown Junk’. Set highlight comes from an enthusiastic and random cover of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’, which sees Nicky Wire give scissor kicks as they make the track a rock anthem.James Dean Bradfield is blown away from the response to a set which easily could have been headline quality. Finishing with the much loved ‘Design for Life’ the crowd are in full voice for the ultimate sing along.

Headlining set tonight on the Oyster Stage comes from Kasabian who play to a jam packed field. As they swagger on stage bringing there testosterone driven tunes the crowd go wild. Opening with ‘Shoot the Runner’ and move through ‘LSF’, ‘Processed Beats’ and ‘Empire’. Tom Meighan engages with the crowd with a host of expletives “I ****ing love the Jocks” and “You're Pissing all over Creamfields Scotland!”. The set wavers in the middle as they play some new songs ‘Fast Fuse’ and ‘Fire’ which are from their forthcoming album. However with what began as an unexpected yet well received cover of Candi Station’s 'You Got the Love', it seamlessly blends into what the crowd have all been waiting for ‘Club Foot’. 

However, it’s a harsh reality as the music is over, the campsite conditions await the return of the happy campers. Cest’ La vie.

CLICK HERE to see all the action from Hydro Connect in stunning pictures.