Summer Sundae Weekender 2008

It's hard to fault a festival with a real ale bar, a vodka bar and an inspired selection of cocktails - including the most delicious Cuban mule ever tasted. A festival which lays on open top buses to ferry eager early arrivals from the campsite to a choice of five local venues for a fringe festival on Thursday night. A festival with immaculate green credentials, including excellent recycling facilities and a bike park. Summer Sundae has all this and more....

Summer Sundae – The Friendly Festival

The Summer Sundae, now in its eighth year, took place in Leicester over six stages on the 8th 9th and 10th August. It was punctuated by mixed weather, encouraging the use of both wellies and shades at the same time. This fashion, born of necessity, is quite particular to British music festivals. Nevertheless, Summer Sundae '08 was still populated by smiling, happy people of all ages, braving the rain and rejoicing when the sun came out.

The Heroes, Fight Like Apes

Friday was a glorious day, and arguably provided the best music of the weekend. The Heroes had the honour of opening the main stage, having won a radio competition to do so. Their vibrant indie pop was very current, along the lines of Maximo Park and Hard Fi, and got things off to a jumping start. They were followed by the excellent Fight Like Apes, whose random lyrics were punctuated by a torrent of swearing, which turned the family friendly festival air blue! The Apes saving grace is the fact that their songs are frenetic and funny in a darkly humourous fashion. This is encapsulated by their recent single 'Lend Me Your Face'.

Noah and the Whale and The Coral

Noah and the Whale played to a packed out tent on the Rising Stage, thanks to the pull of their delicious current summer single 'Five Years Time'. Happily, they had far more to offer than just that one track, delivering a sparkling, upbeat set reminiscent of bands as diverse as Grandaddy and Calexico.

Back on the main stage, the much advertised acoustic set by The Coral turned out to be nothing of the sort, but the decision to keep it electric undoubtedly provided a much better sound for the main stage. They played a storming set of old favourites which sounded absolutely perfect in the afternoon sunshine.

Supergrass

Supergrass, Friday's headline act, were a swaggering musical feast. Opening with the grinding funk of 'Diamond Hoo Ha Man', they delivered a blistering set which combined the best of old and new songs. Their live rendition of 'Rebel in You' was quite simply superb, elevating it to the realms of all time best Supergrass song ever.

Jose Gozalez and the Best of the Rest of the Fest

Saturday and Sunday had a lot to live up to, and unfortunately the rain did cause spirits to be dampened a little, but there were some notable moments worth mentioning. Robin Ince went down a storm with the audience sheltering in the comedy tent. Leicester's own El Mahico delivered a fantastic headline set on the Musician Stage, with a Latino inspired sound that borrows from Rage Against the Machine and Senser in terms of both structure and lyrical intensity. Macy Gray amazed everyone with unexpected covers of Deee-Lite's 'Groove is in the Heart', Radiohead's 'Creep' and Rod Stewart's 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy'. However, even her cover versions cannot compare with the magnificence of Jose Gonzalez. The only man who can take a perky Kylie Minogue pop song, 'Hand on my Heart', and turn it into a melancholic opera of heartbreak...and just to prove he can do it the other way round too, he covered Joy Division's sombre 'Love Will Tear us Apart' with a cheeky upbeat rhythm that couldn't fail to raise a smile.

Further Info: For tickets and information about next year's festival check out the Summer Sundae website.

Summer Sundae

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