Live Review: Liam Gallagher, Queens Of The Stone Age @ Community Festival, Finsbury Park

First thing’s first: you may have already read about the criticisms surrounding the organisation of the Community Festival’s double-header at Finsbury Park. Believe everything.

There were, apparently, six bars on site, but only three of those were readily apparent and in reasonable distance from the main stage – and the queues were monstrous. Your reviewer was fortunate enough to be there from 3.30pm on Friday and therefore able to get a few drinks, but by 6pm queues for the bars took a minimum of one hour, and by all accounts it was much the same for water.

Fortunately, the music was great (despite it being a direct choice between seeing the bands and having a drink). Friday kicked off with The Sherlocks bringing their anthemic indie to the masses. The band have been touring their debut album for over two years now but they showed no sign of fatigue; Chasing Shadows sounding particularly suited to their slot. Strangely, they seemed to have a much longer set than their successors on the main stage, DMA’S, who came and went in seemingly a few minutes.

Luckily their music is tailor-made for hazy summer days, but with only seven songs offered it would have been nice to have heard a bit more from the Australians.

Officially third on the bill, local hero Loyle Carner played a blinder, acknowledging that a Liam Gallagher crowd was unlikely to be the same as his. As such, he earned a huge slice of good will from the crowd and his set was another good soundtrack to the day. Carner also kept the crowd onside by chanting ‘It’s coming home’ at every opportunity, giving them the chance for a singalong that his own compositions lacked. By the end of Saturday, it had become slightly grating though…

Main support Wolf Alice were an entirely different proposition, looking focused on winning over even more followers by doing it the old-fashioned way; blowing the crowd away. You’re A Germ and Giant Peach are already festival staples, but Yuk Foo was an unexpected blast of energy offset by Don’t Delete This Kisses, a slice of yearning that would melt hearts regardless of the weather. It was very hot by the way, not sure if that’s been mentioned anywhere.

And so the stage was set for the headliner, but not before an unexpected bonus. In truth, Richard Ashcroft performing a surprise set wasn’t the least bit surprising; everyone in the crowd knew, but the inevitability barely diluted the impact; taking to the stage in a sparkly jacket, Ashcroft played to the masses with four singles from Urban Hymns. It’s not an exaggeration to say that everyone in attendance knew every word and sang accordingly, but even then it was a stretch to be louder than the man himself, his baritone voice echoing throughout the park. Very impressive for one man, a guitar and a microphone, and a fantastic aperitif to the main course.

Nothing quite ratchets up the anticipation and excitement like F***in In The Bushes, and even though we all know the opening part of the set by heart now, Rock N Roll Star and Morning Glory rarely fail to deliver. Liam Gallagher’s had a fantastic year, taking everyone by surprise, and this gig felt like the culmination of the last 12 months. Although As You Were has been a success, Finsbury was the Oasis songs, and Liam was canny enough to give the people what they wanted, playing five songs from his debut with the rest made up of stone-cold classics from years gone by.

Sadly, his band haven’t particularly improved over the last 12 months. While Oasis songs aren’t renowned for their difficulty, the band in question keep things simple – logical when everyone in attendance is there to analyse Liam Gallagher to the nth degree, but a bit of spontaneity wouldn’t go amiss. That said, it would be a struggle to find a more crowd-pleasing setlist. Drawing very much from the first two Oasis albums, we were treated to Listen Up and Bring It On Down, which haven’t been heard live for years (at least in their original form). The voice, so often a source of chagrin, followed Ashcroft’s lead by filling the venue, the singing crowd could probably be heard in Tottenham.

Coming out for the encore, the atmosphere went supersonic (pun very much intended). Bonehead joined for a final run which included a curio; the Noel-sung early Oasis b-side D’Yer Wanna Be A Spaceman?. Back in the early days the song was very much Noel’s baby so it can only have been yet another dig at his brother. Liam had alluded to Noel’s wife earlier in the set, and in truth the whole saga is becoming more than a little tiresome, the only black mark on an otherwise faultless performance.

It being a Saturday, Day 2 brought more people to the venue – and more problems. Queuing time for the bar doubled, and owing to this your correspondent missed Miles Kane bringing his newly T.Rex-inspired rock to London, but Curtis Harding managed to fill the void very capably, sounding unerringly like Young Americans-era David Bowie.

Iggy Pop is now firmly part of the rock establishment, but gleefully ignores it. Baring a still impressive torso (there would be justifiable outcry if he didn’t), his Rock God status afforded him the luxury of dispensing with The Passenger and Lust For Life early on, but he was still able to keep the crowd entertained, writhing and wriggling his way through the rest of the set before finishing with a version of The Jean Genie by his friend and collaborator David Bowie. Needless to say, it went down a storm and Iggy appeared genuinely grateful for the appreciation he received at the end, not wanting to leave the stage.

A bit perversely, perhaps anticipating more traditionally British weather, Queens Of The Stone Age entered the stage to Gene Kelly’s Singin’ In The Rain before launching into Do It Again. From there on in, they didn’t really let up. It’s no secret that Josh Homme and his crew are talented musicians, but seeing it live hammers the point home; not one note is wasted and there’s not an ounce of flab in the set. Almost ruthless in its directness, the band continually up the ante. From Go With The Flow, on to The Way You Used To Do and onwards to Burn The Witch, the L.A. natives don’t put a foot wrong.

Special mention must go to drummer Jon Theodore who, having earned his stripes in The Mars Volta, was outstanding, adding more meat to the already mighty sound. Even though set closer Song For The Dead was little more than a jam for the band, it could have gone on forever and no-one would have begrudged a few more minutes.

A thundering end to a barnstorming set, and were it based on the music alone, everyone would have gone home satisfied.

(Richard Bowes)