BBC RADIO 2 LIVE: FESTIVAL IN A DAY
HYDE PARK, LONDON
15 SEPTEMBER★★★★
THE VINTAGE TURNS SHOW THE NEWER ACTS A CLEAN PAIR OF HEELS AT RADIO 2’s
ANNUAL EVENT, CLIMAXING IN A STELLAR PET SHOP BOYS PERFORMANCE
H
aving previously been
headlined by ELO and
Kylie, putting Pet Shop
Boys at the top of the
Festival In A Day bill makes
perfect sense, especially when
it’s their only show of the year
and they’ve got their first hits tour
to promote. It’s the rest of the bill
that’s pleasingly anarchic.
Having a line-up that runs
Status Quo/Westlife/Pet Shop
Boys is the work of someone
who’s got hammered at lunch.
That it all mostly works istestament both to the variety of
Radio 2 and an up-for-it crowd
buoyed by unseasonal scorching
autumn sunshine.
In fact, it’s the newer acts
that are the disappointments.
Kelsea Ballerini’s country-pop is
pleasant enough, but won’t be
remembered by the time anyone
is back in the bar queue. Clean
Bandit have hits to spare and do
at least put on a show, confetti
cannon and all. Yet there’s
something too shiny and
anodyne about them, as ifwatching a Spotify algorithm try
to rock a main stage.
Mostly, the older acts get it
spot on. Being first on could have
looked a snub to Simply Red, but
Mick Hucknall seems a more
amiable presence than ever.
Ushering the crowds in with
perfect renditions of Stars and
Fairground is exactly the way to
start a festival. All that Hucknall
is lacking to go alongside the hits
is a good dance routine, which
Bananarama deliver in spades.
Keren Woodward and SaraDallin are exactly what’s needed
to get over any post-lunch lull. By
the time Keren urges the crowd
to “Get your fire hands out”
before Venus, Bananarama have
unleashed the inner hairbrush
singer in everyone.
Although they do the hits –
bizarrely playing Down Down
twice – Status Quo (now sans the
late Rick Parfitt) are the day’s
most serious act. There’s the
occasional moody guitar solo
and In The Army Now is a
surprisingly sombre note among