Rockness 09: Sunday

Official Secrets Act, Main Stage
Screaming “Wake up!”, these indie rockers kicked off Sunday's main stage shenanigans in style. Having to cut two tracks from their set due to a delay in the stage being set, the band balanced this out with their delicious harmonies and catchy melodies. Rocking harder than they do on record, the band gathered a small crowd who seemed to enjoy their new-wave tinged music. The lack of a microphone for the bassist seemed strange, as he ended up sharing with singer Tom Burke a lot of the time. A definite highlight was ‘So Tomorrow’, an extremely catchy indie-pop-rock number which got those down at the front dancing early on in the day.

Baddies, Main Stage
Arriving on stage in uniformly matching shirts, these indie-rock purveyors could be described as a bit like the Futureheads with less angular guitars and more oomph. The energetic band darted around the stage, and frontman Michael Webster (who strangely looked a bit like Morrissey) kept the crowd entertained. New song ‘We Beat Our Chests’ went down well with the crowd, and the band finished on a high to much applause.

Tommy Reilly, Main Stage
Next on the Main Stage was Orange UnsignedAct winner, Tommy Reilly. So he may have won a TV show, but that does not mean he is going to be good live, does it? Well, only a couple of songs into Tommy’s set and we all realised that he really does have a live set to live up to the hype. The songs he played went down well with the exceptionally large crowd for so early on in the day. As Tommy looked out into the crowd he said “This is mental, this is nuts!” It was obvious that Tommy was somewhat overwhelmed and in awe by the crowd’s reception. For the last song, Tommy’s band left the stage as he played his “winning song”. As he played ‘Give Me A Call’ there was a mass sing-a-long, and Tommy left the stage looking shocked and delighted by the reception. Not bad for his first ever festival.

The Wombats, Main Stage
The Wombats returned to the Rockness stage after two years, and you could see from the crowd that it was an anticipated return. As they opened to ‘Party In A Forest (Where’s Laura?)’ you could tell they were enjoying themselves, and their catchy indie-pop anthems went down well with the excited crowd. During the se,t frontman Matthew Murphy explained why he was wearing sunglasses. He declared: “I’m wearing glasses cause of an eye infection, not cause I’m a knob head… I’m only a part knob head”. And who are we to disagree?

Biffy Clyro, Main Stage
All of Biffy Clyro took to the stage topless, a now customary festival tradition of theirs. Kicking into ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’, they had the crowd going, right from the first strike of Simon Neil’s guitar. Leading into ‘57’, Biffy started off the set very strong, leading into more recent and older hits. Even the few older songs they played went down exceptionally well with most of the audience: evidence that a lot of people are now looking into Biffy’s extensive back catalogue.

This being Biffy’s first festival performance after being in the studio for over a month, it was obvious that they could not wait to get out and perform again. There was evidence of them working hard in the studio too, in the shape of a new song entitled ‘That Golden Rule’. This song was a brutal, hard-hitting rock song with a drum breakdown that lead into a Rage Against The Machine style riff. It is obvious that Biffy are once again going to surprise with the direction of their next effort, and if this song is anything to go by, it will be a rather nice surprise too. As Biffy reached the end of their set, Simon strapped on an acoustic guitar and played ‘Machines’ which sparked a rather loud sing-a-long from the crowd. Biffy then finished up with their biggest hit to date, ‘Mountains’, which went down exceptionally well with the already pleased crowd.

Placebo, Clash
Whilst Biffy Clyro plied their trade on the Main Stage, Placebo drew a large crowd of their own in the Clash tent. Playing fan favourites old and new, it was obvious that the crowd loved every second of their melancholy rock show. Unfortunately, due to a pair of scissors being thrown forwards, the band left the stage “for their own safety”, but returned a few minutes later to rapturous applause and excited cheers.






The Prodigy, Main Stage
On Sunday night, The Prodigy did what The Prodigy do best: infectious dance tunes and crowd-pleasing dancing courtesy of Keith Flint. All the fan favourites were included in the 80 minute set: Firestarter, Smack My Bitch Up and Breathe appeared amongst others, along with Warrior’s Dance, the band’s most recent hit. The field in which the main stage was situated was jam-packed full of people dancing, being free and generally having a good time. A great way to end a great festival.


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ES, RT