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Bands from previous
years dominate initial Leeds line-up
by
Ian Waldron-Mantgani, May 3, 2002
A taster line-up for the Carling Weekend was announced
by the festival's promoters this week, and rather than making us admit that
we have a great current music scene, the schedule summons memories of years
past. The only new band headlining the festival will be New York pop-punkers
The Strokes, whose debut album "Is This It" came out a year and a half
ago.
Of course, The Strokes aren't that new.
They played this festival last year, and were famously promoted to the main
stage in a last-minute change that had catastrophic effects on the schedule
and forced Run DMC to have their performance cut short. The Strokes are a
good band, but they don't actually have a lot of grassroots support, and
it seems rather absurd that they are now at the centre a major festival.
Both the headline slot and last year's schedule change are undoubtedly the
result of New Musical Express, a publication that is obsessed with The Strokes
and ran a cover campaign for the group during last year's festival
season.
Let's not get sidetracked -- the Leeds festival
takes place over the course of three days, and The Strokes will be playing
for a mere hour. Guns N Roses, that great 1980s metal band, will be headlining
on Friday night, and the dependable Foo Fighters will step into the spotlight
on Sunday. Big names, sure... but the Foo Fighters were pretty drab when
they played the festival two years ago, and that was when they were promoting
a new album. Now Dave Grohl is off experimenting with Queens of the Stone
Age and his own band hasn't generated excitement in a good while. GNR would
seem like an exciting bet, except it no longer has legendary guitarist Slash,
just Axl Rose and a bunch of session musicians. Could we be in for
disappointment? Maybe. Will I be there anyway, drooling like a pathetic fanboy?
You betcha.
The number of this year's currently scheduled acts
that have history with the festival is rather staggering. Pulp was one of
the headline acts two years ago - it's back for 2002, still on the main stage,
and hopefully Jarvis Cocker will not be doing the shameless miming that he
got away with in 2000. The Offspring played three years ago, at a time when
the group was much more prominent and even had a #1 single - but it's still
high up on the main stage listing, and it's safe to assume that there will
be large crowds.
Ash, which inexplicably played one of the small
stages last year, is high up on the main stage listing for Sunday this year.
The over-rated Muse and Slipknot are back from two years ago, in similar
places on the schedule as last time. Mercury Rev and Hundred Reasons have
been promoted to the main stage. The Dandy Warhols and Less Than Jake, both
far more prominent in mainstream circles than three years ago, return in
guiltily populist glory. The guys from Feeder, who have played the main stage
twice before, are headlining one of the smaller stages - but it's pretty
impressive that they're showing up at all, considering the suicide of drummer
John Lee this January. Weezer angered many fans by cancelling last year's
UK tour, but now the band is back on the list.
Some of the most exciting names on the current
schedule may not have previous connections to the Carling Weekend but are
oldish names nonetheless. The electro-punk legends in Prodigy have not released
an album since 1999, and rumours have been circulating that they have gone
their separate ways - but there I see their band name, listed just under
GNR on the Friday night roster. The legendary grunge band Jane's Addiction
has been in hiding for several years, but reformed in summer 2001, has been
touring since, and will be playing Leeds.
Other acts include White Stripes, A, Black Rebel
Motorcycle Club, Incubus, NOFX, Puddle of Mudd, Spiritualized and The Streets.
We also get the godawful Sum 41 and Andrew WK, but at least we're spared
the hellish sight of Linkin Park, an act I would have
picketed.
The Leeds leg of the Carling Weekend (its more
established sister event takes place in Reading) will happen in Temple Newsam
Park over the course of the August bank holiday weekend. It's an unmissable
thing, what with the camping, the camaraderie, the middle-of-the-night wanderings
with spaced-out friends, the random shouting of "Bollocks!" across fields,
the aura of rock 'n' roll, and, of course, the music. Once upon a time I
managed to down more than thirty cans of lager a day at the fest... now I've
given up drinking, but I'm bound to find other ways of amusing
myself.
More acts for the festival will be announced over
the coming weeks. Check out the official website,
http://www.leedsfestival.com,
or the much more personable fansite
http://leedsfesty.tripod.com/Frameset2.htm.
Totally bitchin', yo.
COPYRIGHT© 2002 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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