Oneida @ The Relentless Garage, London. 18/8/09

A rare London appearance for the New York 5 piece, promoting their ambitious new triple album, “Rated O”. How do you even begin to describe their sound? They are equal parts stoner rock, psychadelia, punk and garage - all played with the intensity of The MC5 at their greatest. The set is very heavily focused on the new album, with a couple of oldies thrown into the mix (“All Arounder “ from 2001's “Anthem Of The Moon” being a particular highlight). A projected light show , almost as psychedelic as the music, is covering the whole stage. The drummer is producing enough energy to power a small city. Tonight The O are about as intense as music can get. Long may they continue.

Beat Day 09 (Day 2) @ Valbyparken, Copenhagen. 15/8/09

So, after a most enjoyable first day, I have the unfortunate timing to arrive just as Florence And The Machine are starting their set. It’s an apt name for a band who seem about as inorganic as can be. In fact, unless Kasabian change their name to Dogshite, it may be the most apt ever. Florence has a great set of pipes, admittedly, but her manufactured crazy girl playing dress up act in no way moves me. Back that up with some of the blandest tunes I’ve ever been subjected to and it’s a firm “NO” from me. Luckily The Raveonettes follow to readjust the good/evil balance. Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner fill the park with some lo-fi rockabilly tunes twinned with their trademark two part harmonies (ok, The Everly Brothers might have the original copyright, but why let something as trivial as facts get in the way).

Lykke Li has pulled quite a crowd to the second stage.She’s been touring her debut album for 18 months now, and for those who’ve seen her a few times it’s getting a little flat. Picking a Kings of Leon song to cover (Knocked Up) doesn’t exactly help with the staleness of her performance and some new material is much needed to help add some variety to her sets asap. Band of Horses are up next, and they already have a new album on the way. The set is a nice solid mixture of all three records, with some lovely folk harmonies emanating from the stage amongst the southern blues tinted guitar licks. The set goes down so well that they are dragged back out for an encore of “Our Swords”, regardless of their sub-headliner status.

Ladytron are going through the motions, but food becomes a higher priority and most of their set involves a queue for a burrito. Post noms, I head off to get a reasonable spot for the closing act of the festival, Arctic Monkeys. They are not a band I listen to that much, but their live shows tend to be something quite special. The set starts off with a few tracks from the brand new (Josh Homme produced) “Humbug” album. Two songs in and one guy in the audience is already crying with excitement. “Don’t cry. We’ll play some old stuff too” jokes Alex Turner. By the time they start rolling out the hits, the crowd are already well and truly under their spell. The songs really take on a new life in the live arena, with even the rather dull “Fluorescent Adolescent“ sounding passable. They keep the energy levels going right up until the curfew and easily have the biggest crowd of the weekend. They also produced the best performance.

Beat Day 09 (Day 1) @ Valbyparken, Copenhagen. 14/8/09

Beat Day is quite an odd music festival. The setup is not like any I have previously experienced. Here you have a huge park adjacent to the river and some particularly non-scenic views (a power station and an uninspiring bridge). There are stages at either end of the field, and the set times are thus that as one stage ends the other starts. A great idea in theory (no sound bleed and you get to see every act), but not too inspiring in practice (there is no escape from The Ting Tings). The festival started in 07 with just Danish acts, but expanded last year to incorporate a close to 50/50 split of Danish/International music. It is now in its third year, and Valbyparken is its third home.

Day One kicks off with a hometown set from Efterklang. This is the first time I have seen them without their usual keyboard player . Anna Brønsted is busy with her own band “Our Broken Garden”, so Peter Broderick has his sister Heather helping out in her place. The band look a lot more relaxed than usual, with singer Casper Clausen exchanging his usual band uniform for some rather geeky looking shirt and cut-offs combo. They proceed to liven up an already sunny afternoon with a beautiful set featuring a mixture of highlights from Parades (Cutting Ice To Snow being the highest) and a few promising new tracks. A great start to the day.

Oh No Ono follow at the other end of the field with a rather pleasant pop racket before The Ting Tings throw their hat in the ring for the most uninspiring live act of 09 award. Queueing for a burger seems a much more worthy use of my time. Wolfmother are up next , with only singer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale remaining from the original lineup. They’ve lost little of the energy that they bring to their live shows, but still just sound like an extremely talented Led Zeppelin covers band. They have a great sound. It’s just not their own.

Basement Jaxx are up next. I’m not a huge fan of their recent output, and I’d heard a few negative reports from their Big Chill performance, so expectations are low. My pessimism turns out to be completely unfounded, as they roll out hit after hit and finally make me start to feel like I’m at a festival and not just watching bands in a park. The front third of the crowd has turned into a massive dance party. They put a huge smile on my face, so I try to steer clear of Crystal Castles and their electrobollocks.

Mew close out the main stage with one of their standard grandiose performances. They’ve come a long way from what started out as a soundtrack project for their art school exam. It’s everything I’ve come to expect from them. Blistering melodies, glass shattering vocals and stunning projected visuals are intertwined to maximum effect. The new tracks from “No More Stories” really come alive alongside classics like “Am I Wry? No” and the epic closer “Comforting Sounds”. A beautiful climax to an entertaining first day.

The National @ The Royal Festival Hall, London. 10/8/09

Finally, the arrival of one of my most anticipated shows of the year. My want for attendance was so strong that I purchased Southbank Centre membership to ensure ticket success. This certainly hasn’t always been the case. The first few times that I witnessed them live were fairly humdrum affairs, with singer Matt Berninger almost statuesque at the microphone stand, surrounded by a band that were going through the motions. All this changed last year, with Matt finally coming alive on stage. He had discovered how to let loose, how to move around the stage and also how to crowdsurf. He had discovered Wine (and the copious consumption of it whilst performing). This led to some electric performances last summer and the reasoning behind my rather lofty expectations of tonights show.

The band amble on stage to some rapturous applause and kick off the set with “Runaway”, a rather slow paced but emotionally moving new number, before heading off into more familiar territory. An audience member yells out for them to play the hits. “These are the hits”, deadpans Matt and the crowd are lapping them up. Nearly everyone is out of their seats and swaying along to the beautiful intensity flooding out from the stage. The Dessner brothers are leading the sonic charge with melodic distortion resonating from their guitar amps. The band finish the main set with a blistering rendition of Fake Empire before the obligatory 5 minute vanishing act that is the precursor to any encore. Matt is even more animated for this section. First he knocks over an ice bucket before sliding around on the cubes like Bambi. The next thing you know he’s halfway to the back of the stalls belting out “Mr November” (That is one long microphone lead he has). The night draws to a close with “About Today” and a riot of applause from a very grateful and appreciative crowd. High expectations exceeded.