Making Your Hard Life Easy
Perry Farrell is rather lucky that his Satellite Party consists of two very leggy and curvaceous blondes who don't like to wear much, luckily one of them also plays guitar and keyboards, while the other just seems to model her rather skimpy swimsuit. Perry jokes that this attire is in honour of the British weather, which has just begun to show signs of rain, before giving a great spiel about how the band were in the pool earlier and he was using Etti (swimsuit girl) as a bodyboard. Yes thank you for that addition Perry, this cocky banter rather sums up the band's set; great big rock tunes with plenty of self assurance but slightly generic in its sexy, almost cock-rock swagger and clichéd performance (Perry works his way up and down blonde, blonde works her way up and down Perry...)
The tunes are top notch and really get the crowd moving with scalding riffs and frantic funk, new tunes like the smooth and sultry, 'Hard Life Easy' with its Latino lazy melody that oozes sex and 'Wish Upon A Dog Star', which Perry introduces by asking us if we expect to see any stars tonight and then pointing out some alien lifeforms in the audience, really impress. Perry teases the crowd, not just in his rather bizarre choice of attire - an under bust corset - but by jokingly thanking them for encouraging him and explaining that he "likes to take things that aren't his" and enthusing that "we should steal the world" before launching into Jane's Addiction tune, 'Been Caught Stealing'.
There are also looming rock tunes that see guitarist Nuno come into his own climbing onto the drum podium for his own moment in the spotlight, although Perry is a born performer and is centre stage, he also allows the other musicians plenty of attention, even if he briefly stumbles over the drummer's surname!
Closer, 'Ultra Payloaded' is the title track for a reason, it's a smooth and psychedelic number that snakes its way into your brain where it will reside for a good few days, shifting on an impromptu moments to imbue you with comedic flashes of Perry's libido. Although Perry is an established performer, the success of this set was something of a surprise and Satellite Party easily matched Queens Of The Stone Age's following performance. Slick and full of rumbling grooves - definitely one to check out if you're at a loose end at festivals.