As Brilliant As Ever
Friday is traditionally the more indie day of Guilfest, with 2007 offering up the likes of Thirteen Senses, The Hold Steady and Ordinary Boys in preparation for the headliner, and one set to be a definite highlight of the festival, Supergrass.
Many comparisons have been drawn between the indie explosion of the past two years, and the Brit Pop years of the mid nineties. Whereas plenty of the bright new hopefuls from then have fallen by the wayside, some like Kula Shaker are on the comeback trail, singers from others such as Nigel Clark from Dodgy (who played this weekend's Ents 24 Stage) are going it alone, but Supergrass have remained solid throughout, sometimes hitting the heights with chart success and major festival slots, and at other points doing their own thing regardless of how it will be received, in the case of 2005 new direction LP 'Road to Rouen'. The most consistent factor in their history has been their ability to write belting singles, meaning this was always destined to be an anthem heavy setlist, and the perfect way to mark the first day of Guilfest 2007.
A police siren welcomed the band on stage, as they tore through an excellent version of mighty debut single 'Caught By The Fuzz'. Anyone who owns a copy of their best of album 'Ten' will know there have been few low points in their career to date, the procession of hits that included 'Pumping On Your Stereo', 'Richard 3rd', 'Grace', 'Sun Hits The Sky', 'St Petersburg' and 'See The Light' only confirmed this to anyone not as familiar with their work. The track to eclipse all others on the night was the powerful 'Moving' from their 1999 self-titled album, a massive crowd sing-along to make any festival headliner proud.
Having seen five out of the six Guilfest Main Stage headline performances from the past two years, Supergrass certainly out classed anything last year had to offer. It's difficult to separate them and Madness as to who was better this year; both put on brilliant displays of feel-good British music. Although neither are in the current collection of media darlings, or considered legendary enough to top the bill at one of the major festivals such as Reading, T, V or Glastonbury, they definitely gave the good folk of Guildford a better time than two album wonders Killers and Razorlight will manage elsewhere this summer.