Bring on the album
Sometimes life hands you out surprises, some good, some bad. With a bit of pre-festival boredom kicking in on Saturday morning, a pre-lunch time trip into the site and a look at the set-times indicates that Emma Pollock was a late addition to the festival line-up so R13 hotfooted it to the second stage to catch her set.
With all four seasons getting a look-in during Emmas set, the crowd may have been a bit exposed but the laidback feeling meant that no one had much to complain about. With the stage banter enquiring about the names of the local hills and then assuring the crowd she wasn't that gullible to believe some of the more risible suggestions, Emma Pollock was certainly showing no sign of solo artist nerves.
And with a huge sounding set of such high quality and booming vocals, what was there to be nervous about? New single 'Acid Test' was a success and with the new album imminent, you can sense the momentum building around the artist. One of the most impressive songs, 'Adrenaline', featured a galloping speed and a keyboard riff that was straight from a 1980's TV show but amazingly it all merged together. With a lyric of "the adrenaline rush is keeping me high", the sense of urgency and eagerness is there fore all to see.
With set closer 'The Optimist' building menacingly throughout before twisting into a dark Radiohead like riff, the final wrenching guitar licks brought the set to a great close. It wasn't even 1pm yet and Connect Saturday already had its first excellent gig.