Making Goliath Sway
Just pipped to the post by Lethal Bizzle as being the act most likely to be bottled over the weekend, Chicago’s Madina Lake were never going to pack the same punch as some of the other more heavy weight acts on the bill but as they took to the stage you couldn’t help but hope that maybe David could just topple Goliath and win everyone over.
Seemingly taking the approach of zooming onto the stage full speed to avoid any projectiles heading their way, Madina Lake attempted to hide their nerves by charging head first into their set, launching in an energetic stampede through their latest album, ‘From Them, Through Us, To You’. Having remarked prior to the festival that they were spending the little money they had made on their Download show, Madina Lake did their best to live up to a minute fraction of what Kiss had done the night before with confetti filled balls bounced across the crowd, bursting here and there as ‘One Last Kiss’ induced some ripples of movement within the crowd. Continually showing his appreciation to the English crowd, lead singer Nathan Leone’s energetic sprints around the stage did at times hinder his performance, causing him to be slightly out of breath but the band’s infectious enthusiasm went some way to make up for this. Having introduced the band and got the majority of the crowd to shout their own names back at him, Leone proceeded to dive into ‘House Of Cards’ leaping off the stage to get amongst the crowd as confetti cannons exploded, shrouding the band in a sheet of white, providing a perfect blanket to any remaining bottles that were launched their way. With the confetti gone and the crowd warming to them, Madina Lake thanked the English music fans once more before closing with an enthusiastically energetic burst of ‘Pandora’ that suitably closed their set with a vigorous bout of catchy pop tinged rock.
Madina Lake may not have toppled Goliath but by the end of their set they had certainly made him sway a bit.