Because Rage Against the Machine were after all
For months ticket holders heading to Leeds Festival were building themselves up for the reappearance of Rage Against the Machine on English soil and the buzz around the site on the Saturday night was tangible. For those playing on other stages at the same time it must have felt similar to how a TV programme maker feels when they realise their months of hard work will go largely unnoticed because a nation-grabbing sports event is on another channel. Intelligent, thought-provoking hip-hop was hardly the musical style likely to grab the curious punter since you’d think they’d all be gravitating towards the Main Stage. That said, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pit were not let down by the Leeds crowd as their Festival Republic Stage headlining set drew a sizable turn out of it’s own.
Tent acoustics don’t always allow for listening intently to lyrics, just ask some of the musical acts on the Alternative Stage, so this set was as much about the moving as the listening.
What is interesting to note about the crowd is, around twenty minutes into this set a good number of extra people enter the tent, let’s just hope it was Babyshambles they were bored with.
The thing that sets DLSVSP aside from other rap piers is the musical accompaniment as there’s a real electronica vibe going on that appeals to dance music fans as well as the hip-hop community. With their debut album only recently released there’s no surprise that a couple of covers work their way into the setlist, Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Fix Up Look Sharp’ is a logical choice, but as a first timer to this act ‘Push the Button’ from the Sugababes is something of a surprise. Not so the regulars as this is a firm live favourite and gets the great reaction it duly deserves. In ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ they have a wider appeal crowd pleaser all of their own and the fan chants of “just a band” in response to the lyrics demonstrated the impact this underground hit has had.
Even though this was a headline show it still had a definite feel of a showcase performance and so, although the energy of the crowd was there to an extent, I should imagine the atmosphere is taken up several notches when DLSVSP play to the converted. Far from a bad way to spend a Saturday night in a West Yorkshire field, even though I, like many others who dipped in and out of this set, was somewhat distracted by a certain bunch of Americans on the Main Stage.
With Rage on one side and Pete Doherty on the other, Dan Le Sac VS Scroobious Pip definitely held their own in the Saturday night headliner clash.