Leeds Festival 2009
With a muchly anticipated album due in little over a week, the world needs Jamie T more so than ever. Cigarette lazily lying in mouth, dressed in a hoodie and cap like a chav blues singer, the start was simply him moodily strumming his guitar to little known EP track St Christopher. A quaint start then but followers will know that he always has been far from conventional, hence the appeal. Indeed, he seemed wiser for the time off allowing for a feisty Operation to belatedly get the performance going. A muddied So Lonely Was The Ballad mattered little, even if the clearest lyrics were from a pre-recorded political speech excerpt midway. Not to dissuade his own vocal talent though, with an impressively rapid delivery almost too quick for his own fans during Pacemaker. Thankfully he slowed down the tempo and armed with his trademark solo bass guitar for Back In The Game, united performere and crowd with an endearingly insolent rendition, even leaving the microphone so the crowd could take over vocal duties.
Though new material was scarce the happy, hiphop vibe of new single Chaka Demus was rudely out in force and cheekily dedicated to Chaka Demus and Pliers. Such was the bombastic effect it appeared to negate the customary bounce of Salvador. Ever the crowd-pleaser, he even repeated the start to Sheila to allow for orchestrated bouncing. Redemption complete, all that remained was a jaunty finale of Sticks and Stones.