Bless your cotton socks
Gotta love The Others. I mean for a start they look and sound like a modern take on The Cure... one of my favourites. But then on top of that they manage to cause total anarchy in an already anarchic industry. That'd be due to their habits of guerrilla gigging. This basically consists of Dominic's 2 mobiles and the several hundred numbers of all their fans on them. A simple text of date/time/location and The Others and fans spring a surprise appearance. Normally somewhere in the sprawling metropolis that is London, such as the time they performed on the back of a truck whilst driving through the city.
So how do The Others do when they're performing in something as organised and orchestrated as a festival? Cocky London wideboys always manage an accomplished performance, and these particular cocky wideboys don't disappoint. Dominic is both entrancing and entertaining, getting right into the audience and jumping off amps. This is rock and roll! This is the first band I've seen today who look like they're enjoying themselves.
The Friday inclusion of so many indie acts has proved a contentious issue on message boards and suchlike before Download, but then you see The Others. Their own take on music blurs the boundaries between the various genres of rock, indie, emo and punk, and you realise that maybe this indie day isn't quite so removed from the Download tradition.