YYY's play an okay headline slot.
Such was the nature of the Indian Summer, where a low-key approach to bands was favoured, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's found themselves to be the main stage headliner on the Saturday. Bursting onto the music scene with a lot of hype, their first ep and debut album showed a lot of promise but with a second ep, 'Machine' being dire and later live shows showcasing new material which was terrible and eventually scrapped before recording, the jury is firmly out on the Yeah Yeah Yeah's.
Their recently released 'Show Your Bones' album may have pleased some critics but there has been nowhere near the amount of buzz or focus on the band compared to previous years, and their Indian Summer show was watched more in curiosity than full-on admiration.
In Karen O, the band has a front woman who will always split opinions and get discussions going, and even though she manages to carry a lot of the bands imagery and success with her, there are a lot of flaws to her performances.
The crazy way she screams throughout the set not only grates and annoys but it hampers the sound in other ways. On a song like 'Maps', when O needs to sing, the vocals are set too low in the mix, no doubt to offset any unsuspected caterwaul and her singing is placed too quiet and gets lost in the music. Which is a shame, as this song is one of the genuinely great songs on show.
Away from Karen O, the other musicians more than hold their own. Drummer Brian Chase provides the main drive of the band but the obvious talent lies in Nick Zinner and his control of the guitar and melody.
With far too much filler for a true headline act, the crowd was quite passive, only coming to life with the early material and possibly 'Gold Lion.' On release, the track seemed quite light and insubstantial but live, it transforms slightly and picks up a few gears. In comparison to a song like 'Date With The Night' though, there is no competition as the latter exploded into life, showing what a tight band the YYY's can be at times.
With 'Y control' sounding strangely neutered and lacking a spark to bring it to life, the set was allowed to fizzle out without any great excitement or brilliance. The initial fears that the YYY's weren't big enough or had enough good material to be seen as headliners came true, and even allowing for the mini-scale of the festival and the relaxed atmosphere, they seemed to be a band slightly out of their depth. Which given the early hopes pinned on the band, can only be seen as a disappointment to many.