Originally posted by @KRG
I did find it interesting that the crowd for Kendrick was both noticably more swollen and rowdy than it was for headliners, The Libertines. It’s a strange situation with The Libs. They are probably in the best condition they’ve ever been in (at least as a band), tighter and visually happier. My mind does go back to seeing them at Leeds when they first reformed in 2010, it was pretty apparent it was a cash grab, the tensions between Pete & Carl were clear to all to see.
Fast forward 5 years and there seems to be a cooling in tensions, the boys have grown up, accepted each others flaws and are best friends. I wonder if therein lies the problem? The hits are still great, they sound good, the band look in good shape (well, Pete may have put on a little bulk, but he still looks much better than when he was at his worst) - but there is something missing. There’s no spark. There’s no edge. A big part of their appeal was the myth that surrounded them. The intrigue. The feeling that this could either be the most exciting night of your life or a complete and utter shambles. Everything could fall apart in 2 seconds time.
There’s none of that now. It’s 4 middle-age(ish) dudes playing through their hits relatively comfortably, with the odd new tune.
I got that vibe with The Libs at Glasto as well - they don’t seem the same band that they were, which is understandable given that they’ve been around for almost 20 years in one form or another. I also saw them at Reading in 2010 and it was a vastly different set to the one we saw a few months ago at Glasto, they did seem to have that edge of danger and unpredictability in what was clearly a cash grab set like you said. Now that they’re back writing music and happy playing together, they’ve lost that. Still good to watch but they’ll not be the same band that they once were.
As for myself, being an Edinburgh resident, i’ve been doing a lot of Fringe shows of late. I decided to bookmark the Fringe with shows by Stewart Lee on August 8th and David O’Doherty last night, both comedians that i’ve been meaning to see for ages and ages but never got round to. Lee was trying out new material across his run for the new series of Comedy Vehicle, so it’ll be interesting to see how the stuff we saw transforms across the run and then when it’s filtered through the process of a TV show. Really funny though, he’s honed his character perfectly and deserves all the praise he gets.
I was a bit surprised that David O’Doherty wasn’t sold out considering that he’s probably one of the most well-known comedians at the Fringe this year. He really delivered, clearly very jaded and tired at the end of a long run of shows but he still put in a lot of energy to his performance and is still one of the most irreverent and hilarious comedians out there in my view. Seen plenty of free shows, nothing major to report there though! I wanted to try and catch Trevor Noah before he takes over the reigns of the Daily Show later this year but his run sold out weeks in advance, shame that.