Song, by Toad

Due to automobile, exhaustion, tent and stupidity issues I arrived at Larmer Tree Gardens extremely late on the Friday which meant I missed the Willard Grant Conspiracy, who had an oddly early slot, and Stephanie Dosen. This is particularly irritating as the Willards are one of my favourite groups, but never mind. There’s a new album approaching so they’ll presumably be touring soon enough.

The Willard Grant Conspiracy – Dance With Me (Live)

Fortunately, after wrestling with the tent, I was in time to stroll up to the main gardens and have a leisurely pint – hardly an queue, people, at a festival! Oh the gods are kind – before wandering up to the main Garden Stage.

Midlake: I have read that some people found their set tailed off a bit towards the end, but I didn’t see it that way. They are another of those ‘perfect reproduction’ live bands who reel off their songs in a manner largely indistinguishable from the album. Sometimes this annoys me a little, but not at a festival where there will be so many other live performance styles on show, so I just enjoyed the fact that their songs really are very, very good. I haven’t listened to Van Occupanther much for a while now and this really reminded me what a good album it is. Their brand of slightly hippy 70s Americana is really rather gorgeous, perfect for a first show of the weekend.

Midlake – Young Bride

Yo La Tengo: They were the headline act for Friday night and the only other group I saw that evening. Truly, they are fucking legends. They’ve been playing, and playing together, for so long they can pretty much do anything they want at the moment. Ira is a demented genius with the guitar when he gets going, and their changes of pace and sound from one song to another are amazing. When I got back to my tent my neighbours were discussing this band they’d never seen before that didn’t know if it was death metal, a jazz combo or electronica. Hmm, I thought, there’s only one group that can be! Honestly though, this was an amazing, blistering performance. I’ve seen them play a couple of times before and it was the same then. Basically, Yo La Tengo are one of the best bands on the planet at the moment, full stop. Truly fantastic.

Yo La Tengo – Double Dare
Yo La Tengo – Our Way to Fall

And that was it for the day. I tried to pop over to the Bimble Inn to see Eugene McGuinness because I’ve heard some great things about him, but I found Tim from The Daily Growl instead. The crowd was too big, and given we couldn’t get near him or hear him play decided to give up and chat over a bevvy. Maybe another time for Eugene.

Eugene McGuinness – Myrtle Parade