Last year, day 2 of the inaugural Party at the Palace was blighted by rain and general misery that even Jim Kerr and co couldn’t dispel (well, for me anyway, the hardcore Simple Minds fans dancing in the puddles all the way till the encores).
This year it’s mercifully dry and even a bit of sun shines through for Lucia Fontainé And The Dead Transmissions. With all the band looking effortlessly cool, their studied pop hooks aren’t eclipsed too much by a fuzzily barnstorming version of ‘Be My Baby’.
The annual Linlithgow event is all about contrasts, so the appearance of Julie Fowlis next on the bill comes as no surprise. Explaining the perhaps downbeat melodies: “Gaelic love songs have no happy endings,” she throws in her version of The Beatles ‘Blackbird’ (a vast improvement on the original), and engages her band in a remarkable piece of mouth music to close.
Yesterday Horse was a returning act from the 2014 event, and similarly, Jamie and Shoony have been invited back. Previously winners of a Battle of the Bands winiers’ slot occupied this time round by Apache Darling, they’ve moved up the bill, and justify their lofty placement with a hugely entertaining set which gets the crowd well and truly warmed up. “Hands up if you’re… here” Jamie implores, and a moshpit composed of all ages up to pensioners responds, which is just as well as the singer plunges into the throng for an unexpected crowdsurf. Their version of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Bonkers’ works as a crowdpleaser in the purest sense of the word.
The Red Hot Chili Pipers again confound anyone attempting to categorise this festival bill. Just arrived from Belgium (and grateful we can understand their accents) the troupe engage the audience in versions of rock classics (e.g. ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’) with bagpipes to the forefront (amazingly, no Big Country covers were performed). There’s the odd element of traditional music reworked for the 21st century, but Martyn Bennett this ain’t. Avicii’s ‘Wake Me Up’ and their unique take on ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ lead to an inevitable finale of ‘We Will Rock You’.
Scouting For Girls are, despite all that’s gone before, the wildcard selection in today’s bill. Impossible to categorise as anything either than ‘pop’, they nonetheless make a good fist of entertaining the crowd which does sport a smattering of teenagers more familiar than most with their back catalogue. Easy to damn with faint praise, the London trio are more than competent and do come armed with pop hooks like ‘I Wish I Was James Bond’ that, it turns out, everyone has heard, somewhere. As for ‘She’s So Lovely’, let’s just say that the feet of the bulk of those present were unashamedly tapping along.
But if any of the bands present need a crash-course in the art of the earworm, the hit single, the hook, who better to ask than headliner Nile Rodgers? Arriving in the country on a delayed flight and without half their gear, Chic – basically the frontman and a fairly long-standing gathering of hired hands – finally hit the stage at the Peel following much rumour as to their whereabouts (Heathrow, as far as we can tell). Rodgers apologies at length for their tardiness – there’s also the small matter of his being a perfectionist and the sound must be just right – before finally the party can commence. Happily, they turn out to be worth the wait. After all, if you were to book a party band, surely this would be it? Even the first two tunes’ titles – ‘Everybody Dance’ and ‘Dance Dance Dance’ – set out their stall as Rodgers runs through his personal Greatest Hits. He neatly appropriates tunes that he’s ‘merely’ worked on as producer and/or guitarist – ‘Like a Virgin’, ‘Let’s Dance’ – but his heavy involvement with Diana Ross on ‘I’m Coming Out’ and ‘Upside Down’ provides a couple of unexpected highlights, due in no small part of the soaring vocals of Folami and Kim Davis.
They (he?) call Rogers “The Hitmaker” and while hardly one to hide this epithet under a bushel, his explanation – a cancer diagnosis and the premature death of Chic partner Bernard Edwards, for whom ‘Thinking Of You’ is performed – is sufficient reason for his grabbing full credit for what he calls “My Life in Music” with both hands.
And The Hits keep coming, as per Scouting For Girls, but on a somewhat grander scale. By the time the largely chronological trip through his back catalogue is over, we’ve reached ‘Get Lucky’ and Susan Boyle is dancing onstage, as if the sight of ‘Le Freak’ being performed in a 15th Century royal palace wasn’t surreal enough. The only question remaining is, how do they top it next year?
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RT @isthismusic: Festival review – Party At The Palace Day 2 http://t.co/1K8gb736xR @peelparty
RT @isthismusic: Festival review – Party At The Palace Day 2 http://t.co/1K8gb736xR @peelparty