Blog: Oya Festival - Day One

(Originally published on The Fly)

A trip to the Edvard Munch Museum, just a stones throw from the festival site, provides a morning of screams to kick off proceedings. What feels like the opening of the festival is actually the second day, with the first day proper being dedicated to Norwegian acts only. However, on the festival site, the local talents must feel somewhat overshadowed by the juggernauts flown in from Britain and America to headline each day.

If you have £12 in Norweigan Krone to your name, you can do worse than pick up an Illegal Burger for on-site lunch. £9 in Krone will get you a pint of local lager to go with it too. “Festival prices” are a sore subject in the UK, but in Norway they are on another level.

As the majority of punters leisurely basked in the late afternoon sun, Dominic Maker and Kai Campos of Mount Kimbie got down to business. Keeping a hot and bothered afternoon festival crowd entertained for almost an hour was always going to be a stretch, and at times it felt like the heat had sapped all energy from the crowd. However, the final hurrah of of “Made to Stray” followed by “Carbonated” made sure band and crowd alike left the set in a state of sweaty glee.

In comparison to the heaving masses running around the festival site in Tame Impala t-shirts, the turnout for the band’s set on the main stage was surprisingly low. Probably owing to a poorly-timed clash with Wu-Tang clan, the band find themselves playing to a crowd barely half the size of their giant Hammersmith Apollo London only a month before. Despite this, the boys play through first and second album tracks in far tighter and more enjoyable manner than their meandering, five-minute long jams that they’ve been favouring so far this year. The setlist was given a much-needed shake-up too, and finishing with ‘Apocalypse Dreams’ gathered the biggest cheer of the night from the crowd, small as it may have been.

At the second stage, DJ Mathmatics warmed up the crowd for Wu-Tang’s arrival, and was greeted with a sea of W-hand signs from a crowd that eclipsed any others that the day had seen so far. Slowly, the clan began to fill the stage, starting with founder member the RZA, followed by the likes of Ghostface Killah and Rakewon. However, it wasn’t until Method Man arrived three songs in that things took a turn from the hedonistic to pure brilliance. 

With a presence like no other in hip-hop (as hard as others try) the man born Clifford Smith borders unbelievable arrogance to whip punters into a frenzy. It works though, and Wu-Tang powered through their greatest hits to a rapturous reception, including a tribute to the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

The evening was leading up to a headline set from Blur, a band that have been back on the festival scene for so long now that it’s become increasing difficult to believe they were ever away. A slow start left the band looking slightly miffed, in stark contrast to the 50,000 screaming every word back at them in Hyde Park last year, but it’s hard to know how much of Damon’s cockney drawl makes it through the language barrier. Thankfully, the horde watching on ballooned with each song, as people joined from across the park to witness a spectacular tail end to the show. Finishing on “Song 2” ensured everyone left the park singing from the same page, regardless of nationality.

Live Review: Tame Impala @ Brixton Academy

"The last London show we played was our biggest to date at the time, and all the people who came to that could fit in the upstairs seating area here!" announced Kevin Parker triumphantly halfway through tonight’s show (cue a huge roar from all the extra fans in the Standing area). Indeed, when Tame Impala announced this show earlier in the year, it seemed slightly too ambitious. Their first album had impressed many, but it was their only album, and coming in at £20 a ticket, it all seemed a step too far. However, come the night of Tuesday October 30th, thousands of Kevin Parker's disciples did indeed flock, with tickets changing hands for twice their face value outside the venue, it was hard to believe anyone ever questioned their ability to play a venue this size.

In fact, hearing the songs in this setting made you feel the show feel almost intimate. Every track was huge, and almost ripe for filling stadiums, if only the band themselves possessed the bombastic swagger that their songs carry. Instead, they remain relatively static, relying on geometric background imagery to do all the visual work. They're clearly enjoying themselves, and the stillness appears to be rooted in nervousness, more than the actions of a band “going through the motions”. Despite this, if their third release is half as good as the last two efforts, you can’t help but feel mainstream success and the O2 arena await them.

It is also easy to forget whilst watching the band, that they barely are in fact a band – Kevin Parker is credited for almost all the instrumentation on every release of Tame Imapala’s – both for the writing and the playing, and knowing this fact, props have to especially be given to drummer Jay Watson, who pounds out every drum beat like it’s his own (in fact, he’s only credited for drumming on “Solitude is Bliss” and “The Bold Arrow of Time” on their releases), complete with one particularly special improvisation halfway through “Elephant” (which he actually played keys for on the version you hear on “Lonerism”). It would be unfair to single out Jay alone though – the entire band are incredibly tight in the live setting, and the way that Kevin has worked with them to manipulate his babies into monsters is astonishing. Each song takes on a whole new personality tonight, with unexpected solos and jams taking things to a whole new dimension.

The band leave the stage to rapturous applause following a fantastic rendition of “Apocalypse Dreams” and return with a treat for those who have been fans since the start – a rousing rendition of “Half Full Glass of Wine” from their debut release, the self titled EP, brings the house down. Everyone here knows that Tame Impala’s glass certainly isn’t in need of re-filling any time soon.