Leftfield, Faithless and Orbital: Birmingham's Beyond The Tracks day one - with pictures
Urban festivals are growing in strength in recent years as - particularly the older crowd - decide they want the live music experience but without the pain of crawling in and out of a soggy tent at 7am desperate for the loo.
On the back of exploding success for America’s SXSW in Austin, Texas, Brighton’s The Great Escape and London festival Camden Rocks, it is perhaps a little surprising it has taken Birmingham this long to join in.
Beyond The Tracks is held at the city’s Eastside City Park, that stretch of grass outside the front of Birmingham City University and the ThinkTank Science Museum. It’s a short walk from New Street and Moor Street stations and therefore easy to leave the car at home and enjoy a few alcoholic beverages if you so wish.
This is what plenty had done by the time we arrived. It made for a strange early atmosphere as those who had come straight from the office stood looking sideways at those that had been partying since the 2pm start (and probably earlier).
Leftfield took to the stage at 6.20pm and launched straight into a play through of their 1995 UK No3 record Leftism. The crowd lapped it up as the black clouds meandered above.
It was like the constant dancing of the assembled ravers was staving the rain off, so they diligently continued in a bid to keep dry.
The slightly otherworldly beats kept the feet moving. Space Shanty sounded great with its swathing percussion while Filter Fish powered through nicely, a selection of vocalists changing the emphasis of the set as we flowed from start to finish.
And flow is a decent word to describe the festival. As soon as Leftfield faded out, Sister Bliss was on stage two waiting to take over. The stages were right next to each other making this the perfect lazy man’s festival. You only had to rotate 90 degrees to carry on viewing.
The Faithless keystress smashed through some of their biggest hits, mixing in the likes of God Is A DJ, Salva Mea and, of course, Insomnia with all matter of tunes to keep the party going.
And when she was done, Orbital’s light show was already under way back on the main stage as they closed the night with a storming set well-lit to keep revellers’ arms skywards and eyes fixed on the beams and their origin.
This despite the rain finally breaking through – but it didn’t dampen spirits.
After pleasing people with renditions of their own hits like Copenhagen, they finished with what sounded like an extended and ramped up rendition of The Fat Rat’s Monody.
The crowd were cheering as Phil and Paul Hartnoll walked off for a second time and, a few portaloo queue woes for women aside, the first day closed with a successful vibe.
Today the guitars emerge, and the likes of Ocean Colour Scene, Maximo Park, The Coral and The Twang come out to play on day two.
