The 70s had Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Our benighted generation has Red Hot Chili Peppers. A private helicopter to the venue. A reported £4 million fee for the weekend. Double album, toured around the world for 18 months (concluding tonight).

£4 million: a lot of pounds, even when you break it down per-head. And as the final notes of the lazy funk jam that serves as a supposed encore dribble from the speakers, we can't but feel pretty cheated.

Sure, the hits came out. But they only seem to serve as fibre for the Chili's obsession with interminable funk jams, the sort of lazy bass-molestation only those truly blessed with self-importance can perform. Where once there was an efficient, hungry pop band, now there are four multi-millionaires indulging themselves. It's bewildering. What other stadium rock-band would snooze off into such overwhelming dribble? Would U2? Would Muse? Only the Chili Peppers have the cosseted temerity to subject us to their shitty funk bollocks.

In-between there are good things: 'Californication', 'Dani California', and a whole bunch of other songs that reference California.

But it starts with a sludgy 10-minute extended intro to 'Can't Stop'. It ends with 'Give It Away', followed by another jam leading us into an uncomfortable limbo: a jam that starts quiet – gets really loud, then gets really quiet again. Then that's the end, in case you missed it. Interesting concept.

Whereas Emerson, Lake & Palmer may have had tedium, they also had trucks-worth of equipment. And they were, however misguidedly, making concepts. The Chilis have no arsenal of equipment. They have no ideas. They have only themselves to play with, and tonight we are paying voyeurs to their practice session.

Best Song: 'Give It Away'

Best Moment: When something discernable as a song bursts through nine minutes into their intro.

Red Hot Chili Peppers played:

'Can't Stop'
'Dani California'
'Other Side'
'Charlie'
'Throw Away Your Television'
'Snow (Hey Oh)'
'Get On Top'
'Emit Remus'
'Don't Forget Me'
'So Much I Wish'
'She's Only 18'
'Warlocks'
'Californication'
'By The Way'
'C'mon Girl'
'Give It Away'

According to NME's ace snapper Tom Oxley, there was an arcade fire in Scarborough just the other day. Approximately 200 machines were damaged, many beyond repair.

This sounds like some serious stock loss. The sort of stuff that drives insurance company directors sleepless. Ouch indeed.

But the emotional craters of those brave insurance adjusters can be nothing as compared to the divot Win Butler's army put in the souls of the Leeds crowd tonight.

Ending with the customary triptych of 'Rebellion (Lies)', 'Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)', and 'Wake Up', the unforgettable Fire once again staked out their claim to be one of the world's most important bands.

A wall of sound that somehow sears the bits other bands can't reach, they've been one of the festival season's most proselytising sights, and tonight being their last gig and all it makes us a bit sad.

"You can sing along to this one," Butler informs, cueing 'Wake Up'. "It's easy: just open your lips and sound comes out." Leeds obliges.

Best Song: 'Wake Up'

Best Moment: The bit where 'Wake Up' suddenly switches from 'Les Miserables'-style tubthumper into comedy jaunt. It always catches us out, and it always makes the crowd suddenly dance like sailors.

Has Kele Okerere been replaced by a robot?

Read more...

Setlist:

* Approximately 10 empty bottles (most of which fell short of the stage)
* Approximately 10 full bottles (most of which hit the stage, none of which hit the band)
* Two rolls of toilet paper
* A flag
* Four crowd-surfers

Read more...

"The last time I was here, was with my other band. And we spent a lot of time up here making dirty jokes. I'm not going to talk about fucking goths just yet."

Noble indeed, but frankly whenever he's actually singing, in-between his lengthy monologues, we wish that ex-Blink-182 fratboy Tom DeLonge would just cut to the dick jokes.

For infantile pop punk to mawkish emo-woe is a journey we'd gladly pay him to reverse. When the big Blink divorce came, he did not walk away with the talent.

A brooding, boring rough stab at stadium-pain anthems, Angels & Airwaves are weak, dude. They got bottled at Reading this year, but Leeds is clearly too kind, because they escape with nary a scratch. Consolation can be found in DeLonge's batty between-song banter, including this little beauty:

"When God made me he took extra time, OK? He made me retarded but extra fucking clever."

Best Song: 'The War'

Best Moment: The cheer that's reserved for the easy-meat jab at the US regime: "We have our problems in America. God knows, Bush is a cocksucker."

From the dry desert to the wet bed… it's a long way from the Eagles of Death Metal to The Shins, with their fashionable hats, their grad-student beards, and their general air of soundtracking a kooky leftfield movie.

Perversely, somehow THAT song is absent from their set. Today, as at Reading, there is to be no 'New Slang'.

Read more...