Rock Werchter Review: Part 3

Rock Werchter Review (Saturday)

Temperatures had now soared to a staggering 36 degrees Celsius in Werchter and as we move closer to one o'clock on Saturday, American rock band FIDLAR (Fuck It Dog, Life's a Risk) are set to take the stage. Front-man Zach Carper is appropriately dressed for the weather, he's sporting a blue and white flowery shirt and shorts. He introduces the band. "we're FIDLAR, F, I, D, L, A R" as they dive in to their set with opener 'Stoked and Broke'. Fidlar's song's rarely exceed three and a half minutes, which lead to a breezy and rapid set full of quick and speedy riffs and "we don't care" style vocals. The set was over just as it began, the band blasted through songs from their self titled debut album, new songs including 'Drone' and they even treated the audience to a cover of Weezer's 'Sweater Song'. Fidlar are appearing at various other festivals this year and they will no doubt leave the audience stunned with their brand of punk. 

Up next on the main stage were British duo Royal Blood who just one year ago were declared as the "saviours of rock and roll" read in to that what you will, but they lived up to their hype by putting a red-hot set. The pair had actually played the festival on the Thursday and returned to give the Saturday crowd a dose of old-school rock and roll which both them and Royal Blood seemed to really enjoy. Opening with 'Come On Over' the duo set about breaking a few ear-drums. The only slightly disappointing element of their set was the speed at which they played some of their songs. 'Come On Over' was played at a slower tempo which meant that the song lost a bit of punch. Also front-man and bass player Mike Kerr has grown in confidence since the band first stared as he introduces the band with an American accent whilst he strutted around the stage in aviator sunglasses clearly fond of himself.  'Little Monster' saves his apparent arrogance as it completely blows away everything leaving you in awe of the riffs. Closer 'Out Of The Black' is bone-shaking ending to a set which is perhaps growing a little bit old and stale. Take nothing away from the performance because Royal Blood are a superb live band, but we want the duo to release some new material and fast. 

For all the hype surrounding The War On Drugs at the minute, it would be interesting to see if he lived up to it. The atmospheric composer bathed in the late afternoon sun did absolutely nothing to suggest that this hype is true. His performance was as dull as they come, and musically well, you can make all the little sounds come to life in a recording studio, but on a big festival stage they are rendered completely irrelevant and his performance lacked everything, even one his famous songs 'Red Eyes' was a disappointment. He drew in a big crowd as the festival advertised him one not to miss but they were left confused by this statement. If his performance was a colour it would have been beige. 

Bringing round the main stage crowd from a dreary performance would be a tough task for many bands and artists. But when you have Noel Gallagher on the bill you can breathe a sigh of relief. The ex-Oasis guitarist now solo artist took up the gauntlet. It turned out to be a brilliant performance with a few hidden surprises to boot. His opening track 'Everybody's On The Run' set the tone with it's anthemic chorus and vocal melodies. Noel Gallagher also interacted with the crowd something which The War Drugs failed to do. Gallagher seemed astonished when a member of the audience told him he was Mexican despite having ginger hair. Gallagher replied by saying "seeing a ginger Mexican is as rare as seeing a unicorn on acid" and then gave the man a round of applause. Gallagher then played four tracks from his new album "Chasing Yesterday" which although a bit samey, still had the huge choruses that you would expect from any Gallagher or Oasis song. Talking of Oasis songs, Gallagher played four in total including 'The Masterplan" and "Don't Look Back In Anger" which to everyone's delight he ended with and it was a special moment for any Oasis fan who hadn't seen the 90s group live. The perfect showman left the Werchter crowd with a smile on their face and had treated them to one of the stand-out performances of the festival thus far. 

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