The Futureheads, V Festival, Hylands Park

Poor The Futureheads. It doesn’t matter where they go, if it’s not amongst their own then it’s all about that song, and it’s not even really theirs. For ‘festival anthem’ read ‘pretty much complete lack of respect from the assembled masses’, because that’s essentially what is going on here.

Sat on top of our highest of horses, there’s reasonable reactions to some of the Mackems’ airplay garnering hits. ‘Decent Days And Nights’ and ‘Beginning Of The Twist’ both go down well; closing one-two ‘Carnival Kids’ and ‘Man Ray’, less so. By that time ‘Hounds Of Love’ has already been let out to play, with more than a few wandering off afterwards, probably to ‘have it large’.

With not much to bounce off, bar an excited few souls front and centre, Barry and co seem, well, a bit bored actually. Undoubtedly one of the best live bands on the circuit, with a reasonable sized crowd for an early afternoon, there’s little for the band to bounce off. Between song banter is met with little in the way of response, the tracks themselves provoking some oddly misplaced dancing. Maybe it’s just a bit early, but one can’t feel that a week later in a smaller tent at Reading, this could have been the crowning glory on a triumphant return. Instead it’s a bunch of revellers wanting ‘that one off the radio’ again. The Futureheads are wasted on them.

Setlist
‘Yes/No’
‘Area’
‘Decent Days And Nights’
‘Meantime’
‘Radio Heart’
‘Think Tonight’
‘Walking Backwards’
‘Skip To The End’
‘The Beginning Of The Twist’
‘This Is Not The World’
‘Hounds Of Love’
‘Carnival Kids’
‘Man Ray’