Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan
With the sky flip-flopping between drizzles of rain and beams of baking sunlight, the British Summer was really in full-swing; about time for the festival to be too!
First up came the LA-based band, Cannons, opening the main stage. With their distinct shade of synth-tinged pop washing over the first few hundreds to traipse through the pearly gates of Hyde Park, vocalist Michelle Joy bedecked in a haze of sparkling silver, Cannons provided an entrancing – if laid-back – opening to the day; and, although the set may have been a little subdued, a slew of tracks from across the band’s four albums — Crush, Hurricane, or the whistle-y crowd favourite of Loving You — saw the crowd slow-dancing in place and clapping along. A fantastic start to a fantastic day. 7/10
Opening up the Rainbow stage came London-based Keo. Brothers Finn and Conor Keogh, along with drummer Oli and guitarist Jimmy, might not have been the most well-known band on the line-up, but that didn’t seem to stop the crowd from screaming, cheering and dancing along anyway. Finn’s clear, passionate, and mesmerisingly mournful vocals echoed through the Hyde Park air, backed up by shoegaze-tinged, grunge-infused instrumentals, while a psychedelic backdrop helped to underline the band’s dark, ethereal soundscapes. Although the set may have started with a crowd curious as to their place on the line-up, their set, the biggest they’ve played, left an awed-ience of new fans — incredible, and tough to beat. 10/10
The soulful tones of Gary Clark Jr. greeted members of the crowd as they surrounded the main stage. With a crowd of eight making up the band, including a phenomenal choir of three elevated behind, Gary Clark Jr.‘s set was harmonious, melodic, and frankly transcendent. Each musical element built upon the next, reaching stunningly explosive crescendos; squealing guitars warred with Clark’s velvety vocals and frighteningly powerful falsettos to deliver a powerhouse of a set. 9/10
A joyfully chaotic departure from reality with Liverpool’s finest export, the mariachi-and-ska-infused indie rock of Red Rum Club, came up next. Having just come back from a U.S. tour supporting The Wombats, and headlining the 11,000 capacity M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, their presence on merely the second stage was perplexing at first – until the crowd realised that the small stage meant being up close and personal for each groove-laden, explosively energetic second of their half-hour voyage. Blasting through a set primarily made up of tracks taken from recent album Western Approaches — with appearances from Godless, Black Cat, Undertaker and the dance-fuelled Afternoon — fans and newcomers alike couldn’t help but be hooked; the fabulously vibrant earworm of Vanilla, or fan favourite Would You Rather Be Lonely were really icing on the cake. Red Rum Club delivered a shot of pure euphoria into the BST crowd. A stupidly fun thirty minutes – what more could you want? 10/10
The thousands back over at the main stage, meanwhile, were greeted by UK favourites The Vaccines. Hailing “all the way from London”, frontman Justin Hayward-Young delivered indie classic after indie classic; the anthemic Post Break-Up Sex, the organ-featuring Wetsuit, the almost jazzy Your Love Is My Favourite Band, or of course the closing trio of the Western-tinged I Always Knew, If You Wanna and All My Friends Are Falling In Love all fell in quick succession, the crowd happily singing along with the indie rock darlings. It’s easy to see why they were the choose as the special guest for the UK leg of Kings Of Leon’s world tour; few can get a crowd as happy and hearty, and British Summer Time got to experience them in all their glory. 7/10
Somebody’s Child, led by inimitable Irish singer-songwriter Cian Godfrey, are a band that have to be experienced to believe; and, despite an afternoon-set directly preceding the mighty Paolo Nutini, a good few hundred fans had still rocked up to witness his unassuming swagger in action themselves, with countless more still streaming in. Diving straight into self-titled debut album standout Broken Record, Cian striking poses for the masses, the band’s expansive and energetic rock was on firm display for Hyde Park; with a taste of both that which has already made him a firm live favourite and hints of the upcoming, unannounced sophomore album — including the phenomenal Time Of My Life, dedicated to a friend who had recently passed away — Somebody’s Child headline set on the Rainbow Stage was fantastic. Ending with the climactic, cataclysmic, and infuriatingly still poignant We Could Start A War — Cian’s gentle lyrics hiding a sense of angry, acerbic disillusionment, as the guitars and drums built to boiling point — the cheers could be heard as far back as the main stage itself. 10/10
Though, of course, there’s a good chance that some of that applause was reserved for who was up next: Scottish-Italian, husky-voiced troubadour Paolo Nutini is as good a performer as anyone could ever ask for, and Hyde Park knew it. From the opening seconds of the fiery, semi-instrumental track Afterneath — also the opener to 2022’s phenomenal Last Night In The Bittersweet — the countless thousands arrayed in front of the main stage were in disbelief; although Kings Of Leon might have been headlining the day, no one could doubt that they were in the presence of a legend in his own right. Scream (Funk My Life Up) the grungy, semi-spoken word, Brian Johnson-esque Lose It, and the romantic Acid Eyes followed, all before Paolo’s heart-wrenching, phenomenally powerful vocals tore through comeback single Through The Echoes, roaring over London like a wounded beast.
The fan favourite trio of New Shoes, Petrified In Love and the rocky, post-Covid version of Pencil Full Of Lead all followed in quick succession, the crowd dancing and bopping, singing, and generally having the times of their lives; it was the final duo, though, that cemented Paolo’s set as one of the best of the day. First up came the wonderful Candy, choruses rising up in the crowd to happily echo the darkly romantic lyrics… and then there’s Iron Sky. Paolo didn’t even need the iconic instrumentals — a haunting acapella first verse, his voice ebbing and flowing like the inexorable strength of the moon, already outshone much of the rest of the day; and, as the band kicked in, and Charlie Chaplin’s powerful speech from The Great Dictator blared from the stage, and Paolo’s voice roared in defiant, emotional outrage, an audience enraptured gave way to a ground-shaking applause that let the rest of London know just what they were missing. Phenomenal. 10/10 (11/10 when performing Iron Sky)
And, finally, came Caleb, Jared, Nathan and Matthew themselves — the Followill brothers had arrived. Taking to the stage a good quarter of an hour early, the charismatic drawl of Caleb and the rocky riffs of Matthew wasted no time in flying straight into new-album-opener Ballerina Radio — and, suddenly, the thousands huddling under overcast English clouds were transported to sunny Tennessee. Of course, that wasn’t the only new song given its London debut — after all, despite playing to sixty thousand people, this was still also just the London date of their extensive world tour — but, new or old, each track went down a storm. The Bucket, Comeback Story, Nothing To Do… every song, known or new, was lapped up by the legions of fans like a congregation dying of thirst.
But when the songs were known? Never mind the screaming crowd, never mind the sudden appearance of thousands of phones — the ground itself seemed to come alive to the tune of Revelry, or the blistering adoration of fan-favourites Sex On Fire and Pyro. And the band? Comfortable is an understatement. It’s one thing hearing how long Kings Of Leon have been around, with their critically acclaimed debut album coming out all the way back in 2003; it’s another thing entirely to see their honed experience play out through their unspoken command of Hyde Park (for the second time, having also headlined in 2017), or listen to their slew of celebrated songs — although this revered legacy can be a double edged sword, with both the band’s crowd engagement and stage show at times feeling too laidback and noticeably lacking, respectively, compared to other acts of the same calibre.
Anyone worried that the set would be too heavily weighted to new ninth album Can We Please Have Fun need not despair. Although the aforementioned album got a solid eight tracks, including fan favourite newcomer Mustang and the atmospheric Rainbow Ball, every album got at least some look-in to the night’s proceedings; from the ferociously rocky Molly’s Chambers (Youth & Young Manhood) or the chilled The Bandit (When You See Yourself) to the hip-swaying Fans (Because Of The Times) or Walls standouts Find Me and Waste A Moment, the 29-song set felt like a warranted journey through their discography.
However, to no-one’s surprise, it was the classics from seminal album Only by the Night that stole the set. After a full day of drinking and dancing, it was still a show that seemed to rely on the hits to breathe life into the exhausted London crowd; the sheer volume of voices rising into the air the aforementioned Sex On Fire or iconic closer Use Somebody, reflected a crowd truly in love with a band whose legacy is unparalleled. 9/10
A night that the denizens of Hyde Park will never forget – the sober ones, anyway — and a fantastic day, made up of bands that on any other line-up would all be considered standouts. One successful BST weekend down, two more to go.
Written By: James O’Sullivan
