BELSONIC DAY 3

Before the gates opened at Dukebox, Peter Wilson and friends brought a splash of vaudeville to Belfast with impromptu performance and poetry at nearby locations.
But when the action moved to Custom House Square, the festival set-up was a lot more conventional, to the point of being restrictive.
The punch-packing Panama Kings and an enterprising David Ford paved the way for David Kitt, who was ably backed by his Apple Mac.
Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club not only commanded crowd participation, but in the case of Mr Fish, demanded it.
Despite the efforts and enthusiasm of preceding acts, Bell X1 demonstrated the gulf between endeavour and class. They were the first band whose music matched the grandeur of the setting. Next, The Magic Numbers got off to a slow start but the second half of the set picked up momentum and a hard-rocking hoe-down ensured a bright finish.
The Duke himself, while no stranger to huge crowds, always makes more sense in intimate surroundings. The eccentrically choreographed ‘Sweet Sweet Kisses’, early single ‘Freewheel’, and ‘Last Night I Nearly Died’ (accompanied by a mass singalong) just about edged it as the set highlights.