Main Stage, Witnness 03

By nine-thirty Sunday evening, the clouds loom ever more ominously overhead and audience interest in what’s taking place on the main stage is concurrently threatening to peter out completely. Earlier, a downpour during the Flaming Lips’ set had prompted a mass exodus to the tents, and with David Gray’s constituency comprised largely of casual music followers and curious couples, one gets the feeling that were the heavens to open again, the Sunday night headline slot could easily turn out to be the proverbial – or perhaps that should be literal – damp squib.

Thankfully, the conditions remain benevolent and Gray delivers a characteristically enthusiastic performance that goes over very well. In such circumstances, certain individuals’ musical preferences – let’s just say, oh, a sceptical rock hack – are rendered obsolete as that ineffable festival feeling (what’s commonly referred to as the vibe, man) takes a definite hold amongst the crowd. Gray is his usual head-shaking, good-spirited self, whilst special mention must also go to his perennially effervescent sticksman, Clune – a born showman if ever there was one.
Although a light drizzle begins to fall half-way through the set, by this point the Welshman has the audience eating out of this hand, and having unleashed monster hit singles ‘Babylon’ and ‘Sail Away’ – not to mention a blistering cover of ‘Whiskey In The Jar’ – Gray has comfortably won over even the most hardened of cynics. The inevitable hangovers and fiscal port-mortems notwithstanding, we’re home and – for the most part – dry. We came, we saw, we left a lot of plastic cups.