Raging Bull

The acts on The Red Bull Academy Stage gave us wings and we're still flying!

(Click here to see our gallery of Red Bull Academy pics!)

So Jay and Em rapped and rolled them on the Main Stage but Lady Oxegen’s bounty is not limited to fast-talkers and heavy hitters. The Red Bull Music Academy Stage saw some of the freshest performances of the weekend, including an indisputably dynamite performance by The Drums – arguably the set of the festival.

The stage saw nu-soulsters, quirk poppers and Brit rappers come and go over the three days, while stomping DJ sets kept revellers’ spirits high late into the night. We can but offer highlights...
Baby-faced Dublin trio The Capitals opened the stage on Friday, showing off some head-swimmingly mature rock credentials, presaging positively stellar performances by Canadian duo Memoryhouse and Aussie pop siren Gabriella Cilmi. Grime favourite Tinie Tempah warmed up for his homie Chipmunk with hits ‘Pass Out’ and ‘Frisky’ before the main man appeared to a packed-out tent. Performance of the day, however, must go to the very charming Darwin Deez, whose hipster style and oddly entrancing jewfro would have kept any crowd happy in their own right. Deez, who’d proven a dream of a guest at the Hot Press Signing Tent earlier in the day, interrupted his Beck-esque groove pop with some particularly nifty dance sequences with his band. The hip-shaking soundtrack included elements of ‘Walk Like An Egyptian‘ and ‘Do The Bartman’ – now that’s the kind of oddball fare we want to see on the Main Stage next year!
Irish chanteuse Jenna Toro kicked off Saturday’s proceedings with a fine electro-minded set that marked a welcome change from her earlier more lo-fi material. This was followed by a set from blazing Irish rockers The Minutes, who previewed a selection of tunes from their upcoming album Marcata.
Also doing the deed were Red Bull Academy graduates DJ Illum Sphere, Belfast’s own Space Dimension Controller and Glaswegian Jackmaster.
The ever-enchanting Wild Beasts took to the stage as the sun went down and their truly beautiful dream rock (Hayden Thorpe’s perplexing falsetto was in particularly moving form) had us all enchanted. The aforementioned The Drums went even further, packing a powerful new wave punch later in the evening, with blue-eyed shape-thrower Jonathan ‘Ever Consider A Career In Interpretive Dance?‘ Pierce setting the precedent for the whole weekend with his Devil May Care ‘tude. Tunes like ‘I Felt Stupid‘ and ‘Best Friend‘ just didn’t make sense to me before I heard them with front boy Jonathan Pierce’s hysterical body movements in tow — but now the groovesome guitars, deadpan vocals and punchy drums are making for a truly glorious new wave din. So this is why Boy George quipped that seeing them called to mind watching Moz and co. back in the day. Brilliant stuff.
Wunderkind DJ Alex Metric ended the night with a satisfying set that saw everyone in the tent get up, get up and get down.
Feverish Kildare rockers Planet Parade kicked off Sunday’s proceedings with a marvellous retro flourish (theirs is a tricky name to remember, so maybe scribble it down on your forearm just to be safe), followed by sets from electronica outfit Robot Koch, and Italian electro-punkster Cecile.
As the Red Bull Academy Stage was rather conveniently located beside our very own Signing Tent, some of the acts proved themselves to be particularly charming neighbours. The supremely talented Local Natives popped over for a beer after their dynamite set, while members of Jamie Lidell’s band shared stories of opening for His Purpleness himself (Prince, need you ask?) in Belgium the previous afternoon. The boy Lidell all but blew our weary little heads off with his set, which saw the first Irish outing of tunes from the soul masterclass of an album that is third record Compass. Captivated and entranced, we just about recovered from our swooning to catch dapper Mancunian electrolads Delphic rip it up, before headliners Broken Social Scene delivered a superb hour of straight-up Indie mayhem. Speaking of dancing, which we were earlier, Scots DJ Hudson Mohawke closed Sunday night with a hip-hop centric set that had us pondering why we hadn’t clapped ears on the Scottish wonder before we read about him in Hot Press.
They may not have persuaded Beyoncé over for an impromptu acoustic sesh (ahem...it was just a suggestion...) but the Red Bull Academy Stage laid subtle claim to some of the most magical moments of the festival. Word to the wise: a lot of these sets were recorded for Red Bull’s own radio station and are well worth catching if you missed out on any of the action. Hot-tail it over to www.redbullacademyradio.com now, and hold onto your seats!