Becks get it right in Manchester

On the 6th September i was lucky enough to go and see Massive Attack and Santogold for free. Yup zilch...

It was part of the two-day festival / self promotion brainchild of Becks beer, who dubbed the event Becks Fusions. The friday laid host to a fairly indie line-up of The Presets, Midnight Juggernaughts and Hercules and Love Affair.

The saturday though rain soaked, had a bright combination of belgian indie group Das Pop, New York's coolest export, Santogold and homegrown electronica legends Massive Attack.

Plied with multple beers (Only Becks was available) i had a great time listening to Santogold with my friends, she was exactly how i expected her to be. Cool, a good stage presence and on note with pretty much everything she sang. The only distraction being her DJ and keyboard players who didnt seem to fit in with their white shirt/trouser combo and bow-tie? Maybe my eye was distracted by her awesome, neon all-in-one jumpsuit. Track of the set - Creator.. awesome warbly bassline and i love the screechy intro.

Massive Attack to me, were one of those bands that you wish you could see before you get too old to care. After having actually seen them play for around 2 hours, i found them to be very 'atmospheric', but they didnt really grip me or keep me interested. This may have been because i loved Mezzanine, but didnt really have an interest in much else of their work. Their rendition of Unfinished Sympathy was amazing. They are obviously a talented band, and combined with the visuals of the UVA, it was quite breath-taking. The music, however seemed a bit repetitive and dare i say it boring at times.

The Festival went down really well, there was plenty of room, not much of a beer queue and plenty of decent music. Not bad for free eh? When im out, quite drunk and listening to music at 10.30 at night i want it a bit more uptempto. Id probably save Massive Attack for a day time slot at a festival, and keep the night time for raving.

Santogold - Say Aha (Tepr Remix) / zShare