Hyde Park Comes To Life With Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Published
A sunny afternoon in London calls for relaxing strolls in St James Park or sipping on a cold beer in Camden, however this mid week in July calls for something a lot louder in London.
Barclay Card’s "British Summertime" in Hyde Park has returned with a more versatile and classic line up. On Saturday July 12th a mixture of new and old artists gathered to create a statement of a day.
Kicking off on the leaf infested main stage is Lucy Rose, a young songstress who's career is quickly ascending and no wonder as her soft, flawless voice set the tone of peace and love at this glorious festival day.
She had the attention of the crowd straight away as she entered the stage with her guitar and softly strummed singing with a perfect fragile tone. Lucy Rose was an ideal choice to start the day off as her newly popular songs such as “Shiver” and “Middle of the bed” created a wave of swaying movements and relaxation amongst this busy festival.
Indie Rock band Half Moon Run were next on the forest looking stage, with generous airtime from Radio 1 playing their popular hit ‘Full Circle’, the band were sure to have a promising crowd.
A joyous crowd sang along giving the band a fun response and energy to feed off. The band whom are based in Montreal definitely have a UK fan base as people were dancing and happily swaying with a cold beverage on this sunny day. Half Moon Run portrayed a chilled disposition while their music is extremely high quality and their stage presence definitely reflected that.
With the stage being set up and a piano placed just off center stage it is clear who is next, the fast rising Tom Odell whose piano rock set left the crowd definitely wanting more. Playing his successful songs such as ‘Another Love’ and ‘Can’t Pretend’ Tom surely had the crowd at his fingertips with his passionate piano playing and charismatic voice.
The tempo was high and fast, climaxing with features of an electric guitar to give an edgy appeal. Tom Odell’s performance was somewhat inflexible as he remained at his piano but the music was so beautiful and emotional there was no need for him to move around.
With one more support act before the big moment, The National were an ideal choice as their album ‘Trouble will find me’ was hugely successful and playing upcoming European Festivals, London are lucky to get a breath from them. With deep vocals correlating with the gloomy indie sound, this dark yet upbeat band were very popular with the crowd as the park suddenly became a lot fuller with waves of rocking and dancing. The beautiful sound in which The National create is somewhat delirious yet calming, perfect for a peaceful day in Hyde Park.
The calm before the storm left the waves of the crowd pushing to get a view of the stage as a backdrop with a horse appeared and a mascot of an Indian headdress carved with wood at the side.
It was time for the legendary headliner that is Neil Young accompanied by rock band Crazy Horse, beginning with a ten minute version of ‘Love and only Love’, an ultimate guitar jam session leaving fans screaming “Yes!” and expressions of admiration.
Fluctuating between old and new songs showing that Neil and Crazy Horse have definitely still got it; it was indeed Young’s cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowin in the Wind’ and his own ‘Heart of Gold’ out of the two hour set that received the best reaction. Neil Young who stood alone on stage at this point with his guitar and harmonica left the crowd to be at one with him and feel the iconic song leaving a sense of wow!
But it wasn’t long til Crazy Horse were back on stage and turning up the tempo with ‘Rockin in the Free World’. Leaving the crowd on a high the band exited the stage but returned twice.... for a two part encore that was definitely crowd pleasing. The first being ‘Who’s gonna stand up and save the Earth’ and finally ‘Down by the River’ which was extended to a 16 minute version that proved rock'n'roll, Neil Young and Crazy Horse are still very much in style and can even now attract a huge crowd since beginning in 1968.
