The Big Review: Tramlines 2022

Tramlines XIII

Friday

And so… it’s finally here. My 11th Tramlines and my first full weekend since 2019. Excited would be an understatement. Having said that, my enthusiasm is dampened somewhat by my three mile walk from the station to Hillsborough Park in pouring rain, but not to worry.

I arrive just in time for Shed Seven on the Sarah Nulty Main Stage and the York band, sporting a different line up to the last time they played here following the departure of drummer Alan Leach and multi instrumentalist Joe Johnson, get the party started immediately with a lively run through of ‘Room in My House’. From there Rick Witter and co. make the most of their 45 minute slot with ’90s classics ‘On Standby’ and ‘Getting Better’ flanked by an emotional run through of ‘Ocean Pie’. By the time ‘Going for Gold’ segues into a cover of ‘Suspicious Minds’ the rain is forgotten and Tramlines 2022 has really begun. ‘Getting Better’ and a ferocious run through of ‘Disco Down’ make way for a triumphant rendition of the band’s calling card ‘Chasing Rainbows’ – one of the most reliable acts on the festival circuit deliver once again.

Jade Bird delivers a strangely flat Main Stage performance, and unless I missed it somehow I’m pretty sure she didn’t play her best song ‘Uh Huh’ either which is criminal, but Declan McKenna raises spirits with a wildly received set culminating in mass singalongs for his 2017 hit ‘Brazil’.

James are up next and as ever they bore everyone to death with a bunch of new material before finally bringing out the hits for the final view songs. To be fair to Tim Booth and his band, when you’ve got hits like ‘Sit Down’, ‘Laid’ and ‘Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)’ in your locker, you’ve probably earned the right to be a little indulgent, and when the hits finally come, they do sound great.

And so.. to the main event. Samuel Thomas Fender. The saviour of guitar music in this country. The voice of a generation. The North Shields Springsteen. And boy, does he deliver. This is Fender’s first ever festival headline slot, but it’s safe to say it wont be his last. Songs like ‘Dead Boys’ and ‘Spit of You’ will be ringing out across festivals far and wide for years to come and both of them sound phenomenal here – as does an emotional run through of ‘The Dying Light’. I spend the whole gig drunkenly hugging people and singing along too loud, but that’s why we’re all here. It’s what Sammy Fends would have wanted. By the time the final notes of ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ ring out through Hillsborough Park, it is clear that we have witnessed something very special indeed. I make it home in the end, but I can’t remember the journey, although I do know it featured some poutine…

Sam Fender!

Saturday

Following a tough morning that involved me forcing my wife to listen to Sam Fender songs whilst still drunk from the night before, I headed out in the South Yorkshire sunshine in search of good music, good times and more poutine. I wasn’t to be disappointed. After catching a couple of largely forgettable songs from October Drift, I myself drift around the site taking in some free samples and trying to avoid the Everley Pregnant Brothers on the Main Stage. This leads me to the T’Other Stage and a comedy set from Russell Kane. Despite an overreliance on mocking the Yorkshire accent, Kane is good at what he does and his enthusiastic set goes down a treat with the sizable crowd. His riffs on Love Island and Boris Johnson (‘It’s about time he fucked off’) lift the spirits and by the end of his set I’ve had an ice cream and I’m ready for action.

The first band of note on the Main Stage are nepotism’s Inhaler – a band mostly famous because lead singer Elijah Hewson is Bono’s son. While their set starts off promisingly enough with an excellent rendition of single ‘It Wont Always Be Like This’, the rest of their set is pretty dull save for the final two songs ‘Cheer Up Baby’ and ‘My Honest Face’, both of which sound admittedly great, particularly as the sun finally appears during the latter.

Next up are Sheffield heroes Little Man Tate. One of Tramlines’ best qualities is their determination to champion local music and memorable sets from Milburn, Reverend and the Makers and The Reytons have been welcome highlights over the years. Jon Windle and his band have been away for too long and this is evident by the wild reaction to opening track ‘Man I Hate Your Band’. Unfortunately, it is clear that Windle’s voice is giving out, but he soldiers on regardless and classic LMT tracks like ‘This Must Be Love’ and ‘Sexy in Latin’ are treated like old friends. The band play an as yet untitled new song that sounds surprisingly great before ‘House Party at Boothy’s’ brings the house down. Despite Windle’s voice being pretty much shot by this point, it is clear how grateful he is to be back playing to bring crowds. It’s a pleasure to have him.

An unfortunate set clash means that we miss out on Self Esteem, but luckily The Vaccines are easily the best band of the day with frontman Justin Hayward-Young on incredible form. The sound quality is as good as it has sounded all weekend and will go on to stand in stark contrast with Kasabian later on. Anyway, back to the Vaccines and a set that reminds everyone of just how many great songs this band have. ‘Wrecking Bar’ is thrashed out in a haze of pyrotechnics and flailing arms before ‘Post Break-Up Sex’ inspires the first big singalong of the day. ‘No Hope’ is every inch the ironic slacker anthem that it sets out to be, ‘Teenage Icon’ has a chorus that will stay stuck in everyone’s head for days and ‘If You Wanna’ sees the packed Main Stage abuzz with life as the crowd revel in one of the best live bands the UK has to offer. By the time closing track ‘All In White’ has finished ringing out it is clear that Tramlines has been treated to yet another iconic set.

How will Kasabian top that? The answer is that they wont. The circumstances around former frontman Tom Meighan leaving the band are not for me to comment on, but it is crystal clear that the Leicester band suffer from his absence. Erstwhile frontman Serge Pizzorno seems like a nice bloke, and he’s a stunning guitarist, but he’s no frontman. In their prime, Kasabian were one of the best live bands I’d ever seen, but they are de-fanged without Tom, and the sound isn’t great either. Despite this setback, old favourites like ‘Club Foot’ and ‘Shoot the Runner’ still have the power to get the crowd moving and ‘Empire’ still sounds absolutely massive, but there is a nagging feeling that The Vaccines would have been a more appropriate headliner. That being said, everyone goes wild for ‘Fire’ obviously, and that anthemic track feels like a fitting end to what was another great Tramlines Saturday. One day left…

Kasabian!

Sunday

I awake on Sunday to find that every part of my body is in pain and it becomes clear that I need to get back to Hillsborough Park sharpish. A 53 minute train ride and an hour walk later and we’re back!

The Coral kick things off on the Main Stage and despite frontman James Skelly’s assertation that it would take ‘Bob Marley coming back to life’ to get him off the sofa on a rainy day, the Liverpool band have a sizable crowd. ‘Bill McCai’ and ‘Pass It On’ start things off right before a couple of cuts from new album Coral Island are introduced. ‘In The Morning’ is the perfect Sunday morning pick-me-up, but it is the psychedelic freak out of ‘Goodbye’ preceding a rapturously received ‘Dreaming of You’ that ensures that the more bleary eyed audience members are now fully awake.

Sports Team follow with lead singer Alex Rice in raucous mood and sporting a frankly spectacular pair of purple trousers. ‘Here It Comes Again’ gets the party started off right and the band play a couple of interesting sounding new songs before ‘Fishing’ and ‘M5’ sees the young crowd going mental down at the front. I was watching from afar of course with my bad back and heartburn tablets on standby. Rock and/or roll.

We sadly miss the end of Sports Team to head other to the T’Other Stage to catch Scouting for Girls. Based on the size of the crowd you would think that the Beatles had reformed and it was soon clear that we had absolutely no chance of getting anywhere near the tent. We could hear them though and the mass singalong to ‘She’s So Lovely’ was another nice Tramlines moment.

Next up is novelty band Elvana – that being a Nirvana covers band fronted by the ghost of the king himself – Elvis Presley. I will say that I was reluctant to use the word ‘novelty’ just now because that doesn’t do justice to how good this band sound and the quality of their performance. As a Nirvana covers band they are genuinely exemplary, and their Elvis covers are great also. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to see a mash up of ‘Rape Me’ and ‘Love Me Tender’? Or indeed of ‘A Little Less Conversation’ and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’? The frontman of Elvana, who I guess is simply called ‘Elvis’ (right?), has an incredible stage presence and there are plenty of so called ‘proper’ bands who could absolutely learn a thing or two from this reincarnation of the king. A genuinely wonderful set.

The Wombats overcome some sound issues for the first couple of songs to deliver a greatest hits set that sees the Tramlines crowd unite as one for anthems such as ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’ and ‘Kill the Director’. Newer tracks ‘Greek Tragedy’ and ‘Lemon to a Knife Fight’ sound great also but it is a barn storming version of ‘Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)’ that provides the band’s finest hour.

A drunken stumble to the Leadmill Stage sees us face to face with Yard Act. Frontman James Smith is in good spirits when we arrive and despite lamenting the fact that this show ‘…isn’t the slick rock ‘n’ roll performance you wanted’, he still delivers a ferocious tirade that some people would call songs, with ‘Rich’, ‘100% Endurance’ and ‘The Overload’ particular highlights. The perfect band to push everyone back into the party zone before the final headliner of the evening over at the Main Stage. A bright future awaits.

Sunday night headline slots can be tough, everyone is tired, everyone has backache, everyone has heartburn. What do you mean that’s only the fat old men? Outrageous. Madness are seasoned festival pros however, and so, beginning with ‘One Step Beyond’ is as good a way as any to dust off the old cobwebs. What follows is a hit parade of the highest order with ‘My Girl’ sounding great and ‘Embarrassment’ every inch the banger it always was.

Whilst the middle section of the London band’s set drags a little, Suggs and co. get the crowd going again with a cover of The Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’ followed by a wonderful section that takes in ‘House of Fun’, ‘Baggy Trousers’ and ‘Our House’ before an emotional run through of their version of ‘It Must Be Love’ provides the crowd with yet another Tramlines moment. Lovely stuff.

And that’s pretty much it bar a brief encore and my 87th trip to the toilet. Live music still has the novelty factor after two years imprisoned in our houses and Tramlines 2022 will go down as a raging success.

See you next year!