Electric Picnic 2010 - Philip Selway
Cosby Stage, Saturday 4th September 5.15pm
Describe in a tweet: As actually tweeted: "Just back from Phil Selway. Floaty floaty chilled tunes. What a lovely chap."
What happened: Philip Selway is a lovely chap - a thoughtful soul. He thanked his band for coming, he thanked everyone in front of him for coming. He warned us this was the first time he'd ever performed on his own in front of a English speaking crowd. He even asked us to cover our ears when he thought his guitar was going to spurt out some feedback and then timidly - he started his set.
It's middle of the road stuff in terms of songs. Neither amazing or poor, but there's something distinctively pleasant about it. The melodies on tracks like By Some Miracle and Patron Saint wash and swirl through the air, piquing the odd interest here and there. Lovely rich sounds of double bass, violin and an unexpected saw floated through the crowd.
But ultimately, it's hard to escape the fact that this is the drummer from Radiohead performing a set of his own material. Whilst it's all perfectly pleasant, out advice is that he shouldn't give up the day-job just yet.
Electric Dreams: Lying on the soft ground.
Ants at a picnic: Getting a dead leg.
EP rating: 5/10
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