Last updated 05:36, Friday, 25 July 2008

ChumbawumbaFor most people Chumbawamba means either the massive ‘97 hit Tubthumping or the John Prescott incident at the 1998 BRIT awards. Those festival goers catching them for the first time must surely have been quietly surprised at this mix of sensitive, serious, humorous, thoughtful and clever songs.

Next-to-top billing on Sunday evening shows the high regard in which Chumbawamba are held and they didn’t let anyone down with their unique brand of pop and folk, a finely balanced modern and traditional blend.

This was a long way from the band that came out of the Eighties post anarchic punk scene. Twenty odd years later those leanings are still evident in songs such as I wish that they’d sack me and Her Majesty – irreverent and well-observed.

A marker was laid down with the melodic opener Fade Away and it wasn’t long before they were in full swing with the audience on-side. Acapella versions of El Fusilado and the Clash’s Bank Robber helped cement the relationship while Add Me, which can be found on their current album. The Boy Bands Have Won, was their jocular take on the Facebook-style virtual-friendship phenomenon.

This was a shining performance made all the more pleasurable by Boff Whalley’s random interjections which ranged from honorary knighthoods to festival loos.

With Jude Abbot and Lou Watts hitting the sweet vocal spots this was a good evening’s work that undoubtedly earned them many new admirers.

FI EXON