REVIEW: Bingley Music Live goes with a bang

These days forty five quid won’t get you far - not least in the live music stakes.

But there’s one small corner of Yorkshire flying the flag for the frugal festival-goer.

Bingley Music Live 2013 gave 15,000 music fans real bang for their buck with an explosive and eclectic three-day extravaganza.

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Headline acts The Human League, Primal Scream and Chic featuring Nile Rodgers were worth the entrance fee alone.

But a packed-out programme with upwards of 40 acts gave a vibrant and value-for-money experience for teenage pop fans, festival-first timers and music aficionados alike.

Stratospheric synth-pop stars The Human League took crowds back to the 80s with a hit-packed headline set.

The group performed a string of trademark tracks in their electric Friday night set. But it was inevitably “Don’t You Want Me Baby” reverberating around Myrtle Park that was an instant festival highlight.

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Earlier, former Specials member Neville Staple and his eponymous band cranked up the festival vibe playing some of his old group’s ska classics including “A Message to You Rudy” and an unforgettable rendition of “Ghost Town”.

Young 18-year-old singer Nina Nesbitt put on a prodigious performance and hotly-tipped Indie outfit Frankie and the Heartstrings got the crowds going.

Saturday’s big draw was Primal Scream – and the fans flocked in their droves from all four corners of the country to relive the glory days of the Glaswegian rockers.

As the sun went down the volume went up as Bobby Gillespie pulled some crowd favourites out the bag from their Screamadelica album.

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The jam-packed park throbbed to tunes like “Country Girl” and “Movin’ on Up” that were still ringing in the ears long after hangovers had subsided.

Another festival smash was lad anthem “Chelsea Dagger” rammed home by reformed indie outfit The Fratellis.

Tinchy Stryder had teenagers bouncing at the front with a bag full of chart hits that have made the rapper hot property.

But the most poignant moment of the whole festival was the swansong of legendary guitarist Wilko Johnson who was diagnosed with terminal cancer a year ago.

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Touted as his last ever gig, the former Dr Feelgood member’s performance was swirling with emotion and defiance.

Tears flowed in the front row as he played out the final notes of his final song “Bye Bye Jonny”.

Despite the cold autumnal wind, Sunday was white-hot with music talent including Theme Park, The Wonderstuff and China Rats.

Katy B will have undoubtedly won over legions of new young fans with an energetic show of her dubstep-heavy pop sound.

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Yorkshire three-piece rockers The Cribs brought verve to proceedings and had their home-county crowd bouncing. When “Men’s Needs” kicked in, 15,000 boisterous voices sang loudly along.

But it was Chic, led by the charismatic disco Demi-god Nile Rodgers, that brought the festival to a climax with a show-stopping, jaw-dropping blitz of Number 1 hits.

Ethereal in white, 60-year-old musical mastermind Rodgers and his pin-sharp eight-piece band showed why they have become the must-see festival act of the summer.

“Everybody Dance” ignited the crowd with disco fever straight from the off.

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Arms aloft, thousands of fans from seven up to 70 danced, swayed and sang together to “Dance, Dance, Dance”, “We Are Family” and Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” in a five-decade-spanning, 24-carat gold homage to Rodgers’ genius.

The man even brought out the sun and a rainbow before the show, and the festival, culminated with a rapturous rendition of “Good Times” which will live long in the memory of the Myrtle Park masses.

Bingley Music Live’s cri-de-guerre is “Big Hearts. Big Sounds” and they will have undoubtedly won over a few more after yet another fantastic festival.

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