Blondie LIVE @ V Festival 16.8.14

With the crowd at V Festival renowned for being slightly younger than those found at various other festivals across the UK, due in part to the heavily pop influenced line up, it would have been fair to presume that the crowd in attendance to watch the set from US legends Blondie would have perhaps been on the smaller side in comparison to those of fellow artists on the line up who have been more of a presence in the UK charts.In actual fact, for a band playing the ‘MTV Stage’, the second largest stage at the festival, Blondie received one of the biggest crowds of the weekend and they did not let down their expectant audience.

Despite having their biggest success in the late 70s/early 80s, the band were cheered throughout as they played through a career spanning set list, full making the most of the opportunity to perform at one of the UK’s biggest summer events. ‘Call Me’, ‘Rapture’ and ‘Atomic’ were all met with a huge amount of delight from the crowd and 69 year old lead singer Debbie Harry was clearly buoyed by the animated fans.

Opening with one of their most well known tracks ‘One Way or Another’ set the tone for this energetic set and both ‘The Tide is High’ and the 1999 UK number 1 ‘Maria’ were also welcomed by all.Debbie Harry, dressed in a vibrant, all-red outfit, reminiscent of that which she wore to the NME awards earlier in the year, coupled with an intriguing batman-style utility belt showed the likes of Pixie Lott and Rita Ora, who appeared at the festival across the weekend, exactly how it’s done. Debbie Harry has always been a lead singer who puts on a great show and ensures the crowd get more than a karaoke performance and she accompanied her vocals with some inspired dance moves that certainly gave Justin Timberlake a run for his money in the ‘best dancer at V Fest’ contest.

Not content at just playing through their own hits from across the last four decades, Blondie also found time to pay tribute to Deee-Lite by performing their 1990 disco-funk classic ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ and also covered the Beastie Boys hit ‘Fight For Your Right’, which the band have become accustomed to doing at live shows recently.

Closing their set with the ethereal ‘Heart Of Glass’ had everyone “ooooh ooh oh-ing” for the rest of the afternoon and meant that Blondie’s lively, spirited set would live on long in the memory.

Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno

 

Photo – Zimbio

Matt Tarr

Matt Tarr

Urban Music Editor
With grime and hip hop being major influences on him growing up in South East London, Matt's passion is urban music but over the years he has gathered a hugely diverse taste, ranging from Wiley to The Smiths by way of Machine Head, that has made him a very open minded individual.
Matt Tarr
Live Reviews
About Matt Tarr
With grime and hip hop being major influences on him growing up in South East London, Matt's passion is urban music but over the years he has gathered a hugely diverse taste, ranging from Wiley to The Smiths by way of Machine Head, that has made him a very open minded individual.