Noah and The Whale, The Vaccines and Palma Violets
11/07/2012
The gig was a concert like no other – each Eden Session is a
sort of one-day festival which takes place outdoors, amongst the plants from
around the world which make the Eden Project the place that it is.
We joined the queue early, eager for a good place near the
front, and found ourselves in a valley at the bottom of a hill, where the stage
was set up. After some warming Cornish
pasties to help us get through the cold and the rain, the gate was soon opened
and we happily took our places in the second row.
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| Palma Violets |
The first band were newcomers Palma Violets, who none of the
crowd knew, but, by the end of their set, had everyone smiling and
cheering. They were certainly very different
to the folky headliners, Noah and The Whale, as in contrast their set was full
of roaring electric guitars and singing interspersed with enthusiastic shouts,
but their set made a big impression.
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| The Vaccines performing Norgaard |
The second act, The Vaccines,were our favourite of the
night. They were the perfect band to ‘rock out to’ in such a gig in the open
air and rain; the whole crowd screamed along with the memorable and catchy
songs, which have made The Vaccines one of the most popular bands of the past
year. Their performance was what you’d expect from a good indie rock band: a set full of guitars, and the recognisable
vocals of lead singer, Justin, who performed with an energy which had the whole
crowd entertained. A few key moments
were when they played some material from their new album, including the singles
“No Hope” and “Teenage Icon”, which the crowd enthusiastically sang along with;
there definitely IS hope for the Vaccines to become even more successful than
they have been after the release of their debut album.
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| Freddie from The Vaccines |
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| The Vaccines 'rock out'! |
Headliners Noah and The Whale played the final set of the
evening beneath the night sky: creating an atmospheric hour in which they
performed their heart-warming, optimistic songs. The greatest moment had to be
when they began to play the first few notes of their most well-known song 5
Years Time, and the crowd all cheered and clapped despite the fact that not one
line had yet been sung. The audience’s excitement
continued upon hearing the opening bars of Noah’s eccentric track “Love Of An
Orchestra”, before soon joining in with the song’s catchy hook, “if you’re
gonna run, run from hope”. Another
memorable moment was when the rain stopped and the sky coincidentally cleared
in time for their performance of “Blue Skies”.
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| Noah And The Whale |
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| Lead singer Charlie |
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| A final guitar chord |
The evening didn’t finish with Noah and The Whale’s last
song, The First Days of Spring, as just as we were leaving, we saw that Arni,
the bassist from the Vaccines was still hanging around. A short conversation
and a photograph later, and our Eden Sessions experience was complete. We both agree we would definitely recommend
the annual event.
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Us with Arni from The Vaccines
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Isabella and Felicity
