Review: Tramlines festival, Day 2

Revellers braved the elements on a rainy Saturday, to watch one of the UK’s most revered bands, The Courteeners, who put on a superb show, as well as a secret set from McFly.

Speculation was rife as to who the ‘Scottish Flies’ were, but it didn’t take long for fans to work that one out. If there was any doubt, it was certainly cleared up on Friday afternoon with a tweet from the Tramlines account saying “It’s all about you Sheffield.”

After a slightly delayed opening due to the downpour of rain, festival staff wanted to ensure concert-goers were safe by putting hay on the muddy ground.

Local band VIVAS kicked thing off on The Leadmill Stage with a high-tempo, energetic set. Their latest song, Bittersweet, out next week, went down well with all in attendance.

Fans packed in early to see local legends, the Everly Pregnant Brothers. Jokes and lyrics about the current government aplenty, the crowd were laughing and cheering in unison. As always, the band had great crowd interaction and even threw out breadcakes into the crowd for their latest song It’s a Breadcake! The site of hundreds of breadcakes being thrown around in the crowd is certainly a sight to behold! “ Don’t throw them back! They cost us 20p each them,” Frontman Shaun Doane bellows.

Liverpool rockers, Red Rum Club received a great ovation as they headed out onto the Sarah Nulty Main Stage. The band had impressed in previous years on The Leadmill and The Library Stage but had a well-deserved promotion to the main stage. They didn’t let down and delivered a fast-paced, frenetic set with hits Vanilla, Vibrate and Eleanor all being played.

Next up on the main stage were British pop royalty McFly. They had the packed Hillsborough crowd singing and dancing instantly as they delved into their expansive back catalogue of hits with the likes of All About You, Obviously and 5 Colours In Her Hair.

The band, who are celebrating 20 years together next month, still played with the youthful exuberance and energy that saw them become megastars in the early noughties.

Stockport quintet the Blossoms were warmly received. Their catchy synth-forward blend of indie rock and Britpop proved a hit with the Yorkshire crowd.

Then it was over to fellow Mancunians, The Courteeners to impress the crowd. The band were only two songs in playing Cavorting when they had to stop due to an issue in the crowd. After a slight delay the band carried on and thrashed out Summer, Lose Control and Small Bones, to name but a few.

The band left frontman Liam Fray to play a little acoustic set with Smiths Disco and a cover of It Must Be Love before returning for a four-song encore featuring mega hit Not Nineteen Forever.

Despite the unruly weather, it didn’t deter or dampen revellers’ spirits who will be keen to shuffle through the gates on Sunday July 23 to see the likes of Sugababes, Kaiser Chiefs, Ella Henderson and Paul Heaton.