Review: Y Not Festival day 3, Pikehall, Derbyshire

On Saturday revellers flocked to Pikehall in Derbyshire for the third day of the Y Not Festival.

A downpour of rain wasn’t enough to stop fans working out to the legendary Mr Motivator. He had fans flexing their muscles, squatting and lunging with smiles on their faces.

Fans packed in to The Quarry tent to see the superb Rosadocs. Led by energetic frontman Keelan Graney, the band have gained a dedicated, hardcore following with a packed tent singing along to every word of each anthemic song. At Your Door, Towards the Sun and Runaway Instead were extremely well-received. The latter saw Graney head into the crowd with fans crouching down around him and leaping into the air when the chorus kicked in.

Also on The Quarry Stage, Sheffield singer Frankie Beetlestone impressed with a slick, well-rehearsed set. The charismatic frontman commanded the stage and engaged with fans as he played Popstar, Get Paid and Lucky Day amongst others.

Back on the main stage, The Lancashire Hotpots added hilarity with their satirical, comedic songs. He’s Turned Emo, Chippy Tea and eBay Eck all had the fans in stitches.

Liverpool rockers, Red Rum Club impressed with their characteristic energetic and frenetic set. Frontman Francis Doran swaggered around the stage and engaged with the crowd as the band performed hits Vanilla, Vibrate and Eleanor.

Fans clamouring for a nostalgic fix gathered to watch noughties popstar Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The bumper crowd went wild when she performed her 2001 mega hit Murder on the Dancefloor as well as a great cover of Madonna’s Like a Prayer.

Wigan quartet The Lathums came out onto the main stage to rapturous applause and had the crowd singing and dancing in unison to Fight On, Great Escape and I See Your Ghost.

Manchester-rockers James also had a stand-out set with enigmatic front man Tim Booth crowdsurfing and climbing the barricade to serenade the fans. Classic hits Sit Down, Laid and Born of Frustration were all crowd pleasers.

“This is why you join a band in the first place, for nights like this,” Serge Pizzorno declared after Kasabian had played popular number Empire. The Leicestershire four-piece delved into their expansive back-catalogue with Shoot the Runner, Fire, Club Foot and great covers of Daft Punk’s One More Time and Fatboy Slim’s Praise You, which had the crowd dancing and bounding around in the mosh pit.

Pizzorno’s stage presence was phenomenal, the crowd hanging off every word and physically hanging onto him when he climbed the barrier during hit song Stevie.

The crowd were treated to a three-song encore including Bless This Acid House, L.S.F. and the anthemic Fire. The latter was a pure spectacle – 35,000 fans singing the spine-chilling lyrics even as they were heading out of the venue.