This really was a coming of age for Tramlines, and Stereophonics were the perfect band to headline the opening night of the 10th anniversary.
In the last 20 years Stereophonics have proved one thing beyond all doubt – they write some cracking songs. At the end the entire audience cheered and shouted for more, and they could easily have come back on and done another hour, It was a crowd-pleasing run through of their greatest hits and tracks, and suited the new location of Hillsborough Park perfectly. Tramlines is now a proper grown up festival with several separate stages, but everyone here tonight seemed to want to see the Welsh wizards close the show.
They started by going back to their first album with ‘1000 Trees’ and ‘More Life In A Tramp’s Vest’, and then ran through a 20-year career of similar rousing hits and album tracks. We were treated to the obligatory ‘Have A Nice Day’ sing-a-long, and I particularly liked the part where they got into a huddle and played on the part of the stage that projected into the audience. They said it was the size of the stage when they used to play The Leadmill. My highlight was when they played a perfect version of ‘Handbags and Gladrags’. The sun set over the football stadium and the clouds cleared for a nice mix of intimate songs and spectacularly staged stadium rock.
Words: Mark Perkins
Photography: Timothy Taylor
