East Ren turns into a musical Playground
Problems not enough to mar new festival as diva, Hill, is talking point
FRASER WILSON
Scotland’s newest musical festival brought East Renfrewshire to life at the weekend.
Thousands of fans descended onto Rouken Glen Park to catch some of the biggest names in music took to the stage.
And the News were lucky enough to be invited along to the inaugural Playground Festival.
A muggy Friday evening soon turned into the Costa Del Giffnock courtesy of Scottish parody lotharios, The Cuban Brothers took to the stage.
As the sun shone on the ever-increasing crowd, the break-dancing, beat-boxing men of soul had the crowd in raptures with their blend of fantastic live music and comedy.
They paved the way nicely for Friendly Fires, who cemented their position as one of the UK’s best festival bands upon their return to live perfomances.
But both were the mere warm-up act for Groove Armada, who channeled their seamless Balearic repertoire and banging hits for the baying Scottish crowd.
And they didn’t disappoint, with a set that the crowd were sad to see come to an end on a balmy summer evening.
Whilst sparse in parts, the event site hosted a hidden gem in the Big Feed food and drink village, supported by a consistently banging DJ set, perfect for starting off the celebrations.
And such was the case on Saturday, with hundreds content to enjoy the best of Scottish food with beers and live DJ-ing.
Radio 2 and Six Music DJ, Craig Charles’ set was one for the ages, and made the thousands in attendance forget about the rain, geeing them up for De La Soul.
The 90s hip hop legends gave a decent performance, but perhaps their best days are behind, though they still pulled a sizeable crowd.
Disappointment came in the shape of Lauryn Hill who took to the stage more than an hour late.
Due on stage at 9.30pm, she didn’t turn up until after 10.30pm, with the crowd booing as the support DJ tried to keep them calm.
When Hill did finally appear she was only able to perform six songs before organisers cut the sound to hit their 11pm curfew.
Her attitude and lack of professionalim left a sour taste in the mouth of festival goers who shelled out a pretty penny to see her perform.
A welcome addition to the festival scene, ironing out a few problems could see this event become a real hit with partygoers.