SOUTHAMPTON'S Common People festival returns today after a triumphant debut yesterday.

Legend Grace Jones, Clean Bandit, Years and Years plus many more are expected to light up the common for the second day.

With sunshine, colourful flags and tunes from world-class musicians - the first day of the inaugural Common People Festival in Southampton was a day to remember.

More than 35,000 people converged on the common for 12 hours of music, including sets from De La Soul, Jaguar Skills and Fatboy Slim, pictured below.

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The latter closed the day with floor filler classic Praise You blasting from the main stage followed by an equally explosive firework display which took revellers pleasantly by surprise.

Punters of all ages could be seen soaking up the sunshine, from families with young children to groups of friends in their 20s, 30s and beyond.

There were stages to cater to all tastes, with the Uncommon Stage showcasing the finest local talent handpicked at a competition held at The Joiners in April.

The Big Top featured electronic music from Huxley, Dusky and Waze and Odyssey and people could be seen dancing to old school favourites at the Astoria area.

Funky Little Choir, Mr Motivator, The Novatones, Plastic Mermaids, George the Poet, The Southsea Alternative Choir, Jaguar Skills, DJ Yoda, De La Soul and Fatboy Slim all graced the main stage in front of an eager crowd.

George the Poet delivered thought-provoking tracks based around the impact of technology and The Southsea Alternative Choir had the crowd dancing and singing.

The talk of the day was Jaguar Skills, who sent shockwaves through festival goers with his ever-changing track list, most notably mixing Faithless' Insomnia into Lethal Bizzle's Pow.

The Southampton indie-rock four-piece were the first major band to play at the inaugural festival and attracted a huge early crowd in the warm spring sunshine.

They grabbed attention straight away with the highly-charged songs Guns and Dynamite and She’s Out going down a storm.

With his trademark Epiphone Supernova Union Jack guitar lead singer-guitarist Anthony Pittman led the group through the rest of their 50 minute set at break neck speed.

The lads played favourite songs from all three of their EPs Begging at the Bun house, For Monies Sake and their latest Sunday Romance.

Guitarist Mackenzie Gordon-Smith took over main vocals on popular song Tell Me while Toby Hornby-Patterson provided a terrific bass line all the way through.  

There were full festival sing-a-longs and arms in the air for Live for the Weekend and the rapturous I.I.I.

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THE NOVATONES ignited the main stage on day one of Common People.

This show was especially good news for drummer Sean Swift who, as previously reported in the Daily Echo, had been in a fight against time to see if his broken wrist would be healed enough to play.  

“There was no way Sean was going to miss this one!” Anthony told the crowd.

Another song was The Dream is Over, although nothing could be further from the truth for The Novatones at the moment.

Things just seem to be getting better and better.

Last week the band, who play regularly at The Joiners on St Mary’s Street, was given the astonishing news that they are booked for the Isle of Wight Festival for a second year running.

“It’s highly unusual for unsigned local bands to be invited back two years in a row” Anthony explained to the Daily Echo.

Just before the Novatones, fellow Southampton battle of the bands winners Bel Esprit played an impressive midday set to several hundred fans on the outer Uncommon stage.

Back on the main stage Anthony, Mackenzie, Toby and Sean ended with Avenue Road, their moving anthem about life and times in the city.

That wrapped up an outstanding homecoming performance in front of friends, family and old and new fans. The Novatones are at the top of their game.

Review by Richard Derbyshire

 

Below is a full programme of Common People acts and a map.

Daily Echo:

Daily Echo: