Fresh music, good vibes and adult-free fun. Underage 2011 hit Victoria Park on Friday with the best alternative, rock and urban artists around.
You might think that putting thousands of teenagers together to a soundtrack of power chords and blasting bass sans parents is asking for trouble, but the closest thing to chaos we witnessed all day was a frenzy of screaming 14-year-old girls (complete with temporary tattoos, braids and glitter courtesy of Claire’s Accessories) lurking outside the VIP area hoping to catch a glimpse of comedy music group The Midnight Beast.
Bombay Bicycle Club, Miles Kane, Crystal Fighters and CocknBullkid were among the acts playing the Underage main stage; the Last.fm stage hosted sets from the likes of Labrinth, Ghost Eyes, Yasmin and Giggs, and Florrie and Alex Winston were just a few of the artists on at the Topman CTRL stage. Other offerings included a performance by Pixie Geldof’s band Violet, a DJ set by Vampire Weekend’s Baio and the chance to see some really new music in the form of Roundhouse competition winners Young Hearts and DJ Edge.
Stalls serving food and drink of the non-alcoholic kind were aplenty as well as the expected efforts to get young people involved with political and environmental issues. Coca Cola hosted a plastic bottle exchange and there was the chance to campaign against UK tax loopholes in a more civilised manner than attacking a branch of Topshop.
Solid all-round entertainment: Go while you’re young enough!
