The Streets share the love at Pohoda Festival

Slovakia | | 20 July 2008

The singer made the request during his band’s headline set at the Slovakian festival, near to the town of Trencin, on Saturday night.

"I want you to do something for me," he pleaded, "I want you to look to your left and stare into someone's eyes, someone you don't know, then give them a big hug."

The crowd duly obliged and also answered his request to stage a mass sit in, just like he had done at EXIT Festival in Serbia the previous weekend, before prompting them to jump.

The rest of the set proved a high-energy affair as the band roared through tracks including 'Don't Mug Yourself' and 'Original Pirate Material' with 'Let's Push Things Forward' segueing into The Prodigy's 'Out Of Space'. But there was also time for slower numbers like 'Never Went To Church' and penultimate song 'Dry Your Eyes', before the band finished on 'Fit But You Know It'.

Editors dazzling early evening set drew a massive crowd as they thundered through hits 'Sparks', and 'Munich', while an epic version of 'Racing Rats' turned out to be the highlight of the performance.

Donned in a purple sequined suit King Solomon Burke treated the audience to a medley of soul classics. Singing 'Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay', 'In The Midnight Hour' and 'Mustang Sally' back to back, the oversized singer had his forehead intermittently mopped by one of his backing singers.

"If you've had any love problems, don't worry they're just mistakes – just don't make them again," the grandfather of 88 told the crowd, before handing out red roses to the women in the audience.

The Cribs only managed to attract a small crowd but they remained at their hectic best. 'Moving Pictures' and 'Man's Needs' attracted the loudest cheers as the trio weighed their set with tracks from their latest offering 'Man's Needs, Woman's Needs, Whatever'.

The Jarman brothers also debuted a new track 'Victim Of Mass Production', which echoes back to their 'Hey Scensters' sound. Despite a small circle pit, the crowd remained unmoved, prompting Ryan Jarman to say: "You look tired, we flew in at 3am – you've got nae excuse."

Seun Kuti's political African grooves were energetically performed on the Metoo Stage with help from Egypt 80. "Maybe it's the music but I can't hear you," goaded Kuti before mistakenly thanking Bratislava rather than Trencin.

Elsewhere, a late night Pendulum DJ set packed out the O2 Stage, but their support from MC Jakes was a little lethargic. While Ireland's Bell X1 cheeky changed some of their lyrics and replaced them with "Don't want to be your daddy, just want you in my caddie/Don't want to be your mumma, just want to make you cumma," from Outkast's 'Hey Ya' during their afternoon slot.

One of the most popular places to relax was in the Dinner In The Sky bar, which lifted fans 150 metres in the air to enjoy panoramic views and a pint. 24 people were strapped to seats at a time as a crane hoisted the unusual pub into the sky, where revellers enjoyed a complementary pint for the £6 ticket price.

Check back for our full review of Slovakia's biggest festival Pohoda.

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