The Divine Comedy

[Fegg]

I knew little of DC apart from the Graham Linehan connection, and it was worth being there just for the sensory implant of Craggy Island in 'Songs of Love', let alone the rather ruefully performed 'My Lovely Horse'. It took a while but by the end I felt I had really enjoyed a clever and well-crafted set, which should probably have been on two hours earlier.

[Andy]

Never heard this band before and, never will again, at least willingly.

It is very seldom that Wendy puts her foot down, but 30 mins was quite enough and she stood up, announced "we're off" and we scampered back to the tent.  Some clever words, but the songs (those we heard) weren't all that good, IMHO.

Overblown? Pretentious? Perhaps I am, but I still didn't like what we heard.

(I acknowledge that respected members of this board thought DC were great. Not us, is all I'm saying.)

[Peter H]

As the missus said, the songs have interesting lyrics but they all seem to be sung to the same tune. Fun but not enough to keep us on the field as it got colder. We bailed for the warmth of our camper about halfway through the set.

P.S. As a  history buff, I have to say that Neil Hannon's Napoleon costume looked pretty accurate.

[flossiefiddler]

Gave them the benefit of the doubt, but after 3 songs I headed off to my bed. Wasn't impressed.

[JackTalbot]

Loved them for ages, and 'Frog Princess' live was fantastic, as was 'Our Mutual Friend', but I think it might have been good to get some of their bouncier numbers in early - 'Come Home Billy Bird' is clever and moving, but it's also fast, because it's trying to capture the desperate urgency of a father trying to race home in time to see his son - it's got all the emotional-punch-to-the-gut you expect from Divine Comedy, but if you're new to them it's bouncy-sounding enough I think it would have got people moving a bit more - awesome headline act as far as I was concerned but the thing about a headline act is that the bar has been doing roaring trade all day so if people don't know the lyrics going in, a slower musical pace can undercut the emotional impact of the lyrics (especially if you're sat around the fringes and competing with the sound from the food stalls!

[Bingers (Chris)]

Stayed for first half hour but Neil Hannon's monotonous voice and the surfeit of largely one-paced songs(despite the clever lyrics) meant I couldn't face another hour of that! Never should have headlined and, following the excellent set by Trevor Horn, think the Divine Comedy was anything but...!

[Danny_C]

Have not listened too much of their material but remember some of the “hits”.  For me this was an enjoyable set with clever lyrics than you actually needed to listen to rather than just let the music wash over you like a warm shower.  It did not help them that the weather by then was cold and miserable but for me it was well worth going up to the front and staying for the set.

Regarding the should they be a headline act – they are a band playing their material (yes I know the band members have changed significantly).  For me this makes them a headline act rather than the Trevor Horn who knocked out (not very well in a large number of cases) hits wot I have wrote!

But I do agree with an earlier comment they are a marmite band – you either get it and enjoy it or it’s something you walk away from.

[Paul]

I was really looking forward to this, and was disappointed. Maybe I was cold. Maybe they were too clever for that time of night. They were a sit down and listen carefully to the lyrics band, and I wanted to move around then.

I think they would have been better before Trevor Horn.

Paul

[richardkendell]

Neither Divine nor Comedy.
The first song was I thought quirky and mildly amusing but when repeated several times the band became tedious. I left at 10 and joined a queue to leave the arena.

[David Bean]

Really loved them.  They've been off my musical radar for 10+ years and clearly I have some catching up to do.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Meh.
Went back to the tent.

[madsue]

Meh.
Went back to the tent.

As did I

[Keith]

On the barrier at the front with family. Even Mrs Keith was bopping along, despite the cold and driving rain (not the latter, that's just a lyric). Was a tad slow to start, but as others have said, you need to listen to the lyrics to get the bathos, satire and humour (except Sweden, which is just funny). Neil is a singer, songwriter and actor; that last one is key.

Band were very tight, better than at Glasgow last year, and they played pretty much all the favourites which isn't a prerequisite for enjoyment, but makes it a lot easier to sing along to, which we did - perhaps a little too loudly.  To The Rescue made me cry a bit, as well. Musical highlight of the festival for me.

[Roy C]

Didn't work for me I'm afraid. I appreciated some of the amusing lines which, for me, came every couple of songs, but after half an hour or so it started to sound quite samey and it was getting nippy so, uncharacteristically, I gave up.

[David W]

Isn't the way we can listen to the same music and come to different conclusions fascinating. I find it amazing that comments like monotonous, samey and dull are used for the DC set. Influences ranging from Kurt Weil, the Kinks, Brit pop, and more made it one of the best sets of the weekend for me and anything but dull.

DW

[MarkV]

Isn't the way we can listen to the same music and come to different conclusions fascinating. I find it amazing that comments like monotonous, samey and dull are used for the DC set. Influences ranging from Kurt Weil, the Kinks, Brit pop, and more made it one of the best sets of the weekend for me and anything but dull.

DW

i woild like to think if i had seen them in a warm comfortable venue i would have enjoyed them. If they had been on before Trevor Horn I might have liked them more.  There was (like a lot of the acts i did'nt get this year) nothing really grabed me or interested me enough to stay on a cold field.

[Bingers (Chris)]

Isn't the way we can listen to the same music and come to different conclusions fascinating. I find it amazing that comments like monotonous, samey and dull are used for the DC set. Influences ranging from Kurt Weil, the Kinks, Brit pop, and more made it one of the best sets of the weekend for me and anything but dull.

DW

i woild like to think if i had seen them in a warm comfortable venue i would have enjoyed them. If they had been on before Trevor Horn I might have liked them more.  There was (like a lot of the acts i did'nt get this year) nothing really grabed me or interested me enough to stay on a cold field.

Precisely!

[Roy C]

Isn't the way we can listen to the same music and come to different conclusions fascinating.

DW

Indeed yes. One of the reasons listening to music is so good  

[bassline (Mike)]

Loved it...only days before he was announced me and Abby were having a whatever happened to him type conversation, and there he was. I was down the front so I wasn't cold, and I enjoyed it. Great music, great lyrics and a helping of silly. I only knew a few hits...and My Lovely Horse...and I've bought a few albums since. Something For The Weekend was worth waiting for. I'm not so keen on Marmite, but I thought he was a worthy headliner.