Despite getting little sleep thanks to the very public break-up that happened in the tent behind ours on Saturday night, Sunday morning arrives with the campsite in good spirits and the weather continuing its rare good form, as rumours begin to circulate about a ‘secret’ set over on the Festival Republic Stage from London’s Wolf Alice.

Much like QOTSA’s not-so-secret set two days prior, anyone with battery and the festival app would have found out about it a couple of hours before stage time, but even still, as midday rolls around and the four piece appear on stage the tent is less busy than expected. That said, as they launch open with their most recent single ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching a headline act, given the modest crowd’s huge reaction.

With a setlist comprised of nothing but singles, every track aired evokes a similar reaction to the first. And when the band finally finish with a rousing rendition of ‘Giant Peach’, the crowd loses it. Having already made their stake on headline glory in 2015 with a blistering performance on the NME stage, you can guarantee that following this morning’s set, they’re well on their way to the realms of indie royalty.

At a somewhat more emo end of the spectrum, Moose Blood’s over on the Main Stage were a perfectly inoffensive way to ease any lingering hangovers. And while the older members of the crowd offer little more than ambivalence towards the Canterbury four-piece, the fans at the front hang on to front-man Eddy Brewerton’s every word.

Flipping that scene on its head, it’s little more than three hours later, and the older crowd, all too aware of the post-hardcore royalty that stand on stage before them, are hanging on to every crunch and scream of At The Drive-In, while those younger members of the audience look on bemused, or opt to head elsewhere.

It’s something that continues for nu-metallers Korn, whose set, though plagued by a thunderous low-end that drowns everything out. That said, the band slam through  an impressive fifteen song set, airing classics such as ‘Falling Away From You and ‘Blind’ while ‘Freak on Leash’ signals numerous circle pits and ends their set on a high.

It’s a direct contrast to the sun-kissed indie-pop of Macclesfield’s Cassia, who draw a modest but devoted crowd over on the BBC introducing Stage just before hand. Having just released their latest single ‘Sink’ the trio are riding an impressive wave at present, and while their tireless work ethic must be taking its toll by now, they show no signs of fatigue as they liberally scatter their set with fan favourites such as ‘Moana’, ‘Paradise Beach’ and the massive ‘100 Times Over’. With a set that feels short but sweet, you can expect to see them rise through the R&L ranks over the next couple of years.

With the sun now set for the final time on this year’s festival, and the anarchic and somewhat over the top bass of Major Lazer finally finished, swarms of people head towards the Main Stage for this weekend’s final headliner.

No stranger to the fields of Bramham Park, this is Eminem’s third time headlining the festival; his appeal no less diminished despite the recent lack of new material. Undertaking a mammoth 33 song set that takes in tracks from over the course of his career as well a smattering of covers by the likes of Lil Wayne, Drake and B.O.B, the latter’s ‘Airplanes Part II’ a particular highlight, allowing for Eminem’s nasally vocal delivery to cut through the track’s polished production exquisitely.

Of course, the tracks from later in his career offer up a different aesthetic entirely from those early cuts, and while the likes of ‘Love the Way You Lie’ and ‘The Monster’ benefit from Ebony taking on Rhianna’s vocal parts, it’s the earlier offerings, from The Marshall Mathers LP or The Slim Shady LP that showcase just how far Eminem has come. And though tracks such as ‘Stan’, ‘The Way I Am’ or ‘My Name Is’ elicit some of the weekend’s biggest reactions, there’s much more time spent on the more recent, ‘serious’ material, that which has gone on to prove Eminem’s career encompasses much more than quick flow and controversy.  

Despite the huge set-list, his encore comes around all too soon and somewhat fittingly, ‘Lose Yourself’ garners the biggest reaction of the day. As Eminem tells the crowd that “We’ll always remember this show”, it feels like anything but a cliché. 

While I might consider myself something of a  Festival veteran these days, arriving halfway through the weekend is something I’d never done before. Unfortunately, work commitments meant that this year we don’t arrive on site until early Saturday afternoon, a move which has both pros, and cons.

While turning up looking and feeling fresher than the hardcore contingent that have been camped since Wednesday has its pluses, it also means that this year we miss the likes of Liam Gallagher and Muse, whose respective sets were mentioned over the weekend with nothing but reverence.

Entering the arena for the first time this year, it’s instantly obvious that the atmosphere on the Main Stage for indie-poppers Two Door Cinema Club has been boosted tenfold by the weather, and the band’s bright and breezy indie anthems are lapped up by a baying audience. We make our way over to the BBC Introducing stage for Leeds locals The Golden Age Of TV, whose upbeat art-pop is yet another perfect accompaniment to the weather. Having come a long way in a short space of time, the band’s latest single ‘Television’ only feels like the tip of the iceberg, and you can expect much more from them soon.

Unsurprisingly, Bastille’s return to the Main Stage following their 2015 appearance is met with a rapturous response from a distinctly younger audience and as the sun starts to dip and the band belt out the likes of ‘The Things We Lost in The Fire’ and ‘Pompeii’, flairs are lit and more than a few people seem physically moved.

Elsewhere, Cigarettes After Sex offer an atmospheric and more laid back alternative on The Festival Republic Stage, though one can’t help but feel their overtly chilled ambient indie would be better suited to an earlier slot than the one they find themselves in. That said, the band make for an interesting discovery, and one we recommend checking out.

Back on the Main Stage, Kasabian hit the stage to a riotous response, opening with ‘Ill Ray (The King)’ there’s bucket hats aplenty and more than a few flairs considering their banned nature at the festival, it all adds to the atmosphere however.

Concurrently, You Me At Six followed up last year’s not-so-secret set with a blistering statement of a headline on the NME/Radio One Stage. 15 tracks filled that span the entirety of the band’s career, it’s performances like this that inspire the massive devotion their fans shower on them. Tracks such as ‘Loverboy’ and ‘Stay With Me’ are met with huge singalongs, while ‘Save It for the Bedroom’ is almost deafening in its crowd participation. And as huge jets of flame erupt from the stage, it’s abundantly clear that You Me At Six have come a long way from their be-fringed pop-punk beginnings and are fully deserving are the arena-filling realms they now inhabit. True modern day rock stars.

Back at the Main Stage, Kasabian close with an impassioned outing of ‘Fire’, and while the crowd loses its collective shit, it becomes increasingly clear that they’re a band I just won’t ever seem to ‘get’ and though they’re one of the biggest names in British music in recent years, I can’t help but ask myself, why?

The final contemporary music event of the 2017 Edinburgh International Festival finds Stephin Merritt & The Magnetic Fields performing their 50 Song Memoir album over the course of two nights at the King's Theatre.

The theatre auditorium’s not the biggest of those that Edinburgh has to offer but nor is it one you could describe as small; yet with Merritt positioned centre front of the stage, surrounded by instruments and personal items & with the band members enclosing him at the back & sides, he was able to seemingly address each member of the audience in person, making each show a surprisingly intimate event.

Well known for his droll wit, Merritt is on excellent form in between the songs cataloguing his life up to 2015, with tales of his itinerant upbringing (33 different residences in the first 23 years) and familial anecdotes not already covered in such songs as ‘A Cat Called Dionysus’ and ‘My Mama Ain’t’. Either tangentially or directly The Vietnam War, Reaganomics, AIDS and the other major events of the period 1966-2015 are dealt with as the show progresses, sometimes whimsically and sometimes grimly thought provoking but always with great chutzpah and his expressive tones.

Most of the songs have a visual element projected onto a large screen directly over Merritt’s head and these films and cartoons are often very absorbing in their own right. Ranging from the Pythonesque to manipulated medical footage via straightforward animation these serve to visually amplify much of the imagery conjured up to illustrate the singer’s life to date. Or, in the case of the footage from the 1916 silent film version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, his attempts at writing the odd musical or two (something actually achieved with Neil Gaiman’s Coraline).

Night two of the show is somewhat less euphoric than the first though that’s only to be expected as it contains the songs covering the ‘80s and the aftermath of the AIDS epidemic. Still his dry humour drives things along and the amount of love in the room for the 50+ man on the stage, sat in an approximation of one of the tin dollhouses he collects, is unremitting and the openness about his existence over this Friday and Saturday is appreciated with a standing ovation for him and his players.  

 Image:- Julia Stryj

In preparation for tonight's show I played Lift To Experience's (seminal?) album The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads for the first time in over a decade. It made little impact on me, which is probably why I played it so infrequently when I actually owned it. Frontman Josh T. Pearson has a legion of devotees I know but I've zero idea of what he's done in the years since that album came out although he was recently described to me as a sub-Father John Misty type preacher so I think I've a reasonable idea.

Support tonight turned out to be provided by Meursault, a seemingly handy occurrence as I’d never yet heard their more folky sound or seen them since their recent reformation. Technically, however, I’d say I still haven’t seeing as onstage there was only a dour, acoustic duo of Neil Pennycook and a violinist. There was a good amount of dry wit forthcoming, blether about Charlie Brown and sentiments about sea songs with which most there seemed to agree with but, given the oppressive heat of the hall, this wasn’t the greatest set to stand through.

Still, as Pennycook himself was well aware, Lift To Experience were everyone’s reason for shelling out £30+ to swelter so he did his bit with aplomb & vacated the stage on time. Only for the headliners to unfortunately be a bit late & then suffer some technical issues through the first couple of songs. Doubly frustrating from them and Lee from Leeds as they’d spent a couple of hours prior working on perfecting the sound in the hall and ensuring their transported equipment married up with Summerhall’s electrics.

A working Leslie pedal was though duly installed and the trio’s sound, already decently loud and defined, gained a further edge to put it in front of that heard on the album. Whilst Pearson’s vocals were largely lost in the music that was easily made up for with the sonically invigorating sounds produced by the group’s evident hard work. All three consistently looked like they were in their element and never happier than when onstage.

Between songs Pearson had a very engaging line in banter, clearly understanding the Edinburgh/Glasgow cheek he came out with rather than parroting someone else’s suggestion, along with honest & unique chat aside from that. Selfies (or “handjobs”) with the crowd and the band’s steer skull mascot were taken prior to the final song of the album set, rounding out one of the best atmosphere’s I’ve seen at a show in a long time.

Pearson returned to do a one man encore of ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ which saw a decent number of audience members singing along before he graciously and gratefully called an end to the proceedings. I still don’t see myself rating The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads highly as an album but as a live experience it’s in a different league.