In the centre of England, Derby hosted its second TK Maxx – Summer Sessions Festival on the weekend of the 12th – 14th of July. It ran Friday to Sunday with Sunday having the times rescheduled as revellers (and acts) were clearly going to be torn between music and football. The venue for the festival is under the big top in Markeaton Park, which really made a great venue for a selection of the charts biggest acts. Lightning Seeds required times adjusting because of the Euros final, but the atmosphere was buzzing as the planets of music and football seemed to align with Lightning Seeds on the bill, they had plans for final day. The set included singles like ‘Marvellous’, ‘Change’, ‘Sugar coated Iceberg’, ‘Sense’, ‘Lucky You’ (see our video here), ‘Pure’ (see our video here), ‘The life of Riley’ and their cover of The Byrds song ‘You showed Me’. They are not one hit wonders, they are not a goof band they are an important Indie / Brit-Pop band from the 90’s. I think with some bands, you really forget they have such a great body of work because one song is so big, it gradually works as a shield to all their other great material. Like the moon going over the sun, and blackening it out. ‘The life of Riley’ is great tonight, and I find out that Riley is the name of Ian’s son who is now the guitarist in the band now. We get to the end of the set and security bring out very large inflatable footballs and the the crowd start to sing its coming home, see our video here. Ian stands on the stage smiling, before the band start to play too. It has to be the best version of ‘Three Lions’ I have ever heard and the atmosphere was electric. So make sure you catch Lightning Seeds, when they come to a venue near you.
