Thursday, July 11, 2002

ROCK day at Old Traffordés Move Festival sees a victory for the people who matter.

The backstage enclosure and liggersé chambers are notoriously empty, while the crowd is a sea of (guess-why) green hairdos, aluminium chains and fresh-faced excitement.

It might not be fashionable, but the guitars are loud, the hair is spiky and today proves that Manchester really is the nu-metal capital of the UK.

The early-doors hardcore are thrilled by lunatic pop antics and turbo-charged emotional hardcore by Hoobastank and Rival Schools respectively.

But ités when A take the stage that today really comes alive. The fact that theyére the sole British band on the bill charges the good vibes, but their excitable take on nu-metal is good enough already.

ééLetés ruin the surface so they can never play cricket again!éé shrieks singer Jason Perry.

His excitement is matched only by the punch of tunes like Starbucks and Took It Away.

Less Than Jake deliver ska for fans of the Bloodhound Gang, and while they get what is quite probably the reception of the night, anybody further than 20 rows back just hears brass-supported noise from men in big shorts.

During the introduction to Just A Girl, No Doubtés Gwen Stefani does some extravagant press ups. Later, she climbs the lighting rig and declares ééIém just a girl in Manchester!éé What she may not realise is that sheés the only girl on the entire Move line-up, and so her bandés second billing gets double the goodwill youéd expect towards pantomime skankers. Still, the ladyés an incredible performer, and she drags her boys through a singalonga Donét Speak and runs with the token pop group status on Hey Baby, before reminding us on the punkish Spiderwebs that thereés more to this group than pinstripe pantaloons.

A shame that they sound a little muted in live transition.

Green Day know that the point of being in a band is to entertain.

It might sound obvious, but todayés climax shows how every British band bar A have forgotten to even engage eye contact with an audience, let alone invite three kids onstage to play along mid-set, fire off pyrotechnic flares at the drop of a bass bin and bolster the pre-encore lull with a comedy rendition of Lulués Shout.

But while the antics give good spectacle, the veteran power trio are headlining because of the machine-gun power of their songs.

Basket Case é the Teenage Kicks of the nineties é is incendiary, but the laid-back When I Come Around and acoustic ballad Time Of Your Life give Billie Joe Armstrong the chance to show the human depth beneath his puppy-dog eyes.

Green Day, and indeed most of Thursday, would disgust anybody who claims a ééserious interestéé in music. But like we said, the only people that matter were bouncing all the way to the skate park.