Lily Allen built a career around sharing her most ugly, private moments in kooky, potty-mouthed glib asides. Or rather two careers: she retired from music in 2009, had two children, and then last year announced a comeback – and she really wants you to know it – the entire stage was lined with 19 neon-lit, five foot tall baby’s milk bottles.
Allen kicked things off with Sheezus, the Kanye West send-up and album title track that name drops all the competition – Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lorde, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé present and accounted for – and announces its author's return with the chorus "I am born again, now run along and tell all of your friends." So far, so subtle.
"They told me to cover up and not swear," the 29-year-old informed the crowd, explaining her glittery gold jump suit. "I had to put a couple of covers in because some of my songs are titled swearwords," she added later, before revisiting her 2013 Christmas single, a cover of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know, which Allen reportedly dismissed as "shrill" at the time.
Early hits Smile, LDN and Not Fair got the crowd on its feet, the four-piece band locked into a tight groove, but one expected a more receptive audience for the headliner.
Allen’s conceptual stage show was the antithesis of Richard Ashcroft’s earlier acoustic set, performing solo, dwarfed by the huge empty stage.
“This is the real thing: one man and a guitar – no fireworks, no nothing, just northern soul,” he barked as an introduction. But Ashscroft’s notoriously gigantic ego was brought crashing down after being forced to abort two songs midway, forgetting the words and changes. Clocking just one festival gig since an anthemic appearance supporting Noel Gallagher on the Sandance Beach last year, one couldn’t help feeling Ashcroft was phoning this one in ill-prepared.
The Verve classics Sonnet, Lucky Man, The Drugs Don't Work and, of course, the finale Bittersweet Symphony – all from 1997's 10-million seller Urban Hymns – stood the test of time, and held up to the solo acoustic treatment. But it's sad Ashcroft wasn't brave enough to draw more readily from his four solo albums – perhaps because he struggles with the words. "See you next year," he promised, clearly banking on an annual UAE gig to reline the coffers.
More interesting were The Ting Tings, whose throbbing electro-punk was stacked with the frontwoman Katie White's stage-filling sass and attitude. While early hits That's Not My Name and Shut Up and Let Me Go grated on the ear somewhat, the newer disco and electronica influences expand the sonic palette on cuts from this year's Super Critical, the duo's third.
But Party in the Park’s liveliest moments were away from the main stage. A sprawling festival-like set-up with stunt displays, craft stalls and an overlooked acoustic stage, extra credit was in order for the Clubhouse. A standalone, enclosed space programming DJs from many of the UAE’s best club nights on rotation, there were some euphoric sets from the likes of Audio Tonic, Analog Room, Superheroes and GlobalFunk.
rgarratt@thenational.ae
