BT London Live: The Temper Trap, Ocean Colour Scene & Feeder

The chilled out, festival-like series of concerts that have been taking place in Hyde Park since the 28^th July are still worth a visit if you are up for a relaxed, Olympic-orientated celebration in the sun. Full coverage of the games is provided on big screens and today a plausible line up of The Temper Trap, Ocean Colour Scene and Feeder were able to keep the varied crowd engaged.

Family friendly, ever so over-priced (apart from the free entry), but tranquil and quite moving to see so many Londoners and tourists, gathering to observe the Olympics, support the athletes and experience some entertaining musical performances.

To start with, The Temper Trap treated the sun kissed, sleepy crowd with a very short but passionate set that featured Love Lost, The Drum Song and of course Sweet Disposition, which fitted the calm ambience perfectly. During the breaks in between the bands, crowds gathered to sunbathe, watch the 100m relays, play table tennis and generally absorb the oh-so-rare beautiful weather we have had.

Ocean Colour Scene provided a bit of variety with their signature Brit-pop, acoustic based tracks, which, more than anything, made the crowd even more languid. However, during The Day We Caught The Train the gargantuan crowd was more involved and sang along with splendid clarity.

Feeder, when they came on promptly at 9:45pm, showed that they still have it in them to give lively, excitable performances. With blaring lights, hard guitar riffs and the forcefulness of Grant Nicholas’ voice, they of course played Buck Rogers and Renegades and a couple of tracks from their latest record, Generation Freakshow.

As the crowd began to slowly dissipate and head to the nearest tube stations, there was still a sense of unity in this fun little event. Maybe it’s the Olympics bringing everyone together, or maybe it’s the weather. Whatever it is, the atmosphere was memorable and it is definitely worth getting down to Hyde Park for a great big chill if you have the time.

Matt Di Salvo

To check out the latest on the BT Live events, visit the festival’s website here.