It's All About The Little Guy
Noise and Confusion's line up had been built around rumours. Big names had been branded about that could have rivalled Bono's address book. So, when a relatively unknown band like Yeti was announced, it was all a bit of an anti climax. A couple of years ago John Hassall was a member of a band the music press were touting as the best thing since slice bread. Whilst Carl Barat has gone onto quietly form his new band, Pete Doherty has dated a supermodel, attempted to kick drugs and was part of that performance at Live 8. But regardless of appearances, The Libertines were about more than just two guys and for this fact alone it was a mixture of both intrigue and scepticism that greeted Yeti to the stage.
Timid at first, Yeti gradually gained confidence as their set progressed, surprising many with their sixties tinged and upbeat catchy tunes. Not of the Keane school of thought, Yeti openly embraces the concept of a guitar packed band with four of the five members all toting the instrument. On top of this, they seem to equally share out vocal duties, never allowing one band member to stay too long in the limelight, a fact that evaded The Libertines throughout and something Hassall is obviously trying to rectify now. The end result is that the audience are treated to a variety of vocal offerings that all share the common thread of Yeti's sound; a sound that when broken down resembles what can only be assumed would have been the sound of The Libertines minus a certain two band members. Yeti may not have been the band to wow the crowd at Noise and Confusion, but they made one more deviant step into the music world, introducing the Cardiff crowd to yet another off shoot from The Libertine's fall out and hammering home the point that festivals don't always have to be about the big names.