Big & Beautiful?
The interestingly titled Big Linda get a mid afternoon slot on the third stage and they pull in a decent crowd. They start off fairly slowly with a couple of mid paced blues/rock numbers and initially I find them a tad boring.
Unsurprisingly they are reminiscent of Led Zeppelin at times and much of that is down to the stand out voice of singer Rob Alder. They do get something of an atmospheric groove going but there’s not much else going on early in the set though with little on stage movement. They get a good reaction from the crowd though and I’m wondering if they know something I don’t before Big Linda explain everything with ‘Jenny Don’t Look Down’; a big sounding and faster song that is far more engaging and makes you sit up and take notice. There’s some good lead guitar work from Patrick Murdoch and when they follow this with ‘I Don’t Even Like You’ it’s a whole different ball game.
The songs are catchy in places but they have a knack of veering off into experimental phrases that occasionally go on too long but certainly keep things interesting. The rather epic ‘Windpower’ is easily the best song of the set and it’s something of a disappointment that I later learn it’s a cover of Thomas Dolby.
Ironically there’s not much to look at with Big Linda but a tight performance and good musicianship make up for that. They are a good band and are a welcome respite from the much harder bands that have performed so far today and yet there’s still something about them that makes me stop short of wanting to rush out and buy the album. One to watch.