The weekend began brightly, firstly making a three hour journey from Winchester to Kent early Saturday morning only to then make a further four-and-a-half hour journey from my home county to Somerset. Upon arrival into the West Country, I was eagerly anticipating meeting with my close friends Jake Gable and Karen Purnell for some pre-T4 fun. As the train came into Weston station I was stunned to see at the end of my carriage the appearance of British music act and probably my second most favourite artist at this current time Elliot Gleave, more commonly known as Example. My first reaction was to excitedly text Karen and inform her of this acquisition the train had accomplished. Gleave, in his bright yellow t-shirt was making quirky conversation with his crew whilst I looked on with admiration. Talking of admiration, upon exiting the station, nothing could match that of Jake's as Example strolled past to be met by a driver, Mr Gable just stood and stared, whilst uttering the words "Oh wow". Jake later claimed to have met and talked to the 28-year-old rapper with a number of facebook statuses and text messages to friends, however being left in a trance and saying two words is hardly what I like to call a deep meaningful conversation.
The event itself was again highly anticipated in Weston-Super-Mare, and for us to be beaten to the front of the queue by at least 200 to 300 people at 4am shows how obsessive and popular T4 is across the land. We amde the wise decision to abandon ship at this early time and head back for some extra sleep and warmth before making the journey to the coast again at half past 8 in the morning.
We entered the beach just before 11am, and the atmopshere was electric. Excitement filled the air and at 12am the 47,000 capacity crowd was treated to the first lyrics of the day, "I wake up every day is a daydream". That's right, last year's headlinder Dizzee Rascal was back and was this time the opener and what an opener he was. There were six main acts in particular which I had dreamt of seeing at T4 and Dizzee was one of them, so in the space of 20 minutes he had been and gone and the crowd were treated to what we thought was the unbeatable performance of the day. Oh how we were wrong! Dizzee opened up with a great rendition of "Bonkers" which was soon followed by popular summer tunes "Dance With Me" and "Holiday" however, the King of Electropop himself Calvin Harris disappointingly was not there this year to support the London-born singer. Dizzee finished in typical impressive fashion with his new single "Dirtee Disco" and the crowd loved him, from children to adults, he was a hit and I said to both Jake and Karen that that performance would be hard to beat, even though we had another five hours of acts.
Ellie Goulding followed shortly after however I was not really into her appearance with her two songs, but this was a combinati
on of awe for Dizzee's previous performances and the fact that after Goulding were two of my six to see in Tinie Tempah and Professor Green (left). Having previously seen Tinie Tempah at The University of Winchester's summer ball, I was expectant of what songs he was to sing and my estimations soon revealed I was correct when he played "Frisky" and popular club tune "Pass Out" - two songs which have been very very popular in my household over the past couple of months. Professor Green came on after and impressed many with "Just be Good to Green" and "I Need You Tonight". He particularly has become a favourite in my musical books in recent months, and a special mention goes to The Streets' lead singer Mike Skinner for finding this 26-year-old East London talent.Chipmunk then followed with Esmée Denters in tail, as well as The Saturdays, however they looked very lost with the absence of the ill Mollie King. Swedish singer-song writer Jonas Altberg, also known as Basshunter performed his new single "Saturday" which I would recommend to any music lovers reading this, as well his classic songs "All I ever Wanted" and of course "Now you're Gone". Roy Stride and the rest of his 2005 formed band, Scouting For Girls started badly with a bit of keyboard trouble throughout "This Ain't a Love Song" however recovered the crowd brilliantly with superb showings of "Famous" and "Heartbeat" which livened the crowd up ready for upcoming acts the beautiful Pixie Lott, Jason Derulo and N-Dubz. These three produced classic performances, however Jason Derulo was definitely performance of the day for the main stage. His combination of singing, dancing, and all round entertaining wow'ed the Weston crowd with his three top singles "Whatcha Say", "Ridin' Solo" and "In My Head", and at the time not only were the girls amazed after Derulo ripped his shirt off, but even I was in awe at the quality of his performance and now he had replaced Dizzee Rascal as performance of the day.
Sean Kingston's prodigé Iyaz performed "Replay" and "Solo" to the T4 audience and he was also joined by X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke and Taio Cruz with the latter releasing his new single "Dynamite", a song which has already made it's way on to my Ipod playlist! I have left a lot of acts out, for example Kelis and Kids in Glass Houses however there is a reason. It is simply because I did not see them. Around these times I was parading around the rest of the T4 world and enjoying the sweet sounds of the T4 sessions stage which was taking place on the other side of the beach, oh and what sweet sounds they were. I thought Dizzee Rascal and Jason Derulo made my day with their combined seven songs however the crowd was in for a much further treat with two more acts which quite frankly rocked the place and sent the T4 radar through the roof.
Plan B and Example were pure brilliance. Plan B's recent shift from instant rap to a soul, mo-town, hip-hip combination type of music has seen him earn rave reviews across the land and his new album "Defamation of Strickland Banks" has recently been named number 1 album fo
r this time.Plan B rocked the show on the sessions stage with four songs, including the extremely popular "She Said" and "Stay Too Long" as well as new single "Prayin'" and myself and Jake especially were left stunned by the quality of the performance Ben Drew left upon the viewers. It was a sensational performance. I hate to reveal this but I am a very critical person and usually always find something to complain about regarding a performance or a football match or anything like that, but with this there was nothing. It was perfect. Just pure class and I will be very surprised if we do not see Plan B at next year's T4 on the beach, but on the main stage, and it was a statement in his performance that next year he wants main stage as opposed to the smaller sessions stage.
The last two acts of the day were the highly rated JLS on the main stage and Example on the smaller stage. We had took the decision to abandon the X-Factor runners up, and see my good friend from the train the day before, Mr Gleave. What a choice we made. In a display which can only be described as the perfect replacement for the absent Calvin Harris, Example got the place buzzing. He even admitted himself that even though he was at same time as JLS he knew he would get a lot of people to se ehim perform and boy it showed. Everybody present was bouncing, they were raving and fantastic demonstrations of "Watch the Sun Come Up", his new single "Last Ones Standing", his debut single "Won't Go Quietly" and one of the biggest club tunes to hit the country over the last month "Kickstarts" showed why Example is one of the most talked about people in the country at the moment. He was the perfect Calvin replacement, and he showed such a passion in his work. He linked with crowd before, during and after songs. I have to thank my flatmate George Anderson for introducing me to the world of Example and before T4 told myself and Jake that he was the best live gig he had ever been to, and how Mr Gleave didn't disappoint us. It was superb, and his last words in "I'll see you next year T4!" was a sign on intent of how big he wants to make himself. There's a reason why Example is mentioned in my title. I believe he was the best act of the day, and it was an amazing end to a extraordinary day.
My six acts I wanted to see all performed brilliantly, however who made it in to the Gareth Messenger top 10 acts of the day?- Example - Just absolutely brilliant. Got the crowd going and really looked like he enjoyed his time there, even throughout the rain.
- Plan B - On fire at the moment. New album, new single. Plan B is enjoying the time of his life in the music industry.
- Jason Derulo - Typical performance from a typical big name. Flashy moves, great backing dancers and crew. Superb special effects. Great vocals.
- Dizzee Rascal - What a way to open the show. UK's biggest artist currently, and making his name bigger and bigger everywhere he goes.
- Professor Green - Big performance from the relatively inexperienced Professor Green. Took advantage of a good opportunity and got the large sections of the crowd singing.
- Scouting For Girls - Struggled with the keyboard during "This Ain't a Love Song" but stormed their way back with "Famous" and "Heartbeat". Big credit to Roy Stride.
- Tinie Tempah - He brought the stars out. He brought the women, and the cars and the cards out. Classic Tinie performance, short but very impressive.
- JLS - Didn't see them live as too preoccupied with Example but have watched the highlights and cannot deny the talent. Not their best display but very good nonetheless and a top way to end off the show.
- Pixie Lott - The beautiful Miss Lott looked great, she sang great, she bonded with the crowd well and looked like she loved her time there.
- N-Dubz - I'm a fan of N-Dubz. Dappy, Fazer and Tulisa have really impressed me the last year and a half so to not have them in my top 10 would be a mistake.
Well taht's my top 10 for T4 on the Beach 2010. It was a top day out and even though it took me nearly 6 hours to get back to Kent that night, it didn't bother me so the day itself was long but definitely one of the days I wont be forgetting for a while.
Many Thanks for Reading
G-Man
