GIVE IT A NAME 2007 - Sunday

Sarah Moyes checks out AFI, Jimmy Eat World, and more

Left: Juliette Lewis shares the pain of all those who don;t choose to go meat-free at festivals
Photo by Taya Uddin

It may be a day of rest, but this Sunday is showing no signs of slowing down as Attack In Black add a spark of indie/rock to the event, while Beat Union continues the real rock with punk music Green Day would be proud of. Boys Like Girls have lots of admirers today and they're not just in the audience, as every other band sings their praises and rightly so, as their fun filled emo-rock tunes bounce of the walls as they bounce around the stage.

Philadelphia's Mewithoutyou have started a small revolution as many kids wonder around wearing their shirts yet when you hear their music it doesn't seem justified. Catchy it may be, anything other than tedious it is not. Thankfully MxPx are everything but testing, storming through their set to gleeful delight.

The Receiving End Of Sirens don't receive much of a reaction the start of their set but six songs of screaming, pounding drums and gritty guitars and you can't help but fall in love. Hit The Lights seem to be doing well on this side of the pond, even without much press interest, though as their set ends, 'Bodybag' is the one that could be the spring board to success that they were hoping for.

Not content with playing to a strong crowd on the second stage, The Audition's Danny Stevens crosses onto the main stage, showing the organisers a place on the bigger stage would have been more than justified as he leads the audience into the first proper circle pits of the day. While the same can't be said for Sparta (most of the crowd are using their set for a much needed toilet/drink/food break), playing to a half empty crowd doesn't seem to bother them and they make the most out of their position playing a blinding set ending with the heavily At The Drive-In reminiscent 'Taking Back Control'.

"We're Hellogoodbye,'" announces Forest as he walks onto the stage and all of a sudden those from the Krispy Kreme queue come running. However, while those right down the front seem to be enjoying it, everyone else seems to be getting bored of their basic powered pop music and wanders off again to rejoin the food queues. For those of us who thought the surprise guest was Funeral For A Friend, to hear it's The Automatic is just as much of a disappointment. With only a couple of good hits under their belts, the anthemic 'Monster' being the most obvious, it's a set that's most fillers inster of the killers everyone knows FFAF could have delivered instead. In contrast the sight of Jimmy Eat World has the entire venue breaking into frenzy. Classics such as 'Salt Sweat Sugar' are just as good now as they were all those years ago, while the sweetness of 'Work' and edgy anthem 'Pain' are classics in the making.

It appears not everyone is as excited about AFI as the fanatic next to me. In fact, yet again a good chunk of the audience decide to leave before the headliners have even come on. However unlike HIM whose lackof audience turned their set into a disaster, Davey Havock manages to keep his band on track and they triumph through 'Girls Not Grey' and the gothic punkness of 'The Leaving Song Part 2' leaving the crowd counting down the days until it all happens again next year.

What did you make of this year's Give It A Name? Do you agree with Sarah's verdict? Have your say here

by Sarah Moyes

Further links

Jimmy Eat World.com

Official site of the gorgeous power pop band

The Automatic.co.uk

Official site of the garde A indie pop band

Sparta on Myspace

MySpace of El Paso post-hardcore act Sparta