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Villagers

Appeared: Saturday, Word Arena

Folk act Villagers, primarily a vehicle for the songwriting of frontman Conor J O’Brien, were back at the Word Arena having pleased the festival gods with a successful appearance in 2010.

Of course, as Villagers’ recent tour buddies Elbow will tell you, a casual Mercury Prize nomination is always useful in bringing in the crowds and, despite the fact that the their set essentially drew from the same album as their last appearance at the festival, the crowd had truly swelled. Their emotive, ‘bottled-up angry’ approach to folk rock may occasionally border on pretension, but if they keep writing songs the quality of those on their debut ‘Becoming A Jackal’ then we’ll happily put up with the airs and graces.

Best Track: 'The Pact (I'll Be Your Fever)'

For more festival goodness check out TG's Top 10 festivals for guitarists and our 12 Dos and Don'ts of the festival season.