Zoo Festival 2008 - Fundamental Skillz leave the fans wanting more

07 July 2008

How do you top the fact that you are the first band from your home town to play a prestigious gig like Glastonbury? This was the question Fundamental Skillz had to find an answer to before going on stage in the VIP tent at The Zoo8 Festival.

They arrived at the festival just as The Mitchell Brothers were coming off stage having given a crowd pleasing performance. The stage was a lot smaller than the one they had played the week before, however it had more of an intimate feel which would later play to their advantage.

The time delay did not faze the FS artists, as BID did what he does best and poured a few beers down his throat, whist Tejipt made his way around the festival to ensure that the ladies knew where to be when it came to 22:15. The Painted Man and The Weapon stayed in the VIP tent with Driftwood who had been there all day checking out the various talent the tent had to offer. Sam Skillz, as usual, was organising the equipment and awaiting the arrival of their Manager.

Being a local festival, the usual scenes from Ashford town had made their way to the grounds: A young woman could be seen being carried away in a wheel barrow by the somewhat pre-occupied paramedics. Security could be seen chasing a man dressed in Umbro tracksuit bottoms with no top on and socks tucked in to his £120 pair of Nike trainers.

Ember gave the audience some good old Rock N Roll, followed by other acts such as Beans on Toast who gave a satirical performance on modern day society. However the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived at 23:00.

Once the band had set up, Tejipt and The Painted man walked on to the stage to a packed VIP tent. Before long the crowd were bumping their heads to the infectious End of the Line Chorus. Naomi Hill gave a great performance on the violin and BID was in his element as he was seen jumping off the drummer's mini-stage.

Like a flash the thirty minute set had come to an end, FS finishing their set with some great crowd interaction which involved the crowd repeating after the Painted Man. The crowd screamed "More, more, more" but FS felt they had nailed their slot. This performance will go down as one of the best yet and the reaction after the gig from the audience was phenomenal.

The night could be summed up in one sentence when an audience member turned to the band's manager enquiring as to whom this band was:

"They are so good, I would buy their CD instead of nicking it."

FS were home.

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