Our comprehensive review of the music at Cheltenham's arts festival GREENBELT concludes. A total of 17 reviewers filed 70 reviews. Read and be amazed.

ONE NATION - Stage 2 - 7.15pm
Having discovered the superb One Nation on the Sunday in an overflowing YMCA 24hr Café I decided that seeing them on the Monday was a must. Stage 2 was equally packed and many people had to wait for others to exit before they could gain admittance to the building. The set was fantastic. They started their dynamic show with a couple of instrumental pieces, which left the audience stunned by the group's musical brilliance and begging for more. More was duly delivered with the arrival of the stunningly sublime vocals of Emma. Her amazing vocal skills were particularly noticeable in the band's rendition of "Ain't No Sunshine", which highlighted the group's individuality as they thoroughly made the song their own. One Nation's enthusiasm and enjoyment was evident throughout their set and they soon got the entire audience dancing to their toe-tapping melodies and catchy beats. On one occasion they took the well known melody of a J Lo number and the riff from Beyonce Knowles' "Crazy In Love" and set powerful lyrics to it expressing their love of and need for God. For me it was the performance of the weekend.
Sarah Lawrence

ATLUM SCHEMA - Christian Aid Performance Café - 7.30pm
On the opening night of Greenbelt 2005, Atlum Schema (Southampton/Leamington based Andy Mort and musical companion Ben Munday) caught the attention of an unsuspecting Performance Cafe crowd and left them wondering what they had just witnessed. What started as Andy's solo experiments now warranted the full band treatment, hence, Munday is now a permanent addition (adding bass, guitar and backing vocals), while drummer Luke Roberts does good trade in driving beats and epic samples. Suits, style and sophisticated songwriting were all that was needed to grab the attention and imagination of a tired Monday night crowd. The set began with the jaw-dropping "End Of A City" - one bloke, a guitar, beat-boxing and a loop pedal lost us in another world for an enticing six minutes. From there on Andy located himself firmly behind the piano, twisting his neck like a contortionist, practically eating the microphone, blasting out fearless falsetto before ending songs with barely a whisper. The audience increased as new tracks "Truckstop" and "Local Weather Report" were played. The highlights were "Weedkiller" and "Counterfeit Love" (the track Andy played to keep spirits high when Kevin Max went AWOL for his acoustic set). If anything marred the performance it was poor sound levels - as Andy mauled the keys we sometimes struggled to hear what was coming out). If I've done a bad job of describing the Atlum Schema sound, that's because it's a near impossible task. It's epic, beautiful, scary, memorable and technically interesting music. With future gigs including a support slot for Cathy Burton, these guys are going from strength to strength. With any luck I'll be able to circle them in my GB2007 programme.
Ewan Jones

CANDI STATON - Main Stage - 8.05pm
It was only a matter of time before Candi Staton came to Greenbelt. After singing gospel as a child, a string of R&B hits in the '60s and disco hits in the '70s, violent marriages and alcoholism, this diva from the deep south switched her focus back to her roots - gospel. Since then she has won several Dove awards and has a thriving television ministry. That didn't stop her having a British dance hit in 1991 after The Source remixed her song "You Got The Love" to chart topping appeal. This is, of course, what most of the muddied masses would have known her for as they flocked around the main stage on the final night of Greenbelt 06. She came with a large band including brass and backing vocalists, all looking ready to hit the crowd up with some soul. It was a weak start however. The opening cover of Elvis' "Caught In A Trap" was no more than any competent covers band could do. "I'm Just A Prisoner", one of her early hits, rolled by, followed by a new song of old school blues-brothers R&B that was played well enough, but you felt the band itching for more freedom. With Candi's cover of Gladys Night's "Nights On Broadway" they got it. The brass stabbed, the bass slapped and Candi and the crowd came alive. This was more like it. After taking a moment to thank God, then the press and her fans (in that order), for support, her old R&B hit "I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart (Than Be A Young Man's Fool)" and her cover of Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man" seemed a tad incongruous, but it didn't matter. She had the crowd, and still had the mojo, though mellowed by age. After Rick Walker's "In The Ghetto" the audience finally got what they came for. As the heavens opened the band stormed into "Young Hearts Run Free" and as the crowd grooved (and the umbrellas bounced) a muddy Cheltenham became Las Vegas sizzling in the summer heat of '76. After many extended solos the final cut of the night could only be "You've Got The Love". From a purely critical point of view this sounded like a blues band who didn't really know what to do with a club dance tune, and repeating the mistake by doing the same tune as an encore seemed asking for trouble. But what does a critic know! As the familiar bassline pumped out the ebullient crowd were ecstatic and the veteran diva ended the night in triumph. Candi had served us well with a plate of nostalgia on what was a Greenbelt night to remember.
Paul Baker

MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD - Main Stage - 9.45pm
Franti supported U2 on the Achtung Baby tour, recorded with the legendary beat poet William Burrows and is well known for his protest rants against racism, militarism and globalisation. So despite being cold, muddy, wet and at the end of the weekend the crowd turned out and I went open minded. Michael opened with an intro about freedom and being open minded and the lyrics certainly weren't middle of the road. They were thought provoking and challenging. In truth, the lyrics seemed more important than the repetitive riffs and though the fusion of reggae, rock and funk got the crowd jumping the repetition of Michael's "revolutionary" hectoring and such highly dubious proclamations as "God is too big for just one religion" and "tell me lies, lies, when I cannot bear the truth" made this a set that might have suited liberal political agendas but left many Christians in the crowd uneasy.
Rachel Nixon

KATO - Christian Aid Performance Café - 10pm
This was billed in the programme as a solo appearance by Keith Ayling, but the rest of the band seemed to have come along as well so what we actually got was Kato unplugged. Despite this being Kato's only live appearance this year (as Keith is taking a year's sabbatical to do charity work and learn how to preach - yes, really!), this was a relaxed and confident performance which included some favourites from 'Songs To Help You Survive' (2002) and 'Welcome To My World' (2001). The set also featured Keith reading us a couple of extracts from two of his favourite books. For the penultimate song, the band recruited two drummers from the audience to join them on stage to play bongos - a potentially disastrous move but one which actually worked surprisingly well! Finishing the evening - and, for most of the audience present, the festival - with a worship song was an inspired touch which made this evening's memories into something special.
Mark Goodge