For anyone familiar with Manu Chao's psychotic blend of ska, reggae and skanking funky beats would have imagined his sublime sound clash would make for an enthralling if slightly chilled stage show. Well you'd be wrong, very wrong. After a delayed start, the sound check being done by the full band, the crowd's anticipation was only heightened. Manu, looking much like an escaped footballer from a rebel football team, is wearing his favorite red and yellow No. 9 shirt, his name on the back.
	The energy here was reminiscent of an explosion in a fireworks factory, as the super-tight band raced through an un-interrupted mêlée of songs. Manu is chief cheerleader yet the rest of his band were each an essential ingredient in making this possibly the performance of the weekend. With a stomping ska bassline, snappy punk drumming and slashing guitar chords they increased the intensity just enough to find a breaking point of sorts, as Manu falls awkwardly hurting his ankle. Undeterred by this minor set back they launch into another speedy Gonzales style polka, this becoming the basis for a decidedly up version of the woozy 'Bongo Bong' - the silly cartoonish lyrics sent in to overdrive by Chao and his rapper pals. Dropping the pace down with an acoustic section of the set Manu lets his guitarist shine as he delivers a fiery Spanish guitar solo, riding the crowd's enthusiasm to a fevered high. Finding an almost impossibly perfect you avert your eyes at your peril as the punk energy and the hypnotic ska grooves coalesce in to a unique whole. After a good hour and forty minutes it seems like Chao is in no mood for stopping, and nor are the crowd, but all good things must come to an end - yet Chao looks set to return with the festival next year, and on the Pyramid Stage, bemusingly between Rolf Harris and Badly Drawn Boy. A man whose mission is to destroy musical barriers and replace them with a colorful unifying style has left us breathless and begging for more.
Words: Mike Flynn Photographs: Jacqui Crabbe/ Alf Goodrich