It might have been rainyand wet in Hyde Park last weekend, but a number of top notch musicians still made it out to witness one of the best rock festival line ups of the year. With Bruce Springsteen taking the main stage later that evening, it was hard to see past the draw of The Boss.
But The Guillemots star Fyfe Dangerfield had other plans. He was on-hand to see something different, but just as special in his eyes.
See, Fyfe was hosting on the Hard Rock Rising stage - where a number of unknown but superbly-talented acts had won regional competitions and survived a public vote to be able to play at the festival. Fyfe, amongst others, had been on the judging panel at their auditions and now that these unsigned artists had made it to festival stage, he was on-hand to introduce them to the public.
But before that, he had also made a very special pre-festival appearance for Hard Rock too. On Thursday night, Fyfe performed a solo set at a VIP taster session at the backstage Hard Rock VIP Cafe. The corporate event was held especially as Hard Rock heavyweights flew in for the weekend - and he had the job of entertaining them all. Without his band.
On Sunday however, The Guillemots took to the stage - much to the excitement of their thousands of fans. Before they did, AiL grabbed him for a natter.
"I'm really excited about seeing the acts today," he began. "Some of this music is the most exciting music you could hear. Tanya has become a good friend of all of us in the band, The Ferrel Choir are so different - there are so many names to mention but it's going to be amazing."
So Fyfe, which is more rewarding - performing solo or with The Guillemots? "It was so nice playing piano on my own the other night - you get to do what you want; not have to think about changing key at the last minute. But the experience is so different to playing with the band and playing with the band is amazing. I love it. The band are my family."
Playing Hard Rock Calling must be amazing - what is it like being up on that stage? Which other shows stand out in your memory? "Oh that feeling is completely amazing, seeing everyone out there in front of us, I can't describe it. This performance will be very special to us. We've had some incredible gigs over the years - we played Sao Paolo in Brazil last year and I was so inspired by the audience; they were so joyful. And we played Somerset House once when the sun was setting - that was a beautiful one."
What can we expect from your set at Hard Rock Calling? "I actually don't know yet! We're playing for 40 minutes and we tend to decide on what we're doing at the last minute. We haven't planned this one in advance."
London is a great City to be performing to this weekend - where are your favourite places to hang out here? "I live in Stoke Newington so I'm near the Lee Valley which is beautiful. I spend a lot of time there - you don't even feel like you're in London there. You can have a pint by the river and not even notice the city life around you.
"If you prefer somewhere swanky, then Corrigan's in Mayfair is great. And I have to mention Morito - a tapas bar in Exmouth Market. It's an informal little tapas bar and it's not about the usual patatas bravas - they have great little homemade dishes. And they have sherry - lots of sherry! I love sherry!"
Great recommendations! Thanks for your time, Fyfe
