A huge crowd respecting social distancing spread out way past the sound tent, numbering a few thousand people; clearly showing that DYGL are one of the most appreciated bands of this festival, in 2021.

Their first song opened up with slow single-coil riffing, and lackadaisical vocals, reminiscent of some of the coolest indie rock circa twenty years ago. There is an element of shoegazer here; as the guitarist on stage-right rarely looked up from his blue Jazzmaster during the first song.

The second number resonated with an alternative stadium rock vibe reminiscent of the early nineties; like “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind. The lyrics also displayed commercial alternative-rock familiarity, but none of this stopped their fans from loving it; as they swayed with mirth despite the heat, and clapped appreciatively after every song ended.

The third track of DYGL’s set began with more single-coil riffing, and vocals simialr to those of Swedish indie legends Last Days of April. Before long, however, the intensity increased, ploughing forward like Snow Patrol at their most driving. An eighth-note breakdown also rang with more predictability, but was equally lapped up by their fans; who clapped along joyously to the downbeat.

After the third song, the lead singer took time to address his fans, saying that there was so much that is difficult in this world, but that we could at least enjoy music. And, his fans applauded every sentence.

The fourth song rocked out like some mid-tempo album-oriented rock, to which half of the audience bobbed at the knees. As DYGL’s lead singer cried out “Domo”when the song ended, the crowd erupted into applause. The fifth song’s vibe clearly lifted its “one-and, three-and” syncopation from some nineties hit, terribly similar to SpaceHog’s “In the Meantime”. However, most of their fans continued to bob at the knees; probably because they were too young to remember the decade from which this sound hails.

DYGL’s fifth song brought a hybrid of nineties and sixties vibes with keyboard-like leads, reminiscent of David Bowie’s “Teenage Wildlife” to break up the whole. After the track came to an end, the lead singer took the time to address the crowd, saying the following number would be a composition from an album the band released recently. For this next track, the vocalist donned a Martin acoustic guitar, to lead another mid-tempo number; with the chorus lyrics being “is there a song that you can sing?”.

The sixth song rang out like Nirvana’s “Come as You Are” at half of the original’s speed, and the bass being twice as loud. The audience then subsequently seemed to lose its will to dance. At one point, the lead guitarist bent down to tweak his pedals, to deliver more ambient tones. And, as if in a dream sequence, the screen at the back of the stage displayed the clouds gathering overhead. DYGL’s lead singer then thanked the audience “of different points of view, for gathering here today,” and proceeded to give a nearly-ten minute speech about how he saw the world. When his speech was over, and the crowd’s applause died down, the vocalist tore into a rhythm on his guitar which resembled The Pixies’ “Where is my Mind?”. About a third of those in attendance bobbed at the knees, and some raised a finger in the air, in support. At the end of this song, the drummer produced mallets to deliver some ambience on his cymbals, while the lead guitarist accompanied him with leads. And then, as this latest song ended, a number of audience members left.

The beginning of the last track of DYGL’s set saw the lead singer down strumming an eighth-note pattern on his black Stratocaster, and singing wistfully before the band came thundering in, in a heavy four-four style befitting the shoe-gazer genre. As this last track progressed, it morphed into a grungier number with riffing reminiscent of the intro to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” accompanied by gang vocals as the lighting rig overhead glowed with all yellow and white lights. A siren, like that of an ambulance, then emerged in the mix. The song ended with DYGL’s vocalist eyeing the sky passionately, while all the band’s axe men down-strummed and sang a droning “ah….” of gang vocals, and all guitars got progressively more fierce. One lone fan raised the devils’ horns high over his head, as a third of the crowd bobbed at the knees. As the last song of DYGL’s set came to a thundering stadium-show ending, the entire audience erupted in a thundering round of applause, as the band walked off the stage while their guitars fed back.