This years Love Music Hate Racism festival was held at Stoke's own Britannia Stadium, and would be the largest anti-racism event in the UK, aswell as one of the biggest concerts that the city has seen. It is well documented throughout history that in times of economic and social depression, nationalism is prone to rise particularly amongst predominantely working class areas. Perhaps unsurpisingly as Britain is in the midst of a heavy recession the British National Party are on the rise, and unfortunately Stoke is one of their main constituencies. With the European elections pending, the time and setting for an event like this could hardly be better. In the build up to the event, there were murmerings around the town that there may be serious trouble at the Brit, with fears that racists and nationalists may hijack proceedings and create chaos. So you'll be relieved to know that the day went by without such incidents, and was all in all a great success.
A beautiful, sweltering day greated the thousands of people who came out to show their support for a noble campagin and simply to enjoy themselves and watch some real stars play in the Potteries. A more diverse crowd you could hardly imagine, and a peaceful, friendly, almost carnival atmosphere prevailed throughout, with the outskirts of the stadium taken over with fair-ground rides and hippy stalls.
The show in the stadium itself was compered by the multi award winning Eddie Izzard, delivering his own inimitable brand of surrealist humour with heavy underlying political references throughout, working the crowd well, who were primed to appreciate his liberal sentiments. The concert was started by two of Stoke's own bands in succession, The Fear and The Sport, both playing relatively short sets and working the crowd up well, with a degree of professionalism shown from both bands, giving an excellent representation of the local scene. The Beat's snarling ska-punk rang around the stadium, before the 'New' Beautiful South came on, minus one of its chief writers/singers Paul Heaton leaving Alison Wheeler to take the lead roll, and she was in excellent form particularly on crowdpleasers 'Rotterdam' and 'Don't Marry Her'. Soul diva Beverley Knight gave an impressive performance, with a truly powerful vocal working her way through a series of covers. The Rotten Hill Gang were a little dry, not that I was expecting them to have the energy of The Clash, but Mick Jones' new project, clad in top hats and waistcoats like a gang from a Dickens novel, played fairy forgettable old fashioned 70's style rock and roll.
Former Destiny's Child Kelly Rowlands had a beautiful live voice, often singing acapella, showing the extent and warmth of her range. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. was sensational as always. with The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager going down especially well in a set that was extremely well recieved all round. Although he just about held it together and managed to charm the crowd, Pete Doherty's short set was a little shambolic, with his vocals sounding quite strung-out, and often not very well timed or pitched for that matter, closing the set with Libertines' classic 'Time For Heroes' was a definite crowd pleaser however. Sheffield's Reverend and the Makers headlined the event, featuring Jerry Dammers of The Specials, they went over well with the crowd, delivering a rousing rendition of 'Heavyweight Champion Of The World'. Perhaps not the natural choice to headline such an event, they managed to win the crowd over quickly with a powerful set dispersed with witty banter and more left-wing anti-racist, pro-cultural diversity rhetorric. 
The crowd played the biggest part in this event and they really did the area proud by turning out in such numbers to support an incredibly important campaign, at a time when people need to be reminded more than ever that we really are all the same and there's no logical basis for prejudice and racism, and what better tool for bringing people together than music.
