Forever the darlings of the alternative world, Radiohead's position on their stadium-sized pedestal is well and truly under threat. Young pretenders Coldplay have just released their fourth album to critical acclaim and worldwide sales success. R.E.M have returned on the comeback trail with some of their most explosive tunes for a decade and Arcade Fire are still the planet's best kept secret.
First up though, support act MGMT bring their 80s inflected, disco-hippy chic to the masses. Think Prince for the post-new rave generation.
Whilst latest single 'Electric Feel' is a joyous, three-minute sugar rush, it is left slightly anaemic in the open-air space. Only breakthrough hit 'Time To Pretend' manages to catch the imagination of the ever growing audience. Still, for a band in their relative infancy, the Brooklyn duo take a deserved step in the right direction after their set at Glastonbury just two days previous.
Next up, Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes takes centre-stage and earns her comparisons to Bjork and even Kate Bush with a set that draws mostly from her Mercury-Prize nominated debut 'Fur & Gold'. No matter how avant-garde and credible BFL may be, sometimes there's an overdose of her kitsch appeal that begins to grate. Like listening to background music, it's a pleasant experience yet it fails to inspire on a grander scale.
So now the controversy over the 'In Rainbows' release has died down, does the music actually stand up to the test? But most of all, in 2008, are they still relevant?
As showtime is upon us anticipation has reached fever pitch and kicking off with the pounding tribal beat of '15 Step' it's clear that they means business. The release of 'In Rainbows' saw the band create their most accessible work since 'OK Computer's epic soundscapes and it's only five songs in that 'Nude' trickles out of the PA System like a pacifist war cry. "Dont get no big ideas" Yorke intones in his delectable way, but by God, only a fool would ignore him.
Earlier in the tour, the setlist was criticised for being too heavy on their lesser-known tracks. Tonight though, the crowd pleasers are here in force. 'No Surprises', 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place' and 'Paranoid Android' showcase tunes that Chris Martin could only ever dream of.
Whilst the climactic refrain, "You do it to yourself, you do/And that's what really hurts" during 'Just' puts a carbon neutral foot in the mouth of anyone who dared not put their recycling out the previous week.
This isn't just a one-man band though. Phil Selway's drumming remains as propulsive as ever and Jonny Greenwood continues to be the underrated musical genius at the heart of the band.
For the end of the first encore. 'Karma Police' ricochets around the cricket ground with all the brain-haemorrhaging intensity of a band not just recreating their best but surpassing it with ease. Flashes of blue and pink blaze into the crowd's eyes as the ever-impassioned chorus of "This is what you get/When you mess with us" is engrained well within their craniums.
It's impressive how well the new tunes stand up against their back catalogue. 'Videotape' is possibly the most simplistically beautiful song the Oxford quintet have ever recorded, whilst the stunning 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' shows strength in depth.
As the second encore finishes to rapturous applause, Yorke has played his gloomy circus master role to perfection. Yet, he still has one more surprise left, in the form of 'Lucky'. A song that is equally as life-affirming as it is nigh on apocalyptic. When the words "It's gonna be a glorious day" are bellowed back by the thousands of voices, it's clear-this is not so much a gig, as it is a musical intervention.
A band not only at the top of their league, but a band in a pantheon all of their own.
Lee Sentino