In praise of the Festival Song – the four-minute wonder that can sustain a career for decades

As the sun sets on another too-long summer festival season, let us take a moment to reflect on the Festival Song.

This is the one tune by a band that even the most reluctant festival attendee will know. It is the song producers stick on the TV highlights package for bored insomniacs surfing the red button. It can save a set, turn grey skies blue and get old bones shaking. The Festival Song survives the artist’s critical nadir; it is the musical cockroach that emerges unscathed from a commercial apocalypse. It is the cast-iron guarantee to every festival booker in the land that an act can still bring something to the party. 

Not every artist has a Festival Song, but those who have been around the block and back again will, and they treasure it as they would a winning lotto ticket.