The biggest figures in rock music have never minced their words – the respect and admiration they gain from audiences are due in part, if not largely, to their unapologetic approach to their craft and to their everyday lives.

Of nobody is this more true than Frank Carter, who dominated the Main Stage backed by his ever-faithful, ever-loved Rattlesnakes. Every note carried a palpable energy as the band blasted through a jam-packed setlist of songs at positively breakneck speed (epitomised by the bone-crushing ‘Crowbar’!)!

Frank Carter’s driving message has always been that of inclusion. His song ‘Wild Flowers’ gave the women in the audience their moment to seize in brilliant style. All-female mosh pits erupted on both sides of the stage, as waves upon waves of women from all walks of life cascaded over the barriers. It would have been rather like a trellis of those self-same wild flowers, if not for the fact that every single one was screaming the lyrics at the top of her lungs! Shrinking violets we are certainly not.

That sense of defiance was also directed at other targets besides misogyny – most powerfully, towards the current state of the government. Backed by statistics that really speak for themselves, the band pummelled through the emphatic ‘I Hate You’, with chants of ‘F*** Boris!’ echoing long into the encroaching darkness.

Powerful, political, and very, very sweaty – exactly as any good Frank Carter set should be!