by Jo

5th August

I’m there for the Saturday of this weekend extravaganza. Today’s running order..

Sevillian
Raindance
Rowan and the Crops Failed
Rosalita
The Kites
Beamer – (who pulled out)
crushdeluxe
vinyl Wave
Skankt
Urban Voodoo Machine
The Pirates
Suzi Quatro

I got there at about 4.30, which should have been in plenty of time to see crushdeluxe at 5.. someone moved them! I could hear them when I got out of the car and had to make a run for it. Still, didn’t miss too much. Had a good bop to all our old faves in the glorious sunshine.. must remember sunblock before I dance, really. Ow. Now there’s something new.. Ian, topless! Got pictures of that… Storming energetic set as always, much enjoyed. You should really be on later, guys.

There was a bit of a musical interlude on a tiny sidestage.. 3 members of Scott Moods gave a short set before their full one on the Sunday. 1st electric violin of the day.

Vinyl Wave on the main stage.. Folky influence here, with some very nice melodies. I had just noted ‘haunting and melodic’ when it all got lively! They outdid everyone with 2 violins and a cello!

Skankt – the sort of heavy beat and brass section you expect from skankers, with changes of tempo. It wasn’t as fast as some I’ve heard, but they did wake the crowd up again.

Urban Voodoo Machine – Now that’s what I call a festival band. All in black with red shirts, the odd hat, and a fetching leopardskin guitarstrap. Stomping, crowd jumping stuff, putting a grin on faces and grass stains on dancing shoes. More in tune with skank and blues than anything previous. A violin, but also a washboard AND a gong, so they got the prize.. 2 drummers for the main part, joined by another for the last couple of songs. They were standing up giving their all, jumping around, just like everyone else on stage. Cor. Energy for the masses.

After that, it was just a shame that The Pirates let the hi-energy bubble float away. It was in all honesty, just dull, and they would have been better on the Sunday with an older crowd who would have appreciated them more. There was nothing wrong musically, but to be quite honest, I didn’t want to hear a band whose claim to fame was supporting a popstar who died 40 years ago. And milked it on stage. Wrong venue.

Well, only Suzi could drag it back up.. She did, entertaining with flawless ease, bluesy rock and ballsy attitude. You get what you see with Miss Quatro, one feels, and she tells you all about it. Yeah, a wild child, who has grown up, but not out of it. I’m only familiar with ‘Devil Gate Drive’ and ‘Can the Can’ from my youth, but it all seemed to go down pretty well. There was some new stuff from the forthcoming album. Do you know what was missing, though? The ground, shaking from the dancing.

It ended late, and I drove home through foggy bits, and behind someone who thought
it was funny to drive at 35 mph through a 60 limit.

Oh.. next year, can someone make sure that there’s a chip van? Cheers.