Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Rocking Back The Years
You don't need to read too much of what I write on here to understand that as much as I'm looking forwards to the next gig, I'm often looking backwards to it as well; and so it is that a moderate trip across the country and a short leg up the M1 sees me camping at an outdoor musical event for the first time in several years.
Most festivals these days come with three figure ticket prices and a variety of corporate branding operations. So when you turn off the nearest dual carriageway and find a distinct lack of those helpful yellow AA signs for event directions, it might raise the odd question in the mind of anyone who hasn't done their own research to know where they were supposed to be going. Turning off the road up a farm track brings me to a cordon to get my car searched for glass, and then another stop to hand over the cash for my weekend ticket, parking and camping - a bargain at £50 the lot.
A quick wander towards the area with the stages in the rain, and it's back to put up the tent in a brief interlude between small bouts of weather, and then to put the kettle on for a cup of tea - hey, rock n roll!
Perched almost on top of a hill, overlooking the rest of the site means I can hear what's going on on the main stage well enough not to miss anything yet softly enough to be able to ignore it if I want.
Friday's bill had a number of things new to me, and a couple I especially wanted to see again; with Anti-Product not appearing due to the lack of Alex being in the country, it was really only Magnum closing the show had caught my attention and I'd seen them relatively recently anyway. It was the same set as the last tour, and they were perfectly fine, but the best bit was the confirmation the new album is on its way. The Visitation is out in the new year, and tickets for the associated tour in April 2011 are already on sale. From some time after the event, I most remember the Therapy?-esque Trucker Diablo, and Clive The Doctor (of And The Medics fame) as a great value MC throughout.
Waking to the more impressive/familiar/anticipated line-up on the second day, I was pleased to see the rain more or less holding off. Leicester youngsters Arms Of Atlas showed some of the commitment to performance and energy of bands a generation or two older, one of whom was really my main reason for being there. I'll come back to that.
New Generation Superstars still evoke The Almighty in being a band I want to like, and a band I mostly enjoy when our paths cross but who just don't have that little extra something to make me buy their recorded material. Dinnertime takes me away from the next couple of bands, missing not very much, and then I'm back down the front for the mighty noise of Jason and the Scorchers. I love JatS, and I'm delighted to find there's a new album to buy at the gig and get signed by Jason and Warner afterwards. New song Days Of Wine And Roses is a perfect follow-on to Jason and The Wildhearts' One Less Heartache, and on its own it makes the whole travel and expenditure of the weekend worth it.
Jason Ringenberg
Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg deliver 32 songs packed with Ramone-ness, and the added bonus of a real live Ramone, and what could possibly be wrong with that?
Closing headliner Glenn Hughes has an outstanding voice, but it's the DP track Stormbringer that gets me most excited, and after that the rest of the material just isn't doing it for me.
Nevertheless, I would be going home the following morning anything but disappointed as I'd earlier been treated to my first live onstage sighting of Leicester's finest, metal titans Chrome Molly in closing on twenty-two years, including my first personal dedication of a song in a little while. Not a new experience with this band, mind, frontman Steve Hawkins having done exactly the same back in Ferbruary 1988. When we were all a little younger, a little thinner and a little hairier.
that Chrome Molly set in full
Cut Loose
Steel Against The Sky
Supercharge
Tie Your Mother Down
Shooting Me Down
Stop Love!
Take Me I'm Yours
Panama
Steve Hawkins, 2010 version
_
Most festivals these days come with three figure ticket prices and a variety of corporate branding operations. So when you turn off the nearest dual carriageway and find a distinct lack of those helpful yellow AA signs for event directions, it might raise the odd question in the mind of anyone who hasn't done their own research to know where they were supposed to be going. Turning off the road up a farm track brings me to a cordon to get my car searched for glass, and then another stop to hand over the cash for my weekend ticket, parking and camping - a bargain at £50 the lot.
A quick wander towards the area with the stages in the rain, and it's back to put up the tent in a brief interlude between small bouts of weather, and then to put the kettle on for a cup of tea - hey, rock n roll!
Perched almost on top of a hill, overlooking the rest of the site means I can hear what's going on on the main stage well enough not to miss anything yet softly enough to be able to ignore it if I want.
Friday's bill had a number of things new to me, and a couple I especially wanted to see again; with Anti-Product not appearing due to the lack of Alex being in the country, it was really only Magnum closing the show had caught my attention and I'd seen them relatively recently anyway. It was the same set as the last tour, and they were perfectly fine, but the best bit was the confirmation the new album is on its way. The Visitation is out in the new year, and tickets for the associated tour in April 2011 are already on sale. From some time after the event, I most remember the Therapy?-esque Trucker Diablo, and Clive The Doctor (of And The Medics fame) as a great value MC throughout.
Waking to the more impressive/familiar/anticipated line-up on the second day, I was pleased to see the rain more or less holding off. Leicester youngsters Arms Of Atlas showed some of the commitment to performance and energy of bands a generation or two older, one of whom was really my main reason for being there. I'll come back to that.
New Generation Superstars still evoke The Almighty in being a band I want to like, and a band I mostly enjoy when our paths cross but who just don't have that little extra something to make me buy their recorded material. Dinnertime takes me away from the next couple of bands, missing not very much, and then I'm back down the front for the mighty noise of Jason and the Scorchers. I love JatS, and I'm delighted to find there's a new album to buy at the gig and get signed by Jason and Warner afterwards. New song Days Of Wine And Roses is a perfect follow-on to Jason and The Wildhearts' One Less Heartache, and on its own it makes the whole travel and expenditure of the weekend worth it.
Jason Ringenberg
Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg deliver 32 songs packed with Ramone-ness, and the added bonus of a real live Ramone, and what could possibly be wrong with that?
Closing headliner Glenn Hughes has an outstanding voice, but it's the DP track Stormbringer that gets me most excited, and after that the rest of the material just isn't doing it for me.
Nevertheless, I would be going home the following morning anything but disappointed as I'd earlier been treated to my first live onstage sighting of Leicester's finest, metal titans Chrome Molly in closing on twenty-two years, including my first personal dedication of a song in a little while. Not a new experience with this band, mind, frontman Steve Hawkins having done exactly the same back in Ferbruary 1988. When we were all a little younger, a little thinner and a little hairier.
that Chrome Molly set in full
Cut Loose
Steel Against The Sky
Supercharge
Tie Your Mother Down
Shooting Me Down
Stop Love!
Take Me I'm Yours
Panama
Steve Hawkins, 2010 version
