Appropriately enough the fifth Bearwood Shuffle saw
five great acts take to the Lightwoods’ Park bandstand on a freakily bright and
sunny Sunday...you’d almost think it was summertime eh? Moselele kicked things
off, an ever growing collective of ukulele players they put their own unique
spin on everything from The Killers’ Mr Brightside to The Violent Femmes’
Blister in the Sun. Great fun. Amelia Wallace (does anyone have a link to her website?!) stunned the gently roasting crowd
with her own songs and covers including a ‘better than the original’ versh of
Alt J’s Matilda (so much lovelier than that bloke with the silly voice...I’m
sure he’s a terrific fellow but damn it, he sounds like he’s trapped his nuts
in a car door). Tempting Rosie served up another delicious portion of reggae‘n’ska
ending their set with the classic Monkey Man which even got me dancing. Not
something you’re likely to see very often these days. Expect an essential new
EP from them very soon. How do you follow that? In line with the Shuffle’s philosophy
of mixing things up the legendary Paul Murphy (possibly one of the nicest and
most interesting chaps you’d ever hope to meet) kept me pretty much entranced
with a mix of songs and poems including my all time personal favourite Shoplifters
Talking Blues. Today’s fascinating fact...did you know that Murph hung around
with Lemmy from Motorhead back in the 60s? Nope, me neither. Happily he’s in
the process of writing his autobiography (along with several other fascinating
projects). Trust me, that’s one book you’re going to want to read. All too soon (tempus fugit) Gucci Pimp rocked things to a close delivering some impressive speaker
shredding riffs as the crowd polished off the remains of their picnics. Compere
for the day the irrepressible Gavin Young did a top notch job of introducing
the bands and DJ Craig (in da park) somehow resisted the temptation of hardcore
techno to deliver some suitably summery tunes in between the sets.
Huge thanks to the stallholders, Musoplex for the
loan of the sound equipment, all who came along and threw some money in the
buckets (including a distinctly chilled out Stuart Maconie from 6 Music’s
Radcliffe and Maconie show) and our chums at the best Fish and Chip restaurant in
the universe, Chamberlains, who sponsored the event. Without the generous support
of all of the above and, of course, then bands themselves these events simply
wouldn’t exist. We’ll be back...
http://www.youtube.com/user/Ameliaandthemusic
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