First time at Beautiful Days but it won’t be the
last...unless I pop my clogs in the next 12 months which, given the amount of
cider I seem to have ‘accidentally’ consumed over the three days or so, wouldn’t
come as a huge shock. Speaking of cider I’m delighted to report that all the
bars were stocked with SIX proper ciders. SIX! Be still my beating heart. All
of them were produced by local / independent cider makers too and, at just
£3.80 a pint, you could get merry without needing a mortgage - other festival
organisers please take note.
Another delight was the total lack of corporate
advertising, somewhat remarkably the people behind Beautiful Days (The
Levellers and DMF Music) clearly ain’t willing to sell their souls to make an
extra buck or two and it’s an all too rare opportunity to escape the commercial
bombardment that infects pretty much every other event. Whilst we’re covering
off the basics (I’ll get round to some music in a moment) the loos were
plentiful (there were a few queues for the ladies at peak pee times but nothing
too bad) and clean, the food offerings were decent (big up the hog roast
dudes), security seemed pretty friendly and there was none of that shuffling
around like zombies that you get at some fests when the big act of the night
finishes and everyone scuttles off to their tents/the bar. Speaking to a few regulars
clearly the festival’s grown year on year and its popularity’s only going to
go, ahem, ‘one way’ but let’s hope the capacity stays around this level.
Personally I’d rather that be the case and I miss out ‘cos I can’t get a ticket
than the thing becomes too big.
Anyway, the music. As ever I missed as much as I saw
but that’s the nature of these things. With six stages to choose from even
though you can get from one to the other in a matter of minutes you’re always
going to face some ‘orrible decisions (such as missing the CUD acoustic
set...bugger). Friday’s first main highlight was The Damned. Now 40 ruddy years
into their career and holders of the first punk single release crown (although
you could debate that forever...) they can still blast their way through the classics
without needing oxygen and lead singer Dave Vanian remains as cool as a vampire
in a fridge. Nice to hear their respectful cover of Love’s Alone Again Or too...officially
approved by the late great Arthur Lee himself apparently.
Later on the same stage Ezra Furman who came on
wearing what looked like his gran’s dress and pearls...he even rocked a bit of
a blue rinse...and proceeded to holler his way through some of the finest indie
rock of the last decade.
If Springsteen was a gender fluid Jewish guy from
Chicago this is quite possibly what he’d sound like. Yep, he’s that good. Stomping
his heels on the stage, spitting out the words with a ferocity that could well
have powered the PA and charming the pants off the cool kids at the front it
was a master/mistress class in how to blow away a crowd.
The last pick of Friday’s bill was the ever reliable
(god, he’d probably hate that) Billy Bragg who won over a decent chunk of the
festival crowd away from the “two blokes playing laptops” on the main stage
(that’ll be Leftfield then). I’ll admit I was tempted to watch a bit of Bragg
and then sneak off but once he got going I couldn’t resist. As with most Bragg
gigs it was a mixture of hits and politics and it won’t come as a huge shock to
hear that he’s a Corbyn fan or that he views the post Brexit society as more
divided than ever. I’d argue that Thatcher’s Britain was a lot more split but
then I was too busy watching Grange Hill for most of her reign of terror so I’ll
bow to his opinion on that one. Nice to hear a self deprecating remark about the
fact that he’s still a bit of a radical whilst living in a nice house on the
beach in Dorset...Bragg may have left Barking long ago but he’s lost none of
his bite.
Saturday’s pick of the bunch kicked off with a band
from my old home town of Brum. I’d not heard of the UK Feds before but their Rage
Against The Machine meets The Jam with a little ska punk thrown in for good
measure mix certainly blew away the cider related hangover.
Music needs more
anger and rebellion right now and with a little luck this lot could just be the
kick in the balls it’s waiting for.
After some deliciously sweet‘n’soulful reggae courtesy
of Hollie Cook the rest of the day was 90s music a go go with Terrorvision,
Dreadzone, Reef, The Proclaimers and James. Kudos to Terrorvision for allowing
a young kid with Williams Syndrome to take to the stage and steal the show for
a couple of tracks...and to the lad in question,James, for making the most of
it.
Reef are, as compere Jon Robb put it, on the form of
their lives right now and if anyone in the world could stake a claim for The
Rolling Stones’ crown when they finally decide to call it a day it’s Reef.
Hell, they even have the son of a Stone (Jesse, son of Ronnie Wood) in the band,
and their cover of Paint It Black would certainly give Jagger and co a run for
their millions. You’ll know a lot more Reef songs that you think you do too,
but it’s the latest stuff including the gospel tinged belter of How I Got Over (a
cover of a Clara Ward original made famous by Mahalia Jackson and Aretha
Franklin) that’ll blow yer sock off.
And does anyone in rock have a better beard
than bassist Jack Bessant? Nope. No, they don’t.
We missed out on Dreadzone to catch one of the
hidden gems of the whole weekend, Josephine and the Artizans at the Band Stand.
Hip hop meets opera....or Hip HOpera if you will. I can’t recall many classically
trained opera singers who have a thing for hip hop but Josephine clearly does
and whilst she didn’t rap herself this evening (although I suspect she could
flow with the best of ‘em) the blend of classical opera pieces and raps from
the two male band members was refreshingly different and that’s all too rare
these days. Ones to watch.
The Proclaimers have become firm festival favourites
over the past few years, partially no doubt to that Comic Relief cover and the
use of I’m On My Way in Shrek plus the surprisingly good musical movie Sunshine
On Leith, and what the band lacks in between song banter they make up for in good
old fashioned sing-a-long moments that the crowd certainly made the most of despite
the drizzle.
That just left time for James and, much like Reef,
they seem to have hit a bit of a purple patch in their golden (okay maybe
silver’s a little kinder) years. Formed as long ago as 1982 they hit it big
with late 80s baggy anthem Sit Down and went on to have almost a dozen other
chart hits before they called it a day in 2001. A 2007 reunion tour sold out in
a matter of hours and they’ve released four albums since then including the critically
acclaimed Girl At The End Of The World. Tonight, in front of 14,000 or so loved
up festival goers the band revisited the pick of their back catalogue (no Born
of Frustration though...boo!) adding a little more synth based groove and
glitter that the originals lacked. In a reverse Samson lead singer Tim Booth
seems to have grown as a both vocalist and performer since losing his hair,
confidently plunging into the crowd to be lifted aloft at one point and repeatedly
shaking his thang throughout the set.
An emotional Nothing But Love capped
things off brilliantly with Booth clearly appreciative of just how epically well
the whole gig had gone down with the crowd...but then again...wait for it...he’s
a staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar.
Following a tip from a fellow camper we raised
ourselves in time for The Rev Hammer Group at Sunday lunchtime, an unknown quantity
to us but well worth catching. Digging around it seems as though the Rev’s been
playing since the mid 80s, building up a loyal cult audience along the way. Sharing
similar DNA to The Levellers the Rev’s brand of folk rock probably belonged on
the main stage in a later slot but we did get a guest appearance from Mark
Chadwick who’s clearly a big fan so I’m guessing there was a reason for the
early gig.
Check out Down By The River O and the Rev’s epic ‘folk rock opera’
Freeborn John (the story of John Lilburne the leader of The Levellers...the
political movement not the band) for a primer into the man and music.
Next up Two Tone legends The Selector got the crowd
skanking like good ‘uns (Pauline Black just doesn’t seem to age) before
Mariachi El Bronx brought a little Mexican magic to the party paving the way
for The Coral (bugger me, another band getting a second wind) who, judging by
set highlight and recent single Holy Revelation, have an ex-pysching future in
front of them.
Okay, this might seem like sacrilege but we skipped
most of The Levellers’ set to watch some masterful Afrobeat from Dele Sosimi who
began his set playing to an almost empty Little Big Top!
This dude played with both
Fela and Femi Kuti! Good grief. The place soon filled up though with a small
but enthusiastic bunch who appreciated Dele’s irresistible blend of Afro
rhythms, politically infused lyrics (arguably reflecting the true spirit of
Afrobeat) and relentlessly energetic performance. We left in time to catch the final
part of The Levs’ set though and high up on the hill as several grands worth of
fireworks lit up the sky Beautiful Days ended up in a truly memorable night.
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