Wychwood Festival 2024 ( Sunday )

 

Our second day at Wychwood 2024 saw us up bright and early and back at Cheltenham Racecourse for 11:00 am to see the undeniable star of the weekend, in his own words "TV celebrity... and meme", the amazing Hacker T Dog!

Our kids grew up watching Hacker's antics on CBBC, so we remember the character fondly, and now he's gained popularity through the "Normal men" video clip / meme from 2016 showing Hacker and presenter Lauren Layfield cracking up whilst attempting a continuity link. Hacker's creator / puppeteer Phil Fletcher now takes his manic mutt on tour, singing, DJ-ing and, of course, chanting out "We're just normal men" as often as humanly or canine-ly possible. Aided and abetted by actual DJ Katie Thistleton, Hacker got the early morning Wychwood crowd festival-ready by singing old kids' TV themes, telling daft jokes and generally larking about it. It was great, great fun.

And after the show Phil came down from the stage to meet the fans and take selfies. He gave everybody his time and was very gracious and friendly, and we chatted with Katie who was also lovely. Here's an overjoyed Sarah meeting Hacker and Phil. The nominal Sunday headliners were Dad-rock bores Ocean Colour Scene but, for sheer entertainment value and rock 'n' roll spirit, Hacker beat them hands ( or paws ) down.

"Y'alright cockers!"

The first music act of the day we saw was local lad Crispin ( no surname required ) who produced a family-friendly, ballad-heavy type of pop. Inoffensive and tuneful but forgettable.

We went for another wander and took in the sights of the festival. It was a much hotter day than Saturday but we found a few places we could duck inside and chill out.

In the early afternoon we watched Thrill Collins, an acoustic covers band who do revved-up, comedy takes on big pop and rock tunes. They went down a treat with the festival crowd and were obviously good at what they do... but, when they started playing Hotel bloody California we had to move on.

Next on the agenda were The Futureheads, indie rockers best known for their cover of Kate Bush's immortal Hounds Of Love. I went down the front to catch half of their set and was impressed with their propulsive guitar pop, and wished I'd seen more of them. A bloke next to me said "They're a bit bloody good, aren't they?" - and they were. They, of course, finished with Hounds and it was a delight.

Spot the festival chick!

Over on the Garden Stage I caught one of the youngest bands of the weekend and certainly the loudest:

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard ( you'd think one bird of prey would be enough )

This Welsh alt-metal ( probably? ) four-piece were incredibly loud and heavy, throwing all kinds of bludgeoning riffs, tempos and time-changes into their pummelling set. Frontman Tom Rees is engagingly odd, like Tom Verlaine fed a diet of raw meat and cocaine, and the whole band are incredibly accomplished for such spring chickens... sorry, buzzards. Definitely a band to watch out for.

Sarah had been looking round the stalls while I was watching Buzzard x3 ( and having my ear drums destroyed ), and then we got back together to see indie pop legends The Lightning Seeds on the main stage.

Ian Broudie and co. were, to my mind anyway, far more deserving of the headliner slot than OCS. The Liverpudlians' gorgeous melodies and hooky hooks were perfect for a warm early Summer evening in a field. Pop banger after pop banger rocketed over the crowd: Change, Sugar Coated Iceberg and Sense were all kinds of jangly goodness and induced mass outbreaks of positive vibes and jollification. ( I'm not sure if that's a real word, but it's certainly a Lightning Seeds album title. ) "Oh, lucky you" indeed.

After a gorgeous Life Of Riley, the inevitable Three Lions roared into life, with Broudie asking the crowd if they thought "it" ( ie a win for England in the Euros ) was possible this year. Of course, most people seemed to think it was possible and bellowed along to the "It's coming home" chant. And, also of course, it turned out later that it didn't come home. Never mind - the Lightning Seeds' optimism, no matter how misplaced, is always a welcome thing in these troubled times.

We literally caught two of Seasick Steve's songs. Although I can appreciate his hobo blues / rock, it really isn't my cup of tea, nor Sarah's. He went down a storm with those who do like it, though. Which was nice. But, anyway, we had an appointment at the Garden Stage with some ( not so ) new soul rebels:

Apart from Hacker ( who relentlessly bigged-up the below act during his set ), my main reason for attending Wychwood on the Sunday was to see the legendary Dexy's ( without the Midnight Runners nowadays lol )

The only time I'd seen Dexy's previously was way back in 2013 at the Gloucester Guildhall. This had been my first gig back after my cancer treatment and it was a very special, emotional experience. I wasn't sure how this gig and this Dexy's lineup would compare. ( Of course, Dexy's in the 21st century basically comprises of  Kevin Rowland and any musician he hasn't fallen out with. )

We got into the Garden Stage tent fairly early and grabbed a decent spot near the front. Sarah had been surprised that a band of Dexy's status were playing on the smaller stage, but I personally couldn't imagine them on the main stage. The theatricality and uniqueness of the Dexy's performance needs to be seen up close.

The band came out onto the stage and started playing the old Bee Gees standard, To Love Somebody, and then "good old Kevin" appeared and instantly commanded the attention of the crowd. The choice of opening song may have seemed strange, considering how much of a back catalogue the band has to draw on, but they've always been astute in their choice of covers, and Kevin absolutely owned this song. Looking quite thin these days, but immaculate in his multi-coloured zoot suit, his voice was however still a thing of beauty, the deep, rich tones and soulful high notes as powerful as ever.

The band then barrelled into first album classic Tell Me When My Light Turns Green, the horn section blasting out the immaculate riff to the delight of the long-time fans. Midway through the set, Dexy's dropped a couple of "the hits" - Geno and Jackie Wilson Said - and everybody by this point was dancing and singing and strutting their funky stuff ( technical term ). The last time I saw the band, they'd played Geno in a Calypso style, which had been fun, but this was a return to the original arrangement and it had that down 'n' dirty Stax oomph to it, and was just outstanding.

Lengthy takes on Until I Believe In My Soul ( yay! ) and the more recent Free saw Kevin indulging his more soul-searching, theatrical side as he recalled the bad old '80s days of punishing his body to believe in his soul, and his yearning to be free of relationships, of band members, of whatever else had plagued him. The set sometimes felt like a confessional or a therapy session for a ( formerly? ) troubled artist, and often these longeurs stretched on almost to the point where they became tiresome. Almost, but not quite, as Kevin injected self-deprecating humour and the band injected raw soul power into these songs just when needed. And then the fiddle-player limbered up and it was time for Eileen to come out to play. Come On Eileen had been noticeable by its absence last time but, in 2024, it seems that Kevin has come to terms with the monster hit single that defined the band for so many casual observers, and has brought it back in all its foot-stomping glory. He also seems to have come to terms with past mistakes and spoke briefly, but movingly, about Al Archer, the former bandmate who had done so much to build the Dexy's sound but had fallen foul of Rowland's "new soul vision" in one of the turbulent lineup changes.

They finished with a stunning version of This Is What She's Like, the epic attempt to define feelings for that special someone, an attempt that will always fail because love is too huge a thing for a mere song to quantify. But Kevin always tries. He believes the Italian's have a word for it. Like a thunderbolt or something...

As you can guess, I was absolutely knocked out by this performance. Dexy's have meant so much to me over the years and I was so happy that they still had that Celtic Soul magic, and their singer was still the unique, passionate, occasionally frustrating, always stylish, frontman who has been pouring his soul out for so many years for our entertainment. Cheers, Kev!

After this, we went for yet another mooch around the arena and caught the tail end of an uninspiring set by headliners Ocean Colour Scene. We could hear them, being all bombastic and obvious, and decided we weren't going to investigate too closely. They finished with The Day We Caught The Train, but we weren't going to take a train ( or a car ) out of Wychwood that quickly, because we were heading for the late night Silent Disco..

I'd never really understood the concept or appeal of silent discos previously, but we'd seen this after-hours ritual taking place last year and thought it looked like fun. The set up is this: two DJs play two completely different sets and the punters are given noise-cancelling headphones, which can be tuned into Red or Blue channels for either DJ. You can flip from one to the other at will, so if you're thinking the dancers freaking out to the Blue channel are having more fun than your Red cohorts, you can join in with them. Of course, you can also take the headphones off and watch people seemingly dancing and singing tunelessly to no music, which is worth a chuckle. 

As it was, the Blue DJ was playing a lot of house, jungle and trance ( which I mostly went for ) and Red was laying down a lot more pop-orientated stuff ( which Sarah mostly went for ), but we mixed and matched as we went along. After two days on our feet, watching bands, you'd think we'd be too knackered for all this, but we found extra strength ( somehow! ) and danced our feet off until 01:00 am - party animals! It was a great laugh and we'll definitely have to do it again.

After a walk through an eerily deserted festival site to find a hideous chemical toilet ( ugh! ), we headed for home, worn out but happy. Same time again next year, Wychwood? ( I think so. )

Wychwood Festival 2024 ( Saturday )

 

Back in June ( what do you mean, it's 2/3 of the way through July already? ), Sarah and I spent two days on a racecourse. And we didn't put any bets on. Yep, following last year's fantastic weekend at the Wychwood Festival in Cheltenham, we were back for more. To be honest, much of the lineup this year didn't really grab me, but we'd had such a good time in 2023 that we knew it would be worth going again. We had the added incentive that our good friend Caz was playing on the Saturday with her band, Dub Catalyst, and had managed to get us one free ticket. So, we rocked up to the "production" tent at the racecourse and Sarah was given the keys to the kingdom... or at least a wristband that admitted her into the arena.

The first band we caught was The Zangwills, who'd progressed from the Garden Stage last year to the main stage this year. We only watched two or three of their songs before heading off to see Dub Catalyst, but their muscular indie-pop was a fine start to the weekend.

We got down the front in the Garden Stage tent and plonked ourselves in front of Dub Catalyst's amazing horn section, featuring ( of course! ) Cazbo on trombone. DC's summery, positive-vibe-imbued reggae / hip hop perfectly suited the gorgeous June weather, and they soon filled the tent out with happy, dancing punters. As always, they were incredibly tight and professional, with every member of the 11-piece band giving their all (even the tambourine player who was living his best life), and the crowd absolutely loved them. Surely the main stage beckons next year?

I caught half of a set from Amy Moore, a Country singer who had a very strong, soulful voice and some equally strong tunes ( and a kick ass band, it has to be said ), and then we went for a wander around the site. ( I mentioned "gorgeous weather" earlier and it was really good, but the photo below looks deceptively grey. )

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One of the great things about festivals is that everyone feels they're all in it together, all having a good time, all ( you could say ) connected...

And that clumsy segue leads me on to the next band on the main stage, the dancetastic Stereo MCs.

Leaning heavily on the material from their Connected album, the band brought us the rave like it was 1989 all over again. In a similar vein to last year's headliners, Happy Mondays, the MCs' blend of indie, hip hop and acid house was a perfect way to re-energise a festival crowd on a Saturday afternoon. Although lacking in the banter of a certain Mr. Ryder, the band's frontman Rob Birch had an energetic stage presence, coming across as a boiler-suited Albert Steptoe enjoying his first trip in the Hacienda. They played both of "the hits" - Connected and Step It Up - which naturally got the best reaction from the crowd, but it was all 'shroom-flavoured fun.

After this, we caught up with Caz to have hot dogs and chips on the top deck of a bus ( as you do ), while listening to some familiar tunes drifting across the field. Jangly, early-sixties Merseybeat pricked my ears up and dragged me out of the bus and I found myself breaking my "no tribute bands" rule...

Well, it's more of a guideline than a rule. The purveyors of this aural time warp were, of course, The Bootleg Beatles, the premier Fab Four tribute band. Looking spookily like the Liverpudlian icons ( I think some prosthetics may be involved ), the band were also note-perfect in recreating their sound and onstage banter. I mean, this is the closest you're going to get to a Beatles gig, so why not wallow in the nostalgia. They progressed from the raw, early songs like She Loves You and Can't Buy Me Love, via a solo "Macca" version of Yesterday, and on to the post-psychedelic era with the likes of Get Back and Revolution. It was a fun singalong and actually quite moving to hear those songs being played with such authenticity. One crowd member near me, on hearing Hey Jude ( my all-time fave Fabs song ), said "Nobody's written a song this good since the '60s", which may be an overstatement... but I can see where they're coming from.

Next up were some genuine Liverpudlians, early 2000s eclecticists The Coral.

These Scouse folk/indie types wore their Fabs influence on their sleeves, with plenty of jangly melodies to chill us all out. In theory. To be honest, I found their stuff pleasant but dull and the band had zero charisma, looking like they were going through the motions and thinking about the paycheque. Of course, the good thing about festivals is that you can always go for a wander ( again ) and Wychwood is perfect for this, with something else happening around every corner: craft-making tents, dance classes, story-telling for kiddies, even over-priced massage therapy sessions. By the time we'd taken all this in ( and probably queued for the toilets, another festival joy ), the sun was slowly sinking over the Shire and we headed back to the main stage for the headliners.

When the headliners for this year's Wychwood were announced, I was fairly unimpressed ( Ocean Colour Scene? Really? ) but there were enough acts on the bill that looked interesting, so we thought it was still worth going.

Texas are a band that I was never too bothered about back in the day, but I thought they were sure to put on a decent show. ( Can't you tell that this is yet another example of me totally underestimating a band? ) And, yeah, they really did. Straight out of the blocks with their debut single I Don't Want A Lover, Texas hit the ground running, with frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri bouncing around the stage, fizzing with energy. After a brief pause to say how amazed they were at still being in the business 35 (!) years after this song had kickstarted their career, the band launched into the anthemic, pulsing Halo, the line about "bright light city" absolutely bang on as the crowd was illuminated by the main stage lights.

Texas are one of those groups who you listen to and think "That's actually a bloody great song. Yeah, and that one. And that one." Bangers like Summer Son and In Demand give us tune after tune, and hook after hook. I probably looked on them as being a bit middle of the road previously, but as a live act, they were totally convincing, and far "rockier" than on record.

Sharleen still has an amazingly soulful and powerful voice and an absolutely magnetic stage presence.

She told us a few spicey stories, one in particular about a radio interview she'd given recently where she'd dropped a couple of F-bombs. The next day, her sister called her up to say there was some fuss online because somebody had taken offence at her "potty mouth" - Sharleen's response was "Have they ever fuckin' been to Glasgow? That's basically how we communicate."

Texas finished the set with Black Eyed Boy and Say What You Want, both total pop classics with a Country Soul twist - and the way Sharleen sang "tiiime" on the former sent shivers down my spine. They encored with the dancey Inner Smile, a song I'd completely forgotten about, but which was a euphoric, uplifting way to end the night. We headed for home, tired but happy, planning to get back there early the next morning for a meeting with a certain canine...

To be continued, cockers...

Recent gigs ( Part Three ) - Wychwood Festival 2023 Day Two

 

After a fantastic first day at Wychwood, we went home for a rest, then headed back to Cheltenham on the Saturday for day two. Gluttons for punishment or committed gig-goers? A bit of both I suppose. The 3rd of June was just as hot and sunny as the previous day and the site was much, much busier. We rocked up a bit later this time, as we'd already sussed the place out. The first band we saw on the main stage were the pop-tastic Scouting For Girls at a crazily early 15:00 pm...

The familiar, twangy sound of the James Bond theme rang out as the band took to the stage to play, inevitably, I Wish I Was James Bond. ( Just for a day. Not "Heroes", but Bond. Very specific. ) I kind of remembered SFG from their chart days of a few years ago and thought they would be fun but I'd underestimated just how much grinning, bouncing, sun-kissed fun their material would be. More pop fireworks whizzed over our heads in the form of Elvis Ain't Dead and Heartbeat, before singer Roy Stride introduced "the most inappropriate song of the day" in the form of Posh Girls. It may have been inappropriate but it was a guilty ( not that guilty ) pleasure which prompted a huge singalong from the crowd. 

They played their song Bad Superman which they said was basically a rip-off of Stacy's Mom by Fountains Of Wayne, which itself was apparently a rip-off of Busted's Year 3000. To prove the point they mashed all three into a musical medley for our entertainment and education. Which was nice. Roy embarrassed himself in front of thousands by ringing his wife and daughter from the stage and getting us to sing to them. He wanted to prove to them how many people were there as, apparently, "nobody goes to festivals to watch Scouting For Girls". His wife was having none of it, so he's got some making up to do. Hopefully not in front of thousands. They finished ( of course ) with their biggest hit, She's So Lovely, yet another Summery pop classic, and then they were gone. SFC were a delight, a band I probably wouldn't have gone to see otherwise but definitely enjoyed on this gorgeous June afternoon. They're touring later in the year, so who knows, I might see them again... stranger things have happened...

Next up was some proper pop royalty in the shape of Heather Small. Or "THE Heather Small???" as my daughter exclaimed when I mentioned she was playing. Singing along to a backing track and only performing six songs (!), Heather Small still gave her all, and then some. Strutting sassily across the stage ( I mean, how else would she do it? ), Heather ran through a greatest hits selection of mostly M People songs like One Night In Heaven, Search For The Hero and How Can I Love You More? as well as her signature solo anthem Proud  -  and there were obviously some Miranda fans in the crowd as a bunch of people were wearing cardboard Heather Small masks for this one. You had to be there. Heather was quite the diva on stage, in a light-hearted but totally authentic way, and her voice was as rich and powerful as ever as she led the crowd through a closing rendition of female-empowerment classic Moving On Up. 

An uplifting, if short, set which made me decide I'd like to see more of Heather ( steady! ), but with a full set and an actual band...

From pop to Britpop next, as the stupendous Sleeper rocked up at Dave's Stage ( that's the main stage to you ) to bring us their own brand of indie wizardry. The strains of You Only Live Twice rang out around the arena ( what was it with all the Bond references? ) and then Sleeper kicked into a rousing Cellophane to start their set.

 Their set was basically a greatest hits compilation but this first song, from 2018 comeback album The Modern Age, easily held its own against the familiar songs. And what songs! The impish Nice Guy Eddie, power-pop banger Statuesque and the achingly sad What Do I Do Now? were all outstanding and showed that the underrated Sleeper were easily on a par with the more populist, blokey bands of the Britpop era. The gorgeous Louise Wener, resplendent in a frilly skirt and green "Rock Hag" T-shirt, looked like she was having the time of her life, a permanent smile playing on her lips. The medley of Blondie's Atomic and Joy Division's Love Will tear Us Apart paid fine tribute to their heroes ( and gave the crowd yet another singalong ) before they concluded the excellent set with the one-two punch of Inbetweener ( of course! ) and Sale Of The Century. This is the second time I've seen Sleeper and both times they've been fantastic, easily one of the best live bands around at the moment.

I think we did another dash out of the main arena to find some grub at this point, and then headed back to catch Caledonian folk/rock duo The Proclaimers. 

Although Craig and Charlie Reid have been doing their thing since the late '80s I only own their first album so wasn't familiar with a lot of their songs. I also wasn't sure if they would have a full band or just play as a duo ( do they even do that any more? ) but, as it turned out, they had a shit-hot backing band, who rocked like muthas. ( Technical term. ) I didn't know the first song, Dentures Out, but they followed it with the strident, autobiographical Over And Done With which sounded great, especially the "I washed my hands and went for ma dinnerrrr" line. Another early highlight of the set was the unashamedly romantic Let's Get Married, a heart-on-the-sleeve love song that could have been sung by the Everly Brothers, instead of two spotty guys from Fife. And I think a lot of the group's appeal is this old-fashioned approach to song-writing, with no room for irony but plenty of room for sincerity. A beautiful Sunshine On Leith had everyone singing and possibly evoked a few tears in their fanbase. ( I was surprised how many people, and how many young people at that, knew all the words to all their songs. They're clearly more popular than I'd thought. ) Although the Reids were relatively taciturn on stage, their songs really said it all with their passion and gorgeous shared vocals. They finished, of course, with a crowd-pleasing rendition of their biggest hit, I'm Gonna Be ( 500 Miles ), which was a perfect way to end the set. I'll definitely have to buy more of The Proclaimers' music and hopefully catch them live again some day.

And then it was time for the last band we saw at Wychwood, yet another Scottish act, indie Radio 2 stalwarts, Travis. Sarah was always a big fan of this band back in the day and we had seen them before, many years ago at the Birmingham International Arena. I'd never been too bothered about their easy-listening indie and have been guilty of taking the piss out of them in the past but, to be honest they were great at Wychwood. Starting with two of their most well-known songs, Sing and Writing To Reach You, they instantly got the crowd fully engaged and singing along. Similarly to the Reid brothers, Travis are another band who come across as very sincere and down to earth  -  they may be lacking in weirdness or rock 'n' roll attitude, but they make up for this with their warmth and smoothly lovely melodies.

 

Driftwood was a mid-set anthem that had everyone singing and swaying along, while more recent song A Ghost was a (yes) haunting Country lament about not letting life pass you by. Singer Fran Healey announced they'd come to the "busking" part of the set and they all gathered around one mike to play a beautiful a cappella version of Flowers In The Window.

 After finishing the main set with a massive version of Turn, they encored with a couple of heavier songs in All I Wanna Do Is Rock ( "If Travis were a country, this would be our national anthem" ) and the Motown beat of Selfish Jean, before bringing the house down ( no mean feat without a roof! ) with the inevitable Why Does It Always Rain On Me? Luckily it hadn't rained on us or the band, and Travis had been a ( surprisingly for me ) fine way to end a cracking weekend. Same again next year? Let's hope so.