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

 Purely by chance, this Summer has been my busiest season ever for outdoor gigs. In recent weeks Sarah and I have seen the mighty Muse in Milton Keynes and the peerless Pulp in Manchester ( more about those later ) but it started back in June with the Wychwood Festival in Cheltenham. Wychwood has been running since 2005 but I've never paid it much attention, until this year's stellar lineup made me give it a go. I think they've really stepped up their selection of bands since the pandemic and this, coupled with the fact it's just up the road for us, made it a must. I bought us tickets for the Friday and Saturday only, as the Sunday seemed the weakest lineup, apart from Soul II Soul who I'm sure would have been good. 

( As an aside, the cost for Sarah and I to go to Wychwood for two days was still less than the cost of one ticket for Springsteen's latest tour. As you may know, dear reader, I am was(?) a big Bruce fan but the whole Ticketmaster "dynamic ticketing" fiasco, and Springsteen's shameless attitude towards it, has put me off the guy so much that I'll probably never see him play live again. I won't go into it now but, suffice to say, I'm not happy about it. ) Anyway, on to happier days...

Wychwood had the most chilled, relaxed vibe of any big gig I've been to: a very family friendly, welcoming festival with plenty of things to do besides the bands, like arts & crafts workshops, "wellness" stuff, dance classes etc. I even got Sarah onto a fairground ride :-) The weather was perfect which was a relief as the British festival experience can always be hit or miss. We always remember seeing Robbie Williams ( don't snigger at the back! ) in 2001 in a sea of mud. Which wasn't much fun. As the photo above shows, we had no such problems this time, our biggest worry was not getting too sunburnt. So, what about the bands? What indeed. I'll run through them in order of days and performances, which is honestly most unlike my usual, haphazard style. I don't know what's got into me. Starting with Friday 2nd June:

The first band on, at some ridiculously early time in the afternoon, were The Pop-Tarts. These two sisters plus backing band play pop / rock covers in a folk stylee with ukuleles and acoustic guitars, and were a nice, gentle way to start the weekend. ( All the bands I'm going to mention here were on the main stage. I didn't get any photos of The Pop-Tarts there, but they did play again later in the day in a tent, as you can see below... )

Also in the wasteland of the afternoon slot were Still Pigeon, a straight-outta-music-school indie band from Oxford. They weren't too distinctive but were a pleasant soundtrack to eating an ice cream in the sunshine and certainly enjoyed themselves onstage.

Then came one of the most joyful but also most poignant sets of the weekend from The Beat featuring Ranking Jnr. If you've followed this 'ere blog for any length of time, you'll know that The Beat ( not Dave Wakelin's "English Beat" version, thanks ) are one of my all-time favourite live bands. I hadn't seen them since the tragic passing of Ranking Roger back in 2019 and it was a real lump-in-the-throat moment to see Ranking Jnr take to the Wychwood main stage without his legendary dad. Junior, as enthusiastic and full of beans as ever, soon had the crowd moving with a couple of Beat classics in Stand Down Margaret and Too Nice To Talk To, before Side To Side represented the 21st century Beat catalogue. He then introduced Carry The Flag by talking about his late dad, bravely sharing his feelings at his dreadful loss, and describing Ranking Roger as his mentor and best friend. It was a very emotional moment and Carry The Flag beautifully summed up Junior's mission to perpetuate his dad's message of good vibes, love and unity. More classics followed, with virtually everybody dancing by this point, before the set-closing double punch of an extended Ranking Full Stop and ( of course ) Mirror In The Bathroom. It had been a fantastic performance, full of joy and sadness, love and hope, perfect for such a beautiful day.

We went to find some food at this point ( exciting stuff, right? ) so missed the majority of Republica's set but managed to catch about three songs. As expected, they kicked out some bouncy indie-dance which was good fun but not life-changing. Frontperson Saffron doesn't have the strongest voice but she makes up for that with her ebullient personality and down to earth manner. She told us that the band can't believe they're still doing this as they were just "some mates from Essex with a synthesiser" who got together for a laugh back in the '90s, and are still here. Good luck to them.

The next band, The Dualers, were an unknown quantity for me. We also missed part of their set as we'd been wandering again and catching up with my old Death Planet Commandos pal, Mark B. ( A shocking lack of commitment from yer blogger. ) The Dualers turned out to be a red-hot reggae / ska band who brought the party vibe to Wychwood and got people to move their feet to the Trenchtown-via-SE London beat. They summed up their optimistic, Summery sound with It's A Wonderful Life before finishing with a razor-sharp cover of Toots & The Maytals' all-time ska classic Monkey Man. Definitely a band to catch again.

And then it was time for the band I was probably the most excited about, the always awesome Ash! I'd had a ticket for a much-delayed Ash gig in Bristol ( thanks Covid! ) knocking about for a year or so and hoped to see them in late 2021. Unfortunately the pandemic was still hanging around, if not in full swing, and Sarah wasn't comfortable with me going, so I gave it a miss. This was my first opportunity to see the boys from Downpatrick since that time and I was really looking forward to it. 

Ash kicked off with A Life Less Ordinary ( yay! ) and basically played a greatest hits set, with the likes of Angel Interceptor, Goldfinger and Shining Light all getting rabid responses from the audience. ( Sarah, it has to be said, was a bit non-plussed by it all. ) This was the first time I'd seen Ash play an outdoor gig and, as can often be the case, the sound wasn't a patch on what you'd hear at an indoor venue. The band were playing as well as ever, Tim Wheeler was his usual charismatic self, but the guitar sound was too quiet for my liking. If you're going to play a Flying V it needs to be heard! After a ferocious Orpheus ( maybe too ferocious? ) the bass amp packed up and there was much faffing about on stage as roadies attempted to fix it. Tim led the crowd through a solo singalong cover of Teenage Kicks ( why not? ) but the impetus was lost. Luckily, the set-closing trio of Kung Fu / Girl From Mars / Burn Baby Burn just about salvaged things. Anyway, it was great to see them again and I'm hoping to catch them on their tour with The Subways later in the year. And they've got a new album coming out soon!

As the sun went down, headliners The Happy Mondays ambled onto the stage to bring some urban Mancunian madness to leafy Cheltenham. That distinctive, twangy guitar figure that heralds Kinky Afro started up and then Shaun Ryder launched into one of the greatest opening lines in pop history: "Son, I'm 30 / I only went with your mother 'cos she's dirty" - and the party started right there. Leaning heavily on the iconic Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches album, the Mondays pulled indie-dance banger after indie-dance banger out of their bucket hat, with the infectious Loose Fit and the righteous God's Cop being standouts. The expected sitcom shenanigans between Shaun, Bev and Rowetta were as random and hilarious as ever: Shaun made a big thing of not knowing which song they were playing next ( "Who put this in the fookin' set list?" ), even though they were obviously all well-rehearsed, and the less said about the lines Rowetta and Shaun traded during the "penis" song the better. Bez spotted a kid in the crowd shaking maracas along with him and clearly loved it. In fact, they all looked like they were loving every minute of this funky, fabulous performance. They finished with, of course, a melon-twisting Step On, with the crowd dancing like they were on a Saga mini-break to the Hacienda, before coming back out for a final, freaky-dancing Wrote For Luck. 

It had been a wonderful day: fantastic music in lovely surroundings with gorgeous weather. You can't ask much more for a festival in the UK. We headed home for a rest, before returning for Day Two...

Mad fer it!

( Have these people no shame??? )

Farrah the Fox and Sabrina the Spirit of the River Severn

These two impressive characters visited Gloucester yesterday as part of "Hi! Street Fest", celebrating the culture and history of UK cities. Farrah and Sabrina took a journey back through time as they started off in the currently-regenerating King's Quarter of the city, processed through two of Gloucester's ancient "gate" streets - Northgate and Westgate Streets - before arriving at the beautiful, 1000-year old Gloucester Cathedral. We followed the fox and his fishy friend through the streets, accompanied by dancers and roller-skaters, families and friends, the town crier and the town drunks.

It was lovely to see these colourful characters parading through Gloucester's streets, raising awareness of this much-undervalued city's long history and cultural legacy. I was especially pleased to see the Sabrina character embodying the River Severn, which has been so important to this area, from the days of the first Roman colony here, through the years of sea trading and elver fishing, up to the present day. I've lived my whole life within a few miles of the Severn and it's been a constant feature of my 56 years. We've walked its banks so many times over the years and its just a wonderful source of life, energy and history, flowing through this county and on up country. 

The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day for the fox and the mermaid to finish their journey in the gorgeous surroundings of College Green, outside the Cathedral. There was even confetti...

 

Recent gigs ( Part One ) - Dodgy, The Supernaturals and Billy Nomates

In my ongoing mission to see more bands in one year than ever before ( it's not really a mission, more a half-arsed wishlist ), I've recently been to a few gigs, including one festival and two contrasting nights in good ol' Bristol. In the time-honoured, but ultimately pointless, tradition of The Glass Walking-Stick, I'll talk about these in messed-up chronological order, starting a few Saturdays back at the Bristol O2 Academy with a Britpop revival and the return of my legendary Supernaturals T-shirt...

There's been a lot of publicity recently about Britpop legends Blur and Pulp* reforming, so interest in mid-'90s acts has been on the rise. When I heard that two of the most underrated bands of that era were playing just down the road, I had to make my way to Brizzle. I even persuaded Sarah to come along, even though she really didn't know The 'Naturals and could barely remember seeing Dodgy back in the far-off days of ( checks notes ) 2016. With impeccable timing we arrived at the O2 Academy as the first act was just finishing. This was Chris Helme, formerly of minor Britpop band The Seahorses, performing a solo acoustic set. I remembered them as being quite generic, with some dodgy lyrics ( not "Dodgy" lyrics ) so hadn't been bothered about catching Helme's set. I'm clearly an idiot. We saw him play about half of Love Is The Law and last song Blinded By The Sun to a rapturous response from the early-doors crowd. Two fine, anthemic songs with Helme's voice strong, clear and powerful, far better than I'd expected. I'll have to try and catch a full set from him. 

( *I may have bought tickets to see Pulp... watch this space... )

After a few choice Blair-era songs over the sound system, The Supernaturals ambled onstage. Just as they did the last time I saw them, James McColl and the boys started in a fairly low-key way, this time with Submarine Song and its "Doo-doo-doo-doo, oh, I wish you were here" refrain. After a more upbeat Lazy Lover, James remembered to talk to the audience and the set started to perk up. He said they'd played a warm-up gig in Glasgow the night before ( this was the first official night of the tour ), and told us that one person had fainted, one had thrown up and one had pissed in the corner by the bar  -  "Gotta love a Glasgow audience!" Bristol was slightly more civilized :-)

Second album classic I Wasn't Built To Get Up continued the perennial 'Naturals theme of not being arsed to do stuff, and was followed by the sunny, Samba sounds of Bird Of Luck and two indie-pop bangers in Love Has Passed Away and Stammer. James had by now warmed to the audience and there was even some banter with the keyboard player about his shrimp collection. ( Which led some wag on Twitter to later coin the hashtag #shrimpternaturals... you had to be there... ) James himself has apparently adopted two crows who he regularly feeds and he was concerned his wife wouldn't feed them when he was on tour. Phew! Rock 'n' roll, eh?

Speaking of Twitter ( sorry Blogger... it's not you, it's me ) I'd earlier that day posted the story of the guy who'd tried to but my vintage Supernaturals T-shirt *while I was wearing it* the last time I saw them. This prompted the Naturals' keyboard guy ( I really should know his name ) to point me out in the crowd ( I was, of course, wearing it ) and asked how much I wanted for said garment. My reply of £1000 strangely didn't find any takers. Anyway, it was odd but strangely satisfying to realise that my T-shirt's more famous than I'll ever be. After playing two of the greatest pop songs in human history, Day Before Yesterday's Man & Smile, James thanked us all for coming along and finished the set with the epic ballad Everest. It was great to see The Supernaturals again, even though their more restrained stage personae today isn't a patch on the fun fun fun antics of their glory days. Understandable, really, as it was a long time ago and we're all older and wiser now. Well, older anyway.

Headliners Dodgy were doing the "play a classic album all the way through" thing and, unlike The Chameleons last year, actually stuck to it and played the whole album, in order. Said record was the pun-tastic Free Peace Sweet, probably the high point of their career. After the intro music, the band went straight into minor melodic masterpiece In A Room and had everyone bellowing out the highly appropriate "if we are together again" line. Yes, we were all together again and it felt bloody great. More Who-influenced perfect pop followed in the shape of Trust In Time and You've Gotta Look Up, before Chris Helme came back out to join Dodgy in a crowd-pleasing If You're Thinking Of Me. They then hit us with probably their most iconic song, Good Enough, which sounded frankly fantastic. It was much more than just good enough...

As a change of pace, they ran through an epic version of One Of Those Rivers. Frontman Nigel Clark said they didn't often play this back in the Britpop days as it was "too ballad-y" for those times but, in 2023, this Waterboys-esque anthem was a soaring singalong. After a couple more power-pop bangers ( including Jack The Lad, which is surely a lost Who single from 1965 ) Nigel introduced the seemingly written-for-2023 UK RIP by saying "We wrote this song 30 years ago and, even then, we could see the lies and the bullshit. There's only one way out of this mess - together." Let's hope so, Nige.

They finished the set with Homegrown, a paean to ganja, which prompted Nigel to ask "Anybody here smoke grass?" It's Bristol, mate. You might as well ask who *doesn't* smoke grass. After a brief pause, the band came back out to finish off an excellent gig with a bouncy Staying Out For The Summer ( of course! ) and a rampant charge through Grassman, with full-on axe histrionics. Cracking stuff! Dodgy are definitely one of those bands who, while their music is damn good on record, really come alive when on stage. Great musicians and singers, with some beautiful harmonies, and tunes that just don't quit. Let's do it again soon, guys!

( Oh yeah, after the gig I actually bumped into "T-shirt guy"! It was great to catch up with him, even though I still can't remember his name: apparently he has about three different online aliases as he's a teacher and doesn't want his students to stalk him on social media... )

Back to April, now, and another gig at Bristol's Marble Factory. My good friend Tom, of The Sensitive Bore fame, sussed this gig out and said I would appreciate the artist, Billy Nomates. And, as Tom's recommendations are always spot-on ( I won't mention Joanna Newsome. Oh, I just did. ) we found ourselves hitting the M5 yet again for a trip down to cider country. Luckily, the Marble Factory was busy but it wasn't the involuntary game of sardines that the Underworld gig became. Which was nice. Before the gig we had a chat with the merch guy for Australian support band RVG. I asked him what that stood for ( as we were completely ignorant ) and he said it meant "Romy Vager Group" and explained their sound was similar to The Go-Betweens. Interesting.

Tom and I found a decent spot to the right of the stage and then it was time for RV and the RVG. 

( Really not sure about that name. )

Vager turned out to be a hugely passionate singer, putting her heart and soul into every line, and also a fantastic guitarist, shredding away for all she's worth.

The band had a tough, post-Punk sound ( which didn't really warrant the Go-Betweens comparison ) and they were all excellent musicians. The second guitarist's penchant for playing guitar and keyboards at the same time was certainly impressive. Vager's lyrics about serial killers and squids often bordered on the surreal ( "Don't go back in time / It's not worth it" ), but she sang them with the vein-bursting intensity of Patti Smith and her performance was almost, as one of her song titles has it, Feral.

The band had probably one of the best reactions from a crowd I've ever seen for a support and they were highly appreciative, saying this was the best gig they'd played in the UK. They're hoping to come back again later in the year, as headliners in smaller venues, to promote their next album so hopefully I'll get the chance to see them again.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Tor Maries aka Billy Nomates. I'd quickly Googled her when Tom first mentioned the gig but had only heard a couple of songs. I didn't know if she would have a backing band or be on her own, as her name suggested. As it turned out, she really was billy nomates and came out onto the stage solo, a diminutive figure with an acoustic guitar. Introducing the Country lament of Fawner, she said "I'm going to start off quiet then burn it down." And she did.

After this deceptively sedate opener, Billy discarded the guitar, a backing track kicked in and she began to move...

And when I say "move" I mean she moved. She pinballed around the stage, electrified, intense, a Catherine Wheel of energy.

The songs were minimalist electro-pop, pulsing and surging and very loud, but the performance was everything. After a few minutes of adjustment for sad old bloggers like myself it didn't matter that there was no backing band as Billy captured our attention with her physical performance and her strong, distinctive voice. And that voice always stayed in tune, always stayed melodic, no matter what contortions she put herself through. The Country inflections of Fawner resurfaced throughout, especially on the glistening Saboteur Forcefield ( "I had such a terrible evening"), making an interesting contrast to the ultra-modern backing and often reminding me of Angel Olsen.

The only instrument on stage was a cymbal and, unsurprisingly, that took a beating during the twisted fairground dirge Roundabout Sadness...

Highlights were Blackout Signal, the furious Spite ( "Don't you act like I ain't the fuckin' man!" ) and the more reflective Cacti, while the pounding Balance Is Gone added some New Order / Cure indie guitar sounds and seemed like a method statement: "I just go round and round."

Although originally from Leicestershire, Tor Maries now lives in Bristol and this was a homecoming gig in front of a hugely appreciative crowd. She was clearly overjoyed with the reaction and said:

"I hope you've enjoyed the show and you won't be disappointed if you see me tomorrow, doing my Tesco's weekly shop, in my joggers. But I live here."

So, a great gig and a stunning performance from a singular artist. I'll definitely have to catch Billy Nomates again soon. After the gig, Tom and I headed to the merch stalls where we had a quick chat with the guys from RVG before the less-than-friendly security guards ushered us out of the building. ( The Marble Factory also plays host to the Motion nightclub and hundreds of teens were starting to queue outside for the late night partying. ) Tom asked the RVG people to name their favourite films ( of course he did! ) and the results were: Romy - All That Jazz ( no hesitation! ), guitarist - The Wicker Man ( excellent choice! I told him it's the film's 50th anniversary this year ), bass player - Casablanca. I remarked that nobody had gone for Weekend At Bernie's, and then they realised their huge mistake ;-)

Afterwards, Tom and I walked into Bristol for a quick drink and post-gig chat in a pub near Templemeads Station, before heading for home. What a great night, thanks Tom!

( It looks like Blogger's playing up again, as I can't keep the letters in the same format / size. This used to be a much more user-friendly platform but it seems to be largely forgotten now, hence the lack of support. Oh, well! )

RIP John Romita

 I was sad today to hear that the legendary John Romita Sr. had passed away at the ripe old age of 93. "Jazzy Johnny" was one of the mainstays of the Marvel universe, his smooth style an unmistakable visual roadmap to the time of the Silver and Bronze Ages. From his early days of illustrating the brief Captain America revival of the Atlas era, through his romance comics work for DC, and through to his triumphant run on Spider-Man, Romita lent a touch of class and glamour to everything he worked on. He successfully tackled the tough gigs of taking over from Jack Kirby ( Fantastic Four ) and Steve Ditko ( Spider-Man ), and brought new life and sophistication to Daredevil and Captain America. His work on dozens of comic covers, as well as Marvel's advertising and licensed products, made Romita's style "the" look of the Marvel universe for many fans. I'm going to share a few images of the great man's work from my collection, namely two of my favourite comics, the iconic Amazing Spider-Man no. 50 and the first FF comic I ever owned, Fantastic Four no. 106...

Of course, Romita was well known for drawing fantastic female characters and created the iconic look of Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker's perennial love interest. Romita's glamorous touch transformed the angular world Ditko had originated and gave Peter and the strip a more "grown up" feel.

I've written about this issue of the FF before but it's always good to share it again. The cover artwork and many of the images inside are permanently etched into my brain, a testament to the enduring excellence of Romita's visual ability. I love the sequence below, simply done but hugely effective. And the colouring ( I'm assuming not by Romita ) is just wonderful in all its newsprint glory...

Again, Jazzy Johnny draws a beautiful Susan Richards, showing how he brought his romance comics sensibility to the super hero genre.

There are many, many wonderful tributes to this great artist out there in t'internet, so it's well worth seeking them out for more insight but I just wanted to pay my small tribute to the great man and his work.

RIP John Romita ( 24/02/1930 - 12/06/2023 )

Thanks for the years of spectacular entertainment, Jazzy John, you were truly a master of your craft.