Saturday
Saturday kicked off at 12.00 on the dot with Amor, the band led by ex-Hoax member John Amor. Good, solid, heavy riffing blues with a contemporary edge. Very different to the Hoax but none the worse for that and a fine start to the first day. Ana Popovic was next up, a vocalist and guitarist with a growing reputation. Her performance got stronger as the set developed but I didn’t hear anything truly exceptional or noteworthy in the set.
One of the highlights of Saturday, G.B. Leighton delivered a terrific and soulful rock and roll set. OK, he’s closer to Springsteen than Sonny Boy, but it was passionate, melodic and highly entertaining stuff; and he looked as though he was enjoying himself. A great live act and just what the afternoon needed, kick starting the festival with great songs, humour and enthusiasm. The largely acoustic blues of Michael Messer proved a nice change of pace and emphasis and got the approval of the die hard blues fans in the audience. Great guitar playing, stunning slide work and a range of material from the CD “King Guitar”. The band was excellent, but the supporting female vocalist was a mistake and clearly didn’t know the material well enough.
Courtney Pine was an interesting addition to the line-up, broadening the once blues only festival even further. A clear favourite of many in the crowd, there was a fine atmosphere to the set, a good mix of material and fantastic playing from Courtney, including a wander through the crowd on one of the numbers. Some of the improvisation left the Primer a little cold (not the Primer’s bag, not Courtney’s problem). Next up was a real treat, Booker T. and the MGs playing in the UK for the first time in twelve years. Better than we had any right to expect, they played a cracking set. All the usual suspects got an airing, we had a Green Onions ‘follow-up’ and a great rendition of Paul Simon’s Mrs. Robinson. 120 years of collective experience on stage and it showed. Seeing these guys live made you realise just how good they are and what a contribution they made to so many of the great Stax releases.
Saturday night climaxed with Taj Mahal as the headliner, his second straight appearance at the festival. We finished in typical Taj style – the usual good vibe, an eclectic mix of soul, blues, reggae and a little calypso delivered with his usual good humour. It has to be said however, that the set was not a radically different from the previous
Sunday
Nawfel started off the proceedings on Sunday. This guy is a talent, no question and the heavy, blues-rock workouts were nicely balanced with more low-key material that emphasised his astonishing phrasing and the more melodic side of his soulful guitar playing. Mighty Mo Rodgers was a real highlight for the crowd and the Primer. Playing material from his CD “Blues Is My Wailing Wall” his performance and between song anecdotes went down a storm. If you haven’t got the album, it gets a hearty recommendation here.
The Primer found the Lynden David Hall set a little disappointing. I’d singled out the performance as a potential highlight, intrigued as to how Hall’s intimate style would fit within the Bishopstock programme. For a guy who believes in ‘grooves rather than beats’ the groove didn’t hang together particularly well and the whole set lacked a little sparkle. Hopefully, just a one-off bad day at the office and there were plenty down at the front who appeared to disagree with this view of the gig anyway. Peter Green and Splinter played a fine, late afternoon set and anyone who has seen Splinter on tour recently would know what to expect. Peter still plays the Fleetwood Mac material, but you can’t help but wonder how sick he might be of reprising ‘Albatross’ one more time (still great though Smiley). A little Robert Johnson, some material from the soon to be released new album, genuine rapport on stage and Peter said even less than usual – the usual solid stuff!
Van Morrison appeared to tailor his material to the setting, playing a few blues standards and focusing on the bluesier side of his own material. He also performed material that doesn’t often get a hearing these days (at least not when I get to see him), including a wonderful ‘When The Healing Has Begun’. Great band as usual (looked like a throwback to an Irish showband!) and Van seemed in reasonably good humour. No encore, and the compere pointed out that he saw the man disappear into a car straight from the stage and leave – so no change there then. The crowd gave Nina Simone a rapturous reception and stayed with her through what, frankly, was a disastrous and somewhat depressing set. Clearly tired and not particularly well, the voice was weak and the set had no real direction. One of those, “I Was There” events (having never seen her before) but not a particularly wonderful musical occasion.
The 20 plus strong London Community Gospel Choir brought proceedings to a close and gave the event a real lift after Nina. A great selection of gospel performances, traditional and contemporary (but more of them later….)
Monday
A relatively local group (the Blue Bishops) kicked off the proceedings on Bank Holiday Monday (it should have been Justin Adams, see below) and this in itself set alarm bells ringing for the rest of the day’s lineup (alarm bells that were duly answered when Johnny Winter was unable to perform). All I can tell you about the group is that they had Wishbone Ash’s Martin Turner on bass, a couple of them apparently ran a pub not too far from Bishopstock and they played a raft of standards, anything from Muddy Waters through to Free. Not quite what we were expecting. The three finalists of the Bishopstock Young Musician Of The Year awards then got their chance to shine on the main stage. Two guitarists and a young female vocalist – my choice would have been either of the guitarists (Andy Cortes in particular), but the singer got the nod. Too much of a Janis Joplin fixation for my taste.
Ben Andrews played a fine acoustic set, much appreciated by the crowd, who gave him a standing ovation and pulled him back for an encore. Lovely anecdotes about meeting some of the old acoustic blues masters peppered the material, much of which came from the acclaimed album “Gallows Pole” (heartily recommended for those who like virtuoso acoustic blues). A fine set and a lovely tribute to Eva Cassidy (with whom Andrews had played). The tempo then increased dramatically when The Fins hit the stage, showcasing their hard driving r&b, jump and swing styles. I love this genre and they pull the styles together extremely well but for some reason, it didn’t really excite the way it should (or maybe I was just feeling crabby, because they were undoubtedly a fine band).
The Primer had marked down Sue Foley’s set as another potential highlight of the weekend and she showcased both her command of a number of blues styles and her fine guitar playing. Maybe I was expecting too much, but on this occasion I didn’t hear a particularly strong vocalist (certainly not what the albums had led me to expect) or witness a particularly exciting set. OK, I did have an ever increasingly troublesome toothache by now and I guess my reactions were coloured by that, but I missed the individuality and style to be found on her studio recordings. Good band though. Gary Moore is not a particular favourite of the Primer, but he played an exceptionally fine set. He was up for it, he chose his material well and his playing was powerful and refreshingly subtle in equal measure. His guitar playing on ‘Still Got The Blues’ should still make the coldest heart melt. In retrospect, given the non-appearance of Johnny Winter, he should have headlined the Monday line-up.
Justin Adams and the Wayward Sheikhs then had to deliver their set in a near to headlining slot position when they were expecting to play much earlier in the day. Adams has a very individual and interesting style, mixing blues with electronic improvisations and eastern imagery. Fascinating and demanding stuff but not ideally placed in the running order. In the absence of Johnny Winter, the London Community Gospel Choir agreed to turn their tour bus around and come back to Bishopstock and headline for the second day running. Hats off to them for doing so (and a thumbs down to the few idiots who took their disappointments out on a group who appeared at such short notice) and for delivering such a rousing and inspiring finale to the festival. Their rendition of Bill Withers’ ‘Lean On Me’ deserves a particular mention. But by then, even the weather had turned against this year’s festival and it had got decidedly chilly and many people decided it was time to head for home.
Probably the least musically satisfying day of the three, the festival as a whole was still, paradoxically given all the problems, a real success. Whether we’ll ever see another one is a moot point now I’m afraid……