Spent yesterday on our annual pilgrimage to the Maverick festival at Easton Farm Park. This is a Friday evening to Sunday mid afternoon celebration of Americana although, as has become the norm, we decided to only go for the full Saturday line-up (after promising yet again we would go for the full three days).
The weather was once again glorious (I think only once has it seen even a hint of rain), although in typically English style we would have to say that it was a tad too hot for the redheads and pale skins amongst us. As usual, in the afternoon we took up residence in front of the main “Sweet Home Alabama” stage and were rewarded with a consistently fine and varied mix of Americana from a mixture of American and home grown talent.
First up were the Ugly Guys, fronted by ex Kursaal Flyer Paul Shuttleworth, who provided a very entertaining and melodic take on the badlands of America, Southend style! They even gave us a (somewhat loose) rendition of the Kursaal’s 1976 single ‘Little Does She Know’. In keeping with the motif for this year’s festival, next up were taster performances from three of Alabama’s finest female singer songwriter performers, Lisa Mills, Debbie Bond and Hannah Aldridge. Although they all offered their own unique take on Americana, what united them was their impassioned, powerful and soulful vocals – they must put something in the water down there.
Legends of Country played a solid if not particularly innovative set and were followed by previous Maverick visitor Bob Collum, who proved, just like last visit, what a fine songwriter he is. Next up was the highlight of the whole day for me, Luke Tuchscherer and The Penny Dreadfuls. Superb, melodic songs and a fantastically soulful voice (and this from the drummer in the Whybirds, although to be fair, everyone in that group writes and sings). As with all great live performances, inspired me to immediately seek out the recorded material. Got by far the best reception of the day outside the ‘headline’ (see below). Another of the British bands followed, and the Suburban Dirts and on first hearing the band appears to have some strong material and a genuinely unique sound – they did seem a little perturbed by what they might have considered a somewhat lacklustre response from the crowd, and it was probably unfortunate they followed the great set from the Penny Dreadfuls. They did produce a very fine cover of ‘Need Your Love So Bad’ though.
Jason Serious (another ‘Maverick veteran’) followed with a collection of finely constructed and heartfelt songs and was followed, eventually, by the headliner Billy Bragg. Some self important roadie / sound guy spent an absolute eternity fine tuning a sound that had been perfectly adequate for the previous six hours and in so doing delayed Bragg’s performance, so it was just as well that he was witty, charming and entertaining in equal measure throughout the hour long set. An awful lot of people turned up to the outdoor stage to see him perform and no-one seemed to go away disappointed.
We spent the evening wandering from venue to venue, catching the odd song from each performer, but not enough of any to justify any kind of critical overview – just enough to enjoy the music and the cool of the evening!
Another excellent day of music at a lovely venue, with very fine beer from the barrel and a wide variety of good quality food to keep everyone satiated.