Enjoyed our first visit to the above. Couldn’t get full weekend tickets so went on the Friday night and the Sunday. Particularly looking forward to The Men They Couldn’t Hang who, sadly, proved to be the only real disappointment of the event.
There were two main stages so we had to pick and choose. On Friday we caught Hickman and Quinn, 3 Daft Monkeys and the Brooks Williams Band, All excellent, although I suspect I’ll always consider 3 Daft Monkeys a live act rather than an album band (at least based on experiences to date).
Particularly pleased to catch Brooks Williams, as managed to miss him at the Maverick a week earlier. Great to hear him with a couple of other musicians, and his guitar playing was terrific throughout the set.
Men They Couldn’t Hang on the other hand were a bit of a shambles. Whilst you wouldn’t want to dilute their undimmed political fervour, the band’s causes are not helped by drunken rants, most of which were incomprehensible. Music suffered as well, as they condemned much of their very fine material to a slash and burn grunge. Hope they don’t repeat at the Rhythm festival in August.
On Sunday, saw Tom McConville and band (superb), Heidi Talbot (good but not really my cup of tea), Rory McLeod (excellent), Bounty Hounds, Seize The Day, Dana and Sue Robinson and Martin Simpson rounding things off on Sunday night. Simpson has always been an artist I know I should like but I just can’t manage it. Great guitarist, but no great shakes as a singer; I’m sure it’s me and not him, as they say, and I also know most would disagree.
Good to see Boo Hewerdine popping up on stage every now and then as well, not least with Brooks Williams and Heidi Talbot. All in all, pretty good stuff and may well be back next year.