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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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FESTIVAL SPECIAL: THE RHYTHM FESTIVAL
Twinwood Arena, near
Bedford, UK, August 5th 2007 |
 |
Phew,
what a scorcher! It has to be the hottest day
of the year so far, and for some reason we’re
stuck in the middle of a field (again) listening
to music. Actually it’s not so bad. You
see, the Rhythm
Festival, brainchild of Jim Driver,
sometime promoter of excellent R&B
nights at the 100 Club, is really a bit of
a deluxe festival. So for a few extra of Whiskyfun’s
quids we’ve got ourselves a nice picnic
table in a breezy marquee with a great view of
the stage. And we’re on the edge of a wonderful
little natural auditorium, sometimes known as
the Twinwood
Arena – it’s all dragonflies,
pirate-fairies and teddy-bears.
|
| We’ve
driven up with a pair of rock-chicks, who along
with the Photographer spend most of the day in the
shade guzzling Eccles
Cakes, superb Lancashire
Cheese, and copious quantities of red
wine, with occasional pauses to take in a band.
Me, I’m the designated driver, so I can only
watch this spectacle with awe. Round the corner
there are two more stages, a digital funfair, a
cinema and a circus for kids. The ‘facilities’,
are quite excellent. And there’s a control
tower too, because the site is a former airfield
– in fact, band leader Glenn Miller flew out
of here on his last fateful flight, so the restored
control tower houses a museum, and is something
of a shrine for his fans around the world. The festival
runs over three days, but prior engagements have
kept us away ‘till today (which means we’ve
missed the likes of the Levellers, Hot House Flowers,
Dr John, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Harley and many many
more). I have to observe that prior engagements
seem to have kept a lot of folk away altogether
as the audience is frankly quite thin on the ground. |
Somehow
we don’t get away from the main stage (no
one wants to get too far from the Eccles Cakes)
so we miss acts like John Cooper Clarke, Dr Feelgood,
and the excellent Tiny Tin Lady (whom you may remember
we enjoyed very much at Cropredy a couple of years
ago). And once the initial feasting is over, our
entertainment really begins with John
Otway, teamed up on this occasion with
his original partner and co-hit-maker Wild
Willy Barrett. It is a predictably chaotic set.
Barrett spends most of his time grumbling about
Otway, pleading to the audience for help (“for
God’s sake sing along so I don’t have
to listen to Otway’s violin”) and finally
gets his revenge during ‘Head butt’
(which mainly comprises Barrett banging Otway’s
head on the microphone). “Was that real blood?”
asked one of the rock chicks.
|
The Blockheads |
Otway
is followed by the
Blockheads, who apart from a rather
belligerent Derek the Draw on vocals, were in
as good a form as I can remember. Norman Watt-Roy’s
driving bass playing was as impeccable as ever,
and Dave Lewis on saxophone was outstanding. They’re
celebrating their thirtieth anniversary, and have
been touring for most of the year, and on to December.
It shows – in the best possible way. They’re
as tight as ninepence – a phrase which I
fear I may have made up – but you know what
I mean.
And
then, after more Eccles Cakes of course, it’s
time for some sweet motherfucking country acid
house music from Whiskyfun favourites, the Alabama
3, now sadly without Mr Segs, but
with Stevie Nicked (Steve Finnerty) on guitar
and Devlin Love on vocals. |
 |
Alabama
3 |
| They’re
embarking on a tour to promote upcoming album MOR
(released in September) – which is why they’re
all dressed in a sort of beige (well, a creamy,
whitish beige), apart from the black-clad, shorn
and highly articulate Reverend D Wayne Love. By
the way they hit the stage and tear into ‘Woke
up this morning” I deduce that they’ve
fortified themselves with something more than pastries
from Lancashire, and they’re in a hurry too
because they’re late on stage (problems miking
up the drums). Well – although they all looked
a bit surprised by the penetrating sunshine beating
down on them they delivered an electric set, as
good as if it were night time, featuring two new
songs ‘Locked’ (the new single) and
‘Way beyond the blues’, in addition
to favourites such as ‘Don’t go to Goa’,
‘Speed of the sound of loneliness’,
‘U don't dans 2 tekno anymore’, ‘Mao
Tse Tung said’ and a blistering ‘Up
above my head’ to finish. |
 |
Keyboard player Spirit of Love, who had partaken
of much sustenance during the set, collapsed spectacularly
onto his keyboards, only narrowly avoided joining
the startled audience, and had to be helped off
stage. Quite how he made it back to play on encore
‘Peace in the Valley’ I don’t
know – but they finished in fine style.
<
Who said what? |
| Ike
Turner was supposed to play but pulled out at very
short notice leaving “the father of the British
blues” John
Mayall and his Bluesbreakers as the
remaining headliner. This was a sorry affair. I
mean it’s remarkable that he can still look
so well and perform at the age of 74 but he’s
really milking his reputation. Let me just quote
you what a fellow festival goer said to me in the
‘facilities’ – “I’ve
been here for over 48 hours waiting to see something
I first saw forty years ago. And it’s fucking
crap …” Well, a tad harsh perhaps, but
it’s certainly a soulless, shallow and sterile
affair. Guitarist Buddy Whittington is note perfect,
but he looks as though his mind is more on his next
plate of pies (quick – guard the Eccles Cakes)
than his playing. And why do we have to endure his
over-long sequence of Led Zeppelin riffs? |
| Mayall’s
singing is pretty poor- it’s hard for a man
of his age to make the sort of high notes that were
his trademark in his heyday – and his keyboard
playing weak. Surprisingly he does a good job on
harp, especially on his old war-horse ‘Room
to move’. But I think we’re all glad
to see him leave the stage, with his final farewell
of “Remember to check out the merchandise
booth…”, which rather summed it all
up. And after that, to finish, we had a breathless
Neville
Staples Band. You remember Neville
– “the original rude boy” - one
time singer with the excellent Specials and Fun
Boy Three, who raced nicely through old Specials
songs at such a pace that it was impossible to get
a picture of him. Oh yes – and what an excellent
trombonist. |
John Mayall |
|
Before Staples took the stage Jim Driver came on
to thank us for being there, and to tell us that
like last year, he’d probably lost a shed
load of money on the event. Since then he’s
e-mailed his list asking people to buy bonds for
next year’s event (“I'm not disheartened
because everybody seemed to have such a great time
and I'm sure that the formula is basically right…”)
to help defray some of the cost of this year’s.
It’s a great pity – this is a fantastic,
well organised and happy festival on a really interesting
and intimate site, with a great line up of performers.
So if you’re making plans for August 2008
I urge you to keep an eye on Jim’s
website and pay your money down to
make sure it happens next year. I’ll see you
there. Thanks Jim. - Nick (all photographs by
Kate) |
Check
the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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