Folk and Roots - Wickham Festival 2010

Wickham Festival 2010

Thursday

Well, back at Wickham after a few years; me and the festival both! The festival has been at various locations in the last few years but has settled back at Wickham for 2010, bringing its four peaked red circus style tent with it.

I’m camping in the field next to the festival arena, and this is a huge timesaver in terms of getting to the main stage, returning to your tent and getting blogs written. It’s also quite nice at night just to wander the few minutes home, as it were.

I arrived in time to pitch the tent in glorious sunshine, buy a curry from one of the food stands, and sit and watch Rachel McShane and her band. Most of her music seems less upbeat than Bellowhead, the other band she’s in, but it was a great introduction to the festival, a mellow start that had everyone in the right frame of mind for Eliza.

Turn around time was much longer than anticipated in the programme, so Eliza was late on, for which she apologised - a sign of the well mannered performer that she is. Sound checking to ‘I do like to be beside the seaside’ was a pleasant change from ‘Testing 1,2,1,2’ and Eliza seemed on top form, full of smiles and laughter, with a set that included lots of songs from her last solo album ‘Dreams of Breathing Underwater’. Her voice sounded good, the deep husky undertones to it only adding to her appeal, and the vocal harmonies from her four band mates made the whole sound complete. Regardless of starting her show late, she left the stage on time (another sign of her professionalism) despite protestations from the audience, and announced she’d be over signing things at the merchandise stall.

The compere arrived to tell us that in ten minutes Treacherous Orchestra would be on - but it was a much more realistic twenty five before the band were ready to start, and they came on in the dark atmospheric dry ice to ‘Superfly’ the Kevin O’Neill tune that has almost become their signature. Kevin wasn’t there tonight, leaving Bo Jingham to struggle manfully alone on flute. There were a few line up changes tonight; I suppose that’s the nature of the beast with a band this size, particularly when it’s made of talented musicians with often play with other bands too. Apart from Kevin, Spad Reid was missing, although Martin O’Neill was back on bodhran duties, and the new temp for guitar was better than the HebCelt one, but still no match for Michael Bryan.
Unfortunately the sound was very unclear tonight – a bit like sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool- and often the pipes and flute were difficult to hear. Why, I have no idea, as (the very wonderful) sound engineer Cammy Young was around and I’d assumed he was in charge at the back.

However, these changes didn’t seem to affect the enjoyment of the people of Wickham, who were more than happy to join in with the party that was happening on stage- their only disappointment coming when Treacherous only played for forty five minutes, due to the restrictions of licensing regulations. This seemed a bit daft, because even I could tell that three bands in three hours was asking for trouble. The counter argument would be that the customers get a taster of three bands, but I’d much rather have had a full set from two!

Friday

The weather was very gloomy this morning, but undeterred we walked into Wickham, which took just a few minutes. Wickham is a traditional town: a square with independent shops and an old fashioned feel.We bought Hampshire bacon and eggs and returned to the campsite for a proper breakfast, ‘Posh Wash’ shower, and opportunity to catch up on writing. The music didn’t start until lunch time so we went back to Wickham to try Lilly’s - the tea and cake shop on the corner of the square- definitely to be recommeneded if you’re in the area!

The rain had really set in by this time, and we hurried back to the circus top to see Chris Wood in top form. He sang ‘Hollow Point’ , about the Stockwell tube shooting; a song I’ve heard before but which never fails to move me. I think that’s his skill really; his very gentle style of singing, but with such closely observed lyrics that they never fail to affect the listener, his humour taking the edge of what could be depressing songs.

The next band, ‘Reet, Petite and Gone’, were a last minute confirmation, and a surprise to me, coming after Chris Wood on the bill. They were amiable enough but I left them to their blues covers and went back to the tent for warm clothes and wellies, ready for John McSherry.

John was performing with At First Light, his band named after his successful album collaboration with Mike McGoldrick. There was the usual game of musical chairs, familiar to anyone who’s watched a trad band perform, with everyone seeming equally happy on a variety of instruments, and the sound guys seemd to be finally getting the hang of things with some harmony low whistle from John and Frances McIlduf. ‘Trip to Ireland’ was haunting and atmospheric, reminding me of just how skilful a musician McSherry is. Unfortunately his lack of engagement with the audience made the performance dull to watch and left me feeling I’d have been better off at home with the cd!

A vegetable curry later and Shooglenifty could hardly be accused of the same fault; snake hipped Angus Grant moving around the stage as he played, encouraging the audience to join in dancing and clapping.Who’d have thought Greek tunes fitted so well with Scottish ones, or the the rumba with a reel?
Shooglenifty have it sorted, and with James Macintosh on drums and and Luke Plumb on mandolin providing interesting rhythms and melodies that stopped and started, the crowd soon fell under their hypnotic charm.

Last act of the night were Wolfstone, celebrating their 21st birthday with us, despite the disappointing sound. Another Scottish band, this time more rock based, led by Duncan Chisholm- who has the best ears in folk and a mighty fine electric fiddle too- and a variety of young guys playing electric guitar. A great band, and I’d very much like to see them again, when hopefully the sound is better; I was standing ten rows back in the middle of the tent and found the vocals hard to hear and the mike on the pipes being distinctly on/off.

Saturday

I’d love to say that Saturday dawned warm and sunny , but at least it was fairly dry, despite heavy rain in the night. The campsite- a corn field that has just been cut - has been brilliant, not getting waterlogged or boggy and I think Wickham’s insistence in not allowing cars onto the campsite has helped with this. We disappeared off to nearby Fareham (home of the Gosport and Fareham Easter Festival) to use the lovely facilites at the local Leisure Centre. We managed to fit in a brief swim before heading back to Wickham to shelter from the rain in Lilly’s.

The festival has a different and more reliable system of phone charging than other festivals I’ve been too, and the outlet concerned agreed to charge my laptop too - a great service that should be available for all reviewers at festivals!
On the way back I caught a bit of Asere, a salsa style band that had the crowd singing back at the lead singer, reminding me that Salsa Celtica were on later.

First though, I saw The Men They Couldn’t Hang. If you’re reading this and over forty you’ll be familiar with this band who successful in the early Eighties, but I found it all a bit strange really.The line up seemed fairly unchanged, including session musician Bobby Valentino, who looks almost the same as he did twenty five years ago with his Clark Gable style hair and moustache. The songs are the same too. In fact, probably the only difference was at the end, when two pre-teenage boys arrived on stage to join (presumably) their dads on stage!
Now I know there are plenty of people who will follow bands around like this, emjoying the very fact that nothing changes, but I found it all a bit uncomfortable.

It was a fairly similar feeling for the rest of the evening, although Hazel O’Connor - looking very striking in black and red, out performed the rest of the bands on the bill from that era. Her energy, her passion, her humour and down to earth chatter made her instantly likeable and her hits, like ‘Will You’ had other musicians peering out from backstage just to watch!
Great female sax solo on this song too. She was allowed back on for an encore, and chose to sing an Irish song, the whistle part played by the sax, which worked really well. Hazel’s voice is well suited to this Irish/Punk style and showed her adaptability.

Salsa Celtica, band of the festival for me so far, were next. They took a long time to set the stage, with Tony Shippey adamant that it should be done properly. It paid dividends, because apart from a small blip when the pipes microphone was turned off, the sound was the best it had been for the last three days. The line up was different from a week ago in Cambridge - missing a few folkies and consequently seeming more Salsa than Celtica. No problem though, for the two new singers playing percussion and dancing in unison to wild shrieks and whoops from the audience: or when two of the folkies are Eamon Coyne and Ross Ainslie. Just a great big party atmosphere that had the band smiling as much as the audience, the positivity spiralling up and up to the very summit of the Big Top.

The last Salsa band of the night and the last Eighties band turned out to be the same act - Kid Creole and the Coconuts, who struggled to maintain the level of interest that Salsa had gained. August Darnell, looking amazing for someone of sixty, led his band in a slick, professional, costume changing extravaganza, bringing glamour to the wet muddy Wickham cornfield, but failing to garner much support. Maybe it was the Britney schoolgirl outfit worn by one of the girls in the band for ‘My Boy Lollipop’, or the Indian squaw outfit for the next song. I don’t know, but the tent started to empty, and as we walked back to our tent it was talk of Salsa Celtica that we heard from other campers.

Sunday

And finally, after promising it all weekend, the sun came out. Properly shone, and people sat around, soaking up the rays and relaxing. After dropping a friend to the station and sending a couple of blogs back to base, I wandered down to the arena, where I caught the last bit of 3 Daft Monkeys set. This band seem to be on the bill at most festivals, and the dreadlocked trio certainly seemed very popular with the audience, earning the first boos from the audience when the compere, Alistair Russell (ex Battlefield Band) announced they would not be returning for an encore.

Dervish were next , and despite having seem twice in the preceding week at other festivals they still proved how entertaining they were, Cathy Jordan’s relaxed good natured style winning fans and encouraging people to dance. Dervish’s was a fleeting visit, having left Sligo this morning, and returning there straight after they left the Wickham stage.

Show of Hands proved again how popular they are with the crowds, with the tent packed despite the good weather outside. I chose to sit and listen from the arena, where I was able to eat tea (another curry from the veggie stall) and enjoy watching the world go by. This is what festivals should be like, good food, good music, happy punters, and fantastic weather! Steve Knightley sang a Stereophonics song, as well as the phenomenally popular ‘Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed’ and the one all the girls seem to like that’s the nearest Show of Hands will get, apparently, to writing a love song! Like I said, Show of Hands are very popular!

After they left the stage most of the crowd did too, meaning there was an opportunity to get into the tent and down to the front for the last of the 80s revival bands, The Undertones. The Undertones summed up all my feelings about revival bands- having, as they do, an original line up apart from the lead singer. And Feargal Sharkey isn’t an easy man to replace. Still, they played all the classics, all the hits that the crowds wanted to hear, like ‘Teenage Kicks’ and ‘My Perfect Cousin’, and on ‘Wednesday Week’ I almost got it, a brief moment when I understood how great it was to hear songs live that were an integral part of your youth, catapulting you back to when you were fourteen… The new lead singer, Paul McLoone, who has now been with The Undertones eleven years, was irate at the poor sound at the beginning of the set, breaking his microphone stand and hurling it to the floor as the sound engineers tried frantically to resolve the issue. An unnecessary outburst, that summed up the band’s performance really, fast, furious and with little communication with the audience.

The mood changed quickly for Peatbog Faeries, as it’s impossible not to grin from ear to ear and dance like a fool to their crazy tunes. Flashing lights, lots of smoke/dry ice and a full on party atmosphere meant that this was the gig of the festival- the band smiling as much as the audience, and seemingly having a ball too! It was good to see Adam Sutherland back on fiddle with them (I’m never too sure whether he’s still a member or not!) and the team work with him and Peter Tickell produced Adam’s first smile of the festival!

A long journey home meant I left Wickham when the Peatbogs did, unable to stay for the Levellers, another hugely popular festival band. But I left with a happy heart, on a Hebridean high, with ‘Folk Police’ going round and round in my head!

See www.wickhamfestival.co.uk for details of the festival

Return to the Reviews Contents Page

	Welcome to Folk and Roots, The online guide to the Folk, Roots and Acoustic Scene around the UK, providing information on events, festivals, workshops, venues, reviews and artists.