The Thursday morning
started for me at 7.45 a.m. with the sun shining brightly in
a clear blue sky. The staging for the bands was loaded in
the van, things had started OK and if the weather held like
this, we were in for a good weekend. The short trip to the
festival site on Riverside park revealed the marquees, this
year in a new configuration, resplendent in their own glory
and within a few hours, stillaging was in place, beer was
racked and tapped, the large stage was built and awaited the
bands. Meanwhile the cellarmen busied themselves with
hosepipes muttering about the heat.
Friday morning brought more of the same. Sunshine and blue
skies. Was this really England in May? 11 a.m. and opening
time loomed. This year’s set up looked fantastic, but
would the festival goers approve? 12 noon and the PA and
light rig arrived. All we needed now were the bands. Behind
drawn curtains, sound engineers plugged and unplugged,
tested and checked. Out front, tickers frantically tested
and ticked, sampled and logged. 5 p.m, first band on. No
Claims, from Newark, opened proceedings. My nerves now
jangling, how would this year’s new look entertainment go
down? So far, so good. A tight set consisting of 70's and
80's classic covers from Mud to Travis soon got those feet
tapping. Only one problem - no sign of tonight’s headline
band! Time passed, concern turned to sheer panic. Surely it
was not going to go pear shaped on the first day. |
Karnataka
were travelling from Swansea and were due on site at 4.30
p.m. At 6.30 we had half the band but no gear. The vans
engine had blown up in Malvern - HELP! Finally at 7.20, one
van, two remaining band members and the gear rolled up and,
thanks to a superb effort by the stage crew, Karnataka took
to the stage only 10 minutes late, to rapturous applause.
The reaction to the band’s set was beyond my wildest
dreams and by the end of the night I knew we were on a
winner. Such was the band’s enjoyment that they visited
the festival again on Saturday before travelling on to the
next gig that night.
Saturday brought more of the same in both
weather and crowds, along with some impressive bands but
thankfully no exploding vans. Black on Blue opened the show
with an impressive set of acoustic blues, followed by True
Lies who gave a storming set to a full marquee and
grassed area beyond. The beer was now dwindling fast as the
weather increased our thirst and the atmosphere hotted up. |
Treebeard,
tonight’s headliners arrived from Sheffield in plenty of
time, chilling out with their families, soaking up both
atmosphere and sun before taking the stage later that
evening. A large crowd, now fuelled by an excellent choice
of beers, needed no persuasion to clap, jump, dance, wave
and jig to a mixture of cover, traditional Irish and
original tunes. The place was jumping.
Afterwards, three guys who had travelled up
from Brighton commented that this had been the best
Treebeard gig they had attended, and in such a lovely
setting. The night was over, and I breathed a large sigh of
relief. It had worked better than I could ever imagined. To
see so many people, beer in hand, enjoying themselves made
all the effort well worth while. The right music in the
right setting can definitely enhance any beer festival. Of
course everybody was there for the beer, but many enjoyed
the bands and subsequently stayed around longer. But more
importantly everybody went home happy, including me. I was
always confident!
Duncan Neil
Jun. '01
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