Glastonbury 2017 – Sunday – Day Five

The final day at Glastonbury 2017 wasn’t quite as good as the previous two, but it was still rich in quality.

On paper the final day line up didn’t quite sparkle in the same way as Friday and Saturday.  I think the main issue was that the headliner we’d picked wasn’t one that we knew inside out.  In fact, I probably knew less Metronomy tracks than any other that we watched on the Sunday (except October drift).  Ed Sheehan was not an option in case you are wondering.  Galway Girl is one of the worst songs ever recorded.

On the way to the John Peel Stage we had to drift past The Other Stage. This brought to us the truly awful sounds of Slaves. This is clearly a band I will never enjoy, but it is clear that they have an audience. We had two endure two songs on the way and could still hear them from near the JPS.

October Drift

While we watched October Drift the rain absolutely hammered down on the John Peel tent.  Fortunately it didn’t last long and what we caught of OD was pleasant enough without ever tempting a future purchase.

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Sundara Karma

Sundara Karma are an interesting live prospect.  Their debut album is really good and they have everything going for them.  This live show didn’t seem to quite match their potential, but it was enjoyable all the same.

Real Estate

Real Estate were relatively new to me prior to Glastonbury. Their music has a definite feel of Teenage Fanclub and as such I was looking forward to them. Craig Potter, off of Elbow fame is clearly a fan as he was watching back stage on the John Peel Stage. The set was good, but I found myself tiring. It seemed long and the numerous instrumental wig outs seemed to go on forever. It will be a while before I can bring myself to listen to them again. Shame, because I was thinking this could be a band for me.

Laura Marling
Laura was the only act that we watched on the Pyramid Stage in the Sunday. For the first time ever, Ste and I were in the from section (sometimes referred to as the mosh pit, but that would not have been accurate for Miss Marling). We were therefore up close and personal for one of the most serene and delicate performances I’ve ever seen on this huge stage.  The crowd were respectful throughout and at times you could have heard a pin drop.  I’ve honestly never experienced an audience around me being so quiet, soaking in every nuance of this special performance. The set drew heavily from new album, Semper Femina, and I’m not too familiar with it. That didn’t matter. This was an amazing display of acoustic bliss.

Haim

The last time we saw Haim was at Glastonbury in 2013.  Just about to launch album no. 2 at the time of this performance and they were full of confidence. The three of them seemed genuinely thrilled to be on stage and their enjoyment was infectious. They barely put a foot wrong in a fantastic sunlit set on the other stage.  This was probably my favourite set of the day with Haim’s Sun-soaked Californian anthems perfect for this slot in the festival.

The Sherlocks 

A short sharp and thrilling set from The Sherlocks on the BBC Introducing Stage.  We really had to race from Haim to catch this set, but we were determined to do so. This time next year this lot will be on a bigger stage…possibly quite high up.  The set was great, filled with future anthems. We missed the first song and half of the second, but that didn’t spoil the enjoyment of the rest.

The Courteeners

The Courteeners is a band that have never struck a massive chord with me. We caught these next on The Other Stage and were struck by how many of the crowd knew every track and every word. Not Nineteen Forever got one of the best receptions I’ve ever seen on this stage.  I might need to invest a bit more time in this band in the future.

London Grammar

The John Peel Stage was the venue for the rest of the night.  When we got there, it was packed. The tent was packed, outside the tent was packed and the bar was packed. The Killers may have had something to do with this, but it made for an uncomfortable half an hour or so. We managed to get ourselves a spot in the tent (not far in mind you) for what turned out to be the surprise set of the day. It was another stunning performance that I found mesmerising despite a lack of familiarity with the tunes.  I’ll definitely be buying album 2 at some point as this was bordering on spine tingling. Fortunately for Ste & I, the Ed Sheehan effect took hold halfway through the set, and the crowd thinned out. It made for a more comfortable time, but my photos remained terrible!

Metronomy
Glastonbury 2017 closed for us with Metronomy. Not how I’d have hoped in advance, but it was the best choice we could make. I know some Metronomy songs really well, but my enjoyment of the set suffered from a lack of familiarity. Still, the tracks I knew were superb (The Bay, Love Letters, The Look) and we left reflecting on another superb Glastonbury.

Highlights of the final day of Glastonbury 2017 were all female; Laura Marling, Haim & London Grammar. It may have not looked the best day on paper, but it had at least three outstanding performances and some significant promise for the future (The Sherlocks & Sundara Karma).  We walked 19.6km on this final day.

October Drift Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Sundara Karma Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect

Real Estate Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, In Mind

Laura Marling Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

HAIM Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

The Sherlocks Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

The Courteeners Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

London Grammar Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Metronomy Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, Summer '08

 

Epilogue

Beer: We took 90 cans of Stella 4 with us and 8 cans of Dead Pony Club.  All were consumed.  We also had a few Pyramid Ales, which were nice enough.  We had to settle for a lager on the last day from the bar (sold out of ale), which wasn’t so good.

Food: The food at Glastonbury is usually good.  Yes, there is rubbish available, but if you pick carefully you can eat very well indeed.  We took some bread products and fruit for breakfast, but ate at the stalls for lunch and evening.  The Thai green curry platter from near the pyramid stage is always a highlight.

Glastonbury 2017 in numbers:
38 bands seen 🎸
10 stages 🎪
90 cans of beer 🍻
£238 face value ticket price 🎫
95.45km walked 🚶🏼
1010km travelled by car 🚗

I’m not sure where this Glasto ranks in respect to the other 6 we’ve been to.  It probably wasn’t as good as 2015 which may well have been my favourite, but perhaps this is because it didn’t quite go to plan.  The Monday involved another huge trek across the site with all of our gear in the blazing sun. We got to the car and set off at about 10-10.30. It seems that we lucky. Reports on Twitter on the way home suggested that our car park was gridlocked about 30 minutes later.  I always feel ridiculously tired after Glastonbury and always wish I’d taken the Tuesday off.  I still want to go back for more.  Roll on 2019.

Glastonbury 2017 – Saturday – Day Four

Day four, of the best festival in the world, brought 14 quality bands across 7 stages – 24km of walking with one or two beers to keep hydrated.

The Saturday of Glastonbury was pre-identified as an action packed day.  There were a few clashes around, but Ste and I pretty much agreed what we were going to tackle.  The day started with some rain and I couldn’t help but hope the Bootleg Beatles would play a cover of Rain.  I didn’t happen.  Lost opportunity.  We headed out with waterproofs on and made the controversial decision not to bother with chairs.

The Bootleg Beatles with the Pepperland Sinfonia

With a cup of tea in hand we headed for the Pyramid stage.  The Bootleg Beatles were awesome.  Focussing entirely on Sgt Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour era meant a splendid time was guaranteed for all.  Hearing A Day In The Life with an orchestra was pretty special and something I won’t forget in a hurry.  Paul’s patter was perfect, although his look and singing voice isn’t quite there.  John was pretty much spot on.  A top start to the day which also ended as the rain ended.

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Joseph

Our first and only trip to the Acoustic Stage.  We arrived early to hear the sweet sounds of Joseph.  White Flag has become my youngest daughters favourite tune and I can’t stop watching the version they did on Jools Holland.  We oddly caught the soundcheck which drifted into the main set.  I didn’t know everything, but being on the front row meant it was a pretty intimate and special performance.  I’ll no doubt invest in the latest album soon.

Wildwood Kin

Keeping with the all girl band theme we sped to the Avalon Stage for the first and only time.  We caught Wildwood Kin syupporting The Oh Hellos last year and were pretty impressed,  I love a band who really look like they are enjoying themselves on stage.  We missed the first song, but the rest of the set was sumptuous.  They noted that they had previously been reviewed as being “pleasantly awkward” on stage.  There’s something really apt about that description.  Their new album is out in August and I’ll certainly be making a purchase.

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British Sea Power

It’s a little bit of a cheat to say we saw BSP.  We wanted to, but also wanted to cram in other bands.  We saw the end of one song on the way round one side of The Other Stage and then caught Keep On Trying (Sechs Freunde) on the way past the other side.

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The Amazons

We specifically trekked to the John Peel Stage to see these.  We hadn’t been able to make up our minds in advance over whether this was a band for us or not.  I think our collective conclusion was “not”.  We probably only stayed for 2 or 3 songs, but had time to sneak in two puns.  Ste noted that “they never fail to deliver” while I acknowledge that we didn’t have a prime spot.

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Wild Beasts

We left The Amazons and headed back to The Other Stage to see Wild Beasts.  We arrived during track one, but were quickly able to get to the front.  They gave a good performance.  I don’t have an extensive knowledge of their stuff, but there was a couple in front who literally song along to every word.  I’m always amazed how there are always superfans for every band.  We headed back to the tent after this one to deposit the waterproofs and replenish the beers.

Kaiser Chiefs

This was a band we almost couldn’t be bothered for.  KT Tunstall was playing the acoustic tent.  We’d have both preferred that, but couldn’t bring ourselves to trek from the tent to the Acoustic Stage (probably the longest possible journey).  Instead we trudged to watch the Kaisers (after debating whether to skip them and just head to the Park Stage for Temples).  They were fine.  Nothing more, nothing less.  It seemed like Ricky Wilson had snorted a couple of lines of coke before he came on stage as he was a little wired and very up for it.  I Predict A Riot was the inevitable highlight.

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Liam Gallagher

Following KC was the big man himself, LG as you were.  The last time Ste or I saw this man live was at Glastonbury in 2004.  Oasis were terrible that night and Liam’s voice really hasn’t been the same for well over a decade.  He opened with Rock n Roll Star and transitioned into Morning Glory.  He then mentioned new songs, so we headed on our merry way.  The crowd was truly huge.  Watching back on TV, I don’t feel we missed anything, but the closing Don’t Look Back In Anger was pretty special.

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Temples

A quick March to The Park stage for Temples.  Nothing stands out about this set.  It was good, but wasn’t special or memorable.  In fact we had a sit down for the last few songs (a much needed sit down!).

The Avalanches

This was a wildcard.  Our first EVER trip to the West Holts stage.  What a strange trip it was.  It felt like a party stage.  No one seems inserted in the band, but everyone was drinking.  You couldn’t get anywhere near the from (or at least we couldn’t spy a route), so we watched from a distance.  Despite the big screens being available and functional, they were not utilised.  Instead you had to try and pick out people on stage from a distance.  We decided after a couple of tracks that this wasn’t for us.  We probably should have delayed the decision for 5 more minutes as Frontier Psychiatrist started playing as we were well on our way to the Pyramid.

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The National

Pretty much caught the whole of this set.  I don’t remember a lot about it.  I don’t remember being particularly drunk, but memories of this and Father John are certainly Misty.  The National were good, if not sparkling.  I’m pretty certain Ste enjoyed them a little more than me, but they were certainly good.

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Father John Misty

FJM is a bit of an enigma.  This was a good set, but he is a strange dude.  We had a poor view, but the screens are decent in The John Peel tent.  Everything that he played from I Love You, Honeybear (the album) was fantastic.  His more pop tendencies have more appeal for me.

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∆ alt-j

The Foo Fighters were headlining the Pyramid.  This wasn’t a difficult decision for Ste or I.  Neither of us owns a Foos album and ∆ are one of the best bands in recent times.  We arrived nice an early for this one and got pretty close to the front.  The Foos clearly had the lions share of patrons, but this was a pretty iconic performance to be at.  The set was little more than an hour,  but I’m pretty certain they played everything you’d want to hear at a festival set.  They were pretty static for the whole performance and didn’t talk much.  That said, despite a lack of engagement through that medium, the songs spoke for themselves.  I was mesmerised as was everyone around me.  Matilda stood out as a particular highlight, but I don’t think there was a low point.  I wasn’t restless for a second.  If i was a Kraftwerk fan (own one album that I’ve never got into) then this is probably what watching them would have felt like.  Compelling viewing.

Warpaint

The Park usually ends last (although not on Sunday) and when you don’t want the night to end, its worth a hike.  I’ve never fully got into Warpaint, but they have some fantastic tunes.  I think we caught that last 4 or 5 songs.  New Song was fantastic and made me wish I’d seen more.

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The highlights of day four, for me, were alt-j, Joseph, Wildwood Kin and Warpaint.  We walked 24km on the Saturday, purposely seeing 14 bands across 7 different stages.  Our most impressive glastonbury haul ever.  It even included some downtime between Wild Beasts and Kaiser Chiefs!

The Bootleg Beatles Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Joseph Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Wildwood Kin Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

The Amazons Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017, Summer 2017

Wild Beasts Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Kaiser Chiefs Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Liam Gallagher Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, As You Were

Temples Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, Volcano

The National Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, Sleep Well Beast

Father John Misty Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, Pure Comedy

alt-J Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, RELAXER Tour

Warpaint Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Glastonbury 2017 – Friday – Day Three

Glastonbury Friday. A great day for music. Some outstanding performances on offer.

The pace immediately builds on day 3.  Friday arrives and from that point on there’s barely a break from the music.  The day started with a cup of tea and the opening act of The Other Stage.  The Pretenders were up first.  They started slow with tracks off their new album, but soon played some crowd pleasers.  Not my type of band.  A satisfactory, if not impressive start to the festival.  It soon improved.

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We headed to the John Peel Stage next.  We’d just discovered Rews on the playlist and thoroughly enjoyed their set (missed the first few tracks).  Black Honey immediately followed.  They also sounded good, but we only caught a few tracks before we needed to head off.

The scheduling at Glastonbury can be a personal challenge.  You need to work out who you want to see in their entirety and prioritise accordingly.  Blossoms were one of those priorities, so it was our first trip to The Pyramid Stage.  They were really good without ever really sparkling.  I feel like they are holding back a little at times, but I’ll be really interested to see how they develop on album number 2.

The sweet sounds of First Aid Kit followed.  This is a band that always sound amazing.  They didn’t disappoint.  Oddly, Ste and I had been rubbishing the song, You Are The Problem Here, in advance, but this was a great part of the set.  A trip back to the Other Stage followed.

Glass Animals were up next.  We were eating a square pie for a few songs of this set and never really got involved.  It was decent without ever engaging me significantly.  They did trow some awesome inflatable pineapples into the crowd though which is something.

Back to The Pyramid Stage for three of our most anticipated sets.

Royal Blood took to the stage and were immediately impressive.  Those two produce such an awesome noise.  So powerful, catchy and engaging.  The two of them seem to have a great stage presence.  Their second album had juts got to number one and they celebrated by cracking open a massive bottle of champagne on stage and guzzling it all in front the huge crowd.  Class.

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The xx were next.  This set seemed to go quickly.  This may have had something to do with alcohol which had been a steady intake since 12ish.  The xx sounded great and seemed to have a set full of familiar tunes, despite the fact that I’ve only properly got into them since the most recent album.  Elbow were playing a secret set of the park stage and in previous years we’d have headed there, but given how many times I’ve seen Elbow, I’m glad we stuck with The xx.

An so for the first headliner.  Radiohead.  We hadn’t seen Radiohead live since 2003, so were really looking forward to this, especially in anticipation of an OK Computer heavy set.  Unfortunately its was a bit of a led down (no pun intended).  Despite featuring 6 OK Computer tracks and a tonne of other great tunes, it lacked some emotional connection.  We thought a significant problem was the stupid use of the big screens.  There was rarely a standard image displayed and instead you had to watch an arty collage of nonsense.  We were to far from the stage to see what was going on directly and could really only see the silhouette of an unmoving security guy on stage.  Consequently there was no connection.  This had a significant impact.  Don’t get me wrong.  It was good.  Just not great.  OKNOTOK I guess.

The night didn’t quite end there.  Just enough time for a lengthy dash to The Park (first visit) to catch the embers of The Flaming Lips set.  I think we caught 4 tracks.  All were good and seemed very entertaining.  A pleasant coda to the first full day of music.

Unfortunately, post Lips, we got caught in a massive crush outside of the park area.  If we did have any plans to continue on to anything else (we probably didn’t), then they were swiftly brought to a close be being sent in opposite directions.  We met back up at the tent.  Day three done.

On Friday 23rd June we walked 15.25km and saw 10 bands across 4 stages.  Highlights were First Aid Kit, Royal Blood and The xx.

The Pretenders Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, Alone

REWS Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Black Honey Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Blossoms Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, Blossoms

First Aid Kit Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Glass Animals Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017

Royal Blood Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, How Did We Get So Dark?

The xx Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, I See You

Radiohead Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, A Moon Shaped Pool

The Flaming Lips Setlist Glastonbury Festival 2017 2017, 2017 Summer Tour

 

Glastonbury 2017 – Thursday – Day Two

AKA the day the music begins.  Glastonbury is about a lot of things.  Peace, love & harmony, to name but a few.  You can do all sorts at the festival and can have all sorts of different experiences, meeting people form all walks of life.  Ste & I keep to ourselves and see as much music as possible.  It’s not that the other stuff isn’t fun or interesting, it’s just that the music is why we are there.  We don’t spend ours honing a spotify playlist to ensure we have a quality itinerary, just to watch a man run naked around a stone circle, or watch a woman on stilts juggle with flame throwers, or listen to a debate.  We go for the music and try and consume as much of it as possible.  We did well this year and made sure we started as early as possible.  This meant the Thursday resulted in some exploring of the site until around 4.30pm (including 2 hours stood by the march stall drinking beer) when we began to get hungry for live music.  We made our way to Strummerville (high on the hills away from the other stages), had a bite to eat and made our way to catch our first band.

DIN @ Strummerville

The glasto musical adventure began at Strummerville on “Miller’s Stage”.  Two members of DIN were performing, although the show was advertised as just Nick Grimes (the lead singer).  They were decent enough and an entertaining way to kick off the music.  A trip to the William’s Green followed for the rest of the day.

William’s Green

In 2015 we heard Drenge and Wolf Alice from outside the WG, but couldn’t have got in if we tried.  This year it was all but confirmed that Circa Waves and Everything Everything were due to play “secret” sets, so we decided to get there early and claim a spot.  There are other stages to watch music on the glasto Thursday, but only the WG has any acts of note.

Rationale

We’d not heard of this lot before.  The crowd seemed familiar with IMG_9561

them and were singing along as the show progressed.  Set & I were about halfway to the front and got a reasonable view.  They seemed nice and soulful and I enjoyed the set.  Since getting back I haven’t listened to anything of theres, so I can probably guess that this will be my one and only interaction with this group.  It was a decent one.

 

Pumarosa

Pumarosa we the first band of the festival that I was familiar with.  I’d given them a bit of a recent listen and enjoyed some of their tunes.  The show was fine, helped by the fact that we were pretty near the front.  They were a bit arty in terms of songs and performance.  This didn’t seem to get the crowd going and I was fairly unmoved.  It was a performance that I’d describe as promising.  I wasn’t put off listening again in the future and would be interested in catching them again.

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Circa Waves

The steady flow of beer that Set and I had been consuming meant that Set split off at this point.  I got right to the front and it took a while for Ste to even get back in the tent.  Watching Circa Waves here, meant that we didn’t have to worry about a performance clash later in the festival.  This is where the music really started for me.  The set was only 7 songs long, but it was awesome.  Heavy pop rock is the best way I can describe Circa Waves.  The debut album was more poppy and the latest album turns the guitars right up.  I really enjoyed this and so did the crowd.

Everything Everything

It was a real treat for EE to play as they weren’t playing at any other point in the festival. Unfortunately it was my turn to be beer affected and as Ste moved forward I found myself outside the tent with little hope (seemingly) of getting back in.  I managed it…just. You can tell from the photos that my view was poor.  Ste will add some better ones later.  EE were great.  They played 3 new tunes and 6 classics.  No Reptiles, Kemosabe and Spring / Sun / Winter / Dread were all great and each one got the crowd involved in fine voice.  A great end to the music on day 2.

Day three is were the festival truly starts for music and there’s no let up from that point on.  It was worth it!

Glastonbury 2017 – Wednesday – Day One

Strictly speaking, this isn’t a gig review, but day 1 is part of the Glastonbury experience and I thought it was easiest to separate it from from the music.

Day 1 did not start well.  Not well at all.

Considering Ste and I feel we have glasto down to a fine art; this day didn’t quite go according to plan.  We have the packing list honed every year with tiny improvements adding to the comfort and experience.  A Spotify playlist is created as soon as the line-up is announced and this is whittled down through scientific analysis according to our tastes.  We then shake it down further when the set times are out so that we have a setlist made up entirely of acts we plan to see including several we won’t have heard of before.

I was due to drive.  On the Tuesday night I checked my tyre pressures and noted one was a bit low.  I checked it again at 8am and it had dropped again.  I went to Kwik Fit which opened at 8.30am.  Ste was due at 9am for us to set off immediately.  I rang Ste and fortunately he was running a little late.  Turns out the tyre had a nail in it.  No tyres available for the car at Kwik Fit.  In fact, no tyres were available in the country to order in.  I could go to the Stockton branch to get it fixed as they had some.  That was only going to delay us further, so Ste took up the driving duties.  We eventually got set off at 10am.  The journey down was pretty good.  Unfortunately I’d used a postcode offered on the glasto website to help us navigate the final part of the journey.  This turned out to be a bit of an error.  It took us a different way and we were essentially blocked off from getting to our usual car park and therefore our “usual” camping spot (we’d gone to the same spot for the last two visits to the festival).  We’d arrived near the site at about 4.30pm and we’re pretty certain we parked up at about 4.45-5pm.

We parked in the same car park I’d used back in 2004 when I’d travelled by myself.  I remembered that, at that time, it had seemed like quite a long way.  My memory wasn’t wrong.  We loaded up both trolleys (an improvement on the previous one) and set on our way.  I knew I was in trouble after 20 minutes when sweat was pouring off me and I was struggling to feel my hands and arms.  Every corner we went around led to another massive stretch with no entrance in sight.  I felt like a complete weakling as I really didn’t see how I could complete the trek.  Ste kindly offered to swap trolleys for a bit and that made things slightly better, but not much!  When we eventually got to the entrance, the ticket process was painless, with no queue and no bag search.  We then discovered that the nearest campsite wasn’t exactly “near”.  It was on the complete opposite side of the festival grounds.  There followed a very sweaty and heated journey across the whole site.  We finally settled beyond the dairy ground in a recently opened field.  The tent was pitched by 7pm and the first cold Dead Pony Club was very welcome.

The rest of the evening was event free.  A relaxing stroll up to the famous Glastonbury hills to catch the last hour (or so) of daylight.  A few more beers were consumed, a very tasty burrito and a relatively early night was had.

 

Mark Morriss @ 12 Bar Blues, Barnard Castle

An intimate acoustic gig from the fantastic lead singer of The Bluetones in a small market town. Noisy crowd though.

This was the first time I’ve seen an established artist play in a pub environment.  It was both fantastic and strange in equal measure.

I was invited by my brother in law (Richard) a few months back, as his local was putting on a Mark Morriss gig.  Tickets sold out in no time as the place only has a capacity of 70 or so.

The timings of the show were shrouded in mystery as Richard was told doors at 6pm with show at 7pm.  That all sounded wrong as there was no support and it didn’t seem likely that Mark would be on at 7pm.  It’s just not rock n roll.  This tight timescale was made trickier by the fact that we’d managed to get a last minute ticket for Ste as one of Richard’s mates had pulled out.  Ste sped down from Newcastle in an attempt to get there for 7.  We wolfed down a bucket of chicken from KFC and headed for Barney.  With the Appleby horse fair due imminently, the road there was awash with travellers seemingly out to ensure we missed the 7pm start.

7.15pm and we roll into Barnard Castle town centre.  We spot the pub and note that it doesn’t appear busy.  Arriving through the doors, we note that there is less than 10 people in.  Clearly Mr Morriss was not about to go on stage.  An Amstel for me and several Black Sheep bests followed for Ste.  Rumours were that The Quill had gone for a bite to eat and the pub slowly filled up…as did many peoples glasses.  As The Quill took the stage at a very reasonable something after 9, the audience were somewhat merry.  Merry and loud.  Very loud.  They really didn’t stop being loud.  Many people seemed to lack any kind of understanding that they were at a gig.  It was extremely frustrating that such a lack of respect was being shown.  Anyway…Mark Morriss tried his best patter and attempted to engage the audience.  Those of us who paid full attention and were treated to a really enjoyable acoustic set.

Mark made it clear from the beginning that this was a solo show and as such he’d take it in turns to play a solo tune and then a Bluetones tune.  That pattern was essentially maintained all night.  He’s got three solo albums out (2 original compositions and one covers album) and there’s a fourth on the way from Pledge Music.  He played two from each of Memory Muscle and A Flash of Darkness.  A further 2 solo tracks were played, presumably from the new album due out on 16th June.  The new stuff sounded good as did every solo track he played, even if I’m not as familiar with them.  7 Bluetones tracks were played in all.  Each one a mini-classic; 3 from Expecting to Fly, 2 from Return to the Last Chance Saloon, 1 from Science & Nature + Marblehead Johnson as the ETF era non-album track.  Richard requested Solomon Bites The Worm, but was disappointed to hear that Mark couldn’t play that one, after all he’s only the lead singer!

I really enjoyed the gig, but I’ve got to come back to the atmosphere in the place.  At times, it was hard to hear anything other than people talking.  You could see Mark was getting frustrated, commenting at the end that it was great to be here to “listen to all of your conversations”.  Even a classic This Is Spinal Tap reference fell flat.  “It’s great to be here in…” *turns guitar over to read the back* “…Barnard Castle”.  Oh well, some nights you have them eating out of your hand and others are like this.

Don’t let that put you (the reader) off.  The new tracks will be well worth a fully fledged listen.  Click here and reward yourself with a pledge for one of the fantastic goodies on offer.

At the end of the gig, Richard managed to get his picture with Mark (below).  On another night I might have done the same, but this didn’t feel like one of those sort of nights.

Thank you The Quill.  Your performance was great and was very appreciated by some of us.