Norman Ralph

What an amazing weekend!

I attended my last festival of the summer this weekend – Solfest, on the Solway coast up in in Cumbria. It was a really good weekend, it was the ideal combination of good company, good music and brilliant atmosphere. I headed over to Kirkham on Wednesday after dropping Liz off in Potterhanworth so that I could do some of my to-do list before heading up to Solfest on the Friday. Due to traffic and general slowness on my part I didn’t actually get home until tea time, so didn’t really get much done. Ended up watching the England game then heading to bed.

On Thursday I set about my to-do list with some vigour. I managed to clean the car inside and out, pick up some replacement parts for the car and fit them and generally check to see how much work I am going to have to do to get the car through its MOT. I also managed to get all my washing and drying done ready for me to pack for Solfest. I managed to get it all done just in time to pick Michelle up from preston train station as she was flying voer from Jersey specially for the weekend. In the end, the train was about two hours late and I was sat on the platform for most of it. It was boring! Michelle arrived eventually (about 1am) and we headed for home and pretty much went straight to bed as we were leaving at nine the next morning!

The trip up to Solfest was generally uneventful, the roads were quite quiet seeing as it was the start of the Bank Holiday weekend though it did start to get busier throughout the day. We arrived at Sarann’s Dad’s house, with who we were staying for the weekend, at about lunchtime. We ate then headed out to Allonby to eat ice cream and walk on the beach. We had met up with Matt by this time too (Kat was also about, but was stewarding at the festival). We hit the festival about five o’clock.

One of the big surprises for me was how full the festival felt. Solfest is a relatively small, family orientated festival with about 5000 ticket holders and about 2000 stewards etc. The festival site itself wasn’t tiny yet the place felt full without being overcrowded. The next big surprise came when checking the programme for the weekend and discovering that Ben’s Brother were booked to play on the Bar Stage – the smallest venue at the festival. This surprised me as Ben’s Brother are currently enjoying quite a high level of chart and radio success and are tipped to headline some of the major summer festivals next year such as Leeds/Reading and V. I dawned on me that their debut album has only very recently been released and they must have been booked for the festival many months ago. I had to see them seeing as it was likely the last time they would be playing such an intimate venue!

They were well worth the entry fee to the festival alone. Sometimes I am disappointed by bands like Ben’s Brother when they play live but this was not the case. In many ways I preferred their live set to their album – which it must be said is a really good album, one I would recommend to anyone – as they managed to really get the audience going with their mix of classic indie guitar riffs and soulful singing. We caught a few other bands on the Friday night including the everpresent festival band that is Ozric’s Tentacles (well worth catching if you can).

Saturday was always going to be a highlight for me – Badly Drawn Boy, The Undertones and Chumbawumba all had slots on the mainstage with the former bands headlining! What a combination – Badly Drawn Boy followed by The Undertones. You would not see it anywhere else! The amazing acoustic sounds of Silent Sigh followed by Teenage Kicks!! It was an amazing night. One of the best evenings of live entertainment in my life!

Sunday was not an obvious highlight for me musicwise. There was pretty much only one band I was bothered about and that was the final act of the festival on the main stage – the everpresent Levellers. However, Solfest had one last surprise for me and it went by the name of Show of Hands. Show of Hands are an English folk group that plays a combination of traditional folk, sea shanties and rock music. They were stunning. I actually watched their set mesmerised by them. I am going to stick my neck out and say I don’t think anything has ever moved me quite so much as their music. I loved every second of their set and could have listened to them all night.

All in all it wa sa massively successful festival and I would like to extend some thank yous. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone involved with Solfest for putting on such a warm and friendly festival. Secondly I would like to thank Michelle, Kat, Matt, Ciara, Toni and Caitlin for helping make the weekend a massive success by being cool festival buddies. A special thanks to Sarann for insisting we went and making sure we all had an amazing time and a massive thanks to Sarann’s Dad for putting up with a house full of students for four days, for feeding us and for generally providing for our every whim!

I recommend this festival to all. I literally cannot wait for next year’s tickets to go on sale!!

Yes, the album has been out for quite some time, but I feel that it needs a review as it is currently one of my most frequently played albums at home.

For starters, it is far superior in both composition and content than Final Straw their previous release. Not only does it contain more “anthem” style songs, but the feel of the album is just more appropriate to the band’s sound and ethos. You can definitely feel the direction of the album is one of hope, of developing hurt into strength. It is probably why I am listening to it a lot at the moment as I am currently trying to go through the same transformation – turning past mistakes and disasters into soemthing positive. There are three really good tracks on the album, which I think deserve a special mention. First is Hands Open. It has one of the finest bass riffs I have come across and really carries the message of the album well. It also has one of the most memorable opening couplets I have heard in some time:

It’s hard to argue when
you won’t stop making sense
But my tongue still misbehaves and it
keeps digging my own grave with my

Hands open, and my eyes open
I just keep hoping
That your heart opens

Why would I sabotage
the best thing that I have
Well, it makes it easier to know
exactly what I want with my…

Hands open and my eyes open
I just keep hoping
that your heart opens

It’s not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hoping it’s right
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me, tired with joy

It’s not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hoping it’s right
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me, tired with joy

It’s not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hoping it’s right
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me, tired with joy

Put Sufjan Stevens on
and we’ll play your favorite song
“Chicago” bursts to life and your
sweet smile remembers you, my

Hands open, and my eyes open
I just keep hoping
That your heart opens

It’s not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hoping it’s right
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me, tired with joy

It’s not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hoping it’s right
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me, tired with joy

It’s not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hoping it’s right
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me, tired with joy

It’s not as easy as willing it all to be right
Gotta be more than hoping it’s right
I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it
Collapse into me, tired with joy

The othe really good songs are Set The Fire To The Third Bar which features the vocals of the amazingly talented Martha Wainwright (listen to her other stuff and you will see what I mean) and one of the singles off the album, Chasing Cars. Many of you will disagree with this last track, as it isn’t really in keeping with the album as a whole, but I like it. It is the right combination of melancholy and uplifting rock.

Anyway, listen to the album – even if you don’t really like Snow Patrol and I know there are many of you out there. I think there is something for everyone on this album, especially if you like lyrics driven music!

It was a question I asked myself numerous times in the week leading up to the start of this years MAG Farmyard Party, would big hairy bikers want to eat primarily vegetarian food at a bike festival? The answer seems to be a resounding yes. I have just returned from my second festival working for Rakesh’s vegetarian catering unit, Nomad’s and the impression I got was that he made a decent profit at the festival despite the atrocious weather and the crazy biker types that frequent these gatherings.

Sarann and I set out on Thrusday afternoon in the pouring rain to meet Rakesh at Duncombe park, Helmsley, North Yorkshire. It was a nice enough drive, despite the rain and Sutton bank is a really nice little area. The rain eased as we approached the festival site, which was a blessing as there is nothing worse than putting your tent up in the rain. We soon had the tent pitched and a full belly of chick pea chana and chips. The rain held until just gone 22.30 and with the rain we headed off to bed. My first shift was at 9am and was a great chance to meet Jeanette, another of Rakesh’s crew and someone I have not had the pleasure of working with yet. She is a lovely lady, full of life and stories ranging from her two sons to Barney (her 2yr old black German shepherd) and her life in York. The shift passed quickly, with the pair of us glad to be in the van rather than the torrential rain outside. Sarann and Lis took over at 1pm, Lis is another of the new colleagues I got to meet at this festival, really good fun and as kind a person as I have had the pleasure to meet with a mischievous streak a mile long!

The weekend revolved mainly about work, I did get out and about a bit, saw several of the custom bikes and had a wander round the stalls. We did venture out at night on the Friday, saw a few cover/tribute bands and a bit of the nightlife, but I ended up on the phone to Liz most of the evenings so didn’t spend too much time out and about.

The rain eased up as the festival progressed, I even managed a little sunburn on the Sunday before Sarann and I headed home. Only eleven days until Workhouse in Wales

Looking forward to seeing Liz this week although she was off to see Muse today, so that is about all I will hear for the next few weeks.

Well the first one is out of the way. Sunrise, the first festival on my summer tour, was a good introduction to the world of festivals and the advantages/disadvantages of working them.

Kat, Sarann and I ventured down to Somerset on Wednesday last week ith a full car and full of expectations and apprehension. Well the apprehension was more on Sarann and my part as Kat is somewhat of a festival veteran. After a fairly uneventful trip down the motorways of England, we arrived at the festival site after a mere five hours. We soon pitched the tents and set ourselves up in the rain and went over to meet our new boss and co-workers for the very first time.

Sarann and I had agreed to work for Rakesh in his catering van without ever really meeting him and both we and him were taking quite a risk on this joint venture. Rakesh is a lovely guy, one of the nicest you will meet. His partner, Frances, was also one of the sweetest, kindest, most caring ladies I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I decided that Wednesday evening that I was going to enjoy my summer.

With Kat heading off to do her own thing, Sarann and I ended up drinking wine in the tent having quite a long, meaningful chat. I already feel that we have developed a much stronger, closer relationship than before. Bed soon called us as we were starting our first shift/training session at 9am the next morning.

Thursday was a good day, not only did I really enjoy working with Rakesh, I also found that Sarann and I make a really good team. Rakesh was selling the usual selection of hot drinks, vegetarian hotdogs, his famed chickpea curry and home made, organic chips! The work was hard yet enjoyable, the only issue being the difficulty in preparing and chopping the chips on a campsite with limited equipment. Our first day drew to a close with a meander round some of the stages, a boogie in the dance tent and a chill out in ID Spiral with chocolate brownie and chai.

Friday saw business pick up a bit, whoch meant me and Sarann were working harder. The work was still really good fun, I enjoyed the banter with the customers and the staff and Sarann and I were really starting to gel as a team. As an aside, why is it so ridiculous that Sarann and I are a couple. People understandably assumed we were due to the fact we were working, camping and spent most of the festival with each other. Now I realise that we are not a couple and never will be and that is fine and in fact just the way I like it, but I still took offence and the speed and ferocity of Sarann’s denial.

Saturday was a day of catastrophe. Chipping the potatoes for Rakesh on his tiny little table had been causing me a some lower back pain all weekend; I had ignored it and carried on, taking some painkillers to get me through the day. However, Saturday lunchtime saw me lie down to grab a nap and then be unable to get up again. After a visit to the local medical centre I was diagnosed with a crushed disc in my lower back and ordered to take at least 48 hours to recover, rest and recuperate. This meant I had to let Rakesh and the team down and also meant I was going to miss that last two days of the festival! Things went from bad to worse for Rakesh from then on, losing another member of staff to a bereavement and generally bad luck on all fronts. Sarann, however, was a shining light. Not only did she play nursemaid to me and made sure I was always looked after, she workied like a Trojan for Rakesh, covering shifts and doing overtime. Basically Sarann was a star!

Saturday afternoon and Sunday passed with me lying flat on my back, drugged up to the eyeballs on painkillers and a herbal remdy which worked surprisingly well.

Monday saw us come home.

I thought it would be best if I let everyone know what I was up to this summer as blog posts are going to be a bit thin on the ground. I am going to be working a number of the smaller festivals this summer with Sarann. We are working at five and paying guests at another. This all means that we will be away for the best part of seven weeks including all the travelling time. I will keep you updated on our progress as best I can.

Sunrise – 31/05 to 03/06, Somerset

Farmyard – 15/06 to 17/06, North Yorkshire

Workhouse – 29/06 to 01/07, North Wales

Buddhafield – 11/07 to 15/07, Somerset

??? – 20/07 to 22/07, ???

Solfest – 24/08 to 26/08, Cumbria

As you can see a massively varied group of festivals, in terms of music, venue and location. I am really looking forward to getting to as much of each of the festivals as possible. I am working for a guy named Rakesh in his catering van. I am doing two four hour shifts everyday of the festivals, so it all depends on timing.

The only diasdavantage of the whole thing is that I don’t get to see Liz all that much, it just happens that the weekends I’m not away are the weekends she is down to work – which sucks!

Last night I had the honour of attending one of the greatest music concerts I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Standing fifteen feet from the stage, braving the pouring rain in hull’s KC Stadium I rocked the night away listening to The Who. Probably the greatest rock band ever.

Singing and dancing to classics like “Who Are You”, “My Generation”, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Pinball Wizard” along with tracks from their new album Endless Wire, Liz and I were part of one of those rare moments you get with ageing bands, we felt transported to the swinging sixties and rocking seventies. We felt part of the Who Generation.

The concert as a whole lived up to my massive expectations. The two support acts were the perfect counterfoil to The Who. Jackson Analogue, an Isle of Wight based indie-rock band, were superb. I had never heard of them before last night but I have been inspired to investigate them further and would definitely buy their album and pay to see them in their own right. Their sound was difficult to pigeon hole. They seemed like a cross of the modern indie sound (like bands such as Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand) and the softer pop-rock of bands like Ash with a pinch of stagemanship like the Killers. Highly recommended!

The second support act were an enigma. They are a band that I resolutely dislike both on the radio and on disc. However, I found that live, they came into their own. Whether it was the atmosphere of a packed stadium, the atrocious weather lowering our expectations or they just perform better live I don’t know. I like them. They got me bobbing up and down, nodding my head to the deep bass rhythms and funky guitar licks. I definitely feel that the band comes from a different era, they would have been at home in Brighton in the late 60s and early 70s, driving Vespas. They had really well put together set list, remarkable energy and just the right sound for the occasion made them a spectacle in their own right. I really enjoyed the forty minutes they were on stage.

After a long delay whilst the stage was put together, we got the main attraction, the raison d’etre…The Who!

Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey strolled onto stage, Roger carrying what seems to be the eponymous mug of tea and the concert kicked off. They opened with a barrage of hits – “Can’t Explain”, “Substitute” and then “Behind Blue Eyes”. The crowd was really geting into the set. Hit followed hit followed hit with songs like “Baba O’Riley”, “You Better Bet”, “Relay” and “The Seeker”. The songs from the new album really demonstrated a change for the band, gone are the guitar driven songs of the older albums and enter the vocals of Roger Daltrey who really has developed singing as an instrument to a new level. His rock tones mixed beautifully with the clever musicianship of Townshend and you ahve a recipe for success. I really enjoyed two of the songs, “Fragments” and “Man in a Purple Dress” both masterfully crafted.

By the time that The Who left the stage at about 10.30, we had been standing up for over five hours yet I could have gone all night listening to the entire back catalogue of songs. Amazing as The Who are on disc they really excel live. The presence of the two remaining band members was obvious. They owned the stage and what is more, they owned the audience. It was magical.

If anybody gets the chance to see them live then I recommend it, even if you don’t really follow the band. Liz knew very few of the songs yet she says that she had a great time, the music just carries you away; you can’t help but get caught up in the moment. I am not supposed to mention this but a certain somebody suggested that the gig was better than a certain other band (which she is obsessed about….).

All in all it was an amazing night, I literally cannot enthrall about it enough. There just are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe the elation, joy and awe I felt throughout the concert.

It was an added joy to be able to share this experience with Liz. I have never been to a concert with a girlfriend before as I rarely share musical tastes with them, I tend to enjoy the more obscure and older sections of the musical spectrum. I had a great time at the concert and some of that has to be attributed to Liz.

Sorry to those that went to Cabbage last night, but by the time I had driven to Lincoln to pick liz up then driven to Hull then back to Leeds I was shattered!

Liz and I went to the Wardrobe last night to see Soweto Kinch and his band play. I wouldn’t normally have thought about this gig as something I would go and see, but after Kieran’s review a few months ago when i saw the name I headed straight into town and bought me some tickets.

I am really glad that I went, the tickets were a bit on the pricey side at £14 each and the Wardrobe is definitely no the cheapest place to drink in Leeds but even so, the atmosphere is amazing and the gig itself was second to none.

Soweto Kinch is a saxophonist and an MC, backed by a quartet consisting of a trumpeter, guitarist, bassist (double and electric) and a drummer. They have a totoally unique style of jazz music, combining the funky side of jazz with hip-hop and rap. Kinch’s talents as an MC were clear to see and were especially evident during the free-style piece he did at the end to photo’s submitted by the audience. These skills were, however, eclipsed by his sax skills. He produces a rich, clear tone with an ability to really make the music touch you. At times I was completely lost in the music.

The band was also brilliant and I feel that special mention must go to the bassist who was by far and away the best bassist I have seen live in any genre of music. His skill on the double bass was frankly awesome, the speed and complexity at which he produced spine tingling riffs and beats created the sort of bassline that you just cannot ignore. I occasionally feel with some jazz bassists that they kind of wish they had learned the trumpet or something, but this guy’s passion was obvious to everyone.

The set list was superbly designed, giving a real mix of flavours yet somehow managing to get everything to gel so smoothly that you lost track of time and totally forgot you were in a crowded club.

There were a couple of highlights for me, first I agree with Kieran’s choice of “The House That Love Built” and I also have to say that I loved their final encore piece, I can’t remember the exact name but it was something about a basketball game. The piece was basically a solo off between the trumpeter and saxophonist and I have to say they were both winners, we were treated to five minut solo’s from both musicians, interspersed with some of the finest drumming I have had the pleasure to see and hear. Every track was a journey of music, each with a story to tell. A totally awesome experience.

The night was rounded off when the band came out to sit in the bar with the audience that hadn’t run out the moment the set finished. All of the band members I spoke to had a great sense of involvement with the crowd and were more than happy to sit and talk to everyone – a feat that I wish some main stream pop/rock artists would try sometimes.

I bought their album and even managed to get Soweto to sign it for me – one for the collection, or it would have been if I hadn’t given it to Liz who had a really great time. I found out she is a regular in the Jazz Bar in Lincoln. I took a risk buying the tickets without asking her first, but it looked like the gamble paid off. This has to go down as not only one of the best gigs I have been to but also one of the finest dates.

Thanks to Soweto and the gang for making a good night out unforgettable!