Usually a local summer highlight the East Barnet Festival hasn't taken place the previous two years due to Covid-19. This year it returns over the first weekend of July, but in a slightly different form as far as the music is concerned. New people are now in charge and the emphasis is now on 'local' talent and new artists who haven't appeared at the festival before. This new booking policy hasn't gone down too well in some quarters, with some people looking at the bill and muttering "Never heard of any of them", while one or two well known local acts with a sense of entitlement have thrown their toys out of the pram at not being booked this year after playing umpteen times before...
There is certainly an interesting interpretation of the word 'local' - with some acts coming from many miles away. I believe the bands booked for last year's cancelled festival got offered 'first refusal' for slots on the stage this year, but inevitably some can't make it on the dates offered this year, while other bands will have split up. To be fair, in spite of the "Never 'eard of 'em" status of virtually every act (apart from today's headliners) the quality of all the acts I see is really good - even if they aren't all to my taste.
I was worried that there wasn't going to be a beer tent this year as there was no mention of it on the festival website and it usually get's featured as it's very popular. Fortunately I found there was the usual beer tent. And even better - local brewery Urban Alchemy have a (well hidden) stall selling bottles of their excellent ales! This appears to be a well kept secret - possibly to avoid upsetting the company running the beer tent? I'm pleased to see the 'official' beer tent is selling one Urban Alchemy ale, but you can buy the same beer for less directly from the brewery's own stall a minute or so's walk away. 😉 And the Urban Alchemy stall is also selling bottles of all their other currently available ales. Fortunately I just happen to have a bottle opener with me and a glass from my previous pint at the beer tent... 🍺
As usual I didn't make it down to the park early enough on Saturday to see the first few acts as they looked like they would be of little interest to me. The first band I actually saw was Total Recall.
A very polished cover/function band. New to me like all the other acts on the bill. Tight and professional sounding with a set full of fairly predictable 'crowd pleasers'. Not much stage presence apart from the singer but they sounded good. (I did actually go to see them at the East Barnet British Legion a few weeks later, but that night they came across as far more of a 'Function band' and seemed cheesy and predictable like they were playing at a wedding - I thought they were much better at the festival)
Next was Talk In Code. They played original indie pop stuff, but although they were more than competent musicians they made little impression on me.
Something rather different on next. Dubvocalize looked like a purpose built festival band. Basically they played a mix of funk and reggae - obviously experienced musicians out to entertain, but I think they will be remembered for the way they looked rather than their music.
I have to say Dubvocaliza had the hardest working frontman of the day and with the guitarist actually got a conga line going out in front of the stage.
People may not remember their music, but they will remember that - and I think it's important that bands give a performance that the audience will remember. With that in mind I think many of the crowd may remember this as one of the highlights of the festival. People don't just want to hear music that sounds good - they want to be entertained. That's obviously what this band set out to do.
Next up was Tidal Rave. In spite of the name this seemed much more of a reggae outfit to me. They had an earthy gritty realism that I quite liked
Tidal Rave had something of an authentic feel about them and the singers had a stage presence that kept my attention. I couldn't say the same for the following act.
Dex and Soulmates are more than competent musicians but didn't manage to win me over at all. To me they just felt bland and soulless. I have nothing against soul music and most Saturday nights I listen to
The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show on
6 Music but this was
far too polished for me and left me cold.
The Saturday night headliners at the festival really took things up a level - as you would expect of a band with hit singles under their belt. Their name was familiar to me but I couldn't have named one of their songs until a friend mentioned 'Build Me Up Buttercup' - then I knew I'd heard the song on the radio countless times. I wasn't originally planning to stay late enough to see all the bands, but I'm glad I did.
The Foundations were really good! I didn't know most their songs, and they did throw in some covers towards the end - as well as '...Buttercup' obviously. I enjoyed their set more than I was expecting and was really glad I stayed to the end of the festival. The weather was great too! 😎
As usual this year the festival continues on the Sunday, but unfortunately there is another two day event over this weekend that I want to attend both days that clashes with this. 😕 So unfortunately I can only attend one day of each - which sadly means I will miss seeing some friends playing in Barnet tomorrow...
No comments:
Post a Comment