Celebr8 - Sunday - Gig Report (LONG POST)

[Pedro]

Celebr8 Sunday
Returning the next day "mob-handed" with Mrs Pedro, Miss Pedro and Miss Pedro's boyfriend, I was slightly nervous about two things; 1) would the car park shut at 8pm as stated on the official NCP web-site for the St James Road car park and 2) would all of my guests enjoy the whole thing in some form of comfort? I pretty much knew they would enjoy the music but I was pretty sure they wouldn't be keen to stand all day or partake in some elbow-jousting with the less cuddly photogs and other "keen" space-invaders at the rail.  

With an hour to go until doors, we went for the full-on Prog experience of lunch in the British Home Stores (BHS) Restaurant – Sausage, Beans and Chips for me nn/ - before strolling back to survey the queue...

By lucky chance, we spotted Touchstone's Moo next to the door and grabbed the chance of a Moo-hug...which happily left us in just the right spot as the security guys built the queue barriers around us.  

Fortunately there wasn't a repeat of the previous day's delay and before too long we were inside and making a bid for the prime seating spot, the raised, curved section at the back of the standing area, managing to grab three (sticky, of course) stools on the way there.

With Mrs P, Miss P and her chap comfortably installed in the "Royal Box", I nabbed a spot at the rail (with speaker blasting into my plugged right ear) and I waited for the off. Accompanied by the delightful Karin and James and several others.

Dec Burke Band



What a great way to crack into the second day with Dec's guitar-driven brand of music. It was nice to see the new bass player nailing everything with apparent ease on his first outing – their Friday night warm-up gig in Swindon never happened because Dec and Paddy couldn't get to the venue due to the crazy weather. The set seemed to fly by with much intricate interplay between Dec and Hywel, the other guitarist. They played pretty much all of my favourite tracks from the two albums, but the highlight of the set for me was the Darwin's Radio track "Breathe It In". I was really sad when DR ceased trading, so to hear this played live again was a bonus. As I said about Sean Filkins the day before, Dec is a songwriter who seems to write very challenging vocal lines for himself, stretching his vocal range, and it seems to begin to show towards the end of the set. Still, a belting set and a good strong reaction from the crowd.  

By popular demand, Matt Stevens was back at the Acoustic stage but, while I would have happily watched him again, there was no way I was going to abandon my spot for the last (for now) electric set from the next band...

Tinyfish



This was the last ever electric band set from this criminally under-rated band...it's true, they don't rate very highly as criminals...
They certainly played this set as if it was their last gig and I think everyone present thoroughly enjoyed it. Aside from the obvious musical talent each of them has, the thing that sets Tinyfish apart from most other bands is the humour and quirky fun that they share with each other and the crowd. This stretches from the smallest of quips mid-song to extended banter that frequently breaks out between numbers. At one quiet point in "Nine Months on Fire" Leon could be seen sprinkling Talc over his cymbals, which of course provided great dramatic clouds when the drums came crashing back in. I've not seen anyone else do that before and I don't suppose I will again.
The set flew by all too quickly and was excellent throughout leading to a rather emotional moment as they took their last bow. Such a shame...the world needs more Tinyfish.  

Touchstone



Touchstone are a lovely bunch of people and hopefully they're destined to get a larger following on the back of the attention that their "The City Sleeps" album received. The five of them always seem to be so relaxed and at home when performing, quite different to the first time I saw (most of) them five or six years ago in Rotherham. Moo on bass seemed to not let his jolly painful broken back affect his playing at all but I did see a few signs of discomfort as he hefted his own gear on and off the stage. The sound at the rail was a little guitar-heavy in the direct line of fire of Hodgie's amp with some of Rob's keys getting a little lost but this was the price to pay to be close to the awesomeness. The addition of Kerry "Kompost" Chicoine for "Mad World" was a great way to round things off.

Magenta



The loveliness just kept coming with the wonderful Magenta up next. These guys are currently my joint favourite band and they never, ever disappoint. In recent outings, Magenta have had more than their fair share of niggly technical issues, but this time the problems (Tina's in-ear monitors) were resolved in the rather amusing preamble/line-check. From then on it was pure brilliance from start to finish. Much has already been said about the chemistry they have on-stage and the addition of the Godsticks rhythm section has definitely raised the bar another notch. Chris Fry delivered yet another virtuoso performance on the eve of his birthday. That man loves and thrives in a spotlight (I believe that if you look up "showboat" in the dictionary there's a picture of Chris!) but it is *exactly* what is required. It was also good to see Rob Reed on his feet and bouncing after a few seated performances in recent times. Christina's vocals were probably the clearest of the weekend in my opinion, possibly thanks to Chris Jones at or near the sound desk (I didn't see if he was there but I suspect he was). The sound at the rail was also the best of the day, interestingly. Magenta got some of the biggest (if not THE biggest) roars from the crowd and they richly deserved it all. They also got possibly the only "un-planned" encore of the event? This set was my highlight of the weekend.

Alan Reed



By now I'd had enough rail time and Mrs Pedro and I headed to the Acoustic Stage (thankfully with the lights on this time) to catch a good chunk of Alan's excellent set. Ably assisted yet again by the talented Mark Spencer this was a well-attended much enjoyed performance that seemed to be over far too soon.  

It Bites



John Mitchell flew back specially from Germany (on tour with Arena) for this appearance and although he declared himself quite tired you really couldn't tell. Once a particularly tenacious technical gremlin had been turfed-out from the back of his guitar rig and John Beck's gear had received a good gaffa-taping, the IB machine hit its full stride and we were treated to a good selection from all phases of the band, including some very welcome new material from the brilliant "Map of the Past" album. With Nathan King on bass, Bob Dalton on drums and the ever brilliant John Beck on keyboards, I enjoyed every moment of it but my knees were well beyond being able to bounce by this time so I stood back and just enjoyed it all. Bizarrely, I seemed to be in precisely the spot that John Mitchell chooses to focus on when singing, although I'm pretty sure he couldn't see anyone in particular that far back. This set was a great way to finish the whole event.

...and then it was all over...



After a quick "Thank you" to Twang we were rather relieved to find the car park completely open and happy to accept the £10 ransom to get our car back again. So the NCP website is just completely incorrect...happily.

An hour or so later the four of us were back in Maidstone again, cream crackered but very happy. The event was a triumph in several ways and, if it did break-even or better, then I seriously hope we will get another one next year...trouble is; who to get to play?

[flamadiddle]

Cheers for the write-up, Pedders.  I have to say, I watched almost the entirety to the Magenta set from the balcony and I have never witnessed another band like it.  Truly deserving of the response they got and a real education for me.  Looking forward to catching them again, for sure.

Oh, and our new bassist is Steve Woodcock.  He's a fantastic player and it's great to have him on board.  Roll on October and the next bunch of gigs

[Pedro]

Sunday Celebr8 in Ten Minutes Montage -> //https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmnDATJmRSU

As before, my camera didn't like the LED lights but a different viewpoint seemed to help a bit.
Stunning collection of bands.