Cornbury Festival – Friday

Dashing past a whirlwind of rides and tempted by the sweet smell of candyfloss, we make our way to The Bedford Live stage to catch The Deets. Starting with ‘Lazyboy’, the storming sound that surrounds us is reminiscent of early Artic Monkeys, incorporating shouty lyrics and performed with passion and energy. Launching into ‘Trouble With Me and You’, a bitter break up song with a jangling guitar rhythm and stomping punk elements, The Deets have definitely attracted the attention of the crowd. The high octane performance rockets forward with the pounding drums, fast paced snarling vocals and chanting chorus of ‘Charlie’ with an extended guitar solo getting the audience in the mood for further musical musings in the form of ‘Audacity’, a jangling indie tune with spoken vocal verses leading to a chorus that The Jam would be proud of and which receives an enthusiastic reception from the gathering festival goers. The catchy ‘Holy Roller’ has clear single potential with its stop start indie rhythm, emotive vocal and effervescent energy and is complemented by ‘Whose That Fool In Love’ a summer tinged slice of indie infectiousness with a repeating chorus over rocking guitar riffs as Ian jumps into the air mid fret in true rock star fashion, perhaps indicating that he is the fool in love. Ending the set with ‘It’s Getting Better’ a mod meets indie tune with brilliant beats that would make The Strokes swoon, The Deets have certainly kicked off the festival with a performance to be proud of with their clutch of contagious songs and rocking rhythms.

Over on the Main Stage, Beth Hart belts through a fast paced rocking set including ‘Something’s Got A Hold On Me’, a rock and rolling classic with the crowd joining in a raucous call and response section. ‘I’ll Take Care Of You’ has a melancholy rock melody with a soaring gutsy vocal and a crashing crescendo in the middle that echoes across the field full of revellers. Another highlight of the set is ‘It’s My Life’, a lyrical lament with rocking guitar riffs that has the audience swaying from side to side and shows the versatility of Hart’s live set.

Back over on The Bedford Live stage, Skinny Machines entice a couple of enthusiastic dancers to the front of the stage with their opening number ‘Love Is Surrender’, a brilliant song with a classic rock guitar melody and a catchy chorus. ‘Night In November’ is a chilled tune with a building guitar rhythm leading into the chorus and an echoing solo. The next track ‘The Knife’ will be on Skinny Machine’s EP which is to be released soon and is a real incentive to buy it as it is a terrific track with passionate vocals and an anthemic chorus and is followed by crowd pleaser ‘Laid Out Cold’, an indie classic with a pounding beat and soulful vocals that has the crowd clapping along. Ending with ‘Doghouse’, duelling guitars create a driving melody with a dance inducing backbeat and a classic rock feel to it that you just can’t help but dance to, as the band segue into ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ and then return to ‘Doghouse’ with even the seated (on hay bales) members of the audience tapping their feet. If you are lucky enough to have these boys in your town, go and see them for a rocking riot of a show!

Over to the Comedy Tent to have our funny bones tickled next. We are encouraged by the energetic Jared Christmas to create an awesome opening to the poetry day in the Comedy Tent and enthusiastically comply as Luke Wright takes the stage. We are prepared for intelligent iambics after  having caught his ‘Cynical Ballads’ tour earlier in the year and are entertained initially by a soliloquy to service stations called ‘National Service’ with its building horror of long journeys and the scourge of Steve Wright in the afternoons. The perils of right wing police men are interrogated in ‘Jean-Claude Gendarme’ or the Gallic Dalek if you will and ‘Jeremy Who Drew Penises On Everything’ outlines the consequences of allowing inappropriateness in youth. ‘Barry versus the Blob is an anecdote in alliteration which is delivered with buoyancy as we are left bamboozled, our brains brilliantly bashed by such a barrage of ‘B’ words. Finally, an impassioned performance of ‘Bloody Hell, it’s Barbara’ waxes lyrical about the attractions of this dark souled lady and the impassioned performance leaves the tent chuckling.

Mark Grist then continues the humorous poetry with a love poem to Peterborough with the enticing title ‘Come To Peterborough’ which he wrote after becoming Peterborough’s poet laureate. Dripping with sardonic intent, Grist acknowledges their Ikea distribution centre that has no corresponding stories and the plethora of pound stores available to delight the population of Peterborough. With its pleading end, this poem indicates the thoughts of a very funny man indeed. The next poem is a tribute to teenagers written as a contrast to the negative portrayal often paramount in today’s society and is a heart warming endorsement of the young people that many teachers have in their care. Introducing a colleague to the stage to engage us in some comedy rap about the countryside called ‘In My Tractor’, we are extremely amused by the line ‘Do you want beef, ‘cos I got cows?’ and it was a real shame that we could not stay to watch more from these two poets but we had to head to the Main Stage for The Waterboys. Hopefully, Mark Grist will be performing somewhere nearby soon and we will be able to watch a full performance.

Watching The Waterboys is always a wonderful experience and tonight is no exception. Opening number, ‘Don’t Bang The Drum’ with its beautiful fiddle overlay is an indie guitar guided classic with an incendiary instrumental that has the crowd up and dancing. Following with ‘Killing My Heart’ a Celtic reel that has the crowd bouncing to the passionate vocals, you quickly become aware that you are in the presence of real masters of the live show. Mike Scott then sits at the keyboard and delivers the bouncy melody and awe-inspiring vocals of ‘A Girl Called Johnny’ with its lovely fiddle overlay that has an enthusiastic crowd dancing away. Scott quips that their motto is ‘less talk, more music’ and with music like this that is definitely something to smile about. ‘Glastonbury Song’ is warmly received and with its line ‘there is a green hill far away’ it certainly belongs in this setting as the green rolling countryside surrounds the stage and the band perform passionately with Scott’s epic guitar solo echoing across the land. The introduction of a steel guitar heralds one of my favourite songs ‘Mad As The Mist and Snow’ with its gorgeous growling vocal and elegant fiddle melody accompanying the silvery sun as it sinks slowly behind the stage into the Southern foothills. By the heart- breaking beautiful outro the dusk has settled and Scott declares through a loudspeaker ‘surely some revelation is at hand?’ and takes us on a magically mad journey whilst wearing a bit of a terrifying mask. ‘Raggle Taggle Gypsy’ has a reeling rapturous Romany rhythm with a gorgeous fiddle melody showing Steve Wickham’s talent  and heartfelt vocals by Scott with the crowd clapping along and dancing to the rhythm. The sublime ‘The Pan Within’ shows off Scott’s sensational vocals and has many of the crowd perfectly willing to surrender their souls willingly to The Waterboys if this would result in more time on the stage given that they are clearly really today’s headline act. Scott bounces from side to side with his guitar, the crowd clap along with the outro…and then go absolutely wild as ‘The Whole of the Moon’ is performed by The Waterboys and the whole of Cornbury festival. The chorus prompts some collaborative bouncing across the field as members of the crowd link arms and sing along and the party then continues during ‘Fisherman’s Blues’, one of my favourite songs of all time with its duelling guitar and fiddle melody, and we are all twirling around each time Scott counts to four and singing along under the darkening sky. Huge demand for an additional encore sees the band returning with a little slice of rock and roll with ‘Rags’ and we leave the field in the confirmed knowledge that The Waterboys are one of the best live acts that we have ever seen.

Over to the Songbird stage now for some more superb vocals courtesy of Alison Moyet. With the crowd singing along to beautiful ballad ‘Only You’, Moyet engages the audience with songs that were the soundtrack to their relationships throughout the eighties. ‘All Cried Out’ with its soaring vocals and angry undertone echoes through the air as the field becomes ridiculously crowded as festival fans strain to see the songstress belt out her classic hits. Upbeat number ‘Hoo Doo’ has the audience dancing and clapping along and ‘Should I Feel That It’s Over?’ has the crowd responding rapturously to the awesome vocals delivered during the track. A beautiful rainbow, courtesy of the light drizzle, materialises to the left of the stage as Moyet performs a swinging serenade, ‘That ‘Ole Devil’ that showcases her superb vocal rang, swiftly followed by piano led melody ‘Find Me’ with its harmonious vocals. Energetic dancing occurs again during pacey ‘Ode to Boy II’ which develops into swaying during building ballad ‘Momma Momma’ with its pathos laden lyrics. An angry piano tune accompanies the strident vocals of ‘Whispering Your Name’ and ‘Is This Love?’ receives a very positive crowd reaction. Ending with an upbeat version of ‘Situation’ that has the crowd dancing along and the sing along ‘Weak In The Presence’, Moyet shows that she certainly is a paramount songbird of the eighties era.

Cornbury Saturday HERE