As we start to prepare once again for the crazy carousel of fabulous festivals that promise us a return to sensational summers of music, mayhem and laughter, there is one date in our diary that always stands out as something very special.
Nah Then Festival is always a great gathering that guarantees that you will be watching bands that will have you dancing, singing along and enjoying the very best that the grassroots scene has to offer and it is no surprise to us that this year’s line-up is superb.
QUEEN ALIVE are a terrific tribute to one of rock’s most iconic bands and are sure to have us all singing along. The four piece re-create the sound and performance of Queen and will turn Sherbrooke Scout Camp into Wembley Stadium as we relive the epic hits under the stars.
GOLDWATER are psychedelic rock preachers whose frenetic, full-throttle performances are a joy to behold. THE FARGO RAILROAD CO. will bring a slice of Southern Americana all the way from…Sheffield to help chase away any remaining Lockdown blues with their melodic songs. The mighty STAR BOTHERERS are always one of our favourite festival bands with their joy-inducing performances and we are especially excited as recent album ‘Tales of Layton Rakes’ was one of our albums of the year. I defy anyone to not be shouting along to ‘He’s Got Dreads’ and laughing to the lyrics of ‘Blackpool’.
Another one of our favourite acts is MUDDY SUMMERS AND THE DIRTY FIELD WHORES. The genre-defying band are a rousing rebellion for social justice with lyrics that make you think, laugh and sing along to a set that is bound to stay with you long after festival season ends. PRETTY BABS always have the crowd up and dancing to their infectious rock songs that are bound to end up on your playlist if you are discovering them for the first time at the festival. CANANDIANS IN SPACE are a mirth-inducing musical comedy band that we are looking forward to seeing because, quite frankly, they are hilarious.
Both HOBO JONES AND THE JUNK YARD DOGS and JESS SILK will also be amongst our festival highlights as the latter is fronted by DAVEY MALONE, whose lovely, joyful community livestreams were a genuine lifeline to us here at Lyric Lounge Review when the stages fell silent and we felt like the world had stopped and JESS SILK’s ‘There’s A Bar At The End Of The World’ became our anthem, alongside her amazing livestreams that showcased fantastic song-writing with a social conscience, performed with a breath-taking passion that makes her one of our favourite artists ever. HOBO JONES AND THE JUNKYARD DOGS are going to raise the metaphorical roof with stomping skiffle and JESS SILK’S set is bound to be a blast, just don’t look at me during our aforementioned anthem as it might still make me cry.
ONE EYED GOD will definitely help to develop a carnival atmosphere with their punky ska melodies and anti-establishment lyrics (even more necessary as we look at our current *laugh* leadership) and BLACK KES are skiffle troubadours that will bring fun and frolics to Sherbrooke Scout Camp. MEDEN BLAZERS always provide a superb set of stomping covers that help to ignite any festival field and we are also really looking forward to CAROL HODGE BAND for a set that is sure to highlight her fantastic vocals and song writing skills.
We have seen SHANKS PONY at several festivals and always love their live set. They may be the reason I bought a cajon, much to Jordan’s dismay as I can’t actually play it but SHANKS PONY show how it should be done with a mixture of folk and Irish and original songs that again suggest that we will be needing our dancing shoes for this delightful festival. Lively Celtic music from TREEBEARD guarantees yet more dance-inducing melodies and it is one of the things that I love so much about Nah Then Festival, that you get to see so many great musicians and that the dancing pretty much never stops.
I know that as a journalist, it is my job to explain to anyone who doesn’t know a band what they should expect, but I defy anyone to accurately describe the wonder that is SWEETCHUNKS. Expect the unexpected is probably going to be accurate. Expect laughter, possible incitement to bear abuse and to be singing expletives in honour of bees. Expect an amazing band that you will never forget and possibly need to attend every future gig for otherwise you will feel like you are missing out on something joyous. HATTIE HATSTAR is hilarious and is sure to have the crowd smiling until their faces hurt with her quirky and witty lyrics. SPITTING FEATHERS are sure to play some songs we can sing and dance along to and SPAM will have us pogoing to punk classics and creating a friendly mosh pit now that we no longer have to stand 2 meters apart. DAN OTTEWELL is a rising star on the grassroots circuit and will be playing songs from his brilliant upcoming EP with clever lyrics about social justice and the utter shambles created by the powers that be, trust me…melodic anger sounds so good. NASTY FISHMONGER always put on an incendiary show with their foot stomping folk and PETE DRAKE may have a Mexican fan, but we also love his brilliant lyrics here at Lyric Lounge Review.
So, what an amazing line-up for this year’s Nah Then Festival. No wonder we can’t wait for July to arrive so we can start counting down to the festival weekend. With lovely, reasonably priced food and crafts and other entertainment, it really is one of our Summer highlights. If you don’t have a ticket yet, I’d get one fast because this festival is going to be a blast. You never know, you might also win the tug-of-war and be able to spend all of Sunday bathing in glorious victory.
Check out the Nah Then Festival page on Facebook for further details about the festival and how to buy tickets. See you down at the front!
Tanya
