When I was told by the lovely organisers of Peterborough Beer Fest that I could have a press pass, what I was most looking forward to was seeing local and upcoming bands and musicians.
Apart from the open mic night on Tuesday which I sadly couldn’t attend, the lineup on Saturday 29th August was the best opportunity to do just that, with the music starting at 2pm and going right through till 10.30pm!
I was very disappointed to miss the first act, Doug Heath, but have watched his performance via Hereward TV and he did a great job! His set was a lovely, chilled out start to the musical entertainment for the day! You can watch him and all the other bands for the day via YouTube – starting at 1hr51 minutes here. Enjoy!
I arrived shortly after The Lartey Sisters had taken to the stage, and they were singing one of my favourite Dolly Parton songs – “Jolene”. Suffice to say, I liked these girls immediately. They then went on to perform “Old Man” by Neil Young, and I was hooked!
Other songs in the set were “Mrs Robinson”, “Here Comes the Sun” and one I wish I’d arrived in time for – “Big Yellow Taxi”. The beautiful melodic vocals from Faye & Ashleigh, and Faye’s rather lovely acoustic guitar playing are worthy of comments received by Steve Harley who champions these girls… “Inspirational. Doesn’t happen very often. Special. Unique.”
Check out The Lartey Sisters on facebook for gig updates and such like!
Next on stage was Nick Corney with his band The Buzz Rats. I had already listened to and enjoyed their upcoming EP, “The Perfect Landing”, so was looking forward to this!
It must be pretty nervewracking getting on stage at the best of times, but when it’s to perform songs you’ve written yourself I think it’s got to be even more so! Nick & co. had an air of confidence and I sensed the enjoyment they felt from being on stage together – this was lovely to see!
The songs came across very well, and they had an audience (albeit fairly small) who were listening intently and rewarding with appropriate levels of applause! Personally, I very much enjoyed this set, with songs from both EPs such as “Smoky Joe” and title track from the upcoming EP “”The Perfect Landing”.
I’ve got to give a special mention to guitarist and harmonica player Chris (pictured above), as rarely have I seen that much energy on a stage, and it was a pleasure to witness! Good stuff indeed!
If you’re interested in seeing Nick Corney and The Buzz Rats for yourself, head along to The Brewery Tap on 18th September for their EP launch – I reckon you’ll love ’em!
Up next was out of town solo artist The Lone Groover. With a mix of original songs and covers, all with a folk/country feel from this ex-punk, there was a good variety of songs to nod the head to and other songs to sing along to.
This one man band gave renditions of “Young Americans” and “Eton Rifles”, and later providing an admission that “I was wasting my youth in punk rock bands when I should have been a country singer.” – so, someone with a sense of humour and the bravery to get out there on his own in front of an unknown beer-fuelled crowd! Kudos to him! For further info on The Lone Groover, drop a like on his facebook page.
After a break of an hour or so, it was time to get back to the barrier, front and centre stage for the next band, The Tin Pigeons. By now, the crowd was gathering and they were ready for a good sing and dance. I can think of no better band to provide the necessary service!
I’m trying not to be too over the top with the compliments within this review, but it’s not easy, as these lads are absolutely brilliant – fun to listen to, entertaining to watch, easy to like their personalities, and generally an absolute joy!
Kicking off with an immediately rowdy version of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Tell it to Me”, then going quickly into their own song “Old Rosie” (complete with deliciously low bass vocals), the audience was on board straight away and really got into the spirit of the barn dance feel – there simply aren’t enough barn dances nowadays, right?!
The rest of the set was equally as raucous, with a good balance of original songs and covers including a quite brilliant version of “Folsom Prison Blues” – can’t beat a bit of Johnny Cash!
Right, you get the picture, I love this band. Maybe you will, too! Go check ’em out on twitter & facebook and find out for yourselves!
Somehow, we were suddenly about to see the last live band of the week – as I said at the beginning of part one, it was over so quickly! So, it had to be a band who would keep people in high spirits for the remainder of the night! Who better than local covers band The Replicas to provide the necessary tunage?!
Bursting onto the stage and commencing their set with “One Step Beyond”, proceeding to captivate and delight the audience with other popular songs such as “Geno”, “She’s Electric”, “Disco 2000”, “Town Called Malice” and completing the night’s, and the week’s, festivities with “Nightboat to Cairo”, this really was a great choice for headliner!
The Replicas have got a few upcoming gigs in the Peterborough area, so keep up to date with their whereabouts on facebook and get along to see them if you can!
Thank you to everyone for reading and sharing my reviews, and a final MASSIVE thank you to all at Peterborough Beer Fest for their organisation and hospitality – every one of you is amazing, and without you the event simply wouldn’t happen! Long may it continue!
Here are some of Saturday night’s revellers…
All photos were taken by and are copyright to Fi Stimpson / Music vs. The World. Please do not use any image without prior consent. Thank you!
Since the last time I wrote about Dukes of New York just over a year ago, they have had a change in line-up by recruiting singers Michelle Major-Butler and Zoe Bradbrook.
Music vs. The World 