Now I've been to festivals. Many, many festivals. Unfortunately, over the years, these have varied in quality.
Low points...
Greenbelt festival, England '95.
As performer, Moonhead - band introduced by BBC Radio 1 DJ Simon Mayo, who had just waxed lyrical on how his parents accepting his ear ring was a bit like how God / Jesus is accepting of many similar challenging issues. OK Simon. Nice use of analogy. To the unitiated, the Greenbelt Festival is run by "an independent Christian charity working to express love, creativity and justice in the arts and contemporary culture in the light of the Christian gospel". Which despite my lack of religious convictions is just fine, until your sarcastic guitarist, arriving ten minutes late for the set, rushes on stage mid-song and announces through the mic that he's sorry for his tardiness, but en-route to the festival he suddenly saw the light and found Jaaaaaaysus.
Jools Holland, Beddington Park, England '95
As performer, Moonhead - supporting Sir Jools and his mighty Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. Unfortunately, the man from the council came round with his noise-meter, to check that the bands weren't playing too loud, decided we were, and shut the PA system off mid-song, thus terminating our performance. Band then proceed to get regally drunk, enjoy Lonnie Listen Smith's and Jools' sets, ...and ultimately wake up cold, damp and alone behind some flightcases in a tent, unsure of time and how to get home.
Some fucker in Atlanta, GA, USA '99
As performer, Moke - sorry that I can't be more specific about the festival name, but we flew from Chicago...no the battery's flat (think about it) to Atlanta. Then we had to drive about 250 miles through torrential rain to the festival site. We did this, jumping off a major tour (arena shows), because it was, according to our label, "a fantastic opportunity". Which in essence translated to a fantastic opportunity to look at a load of electrical cables under 3 inches of water, a sagging, wind destroyed stage and three acid-soaked groovers, dancing to the beat of the monsoon that was lashing the festival site. Whilst we absorbed this, the poor promoter explained that the festival was off. No shit, Sherlock. Cue return 250 mile drive, 2000 mile flight...resume tour.
Glasonbury, England, 2000
As performer, Moke - best EVER on stage sound. Wonderful!
Cropredy, England '96
As security guard(!), Camp Site 4 - I stayed awake from Thursday 'til Sunday.
Rock Am Ring, Germany '99
As performer, Moke. Great show - other bands included Senser, Ash, Smashing Pumpkins and The Prodigy. The next morning, Seanmoke and myself decided that we needed to go home. An epic journey ensued, which included traveling in German Police cars (they're BMWs you know), several buses, wonderful smooth punctual European trains, two planes, a short visit to Switzerland, before finally arriving at Heathrow.
My final thoughts before moving away from the festival thing...
On the whole, committing to attending a festival is a bit like a trip to McDonalds. You know from the outset it's fraught with potential badness. But the reality is actually quite good.
a l e x m o k e
p.s - Moonhead were a lovely band with John and Alex, amongst other members. I will post some music by Moonhead next week.
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