 Back
Setting off from North Wales at 12 o’clock lunchtime, we arrived in BROADSTAIRS 9 ½ hours later! This was so far south and so far away from the mountains that at these latitudes us poor Welsh boys start getting nosebleeds! (To be honest it would have been quicker for us to go up to John o’groats in Scotland (take note Scottish festival organisers!)!).Upon our arrival at the site office everything was very smooth & efficient, and with our passes secured & equipment stowed we went to check out the festival and down a few beers.
 First stop was at the BARNABY RUDGE where we were to be playing a few nights later. ‘Get those bloody hats awf’ was the greeting from landlord ERIC Apparently baseball caps cause trouble on Friday & Saturday nights and are banned, and as it was late and the music was finished we had a quick pint and got our hats out of there. From there we walked all of 12 paces over the road and into the DOLPHIN for another quick pint in a cap free zone before deciding to head back uphill & nearer the campsite. We stopped off for a couple of final pints in a dump of a place which stayed open until 1.00am. (Sorry can’t remember what it was called) where the beer was like the decor- cheap & tasteless!
Back on site we were very pleased to see some familiar faces in the form of ‘MOOR & COAST’. This is a food tent serving a good variety of fry-ups, grills, hot butties, hot drinks (rum & cocoa anyone?) and also Yorkshire tea- a bit like Indian or china tea, but made using distilled ferret piss & uht milk! The surprising thing about Moor & Coast is that for the past 2 years we’ve played at the Wheaton Aston Festival (see review) and this tent has been rocking- almost an ad hoc venue- but here it was very very quiet (something to do with the campsite licence we think) anyway nice to see you again lads!
 The following morning (Sat) I woke up unable to move, & with my back locked into exactly the same shape it had spent for 9 ½ hours the previous day. Luckily we didn’t have a gig until that night, so to alleviate the pain we jumped back in the car again and drove to Canterbury where we did the cultural bit and visited the cathedral (hey come on- can’t come all this way just to see the inside of a pub!) Back on site we got our gear released from the lock-up and headed off to our soundcheck which was nice, swift and very efficient. We then headed back to the site again to get ourselves rested and changed before our set, unfortunately missing the 3 bands before us! It was at this stage we took advantage of the shuttle service between the various venues to return us to the bandstand in time for our set, playing to a very appreciative audience of around 600- 700.
 Time for sustenance, we found a great fish & chip shop which had also been discovered by two other musicians, Tab (of TAB HUNTER & NICK CLYNE) & Vincent, who being like-minded lads were up for a session and a few drinks. We heard that the ‘LORD NELSON’ was the place to go- but it wasn’t. The session here was strictly Irish or Scottish and we were told in no uncertain terms (by one of the musicians) that ‘the singing of rock songs’ would not be entertained! – no problem! -we just found another pub. Called the TARTAR FRIGATE, the customers persuaded the landlord to let us play and we spent an enthusiastic hour jamming along for a pleasant bunch of lunatics. Back to the campsite and another visit to Moor & Coast for a baconburger breakfast & cocoa (nice healthy lifestyle this!), before a few more beers with Tab & his mates.
The next day (Sun) we were playing at the WROTHAM ARMS. This was a great little place with good acoustics, and spot on for a relaxed afternoon set. We played for an hour and a half and later sold a bunch of CD’s to a very involved audience. This is why we like festivals! People want to see & hear you play, they’ve paid their hard earned money to enjoy themselves and we respond to that! It’s also great to be able have a chat with people afterwards and get some feedback and comments, the main ones here being- ‘How can two of you sound like a whole band?’, ‘Where are you playing next?’ and ‘It’s a shame you live in Wales!’??
After the gig we made our way back to the site, stopping off at a music shop where Andy bought yet another guitar. After booking the shuttle service to take us back into town for the evening we got ourselves some more food and went to sleep. One of the problems we encountered with the festival was that so many bands are playing different venues at exactly the same time, that it’s almost impossible for us to see another band!
 We got dropped off at the next venue around 7 ish with our P.A. etc. to set up & soundcheck for the evening at The BARNABY RUDGE. This is the ‘Locals’ local, a proper boozer and a great place to play, Luckily as it was now Sunday our baseball caps didn’t want to make any trouble so it was o.k. to wear them! During our set up we were paid a visit by an energetic (!?) bunch going from pub to pub, who we later found out were The NEWCASTLE (upon Tyne) KINGSMEN (swords men?). Quite how this lot didn’t lose lots of fingers & thumbs during their performance I don’t know! It was mind boggling to watch them do their stuff. Great respect to you lads!
We kicked off around 8.30p.m. while things were still relatively quiet, but even so, this didn’t stop people dancing (locals again!), and by 9.30 there wasn’t any room to dance. This was turning into a great night with people determined to have a good time and a lot of people who we had seen on the previous gigs turned up for another ear-bashing! The only breaks we had time for here, were to re-tune the guitars and grab a quick swig of beer, and by 10.30 we were pretty much exhausted. The audience though were still shouting for more, and much to our surprise Eric the landlord, instead of letting us play one more as an encore, asked us if we could do another another ½ hour! Somehow finding reserves, we finished off a superb night to a very rowdy and enthusiastic audience, again moving some more CD’s. Must apologise here as we didn’t have too much chance to chat to people afterwards, we had to strip all the gear down very, very quickly to get it in the shuttle & back to the lock up.
 Once the gear was checked in, we got the shuttle straight back into town to catch our first sight of another band. At the PAVILION passes were waiting for us, and we spent a very enjoyable late night drinking & dancing to Zydeco band- DEXTER ARDOIN & the CREOLE RAMBLERS. Being the sensible and committed musicians that we are, and having a gig the next day, we decided to get back to the site as soon as possible where we could have some more rum’n’cocoa & beer. Once more in Moor & Coast the Newcastle Kingsmen came in & started playing music which was halted fairly swiftly by the site security, though in the nicest possible way (You have to remember that nearly all the site staff here are volunteers doing an amazing variety of tasks very well. Without them the festival wouldn’t function, and because they’re just like you or me, you don’t feel the urge to give them any abuse!). Talking to one of the swordsmen it turns out that he lives in the same street as my Mum! Amazing! - Bet you really wanted to know that- goodnight!
Monday, and another beautiful day. The whole weekend has been like this- warm & sunny- this is what every festival should be like. While it might make playing more of a challenge, it’s also possibly part of the reason why we don’t want to go home today. It’s one o’clock and today we’re in the DOLPHIN, and already some of the usual crowd are here to see us again. This is a nice old pub with wood floors, beams and very low ceilings, there’s possibly about a foot of space between people’s heads & the ceiling, and it’s through this little gap that we have to try and squeeze our sound for everyone to hear. It must be working though because we can see people at the back jiggling about in time to the music while the people up front are dancing away like mad again- HOLD ON! This is Monday lunchtime, where do these people get the energy from? Well I’ll let you into a little secret! The ones we’ve been chatting to are from Broadstairs or used to live here, and not mentioning any names, they either take a week’s holiday, or they pull a sickie for the week! These are the ‘locals’ they love the festival enough to celebrate it as a holiday! And as this is the festivals 40th year (Happy Birthday) you can imagine that many of them have been brought up to regard this week as ‘the norm’ in their lives, believe me- they live for this week-, that’s why they’re dancing! This was another gig played to another very appreciative audience and by now quite a few familiar faces, and while we could have played all afternoon, our set flew by and it was finally time for us to leave some very nice people and head home to the hills.
This is a seriously well organised & run festival; it would have to be to survive 40 years, the logistics for arranging this week must take all year, one look at the programme tells you that, so-
Many very sincere thanks go to Kim & the festival organisers,
All the hoards of tireless volunteers,
Thanet council
Tab & Vincent, and all the people we’ve met & who came to see us play, bought our CD’s, & made us feel so very very welcome!
Also our good mate Mark, who came with us for the festival and ended up lugging our gear about & taking photos!
Huge thanks/ Diolch yn fawr iâwn.
Russ & Andy,
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