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Rock And Blues 2007 - Pentrich,
Derbyshire Review by Strawb, with small contributions by Steve.
Photos by Strawb and Steve
This is Strawb's
review of The Rock & Blues Custom Show, but I thought I'd hijack the
beginning as I went too, but wasn't planning to review anything as
it was Sam's birthday weekend and it was our first time off for the
year. But for those that haven't been to the Rock and Blues before,
it's a great, relaxed atmosphere where you are treated like adults
and it's now an unwritten rule, that Soar Patrol must start the
proceedings each day. And a fine job they do of warming up the
crowd. With Strawb's late arrival, one band he missed, apart from
Soar Patrol, was Uniting The Elements. UTE are a hard working band
that clock up just under 300 gigs a year and their professionalism
shone through. Despite being a 3 piece, they dwarfed the huge
Pentrich stage and their brand of Goth-meets-Punk was a welcoming as
the sun was after a weak of pissing down rain. They are constantly
on tour and well worth checking out. The highlight for me were the
Scorpions, who were unbelievably good. Watching a pissed up Michael
Schenker fuck up his career on stage was the complete opposite. Now
on to the proper review. (Steve)
I
need to thank Robin & Tracey and the girls for their hospitality and
tolerance. A bed, food and booze within 20 minutes walk of a
festival – sheer bliss.
One Percent Entertainment
did a cracking job, Grommit. Local gossip has it that the farmer who
owns the land was looking to cancel. The English summer decided to
unleash the storm of the Armageddon for two weeks before the
festival, but O.P.E. were having none of that and brought every
skill they had to bear, making this an enjoyable time for all who
attended. Never been before, will definitely be back.
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Day one, the journey from Hell, well Peterborough actually, but the
two would be twinned had the devil not turned down his flat in
Peterborough….. A quick hello to mine hosts, into suitable footwear
and up to the site. I arrived in time to hear
Animals & friends slaughtering Suzi Q (check out the
Split Whiskers version, it’s much better). However, I thought the
time had passed [along with some of the members of the band no
doubt] when I would hear Gotta Get Out Of This Place and House Of
The Rising Sun performed live, so the first bonus there, then.
During the break, a chance to test some of the facilities.
Rides for the kids were affordable, clean and long lasting – tick
that box then. Food – remarkably cheap and no vomit induction; what
has become of festivals? And the drinks? More of the same, I’m
afraid, a choice of beverages for one pound fifty a can, if
alcoholic is your thing, and three pounds for a double spirits.
Non-alcoholic? The half litre soft drinks were a quid twenty, and
water a quid. That would be the same size of water that rip-off
Wembley wanted three pound twenty for a few weeks ago. Note to
Wembley: cut prices or change vendors, sell lots and have people
like me write good things about you. L4M Steve tells me that some of
the t-shirts on sale were cheap rip-offs which may have helped to
keep the prices down, but again the ‘double your prices because this
is a festival’ merchants were noticeably absent. I did miss the
scum guys off-site selling poor copies of the band shirts
though, just like I miss that disease my doctor finally managed to
clear up…..
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Back to the stage, the Pat Savage Band
plied their trade, competent and steady was the order of the day,
went down well with the crowd. Baukje Westerlaken did one of the
drum solos of the weekend – ballbreaker.
As the time approached for The Levellers
the crowd grew in both density and ruthlessness to get to
the front. Two points here; if you want to get near the stage, get
there earlier, and twenty stone guys don’t move no matter how hard
you push them, even if you are three spotty hoody-wearing
ganja-smoking numbnuts. [Two twenty stone guys, fuck off and annoy
someone else, as you did. Wimps.] The Levellers were not my thing,
too many come on Eileen memories, but I was in the minority and the
performance and crowd reception made it obvious why they were this
nights headliners. I spoke to Mark Chadwick at the barrier the next
day whilst watching the Handsome Beasts. He was the worse for wear
but said how much he was enjoying it all, met the fans and seemed a
great guy. The opportunity for the competition- winning photograph
passed me by for lack of a tripod, and Mrs S temporarily lost a boot
in the quagmire section near to the bar as we made our way via there
to mine hosts for a well deserved glass of single malt. |
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Saturday dawned, but we missed all that, arising in time for an
early lunch. A visit to the local supermarket who no doubt ensured
that many went elsewhere to shop because of their ‘no festival
parking’ signs. On the shelves I found Old Peculiar, Theakstons
festival fuel. So a few bottles of that, then. The early lunch
eaten, back to the site. The sun was shining. Yes, really, not the
effects of the O.P. I assure you. Robin and number 1 daughter took
this wallet-damaging opportunity to have their internal organs
shuffled by riding the Power shot. Despite your protestations,
Louisa, I’m afraid the screams were all yours. I took the chance to
meet Live4Metal Steve and his family. This is the nice man who
regularly supplies me with music cds to review, did I mention he is
a very nice man? We exchanged views of the bands of yesterday and
Steve told me under no circumstances to miss
Saor Patrol. Never seen
them? Then your life is not complete. Drums, attitude and a first
[for me] Rock bagpipes. It may sound like your version of
Peterborough Hell, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,
and then you won’t want to knock it, as the size of their crowd
proved. Musically it was an awesome start to day two. Time now for
a walk around the retail stalls and the custom bikes area. I have
previously seen the bikes at the BMF, but these were a league above.
I recently purchased a couple of years worth of Back Street Heroes
so I now had more appreciation of what some of these builders
achieve in their own garages. No Tuttle ego here, just the
acceptable British kind and taking into account the weather and need
to ride your pride and joy over a tribute to the Somme, an excellent
turn out. |
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Now on the stage, Burn.
Good action, the vocalist had a touch of the sartorial eloquence
about him, not quite Graham Bonnet in that area, but vocally he was
there. A drummer with force and energy to spare, a cool keyboard
player and some three guitar action with some classic rock posing
[foot on monitor speaker anyone?] made for
a good set, worthy of lots more in the crowd IMO. |
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Handsome Beasts were next. How
good to see a lead singer built as men should be - fat and ugly.
With attitude, and a penchant for alcohol, apparently especially
that liberated from Michael Schenkers’ dressing room. Steve
described H.B. as pub rock, and that is a fair description and one
which they seemed to accept, knowing their place on the rock food
chain. Apart from the hissy fit, every
cliché in the book was there during their set. The crowd loved it,
the people I was with loved it, and yes, I thought they were just
what a festival needs. May never top the bill outside of their
catchment area, but any rock gods who need an opener in the UK, here
they are. But keep your booze & daughters under lock and key, and
make sure you pass their credibility test. |
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were followed by
GMT. It is my own fault I
suppose, I should know by now that my looking forward to someone is
directly proportional to the amount of disappointment they induce.
Three time served icons of British Rock. Each one very competent.
But something was just not there, and it may have been the sound
system on the day, but I would pinpoint the vocals. As a result they
lost me quite early on, nearly got me back on board with New
Orleans, but the finale of an off key version of Smoke On The Water
cemented the previous comments. Robin Guy presents as being as mad
as a fish, which seems to be one of the requirements for the job of
drummer. John McCoy still has amazing stage presence and strums a
rocking bass. The smoking elephants trunk axe was spectacular.
Bernie Torme plays good guitar, but looking back at my photos, was I
the only one there reminded of a Bill Nighy /Strange Fruits cameo?
And Emily, my hosts’ number 2 daughter; falling asleep at a concert
is acceptable. To do it up against the barrier directly in front of
the main stage speaker stack just makes you a rock chick.
Stupendous. |
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Brits had given of their best, but the stage was now the domain of
the Germans. First up, MSG. And
now we know why this petulant twat had been exported. A delay coming
on to the stage can be a crowd pleaser, but you took the piss, even
your band were embarrassed as you left them stood there with tools
in hands. A break between songs gives us time to show our
appreciation, but walking off the stage for whatever reason you
perceived – bollocks. Thank you for telling us your set was
improvised, because the schizophrenic combination of your newer
stuff and old UFO numbers hadn’t given us much of a clue. Didn’t
exactly need Sherlock Holmes, did it? And your “we only have a
minute left because of the greedy band, so we are leaving the stage
now” comment came as a blessing for those of us sick of your ugly
mug gratuitously displayed since the removal of your unfortunately
not totally swede covering hoodie. If you want time to complete
your set, come on stage on time and don’t take everyone off stage in
the middle of your set, you arse. And never take a pop at the
headliners who guaranteed the turnout of the majority of your crowd.
Cock of the festival award – Uncontested. [Cock as Emily may read
this, but we all know which 4 letter word beginning with C I really
mean]. |
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And
then the night sky decided we should all enter the imminent wet
t-shirt contest. As the Teutonic efficiency was demonstrated by the
assembly of the stage for the Scorpions,
our clothes displayed both sponge and osmosis qualities, but no one
seemed to want to leave. A confession here: prior to ticket purchase
my knowledge of the band that were the reason L4M Steve was here
was… Wind of Change and the album cover with the bare breast and the
chewing gum thing. This had improved in the intervening time, but
not to any great extent, in truth. Anyone else checked out the
Amazon three for ten pound offer recently?
I now know why the Scorpions are a headlining international group. A
minute or so late to grace the stage, they arrived with |
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power and panache, launching into crowd pleaser after crowd pleaser.
Klaus Meine paused on the vocal duties to say how
good it was to be in England as the rain began to angle nearer and
nearer to the stage. I was by the barrier at the speaker stack and
had my view slightly obscured by the previous acts still hammering
the hospitality bill who spilled from their luxury backstage area [portacabins?]
to pay homage by rocking along.
Their setlist may have been as follows [remember I was a Scorpions
virgin]
'Hour
1',
'Bad Boys Running Wild',
'Love 'Em Or Leave 'Em',
'The Zoo',
'Coast To Coast',
'Holiday',
'Humanity',
'Leaving You',
'Make It Real',
'Pictured Life', (with Uli Jon Roth)
'Speedy's Coming', (with Uli Jon Roth)
'We'll Burn The Sky', (with Uli Jon Roth)
'Fly To The Rainbow', (with Uli Jon Roth)
'Tease Me, Please Me',
'321',
'Big City Nights',
'Dynamite',
'Still Loving You'
'Rock You Like A Hurricane'
Uli Jon Roth may have displayed the physical characteristics of a
main villain from an episode of Angel, but if he has sold his soul
it must have been for his guitar skills. No weak guitar displays
during this festival on any of the levels I saw, but it was easy to
identify the master. And due to the fact that he had to use an old
fashioned guitar cord, it ensured most of his performance was in the
third of the stage nearest to us. He did not perform on enough of
the tracks, but I know excellence when it tries to burst my eardrums
and this was it. To single out U.J.R. is to do a grievous disservice
to the other members of the band. Each of them were committed and
talented and overall all were tighter than a Scotsmans triple locked
wallet during National Frugal Week. Rudolph Schenker not only had
the axe skills, but showed a physical dexterity unequalled
throughout the festival. Pawel Maciwoda on bass, a native of Krackow,
was mainly on our area of the stage and displayed not only his
musical talents but his lothario skills in charming all of the
ladies nearby. What was it that one threw onto the stage? If
drummers need to be mental then James Kottak would give the total
craziness of any full asylum the sort of beating he normally
reserves for his drums. Drum solo? Top drawer. Antics? Set a new
level. Balance skills? The circus must miss him. Second axe was
wielded by Matthias Jabs, who seemingly spent most of the concert at
the far end of the stage. This did not diminish his contribution,
just my view of him. And the band distributed souvenirs with
thought and careful aim, the young lady stood on a chair near to me
never missed a word in any of the songs and was ecstatic to receive
the proffered drum stick from Klaus. All in all a top drawer
performance, not spoilt by the lack of time to complete the encore,
and it made the efforts of the weather to spoil the occasion pale
into insignificance. I looked behind me from the barrier and the
hill was loaded. In front of the barrier the previous acts had
swelled the crowd there. The Scorpions were AWESOME.
* The lack of
Scorpions photos is because it was absolutely pissing down
throughout their set (Steve)
And to those who are unaware of this festival let me tell you the
cost of a pre-ordered weekend ticket this year. THIRTY FIVE POUNDS.
That covers Thursday to Sunday. There cannot be any better value out
there, and O.P.E. are promising something special for next years 25th
Festival, so let us all plan to be there.
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More photos from the festival can be found here |
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And now the alternate view: |
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Rock &
Blues
My name is Emily Gentle and I went to the rock
and blues in Derbyshire Pentrich. I went on Friday and Saturday . I
saw the Animals and some other great bands on Friday, On Saturday I
saw; Saor Patrol, Burn, The Handsome Beasts , GMT, Michael Schenker
Group, and the Scorpions.
I loved every band but my favourites were the
Animals and the Scorpions. I never new that the Scorpions were
German because I have herd the once before. But I never ever herd
the Animals before in my life. Everything was great we all had a fun
time. We all had tea there and every night and we always had a good
laugh.Other people from different countries sometimes turned up for
their bands that are from their country.
There are rides there so people can be kept entertained. There are
the Waltser , Bungey , Fun house and the Dodgems. They are really
fun so I think everyone was entertained even though there was about
35,000 people as people have said. All the food stands are
different. The foods were from all around the world. There were;
Indian takeaways, Chinese food, Burger and fries stall, Even nachos.
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The Tickets are very expensive and you can only
buy online. Children under 10 get free tickets. It is £35 per ticket
so if you are under 10 you go free, if you are 11 or over the your
ticket is £35. Once you have got your ticket you will need to keep
it safe. When you go to the rock & blues and handed in your ticket
you will be given it back as well you get a blue wrist band and if
you go there every night you can not take of your wrist band because
you will need that to get in but if you go out then back in without
a ticket or a wristband then you will be taken out by someone.
If you deicide to go then I hope you enjoy the rock and blues.
Remember to have fun have some coffee there or a tea, you can also
get some beer.
Emily is 11 years old and this was her first
festival. |
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