‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’, ‘ROCKAWAY BEACH’ – BUTLINS, BOGNOR REGIS 3-5.1.25
The ‘Rockaway Beach‘ is the first music festival of 2025 and luckily for us, it takes place annually here in Sussex at Butlins Bognor Regis! This year marks the tenth anniversary of the ‘Rockaway Beach’ festival, and there have been some that have voiced disappointment that the line-up is not sufficiently ‘spectacular’. Quite frankly, with headliners of the calibre of Spiritualized, Leftfield and Ride, I don’t think that there’s an awful lot to complain about. The undercard is pretty good too, as we shall see.
This year there has been a change in the stage set up at Rockaway Beach. Centre Stage, which was formerly the main stage, is now the second stage. The main stage is now a cavernous soulless hanger called Studio 36, which is about the size of Alexandra Palace. This is arguably too large for what is effectively a boutique festival. To get any atmosphere you really need to get ‘dahn the front’. Otherwise it’s a bit like looking in on a gig from the outside. To be fair, the sound is exceptionally good though.
Here are our reviews which are from Mark Kelly with a couple of additions from Graeme Houston…
FRIDAY 3RD JANUARY 2025
PETE WYLIE & THE MIGHTY WAH! (CENTRE STAGE 7:30pm – 8:30pm)
Due to some transport problems that I won’t bore you with, I’m fairly late getting to Bognor, but thankfully I’m here in time to see Pete Wylie & The Mighty Wah! I’ve been trying to see Pete Wylie for a lifetime, so I’m mightily (pardon the pun) glad to finally have the opportunity to do so. Apparently the great man is now 66!!! Well, he doesn’t look or sound it, wearing a very cool Sex Pistols jacket.
I thought I was pretty much up to speed with Wylie’s discography, but opener ‘Never Loved As A Child’ comes from an album that I’ve never heard of: ‘Songs Of Strength & Heartbreak’ which came out in 2000. I really must be more diligent with regard to my homework. I think some decades ago something similar was written in my school report. Pete is about to introduce the band, but then decides against it (“Nah, f*ck ‘em!”). With regard to Pete’s back catalogue, I’m on firmer ground with ‘Come Back (The Story Of The Reds)’ which is an homage to Pete’s beloved Liverpool FC. A surprise in the set is ‘Better Scream’, which was Wah! Heat’s first single in 1979.
Also notable is ‘The Day That Margaret Thatcher Died’. Wylie blames everything that has gone wrong in his life, and ours, since 1979 on Margaret Thatcher. It’s somewhat harsh, but he may have a point. Many of Wylie’s songs ooze classicism, as does this one. Unfortunately it’s classicism that appears to have been ‘borrowed’ from other sources. For example: the riff is from ‘Wild Thing’, whilst the chorus is heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones’ ‘Get Off Of My Cloud’. The lyrics are very witty however. ‘Free Falling’ is a love song, which is something that for some reason I was not expecting from Pete Wylie. The intro is reminiscent of ‘Hey Hey My My’ by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and the song in general has a definite ‘Neil feel’, which is certainly no bad thing. There’s some great dual lead guitar soloing between Pete and his guitarist Elliot.
The first bona fide hit of the set comes with ‘Sinful’, which features the whole band on harmonies. ‘Seven Minutes To Midnight’ is “a valentine for Palestine”. Inevitably the set closer is the classic ‘Story Of The Blues’. Unfortunately the synth is a bit low in the mix, but apart from that it’s a great version. Pete Wylie has a number of gigs scheduled between now and May. You could do a lot worse than see him play live.
SPIRITUALIZED (STUDIO 36 9:00pm – 11:00pm)
From previous experience I’ve learnt that Spiritualized can own any performance space, and so it transpires tonight. Kicking off with ‘Hey Jane’ from the ‘Sweet Heart Sweet Light’ album they nail their Velvet Underground influences firmly to the mast. Spiritualized are a nine piece outfit, and a band of that size needs a decent amount of rehearsal to play music that is relatively complex. However, whilst they are clearly very well rehearsed, they are not so over-rehearsed that there is no spark in the music. That spark is very definitely there! The drumming is awesome and the middle section of this song is utterly cataclysmic. Having seen Spiritualized on a number of occasions, it still seems strange to see Jason Pierce sitting down, and in an office chair too.
‘She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit)’ features a superb wah-wah solo. I’m not entirely sure that there’s another artist quite like Spiritualized. They seem to take everything up one level above everyone else. I feel like I’m hallucinating. As my friend Neil said, ‘Shine A Light’ from ‘Lazer Guided Melodies’ “out-Pink Floyd’s Pink Floyd”. Rarely has a truer word been said. I’m surprised by how many oldies have been played this early in the set. I’d understood that the band had been concentrating on the last two albums in recent shows. However, just as I was thinking that, the rest of the set (apart from the last song) is indeed from ‘And Nothing Hurt’ and ‘Everything Was Beautiful’ (incidentally, note to Jason: those two titles should have been released with ‘Everything Was Beautiful’ first – they would have looked far cooler listed in the discography the other way round!). I have no problem with this turn of events, as they are both fine albums.
‘A Perfect Miracle’ is gorgeously lilting, with wonderful keyboard arpeggios. For some reason they bring to mind a ship caught in a storm at sea. Despite Jason singing through a heavily distorted mic, ‘Always Together With You’ represents the pop end of the Spiritualized canon. It sounds as if it could have been recorded in the late 1960s and released on the Stax label. It’s easy to forget just what a good guitarist Jason Pierce is. His lead playing during ‘Let It Bleed (For Iggy)’ is viciously incisive.
This set has been utterly sublime. Spiritualized are not the most reliable of bands. Whilst they never play badly, sometimes the performance just somehow doesn’t ‘click’. Tonight it clicks, and then some. The band have been almost transcendental. Added to this the visuals throughout have been really quite mind-melting. Altogether, this has been a classic performance.
ARAB STRAP (CENTRE STAGE 11:30pm – 01:00am)
Both tonight and on Saturday night there is a band on after the headline act, and tonight it’s Arab Strap at the Centre Stage. I must confess that the prospect of seeing them does not entirely fill me with joy. They’re a good band who make very dour music, which is perfectly fine. However, the only time that I have seen them live was at the ‘End Of The Road Festival’ in 2021 when they played as an acoustic duo, and to be honest, were a bit dull. Thankfully tonight they’re playing with a full band, so my spirits lift as soon as they take the stage.
‘Allatonceness’ from their most recent album ‘I’m Totally Fine With It Don’t Give A F*ck Anymore’ is reassuringly dour. I (and I’m sure this applies to the rest of the audience) would be utterly horrified if there were waves of jollity coming from the stage. Vocalist Aidan Moffat comes across as Guy Garvey’s slightly derelict older Scottish cousin. Although Guy is probably a little more optimistic.
‘Sociometer Blues’ is apparently about “crippling f*cking FOMO” and contains the word “ideation”, which I didn’t actually know was a word before I heard the song. Come to think of it, I don’t think I knew that ‘Sociometer’ was a word either! Listen and learn with Arab Strap.
‘The Girls Of Summer’ (no, it’s definitely not that one) has a cool riff and a middle section that is a maelstrom of keyboard pedals and guitar feedback. This really could not be further away from when I saw them in 2021. It’s gloriously monstrous. Apparently ‘Summer Season’ is “a song about sh*gging”. Whilst ‘Compersion Pt.1’ is “another song about sh*gging”. ‘Infrared’ meanwhile is “a song about not sh*gging”. It’s actually about a bit more than that. It’s about meeting a former partner, being tempted to revisit former experiences, and walking away from that, and then wondering whether you regret that or not. It’s really sad and depressing, but that’s no surprise. The song’s ferocious instrumental coda however is indeed something to celebrate.
With ‘New Birds’ Arab Strap achieve something that I really didn’t think was possible – they make a samba sound miserable. Which is indeed a remarkable achievement. They continue with their series of ‘great song intros of our time’ by telling us that ‘Strawberry Moon’ is “a song about what a sh*t world it is to bring our children up in”. ‘Dreg Queen’ meanwhile “has many titles: F*ck The Tories, F*ck Racism, Refugees Welcome”. Throughout the set the music itself is really interesting: there’s a lot going on. Together with the band’s thought-provoking lyrics it’s enough to make me want to go out tomorrow and buy Arab Strap’s back catalogue in its entirety. However, listening to too much of this band’s music in one sitting could lead to wrists being slashed. Possibly mine. On the plus side the band return for an encore of ‘Soaps’, which is “an old sad song”. I suspect that whether old or new, all Arab Strap songs are sad. I bet that they’ll prove me wrong and release a violently happy Christmas song. Whatever they do, it won’t be less than interesting.
SATURDAY 4TH JANUARY 2025
SOAP BOX (CENTRE STAGE 12:00pm – 12:30pm)
Saturday at Rockaway starts for me with Soap Box, who are a shouty punk four piece from Glasgow. The lyrics are fairly unintelligible but the energy from the stage is contagious. ‘The Fear’ is about hangovers which is something that vocalist Tom Rowan sounds like he knows a lot about. Guitarist Angus Husbands briefly taps, which is both impressive and unexpected. Truth, were it needed, that the spirit of Eddie Van Halen is alive and well in Glasgow. For ‘Stiff Upper Lip’ vocalist Tom put on a pair of shades, which don’t really appear to serve any purpose. The set finishes with ‘Fascist Bob’, which sadly seems to be a particularly pertinent song for these times. This has been a fast and furious set with some cracking songs, during which the band in general, and drummer Jenna Nimmo in particular, have excelled themselves.
THE PILL (CENTRE STAGE 1:00pm – 1:30pm)
Next up are The Pill who are from the Isle Of Wight. They comprise Lily and Lottie on guitar and bass (it’s unclear which of them does what) together with Rufus on drums. They describe their music as “jank” which apparently means “of poor quality”. That’s a complete misnomer for a start as their music has plenty of quality. Opener ‘Scaffolding Man’ is propelled along by cool, groovy rock’n’roll riffs and was their first single. ‘Salt Father’ is “the opposite of a sugar daddy” which sounds quite nightmarish. Come to think of it, a sugar daddy also sounds quite nightmarish! ‘Problem’ is spoke-sung. The guitarist apparently feels as if she is “sweating out all of Christmas right now!!!” Oh dear…. ‘Laying In Bed’ is apparently “a really sad song”. Both girls sing, which is really effective. ‘Money Mullet’ is their next single, and is out on 17th January. It’s “a hate song against mullets”, which reminds me, I really must get a haircut.
‘16-60’ is about Club Penguin “and other kids’ games”. I have had to look up Club Penguin because I didn’t know what it was, but then, I am very old. ‘Woman Driver’ is the band’s current single, and like the rest of their songs, it’s witty and ironic without being sarcastic. ‘Bale Of Hay’ is about being blonde. I’d never even thought of comparing anyone with blonde hair to a bale of hay!!! The Pill play well, they’re witty, funny and exuberant onstage without letting any of that take away from their musical performance. In fact, it adds to it. They do have a couple of gigs coming up: on 30th January they play Newport Strings (on the Isle of Wight) and on 12th February they support Welly at Hoxton Colours in London. Go see ‘em!
CLT DRP (CENTRE STAGE 2:00pm – 2:30pm)
The Pill are followed in short order by CLT DRP. They hail from Canada, Greece and Southampton, but met at university in Brighton, where they are now based. They are purveyors of loud rock with an occasional side helping of rap. They are a three piece comprising vocals, guitar and drums. The bass parts are played on the guitar. The guitar goes through a lot of pedals giving the band a wide variety of sounds to play with. Whilst the songs are occasionally riff heavy the guitar is also responsible for some very unexpected and inventive sounds. Sometimes the playing is quite delicate. At other times you’d better pray that you’ve remembered your earplugs! The lyrics are interesting too. If you haven’t heard this band, then you really need to. As luck would have it they’re playing the ‘Chaos Theory Festival’ at Haggerston Signature Brew on 1st March.
EBBB (CENTRE STAGE 4:00pm – 4:30pm)
I saw Ebbb supporting Mary In The Junkyard back in March, and I was really impressed with them. They’re equally impressive today. They are a three piece electro band comprising Will Rowland on vocals, Lev Ceylan on synths, and Scott MacDonald on drums. Live, the band are far more powerful than one might expect. Will Rowland’s vocals range from being ethereal to being very powerful indeed. His voice is a most impressive instrument. Also the drums are enhanced by bass beats. The pulsating backdrops on the screens are quite hypnotic. This band definitely create a trance-like atmosphere. One song may be called ‘I Am Not Enough’. That’s the phrase repeating over the PA anyway. It gives the song a depressing feel, but it’s a good song anyway. For the last song the tempo increases throughout. As set endings go, this is pretty faultless. Live they’re a band whose music you can really get lost in. More please!!!
Whilst Mark Kelly heads off for a food break, Graeme Houston fills in for the next live performance…
ARXX (CENTRE STAGE 5:00pm – 5:30pm)
Brighton duo ARXX stock is on the rise at the moment and they crowned 2024 off with a magnificent sold-out homecoming gig at Concorde 2 in November.
Today’s venue somewhat dwarfs Concorde 2, an observation not lost on lead singer and guitarist Hanni who informs the large crowd that her mum has just taken an interest in darts and would be impressed with the size of the room as it’s the kind of space that she could imagine a darts tournament taking place in.
Large room or not, the banter between songs from both Hanni and drummer Clara wasn’t just highly amusing, but also gave the set a sweet intimate feel to it.
Their first gig of the year, funnily enough, went down an absolute storm with the crowd, the majority who would have been unfamiliar with their set.
Hanni even managed, with ease, to get the crowd to join in with a call-respond to the choruses of two of the six songs they played which might be easy to do at 10pm when everyone is bladdered, but less so at 5 pm I would have thought.
They could have easily played for an extra 30 minutes and the crowd would have been delighted.
If their stock keeps rising as it currently is and they continue to put on performances like this then Hanni’s request to the promoters to invite them back and put waterslides in their dressing room may very well come true.
LIME GARDEN (CENTRE STAGE 6:00pm – 6:45pm)
Today is the ninth time that I’ve seen Lime Garden, and I have to say that over the four years since I first saw them, they have been one of the most exhilarating and interesting live bands around. If there was any justice in life (which there very much isn’t) Lime Garden would be far better known by now.
Anyway, how were they at Rockaway? Naturally they were bloody excellent. They haven’t been sitting on their hands since I last saw them at Brighton Chalk last March, as today’s set includes two new songs, so the creative wheels very much continue to whirr.
‘Lifestyle’ seems to be about the lifestyle that they aspire to, whilst ‘Always Talking About You’ is a song that they’ve only tried a couple of times before. It certainly sounds fully formed though. Vocalist Chloe Howard is in good voice, although she has forgotten her guitar stand, resulting in her having to traipse to the back of the stage to collect her guitar prior to ‘Mother’. ‘Sick And Tired’ is referred to as being “nice and jolly”. There’s a maturity about Lime Garden’s performance that isn’t present with say, The Pill. I guess that’s a sign of experience. ‘Nepotism (Baby)’ is a lot more powerful in every sense than I remember it being.
Unsurprisingly this is the band’s first show of the year and they’ve seemingly effortlessly jumped right back into the groove. ‘Love Song’ is dedicated to “Buttons”, whoever that may be. It has a very cool synth outro. The set is supposed to end with ‘Clockwork’, but someone at a signing earlier requested ‘Surf And Turf’, which they add to the end of the set. I’m very grateful to whoever requested that, as it’s my favourite Lime Garden song. This has been a great set, and I’m not surprised, as they’ve never yet disappointed me. It appears that the band are already booked for three summer festivals. In the meantime, if anyone can give this band a marketing boost, that would be great. They have the wherewithal, they just need to reach more people.
RUTS DC (CENTRE STAGE 7:15pm – 8:15pm)
Lime Garden are followed by the utterly stupendous Ruts DC. I’m sure that everybody knows their story, but I’ll briefly recap. Ruts DC were what The Ruts became after the death of their singer Malcolm Owen in 1980. However they split up in 1983. Sadly their guitarist Paul Fox was diagnosed with lung cancer in July 2007 and The Ruts re-formed to play a benefit gig for him with Henry Rollins on vocals. Paul passed away in October 2007 at the age of 56. Ruts DC re-formed in 2008-2009 with Leigh Heggarty on guitar and have been entertaining the faithful ever since!
Tonight’s set is virtually a Ruts set with only four Ruts DC songs included. I like Ruts DC but I absolutely love The Ruts, so I’m extremely happy! It’s literally classic after classic. ‘S.U.S’ is introduced as being “a song about the police – only the bad ones though!!!” ‘West One (Shine On Me)’ is rather poignant as it was the last recording that The Ruts did with Malcolm Owen. Really though, any set that includes ‘Something That I Said’, ‘Jah War’, ‘Staring At The Rude Boys’, ‘In A Rut’ and ‘Babylon’s Burning’ is almost beyond criticism, and the versions played tonight have every ounce of the fire that the originals had back in the day. Which in itself is quite remarkable as this is very physical music. I don’t know exactly how old these guys are now, but they’re certainly nowhere near as young as they were when these songs were recorded. Ruts DC have no gigs planned at the moment, but when they do, I can’t recommend highly enough that you see them.
LEFTFIELD (STUDIO 36 9:00pm – 11:00pm)
Tonight’s headliner is Leftfield, who are playing the hanger-like Studio 36. This venue actually suits Leftfield very well, as their show is something of a visual spectacle and is best viewed from further back. To be honest, there’s not a great deal to watch onstage apart from one of the guys coming out from behind his keyboards occasionally to vocalise. The visuals are ace though. It reminds me of seeing Kraftwerk a couple of years ago. Although their visuals were in 3D, but that’s a very minor quibble. The songs do tend to run into each other, which gives the impression that the show is essentially one piece of music, albeit with occasional pauses. They start with ‘Phat Planet’ which I must confess I thought would be saved until later in the set. Notably, they do not regurgitate their records, as is evidenced by an interesting remix of ‘Release The Pressure’ from their first album. This is an awesome show. Not something that I personally would have gone to see before, but I would certainly consider it after seeing them here.
BODEGA (CENTRE STAGE 11:30pm – 12:45am)
I head back to the Centre Stage for tonight’s post-headline band, Bodega. Listening to Bodega is a little like inhaling an essence of New York. It’s as if they exude the spirit of the city. This is underlined by their opening Ramones cover ‘Rockaway Beach’, which is obviously an homage to this festival. They share the same punk pop smarts as The B52’s, mixed with ineffable New York cool. The band is full of character, and the members are also characters. At the beginning of ‘Warhol’ vocalist and percussionist Nikki Belfiglio is pretending to be on a phone call. Her acting is pretty good! I’d forgotten that drummer Adam Shumski plays standing up, and has no bass drum, like Mo Tucker from The Velvet Underground. Like her, he makes he makes a lot of use of his floor tom.
‘Cultural Consumer IV’ features a bit of a switch around of personnel. Nikki Belfiglio is on lead vocals, whilst vocalist and guitarist Ben Hozie is on syndrums. Meanwhile guitarist Dan Ryan is squeezing out an ace guitar solo. I simply don’t remember Dan being the exceptional guitarist that he so clearly is. There’s another cracker in ‘All Past Lovers’. Many of his solos are completely off the wall, but in a good way. They play a cover: ‘Cry When You’re Young’ by Milk Dick from their 2014 album ‘It Grows On You’. You really couldn’t make it up.
The last four songs in the set are all requests. Some are obvious: ‘Jack In Titanic’, but most of the others are less so. During the final song ‘Name Escape’, Nikki throws fake bank notes into the audience. Thus ends a rather fab Bodega set, and with it Saturday’s live music. Now we only have one day to go. This is my only real complaint about the ‘Rockaway Beach’ festival: it goes by way too quickly!
SUNDAY 5TH JANUARY 2025
BLOODWORM (CENTRE STAGE 1:00pm – 1:30pm)
Sunday begins well with the really rather good Bloodworm, who are a three piece from Nottingham. In former times they may well have been described as a power trio. However, their influences seem to be more gothic rather than, say, Cream or The Who. They comprise guitarist and vocalist George Curtis, drummer Euan Stevens and bassist Chris Walker, who has a very nice Danelectro bass, although I’m not in the least bit jealous.
Guitarist George varies his sound quite a bit. During ‘Alone In Your Garden’ his guitar goes through a phaser and he executes a particularly sweet solo. For ‘Bloodlust’ the guitar goes through a wah-wah pedal. Throughout the rhythm section they are absolutely rock solid, whilst continuing to vary their playing. During the intro to ‘The Crown’ George plays a bit of slide with a beer bottle. Whilst I’ve seen this done before, it doesn’t stop it being very cool. Final song ‘Cemetery Dance’ has a nice picked intro and is a bit quicker than the rest of the set. It very much has a Cult feel and is probably the best song that they do today, so keeping it for the end is a good move. Leave the audience wanting more: and I do believe that most of us do.
THE JONNY HALIFAX INVOCATION (CENTRE STAGE 2:00pm – 2:30pm)
Our next entertainment is The Jonny Halifax Invocation, who I must confess that I’ve never heard of. I’ve been told that they are “a Marmite band”, which I always find interesting. I’m always interested that there are artists whom it is believed that you will love or hate, with no options in between the two. Let’s face it, that’s never really the case is it? The band is fronted by Jonny Halifax. He fronts the band in as much as when there are vocals he provides them. Other than that he largely sits and plays a lap steel guitar, although he does occasionally jump out of his seat to play percussion. Jonny is accompanied by a keyboard player (who wears a cape, which I’m not entirely sure should be encouraged), a guitarist, a drummer and a saxophonist.
The first song that they play doesn’t really seem as it should be described as a song. It’s a lengthy instrumental (about ten to fifteen minutes in length, at least that’s how long it feels). I’m more comfortable describing this as a ‘piece’. For the first few minutes the piece sounds like an elongated musical groan, articulating grief, sorrow and pain of such magnitude that it could not possibly be expressed in words. It is absolutely engrossing. There is no chance that I can possibly look away. The piece seems to be formed of a continuous crescendo. The guitarist switches to some form of bagpipes. They look a bit like Northumbrian pipes but I don’t think that they are. The drums have become much louder than previously, and continue to increase in volume. The guitarist is throwing percussion instruments into the crowd (he tells us that we can keep them as souvenirs). The keyboard player takes centre stage shaking maracas. The screens behind the band show a procession of explosions. Jonny goes into overdrive on the lap steel. All in all it looks, sounds and feels like the perfect accompaniment to a particularly horrific acid trip. It’s not over yet. Jonny leaps up to also shake maracas and what looks suspiciously like a bag of onions. The piece reaches its ultimate climax of a crescendo and the band briefly stop, whilst the audience applaud and look at each other as if to say “what the hell was that?!!!”
The band return to their seats and to more conventional territory. Well, sort of. Jonny sings what sounds like it could be a Captain Beefheart song. His vocals are pretty distorted. He deigns to tell us the title of the next song: ‘Dead Swamp Hula’. On this Jonny plays harmonica. Doggone he plays a mean harp!!! Guess what? He plays maracas too! The final song sounds like Captain Beefheart accompanied by Hawkwind. Yep – it’s that good / out there! The song ends with the guitarist at the front of the stage, violently abusing his instrument, and obtaining the feedback that was doubtless intended. The Jonny Halifax Invocation are probably the most interesting and unpredictable band of the weekend. They play Walthamstow Trade Hall on 1st February. The tickets are ludicrously cheap! I shall be there.
THE DIRT (CENTRE STAGE 3:00pm – 3:30pm)
Who or what can follow The Jonny Halifax Invocation? Well cometh the hour, cometh the band, and that band are The Dirt. They are a two piece comprising guitarist Sachiko and her partner Jack (aka Leon The Pig Farmer) on vocals and programmed drums. The intro to their performance includes an homage to ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ by Gil Scott Heron, so I’m already convinced that these two are going to be something special. Their set is dedicated to Jim Widdop from The Telephones, who passed away before Christmas.
The Dirt’s material is very political and left-leaning which I very much approve of. On ‘Bed Of Nails’ Jack repeats the line “I will never be sold!” Damn right. Sachiko gets a wild spectrum of sound out of her guitar. Sometimes she only plays her pedals, but there’s plenty of lead and rhythm guitar as well. ‘Power Junkie’ is Jack’s gift to Boris Johnson: “what a vile man!” Well, quite! For the final song ‘Crying Out Loud’ Jack is in the photo pit and then the audience, communing with his people. The Dirt’s set has been way too short. They have a lot going on both lyrically and musically. Thus far The Dirt have one gig booked, at the Peer Hat in Manchester (they’re Manchester based). I’m hoping that they’ll get some gigs dahn sahf. They’d be perfect for The Prince Albert in Brighton.
THE ITCH (CENTRE STAGE 4:00pm – 4:45pm)
Next up are The Itch, who are from Luton (well, we all have our problems). They comprise Georgia Hardy on drums and backing vocals, and Simon Tyrie on vocals and occasional keyboards. Tonight they are joined by a live guitarist and keyboard player. They also have a bassist but he’s on holiday. They’re primarily an electro band with live drums. Second song ‘The Influencer’ sounds oddly like a Franz Ferdinand cover, probably because it contains a line which sounds like the title of Franz Ferdinand’s 2013 album ‘Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action’. They do seem to be a little derivative. ‘Ursula’ for example contains the line “love will only tear us apart again”. Hmmmm. On the plus side the guitar comes very much to the fore on this song, which somehow gives it more of a ‘live’ feel. Simon Tyrie plays some very impressive bass during ‘Planned Obsolescence’. There’s a lot of promise shown here, but there’s also some work to be done. Trying to be more original would be good, and I’m sure that’s well within their capabilities.
MIKI BERENYI TRIO (STUDIO 36 6:00pm – 6:45pm)
I head across to the cavernous Studio 36 for The Miki Berenyi Trio. I’m really looking forward to this as I haven’t seen Miki since I saw Lush at Glastonbury in 1990. The Miki Berenyi Trio have been operational for a couple of years and comprise Miki on guitar and vocals, Kevin ‘Moose’ McKillop on guitar and Oliver Cherer on bass. There is no drummer, the drums being on the backing track. All of the songs in the set sound a lot like Lush, although there is a mix of Miki Berenyi Trio songs, Piroshka songs and indeed, Lush songs.
Miki is in great voice and is playing what appears to be a 12 string Stratocaster. Apparently she is going to “get absolutely shitfaced afterwards”. That’s as maybe, but she shows no signs of nerves onstage. Not quite sure how but Miki pulls a muscle in her thigh! Well, none of us are getting any younger. The set ends with Lush’s probable most famous moment: ‘Ladykillers’. For some time apparently Miki wouldn’t play this as it was “too obvious”. Well, it’s a great song – so let’s hear it! It’s a cracking set by the way, in case you were wondering.
Whilst Mark Kelly heads off for a food break, Graeme Houston fills in for the next live performance…
SPRINTS (STUDIO 36 7:15pm – 8:30pm)
“Keep the best till last” they say. Well, not tonight they didn’t. The penultimate act of the evening and the entire weekend, Dublin quartet SPRINTS, stole the show.
Anyone who caught their headline gig for the ‘Mutations Festival’ at Chalk a few months back were very lucky indeed, as I fear especially after performances like tonight’s, that they are destined for much greater things and larger venues from now on.
This evening, not only did they treat us to all the bangers from last year’s top 20 ‘Letter To Self’ album, but we were also privileged to hear two new tracks that they have written for their upcoming sophomore LP.
The new songs were in my opinion even better than current crowd favourites ‘Heavy’, ‘Little Fix’ and ‘Adore Adore Adore’…and that was on first listen!!
And talking of the crowd, this was the only gig out of the eighteen that I attended that had a full-on mosh pit, a circle, the works; with Karla joining in with the mayhem after her customary crowd surf at the end of their blistering set.
There’s a lot of brilliant music coming out of Ireland at the moment and with performances such as tonight’s it won’t be long before Fontaines D.C. are looking over their shoulder, as 2025 could see SPRINTS chasing them down to be crowned the best band from the Emerald Isle.
RIDE (STUDIO 36 9:15pm – 10:45pm)
It falls to headliners Ride to present the last live music of the festival. I first saw Ride in 1991 and it seems strange to see them now as four older guys. It also seems strange that this year it will be eleven years since they re-formed, and that during that time they’ve brought out three more albums! Tempus fugit indeed! When they take the stage Mark Gardener issues “a disclaimer”. He has a chest cold and will have to “lean on” his good friend Andy Bell who will have to take on some of the lead vocals. This is something that he does indeed do with considerable aplomb.
From opening song ‘Monaco’ from last year’s ‘Interplay’ album Andy Bell’s guitar is absolutely mercurial. This is a key thing about them, they sound every bit as good as they did thirty-five or so years ago, and the newer material is every bit as good as their material was way back when. ‘Portland Rocks’ is also from the same album as ‘Monaco’. Mark plays lead on the intro. He has his setlist propped up on his pedal board. Well, being a “shoe-gazer” he’s certainly going to see it there isn’t he? ‘Last Frontier’ is also from ‘Interplay’ and features Mark Gardener on second bass. He plays around the root notes whilst bassist Steve Queralt plays the more interesting bass part. You don’t see many bands with two bassists. Ned’s Atomic Dustbin springs to mind, but I can’t think of any others off the top of my head. Andy Bell takes lead vocals on this one.
For ‘Lannoy Point’ from ‘Weather Diaries’ Mark is back on guitar. Andy Bell peels off an excellent solo and Loz Colbert’s drumming is ace as well. Mark is coughing between songs but manfully continues singing, very well as it happens. I bet he didn’t have much voice left after the gig though. Service in the name of the band above and beyond the call of duty! The main set ends with ‘Seagull’ from the band’s debut album ‘Nowhere’, which features a coruscating guitar intro from Andy Bell. Ride actually seem to get better with age, although for a moment there they did all seem to be 25 again! The set ends a little earlier than I was expecting, although they come back for encores pretty quickly. First up is ‘Light In A Quiet Room’ which is yet another ‘Interplay’ song and is instrumentally awesome!!! ‘Leave Them All Behind’ is obviously a highlight, and ‘Chelsea Girl’ from the band’s first EP is totally unexpected.
This has been a storming set, but a key thing to note here is how many of tonight’s highlights came from Ride’s most recent album ‘Interplay’. If anyone had any doubts about the band’s current relevance and vitality, those doubts should have been utterly crushed by tonight’s set. Nostalgia? Who needs it!!!
Next year’s ‘Rockaway Beach’ will be taking place from 2nd to 5th January 2026 and tickets are now on sale. Find yours HERE.
