THE LIBERTINES + THE CHARLATANS + THE MARY WALLOPERS + THE BIG MOON + THE FUTUREHEADS + CHAPPAQUA WRESTLING – BRIGHTON BEACH 28.7.24
The highly successful ‘On The Beach Festival’ 2024 was brought to a close on Brighton Beach on Sunday 28th July and featured a half dozen rockin’ acts that were lapping up the summer heat. Top of the bill were The Libertines who release their highly anticipated new album ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ on 29th March, which followed on from their previous three studio albums: ‘Up The Bracket’ (2002); ‘The Libertines’ (2004); and ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ (2015). The Libertines have so far lifted five singles from ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’: ‘Run, Run, Run’, ‘Night Of The Hunter’, ‘Shiver’, ‘Oh Shit’, and ‘Merry Old England’. ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ was produced by Grammy-nominated producer Dimitri Tikovoï (The Horrors/Charli XCX/Becky Hill) and recorded at The Albion Rooms in Margate. Recorded in just four weeks during February and March 2023 and finished over seven days at La Ferme de Gestein Studios in Normandy, with additional production and mixed by Dan Grech-Marguerat (Lana Del Rey/Liam Gallagher/Paul McCartney).
Joining The Libertines on the Brighton Beach bill were The Charlatans, The Mary Wallopers, The Big Moon, The Futureheads and Chappaqua Wrestling.
All the ‘On The Beach’ events this year have taken place on the circa 7ft 6” high specially built stage, which is rather expansive, so even those at the very back can see very well. There are also two giant screens either side of the stage, and an electronic screen to the rear of the stage. Half way back in amongst the crowd is another screen. The soundsystem is ideal for the event and its clarity can’t be argued with. The volume is a decent level too, especially the bass notes. The weather is scorching hot and the marshalls are kept busy by dishing out the much needed water to the punters near and at the front. We are thankfully positioned right on the crowd barrier and that’s where we stay for the whole of the nine hours and forty-five minutes of the event, without thankfully the need to go elsewhere!
Here is our account of the event, but in reverse order……
THE LIBERTINES – BRIGHTON BEACH 28.7.24 (9:00pm – 10:30pm) (More photos HERE)
As you would expect, we are packed in like sardines for the headlining 92 minute set from The Libertines, which ran from 9pm to 10:32pm. The sun has finally disappeared and we head into the darkness, which will make the lights more prominent and add to the atmosphere of the event. The wind gets up a little too. The band stroll on stage as the popular British music hall song ‘I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside’ blasts out across the beach. This tune was penned way back in 1907 by John H. Glover-Kind (1880 – 1918) and was made famous by music hall singer Mark Sheridan (1864 – 1918), who first recorded it in 1909.
Carl Barât sporting a leather jacket and a top hat, (which is immediately traded in for a cap), takes his position centre stage and it’s here that I recall that I saw his sister Lucie perform live in Brighton at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar (RIP) as support to Brix & The Extricated on 2nd November 2017. Carl straps on his Gibson guitar and starts delivering the vocals for opener ‘Run, Run, Run’ from their 2024 ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ album and the fans arms are held aloft. To Carl’s right (our left) is the one and only Pete Doherty who is sporting a geezer overcoat and I think is in charge of an Epiphone guitar. He too shares vocal duties throughout the set and at one stage pulls out a harmonica from his pocket. Stage left (our right) the also cap wearing John Hassall is meanwhile putting his Fender Precision bass through its paces and at times offers up backing vocals. To the rear of the stage as you would expect is drummer Gary Powell. Others take to the stage, but more on those shortly.
Doherty takes the vocal lead for their second number, ‘The Delaney’ from their 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ EP, after which we are served another indie rock tune in the form of the easy singalong ‘What Became Of The Likely Lads’, which is found on their ‘The Libertines’ album from 2004. After this, Doherty takes off his overcoat to reveal a suit minus the shirt of course and dons a hat. They launch into ‘Boys In The Band’ from 2002’s ‘Up The Bracket’ album, which has the memorable lines: “You walk in like you’ve never seen the light; You walk in like it every night”. After this the lads perform the second selection from their new 2024 platter, ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’, this being ‘Night Of The Hunter’. However, before they start, Barât introduces the new fifth member of the band, this actually being tour manager Andy Newlove who will assist them on guitar for this tune. ‘What Katie Did’ with its shoop shoop melody was the quartet’s next offering, this is from their self-titled 2004 album.
Gary Powell was given centre stage next as he admirably performed a drum solo which went down an absolute storm with the crowd. The band then immediately launched into ‘The Good Old Days’ which to me sounds not too dissimilar to Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and thus a set highlight for me. It’s from their 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ album and begins with the lines “If Queen Boadicea is long dead and gone; Still then the spirit in her children’s children’s children, it lives on” and I note that Barât has the “Libertine” word tattooed on his right arm as he takes his jacket off. Doherty takes lead vocals for the rockin’ album title track of ‘Up The Bracket’ with the standout line of “Hello, but you’re impossible”.
A heartwarming moment happened next when Doherty escorted Gladys on stage. Gladys being his sizeable brown female dog, who wagged her tail as she slowly wandered around the stage and then came to the edge and peered down and thought better of the drop. Then she wandered back off stage and then made a swift return. The punters loved this encounter. I noted that Doherty was wearing a neck chain with a dog face on it. Meanwhile Barât had discarded his guitar in favour of a seat behind the piano and they set about performing newbie ‘Shiver’. The tempo then speeded up with the rockabilly sounding ‘Vertigo’ from 2002 which sounded decent. Andy Newlove then returned to the stage and played guitar whilst Barât went back on the piano again and they delivered another newbie in the form of ‘Merry Old England’. ‘Death On The Stairs’ from 2002 was their next choice with the standout lines “It’s sweet and it’s nothing, no; It’s just like nothing at all” and to me sounding a bit like The Jam’s ‘Town Called Malice’. Gladys strolled back on stage during this track for another waggy-tail wander. 2004’s ‘Music When The Lights Go Out’ was the following delivery, with the memorable line “Oh, won’t you please forgive me?”. Meanwhile Gladys has another look off the edge of the stage but thankfully doesn’t jump.
‘Horrorshow’ from 2002 was the lads next selection and this reminded me of a mixture between the work of The White Stripes and Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust For Life’ and was another set highlight for me. After this we had their first selection from 2015’s ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ album, this being ‘Heart Of The Matter’ and after this the decent bass riff kicked off 2004’s ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’, which is an earworm tune if I ever heard one and was for me their best track of the night. It’s here that Doherty pulls a mouth organ (harmonica) out of his top pocket and plays a few notes. After which he noticed a guy in the crowd sporting a QPR Guinness football shirt and then literally threw the harmonica in the guy’s direction as a souvenir. I’ve no idea whether it arrived at its destination or not.
The second of the cuts from 2015’s ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ was up next, this being ‘You’re My Waterloo’ which namechecks Judy Garland and Tony Hancock and sees Barât back on keys and he informs us that they “haven’t played this song in quite a while”. It’s, for them, a quieter number and totally reminded me of the work of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, in particular ‘Sebastian’, and thus was another set highlight for me. ‘What A Waster’ which is found on the 2003 reissue of 2002’s ‘Up The Bracket’ album was the lads’ next choice, and this starts with “What a waster, what a f*cking waster; You pissed it all up the wall; Round the corner where they chased her”. There was now a slight deviation from The Libertines proposed set as it listed ‘Gunga Din’ / ‘Last Post On The Bugle’, but I think they only played the former tune and I definitely remember Doherty singing “Getting sick and tired of feeling sick and tired again” which is from ‘Gunga Din’. The next track ended with the line “Yeah, I cherish you, my love”, which is from 2002’s ‘Time For Heroes’, and so obviously time was of essence and so the newbie ‘Songs They Never Play On The Radio’ had been ditched.
It was at this point that The Libertines were due to leave the stage only to return and play their 2023 ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ single, but instead they stayed put and invited Tim Burgess (of The Charlatans) to join them as guest vocalist. Tim, sporting a bright red army tunic with his mobile in hand, made the best that he could of the situation and grabbed quite a bit of footage. I suspect that the words to ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ were also on his phone screen. Once completed, the quintet linked up and took their bows near the front of the stage and Gary Powell relinquished his drumsticks by throwing them into the crowd and at 10:32pm that was our lot. And as The Libertines have said on their social media “thank you for your love and support Brighton that was pretty special x”.
The Libertines:
Carl Barât – guitar, vocals
Pete Doherty – guitar, vocals, harmonica
John Hassall – bass, backing vocals
Gary Powell – drums
Andy Newlove – guitar
Tim Burgess – guest vocalist
Gladys – mascot
The Libertines setlist:
‘Run, Run, Run’ (from 2024 ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ album)
‘The Delaney’ (from 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ EP)
‘What Became Of The Likely Lads’ (from 2004 ‘The Libertines’ album)
‘Boys In The Band’ (from 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ album)
‘Night Of The Hunter’ (from 2024 ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ album)
‘What Katie Did’ (from 2004 ‘The Libertines’ album)
‘The Good Old Days’ (from 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ album)
‘Up The Bracket’ (from 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ album)
‘Shiver’ (from 2024 ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ album)
‘Vertigo’ (from 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ album)
‘Merry Old England’ (from 2024 ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ album)
‘Death On The Stairs’ (from 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ album)
‘Music When The Lights Go Out’ (from 2004 ‘The Libertines’ album)
‘Horrorshow’ (from 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ album)
‘Heart Of The Matter’ (‘from 2015 ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ album)
‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ (from 2004 ‘The Libertines’ album)
‘You’re My Waterloo’ (‘from 2015 ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ album)
‘What A Waster’ (from 2003 reissue of 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ album)
‘Gunga Din’ (‘from 2015 ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ album)
‘Time For Heroes’ (from 2002 ‘Up The Bracket’ album)
‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ (with Tim Burgess) (a 2003 single)
THE CHARLATANS – BRIGHTON BEACH 28.7.24 (7:15pm – 8:15pm) (More photos HERE)
Our paths last crossed with The Charlatans on the Common Stage at ‘Victorious Festival’ in Southsea on 25th August last year when they played a nine song set. Thankfully this evening we get thirteen of them during their 63 minute performance which ran from 7:14pm to 8:17pm. Their previous headlining Sussex concert was at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea on 29th November 2019 where we experienced a 21 song set, which was more like it. The Charlatans and indeed frontman Tim Burgess sometimes throw up a few surprises by performing intimate concerts, of which today is not one of them. We were however fortunate to catch the band live at their previous Brighton gig which took place at The Haunt (now Chalk) on 19th May 2017 as part of ‘The Great Escape’ festival. That night it was an intimate affair and they played 17 tunes for us and the venue was rammed full an hour before the band took to the stage. Tim Burgess often operates as a solo artist as well with his own separate material and his last Brighton gig was at the Komedia on 7th June 2022 where we had 15 tunes. But the most intimate encounter by far was on 10th May 2019, when Tim played an eight song twenty minute live set at the Shipwright’s Yard which is located a stones throw from Brighton Beach and it was just like Tim playing a gig inches away from me in my garage! Clearly The Charlatans and Tim have nothing to prove and they simply play because they enjoy it.
The Charlatans were formed in Birmingham back in 1988 by bassist Martin Blunt, who recruited fellow West Midlanders Rob Collins RIP (keyboards), Jon Brookes RIP (drums), Jon Day (Jonathan Baker) (guitar) and singer-guitarist Baz Ketley. Ketley left the band and was replaced in 1989 by singer Tim Burgess, who had supported the Charlatans with his previous band, the Electric Crayons. Mark Collins came along in 1991 and today is on Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar and possibly pedal steel guitar. Tony Rogers joined in 1997 and today is in charge of M-Audio keyboards, another keyboard, organ and backing vocals. The Hammond organ being a trademark sound of the band. The lineup is today cemented with the use of drums and percussion courtesy of Peter Salisbury.
The Charlatans were famously absorbed into the ‘Madchester’ scene of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s despite hailing from Birmingham. They were certainly on an even par with the other players on the scene which included the likes of The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, James and 808 State. To date The Charlatans have dropped 13 albums, three of which (‘Some Friendly’ 1990, ‘The Charlatans’ 1995 and ‘Tellin’ Stories’ 1997) made it to the No.1 UK Album spot. Their last studio album was ‘Different Days’ and that got to No.4 in 2017.
This evening The Charlatans took to the stage after the Radio X playlist had got the music fans in the right mood. The beach site was relatively full from the onset and as often Burgess took to the stage and captured the atmosphere on his mobile phone. The rear screen behind the band was awash with swirling psychedelic water bubble styles from the very off. They opened with the organ heavy sound of ‘Then’ which is from their debut ‘Some Friendly’ album from 1990, which was followed by ‘Can’t Get Out Of Bed’ which to me had an Oasis style vocal delivery and is located on their ‘Up To Our Hips’ long-player from 1994. After this Burgess addresses the crowd and says “Thanks a lot, it’s good to be back!” and the twanging continued as they launched into 2015’s ‘So Oh’ from their ‘Modern Nature’ album. Burgess is ever the showman and often came to the very edge of the circa 7ft 6” stage and waved his outstretched arms in an upwards motion, as if to get the crowd even more involved, he notably did this during ‘Toothache’ which is found on their self-titled No.1 album from 1995. The popular ‘North Country Boy’ from their 1997 ‘Tellin’ Stories’ album followed.
Things became all the more absorbing as 1995’s ‘Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over’ was performed for us and the screen at the rear of the stage split in two and concurrently showed two different backing films of the band in their early days. During this number an amazing thing happened! In the photographers’ pit there are two cameramen either side of the stage standing on smallish tables and they are there for the live music feeds which are shown on the rear of the screen, the two screens either side of the stage, and the additional extra screen half way back in the crowd. The one by me on our left (stage right) suddenly had a rare visitor arrive, as a large dragonfly landed on one of the camera wires. The cameraman immediately noticed it, but chose to leave it be, and there it stayed during The Charlatans set for the next five tracks! I got out my phone and took some video of ‘my beautiful friend’ and afterwards compared it with all the British dragonflies and it appears to have been a very rare visitor called a Norfolk Hawker which is otherwise known as the Green-eyed Hawker. This is a recent vagrant to Sussex with just one record up to 2020. There was a small arrival in 2021 with potential colonisation along the Chichester Canal. Coincidentally the next song The Charlatans played was ‘My Beautiful Friend’, which was the sole tune culled from their 1999 ‘Us And Us Only’ album.
The lads next selection was 1997’s ‘One To Another’ from their ‘Tellin’ Stories’ album, which was a particularly funky number and one that went down rather well with the punters. Burgess then said “the next one is for all you weirdos” and the fuzzy keys kicked in and their classic ‘Weirdo’ from 1992’s ‘Between 10th and 11th’ album was unleashed. After ‘Blackened Blue Eyes’ from 2006’s ‘Simpatico’ album, Burgess dedicated the next song to Chris York who was the widely respected live music executive and director of prominent UK-based concert promoter SJM Concerts, who sadly had just passed away at the age of 55, following a long illness. The song in question being for me The Charlatans best number, 1990’s ‘The Only One I Know’ from their ‘Some Friendly’ album, which the crowd merrily bounced along to. Immediately after this the dragonfly flew away. Burgess then stated “This is for all the girls in the audience” and the chugging beats of‘ You’re So Pretty – We’re So Pretty’ from 2001’s ‘Wonderland’ album was given an airing. After this Burgess then introduced each of his bandmates and they signed off with ‘Sproston Green’ from 1990’s ‘Some Friendly’ album, which witnessed the fans shunting forward in numbers as they screamed away during the track. Clearly it was their fave tune of the set and at 8:17pm that was our lot. It had been an enjoyable experience.
The Charlatans:
Tim Burgess – lead vocals, harmonica, percussion
Martin Blunt – bass
Mark Collins – guitar, pedal steel guitar
Tony Rogers – keyboards, backing vocals
Peter Salisbury – drums, percussion
The Charlatans setlist:
‘Then’ (from 1990 ‘Some Friendly’ album)
‘Can’t Get Out Of Bed’ (from 1994 ‘Up To Our Hips’ album)
‘So Oh’ (from 2015 ‘Modern Nature’ album)
‘Toothache’ (from 1995 ‘The Charlatans’ album)
‘North Country Boy’ (from 1997 ‘Tellin’ Stories’ album)
‘Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over’ (from 1995 ‘The Charlatans’ album)
‘My Beautiful Friend’ (from 1999 ‘Us And Us Only’ album)
‘One To Another’ (from 1997 ‘Tellin’ Stories’ album)
‘Weirdo’ (from 1992 ‘Between 10th and 11th’ album)
‘Blackened Blue Eyes’ (from 2006 ‘Simpatico’ album)
‘The Only One I Know’ (from 1990 ‘Some Friendly’ album)
‘You’re So Pretty – We’re So Pretty’ (from 2001 ‘Wonderland’ album)
‘Sproston Green’ (from 1990 ‘Some Friendly’ album)
THE MARY WALLOPERS – BRIGHTON BEACH 28.7.24 (6:00pm – 6:45pm) (More photos HERE)
We have reviewed Irish folk music group The Mary Wallopers before as part of ‘End Of The Road’ festival, which was held at Larmer Tree Gardens, Wiltshire on 1st September 2023, but this teatime it’s my own debut meeting with the outfit that have been in existence since 2019. They are based in Dundalk, County Louth and originally consisted of brothers Charles Hendy (acoustic guitar, Bodhrán Irish drum, vocals) and Andrew Hendy (Dave Boyle banjo, vocals), and mustachioed Sean McKenna (acoustic guitar, vocals). Three years later they expanded to include Róisín “Mary” Barrett (bass), Finnian O’Connor (tin whistle, uilleann pipes aka union pipes, backing vocals), Brendan McInerney (who had previously been replaced by Ken Mooney of The Urges) on drums, and briefly Seamus Hyland on accordion. There’s the inevitable comparison with The Pogues, The Dubliners, and even Lankum. The band are fairly raucous, but are slightly more traditional sounding than The Pogues were. They’re more political than the Pogues were as well, and also are not afraid to look at life’s dark underbelly. They have thus far dropped a couple of long-players, these being ‘The Mary Wallopers’ in 2022 and ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ in 2023.
We are this evening in the company of the sextet for 41 minutes from 6pm until 6:41pm and during that time, I reckon we are given something like a dozen tunes, however yesterday at ‘Latitude’ festival, the fans were presented with 16 tunes. It should be noted that I am unable to totally confirm exactly what they performed today on account of not all the tunes being introduced and some possibly appearing as medleys, plus there’s the fact that my brain was numbed by them! I must convey that for me personally they were a stressful watch and I really couldn’t stand them one bit! In fact, I hated them! However, having just told you that, the beach site was now looking like it should do with less and less spaces in between folk. There was certainly notably more interest in the crowd from the very first notes of The Mary Wallopers performance, and I swear the sound engineer has turned the volume up, which is a clever trick, but not too clever if you are leaning on the crowd barrier like yours truly.
They begin with a Gaelic tune about “the Queen of England”, which I believe was their rendition of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem’s ‘Bold O’Donahue’, which The Mary Wallopers recorded on the last album. The giveaway line being “I hear the Queen of England has a daughter fine and grand”. This arguably received the loudest applause of the day so far. Tune two we were informed was about “a wee fella”, which I had an inkling referred to men’s private parts, and could have been their take on the traditional ‘Love Will Never Conquer Me’ ditty, which has the opening line “Once I courted a pretty fair maid”. Tune three we were informed was about “fleas” and so this would have been their take on the traditional tune known as ‘Rothesay-O’, which has a pirate vibe and carries the lines “Oh there were several different types of pest; A few of them jumped inside me vest; They grabbed on me hairs and they made their nest”. The crowd around me loved this number and they were jigging around as if they had fleas.
We were informed by Charles that the next track is “about rich people being c*nts” and he sang this with just his Bodhrán (Irish drum) and band members’ vocals as accompaniment. The title of the tune was ‘Rich Man And The Poor Man’ and is found on their 2023 ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album. At ‘Latitude’ they played ‘Turfman From Ardee’, but they might have skipped it and gone straight on to “a cover of an anti war song, written by Matt McGinn”, this would therefore be ‘Lots Of Little Soldiers’ which they recorded on their debut album. Inevitably Charles bellowed “free Palestine” and they had that country’s flag up on stage with them. We are then informed that the next song is about “the Catholic Church, the most evil gang in the world!”. This therefore had to be ‘Gates Of Heaven’ from ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album, which is a no holds barred attack and highlight of the wrongdoings of the clergy. The lyrics are certainly hard hitting and I believe Sean was on vocal duties for this one. After this, Charles took the mickey out of those watching for free on the boats moored just offshore as well as those also watching for free from the promenade.
We are now told that their next tune is “a sort of love song” and this jogged along and it occurred to me that Americans would absolutely love The Mary Wallopers. I’m guessing this number was their take on ‘Banks Of The Roses’. At ‘Latitude’ they played ‘The Bonnie Ship The Diamond’, but I’m not so sure they did for us, but except went straight to ‘The Holy Ground’ (from their latest album) which we are informed is about “fishing, drinking and having sex!” and this reminded me of the Benny Hill series speedy theme tune. Charles now informs us that the next song is “about anyone who’s been to Ireland and scammed by kissing ‘The Blarney Stone’”, hence this is ‘The Blarney Stone’, where I noted that one of Charles’ acoustic guitar strings was flapping away from the instrument. I also saw The Libertines Pete Doherty arrive at the stage wing in front of me. He seemed to enjoy what his ears heard and had a little bop.
Lead vocals now again switched across to Sean for the next number, which could have been ‘Rakes Of Poverty’ and after which Irish composer Percy French was given a namecheck, which would indicate the next song was ‘Eileen Óg’ and this was sung by Andrew. It was now the final song time and it started with the banjo, then bagpipes and then the guitars kicked in for another jog style number and at 6:41pm they were done. There were many cries of “one more song” (which fell on deaf ears) and it’s fair to say that they went down an absolute storm, but they are really, really, really not for me!
The Mary Wallopers:
Charles Hendy – guitar, Bodhrán, vocals
Andrew Hendy – banjo, vocals
Sean McKenna – guitar, vocals
Róisín “Mary” Barrett – bass
Ken Mooney – drums
Finnian O’Connor – tin whistle, uilleann pipes (union pipes), backing vocals
The Mary Wallopers setlist: (Latitude setlist from 27.7.24)
‘Bold O’Donahue’ (from 2023 ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album) (The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem cover)
‘Love Will Never Conquer Me’ (from 2022 ‘The Mary Wallopers’ album) ([traditional] cover)
‘Rothesay-O’ (from 2023 ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album) ([traditional] cover)
‘Rich Man And The Poor Man’ (from 2023 ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album)
‘Turfman From Ardee’ (from 2023 ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album) ([traditional] cover)
‘Lots Of Little Soldiers’ (from 2022 ‘The Mary Wallopers’ album) (Matt McGinn cover)
‘Gates Of Heaven’ (from 2023 ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album)
‘Banks Of The Roses’ ([traditional] cover)
‘The Bonnie Ship The Diamond’ ([traditional] cover)
‘The Holy Ground’ (from 2023 ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album) ([traditional] cover)
‘The Blarney Stone’ (from 2023 ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album) ([traditional] cover)
‘Rakes Of Poverty’ (from 2023 ‘Irish Rock N Roll’ album) ([traditional] cover)
‘Eileen Óg’ (from 2022 ‘The Mary Wallopers’ album) ([traditional] cover)
‘Cod Liver Oil & The Orange Juice’ (from 2022 ‘The Mary Wallopers’ album) (Hamish Imlach cover)
‘Frost Is All Over’ ([traditional] cover)
‘All For Me Grog’ (from 2022 ‘The Mary Wallopers’ album) ([traditional] cover)
THE BIG MOON – BRIGHTON BEACH 28.7.24 (4:45pm – 5:30pm) (More photos HERE)
The Big Moon are certainly no strangers to us as we have reviewed them on a number of previous occasions including their headline set at the Concorde 2 on 20th September 2022, and around a year ago, (22nd July 2023), at ‘Latitude’ festival in Suffolk. The Big Moon formed in London back in 2014 and still consists of Juliette “Jules” Jackson (vocals and Gibson Les Paul guitar), Soph Nathan (G&L Tribute Asat Classic guitar and vocals), Celia Archer (Fender Precision bass, Roland keyboard and vocals) and Fern Ford (drums, drumpads and backing vocals). Thus far they have released a trio of long players, 2017’s ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’, 2020’s ‘Walking Like We Do’ and 2022’s ‘Here Is Everything’, and each time their albums gain a higher chart placing, 66, 19, 9.
This afternoon we were served ten tracks across a 44 minute set, which ran from 4:46pm until 5:30pm. Thankfully the beach had noticeably filled up somewhat for the start of their set, as they came on stage to an intro tape and set off with ‘Wide Eyes’, the first of three selections from their latest ‘Here Is Everything’ platter. The tune is a slow starter which builds with a duo of shared vocals and moving onto a trio of them. The slow pace continued with ‘Take A Piece’ which was the first of three songs found on their 2020 ‘Walking Like We Do’ album. The slow pace still continued for the start of ‘Don’t Think’, from the same album. It shouldn’t have and it sounded awful. The girls were forced to stop and try again, and immediately the keyboard beat was noticeably quicker. The harmonies were fairly decent on this track. After this, Jules informs us that she’s had Covid this week, but I guess you wouldn’t have noticed unless she said.
The first of three numbers from their 2017 ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’ album was their next selection, this being ‘Silent Movie Susie’ which has that very late 1960’s hippy vibe going on, but with more twang. It’s ideal for Radio 2 and like all their set it’s very safe. Sticking with the same long-player, they next performed ‘Sucker’ and after which we had the chugging but floaty ‘2 Lines’ from 2022’s ‘Here Is Everything’ album, with the standout repeated lyrics “Nothing’s changed; But nothing feels the same”. We are then informed that they are going to play “an oldie”, this being the retro vibes of ‘Cupid’ from the debut album, with its repeated opening lines “I’m gonna get this perfectly right”. ‘Trouble’ from 2022’s ‘Here Is Everything’ long-player offered more of the same. For me personally, up until this point in their set, The Big Moon hadn’t really been of interest to me, they hadn’t been at ‘Latitude’ either, but I was willing to give them one more go!
Things now vastly improved for me on account of them playing a cover, one in which I wouldn’t have ever expected them to come up with, and yet this by far was their best number of the set. This was their take on Fatboy Slim’s ‘Praise You’, a song which holds special memories for me on the account of it being at No.1 in the UK Singles Chart the week my eldest was born! I had the feeling that the girls were playing this for the first time as they were in Brighton, I could be wrong, but I hope not. Their rendition chugged along nicely and benefitted from some decent deep bass notes. Suffice to say it went down an absolute storm with the crowd. They signed off with ‘Your Light’ which is found on 2020’s ‘Walking Like We Do’ album. This began with the keys and went along with a bouncy bass beat. If only all of their tunes sounded just like these last two! It was now 5:30pm and time for the quartet to vacate the stage. The Big Moon head back out on tour in October as support artists on the Glass Animals tour, with the nearest date being in London on 7th November – Details HERE.
The Big Moon:
Juliette “Jules” Jackson – lead vocals, guitar
Soph Nathan – guitar, vocals
Celia Archer – bass guitar, vocals
Fern Ford – drums, backing vocals
The Big Moon setlist:
‘Wide Eyes’ (from 2022 ‘Here Is Everything’ album)
‘Take A Piece’ (from 2020 ‘Walking Like We Do’ album)
‘Don’t Think’ (from 2020 ‘Walking Like We Do’ album) (inc false start)
‘Silent Movie Susie’ (from 2017 ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’ album)
‘Sucker’ (from 2017 ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’ album)
‘2 Lines’ (from 2022 ‘Here Is Everything’ album)
‘Cupid’ (from 2017 ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’ album)
‘Trouble’ (from 2022 ‘Here Is Everything’ album)
‘Praise You’ (Fatboy Slim cover)
‘Your Light’ (from 2020 ‘Walking Like We Do’ album)
THE FUTUREHEADS – BRIGHTON BEACH 28.7.24 (3:50pm – 4:20pm) (More photos HERE)
The Futureheads original line-up met at City of Sunderland College and got it together in 2000. The band released five albums with varying degrees of success before calling it a day in 2013, these were ‘The Futureheads’ (2004), ‘News And Tributes’ (2006), ‘This Is Not The World’ (2008), ‘The Chaos’ (2010) and ‘Rant’ (2012). But by 2019, the band were back at it and dropped ‘Powers’ (2019), sadly to my knowledge there have been no further releases since then.
The Futureheads consist of Ross Millard (vocals and Fender Telecaster guitar), David “Jaff” Craig (vocals and Fender Precision bass) and brothers Barry Hyde (vocals and Gordon Smith guitar) and Dave Hyde (drums). Their name comes from the title of The Flaming Lips album ‘Hit To Death In The Future Head’. The Futureheads influences include new wave and post-punk bands such as Gang of Four, Devo, XTC, Wire and Fugazi.
The last time we reviewed The Futureheads was back on 7th January 2023, where they were rockin’ the Reds Stage at ‘Rockaway Beach’ at Butlin’s Bognor Regis. Back then, they stated that they had driven the 300-mile journey through a typhoon and had a bad case of lost voice! This time around it’s a very slow van, but they still got here six hours early. They kick off a minute early at 3:49pm with ‘The Beginning Of The Twist’, which can be found on 2008’s ‘This Is Not The World’ album. It’s an exciting rocker that’s designed to get those punters that have made the effort to check out the earlier bands
in the right frame of mind. We are given eight numbers which last for 31 minutes, concluding at their allotted 4:20pm.
The first of three selections from their self-titled debut album is track two, this being ‘Decent Days And Nights’ which to me has a vibe similar to that of Scottish outfit Big Country. ‘Meantime’ from 2012’s ‘Rant’ album is up next and is kicked off by a bass solo from “Jaff”, and then his bandmates join along for this bouncing number. They then select a couple from their last album, ‘Powers’ from 2019, the first of which being the guitar frenzied and urgent drumming of ‘Jekyll’ which for me was their standout tune thus far. After that we had ‘Good Night Out’ which saw lead vocals duty swap from Barry to Ross. This track reminded me a little of The Jam. The powerful ‘Heartbeat Song’ from ‘Rant’ was The Futureheads next choice, which saw Barry on vocals again, and delivered the most memorable line “But I still want to sing with you”.
It was back to 204 for their two closing numbers. The first of these, set highlight ‘Carnival Kids’, which reminded me somewhat of The Undertones. It began with a frantic guitar riff and Ross was back on lead vocals, with the standout line being “You’re old enough to know better (ooh ooh ooh)”. The quartet signed off with their take on Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds Of Love’, which is found on their first album. The lads were eager to get some crowd participation going, and so “Urr oh ho ho” was sung and at 4:20pm they were done and no doubt (not) looking forward to the long slow haul back home! It had been a really solid set.
The lads are heading back south on Sunday 25th August, where they will be performing live at ‘Victorious’ festival on Southsea seafront near Portsmouth. Further information on the lineup and tickets can be found HERE.
The Futureheads:
Barry Hyde – vocals, guitar
Ross Millard – vocals, guitar
David “Jaff” Craig – vocals, bass guitar
Dave Hyde – drums, backing vocals
The Futureheads setlist:
‘The Beginning Of The Twist’ (from 2008 ‘This Is Not The World’ album)
‘Decent Days And Nights’ (from 2004 ‘The Futureheads’ album)
‘Meantime’ (from 2012 ‘Rant’ album)
‘Jekyll’ (from 2019 ‘Powers’ album)
‘Good Night Out’ (from 2019 ‘Powers’ album)
‘Heartbeat Song’ (from 2012 ‘Rant’ album)
‘Carnival Kids’ (from 2004 ‘The Futureheads’ album)
‘Hounds Of Love’ (from 2004 ‘The Futureheads’ album) (Kate Bush cover)
CHAPPAQUA WRESTLING – BRIGHTON BEACH 28.7.24 (2:45pm – 3:15pm) (More photos HERE)
Kicking off the final ‘On The Beach’ day after the Radio X playlist are the unusually named Chappaqua Wrestling, who formed in Manchester back in 2017 and is the brainchild of now Brighton based Jake Mac and Charlie Woods. They played their first headline show at the wonderful (then titled) Rialto Theatre (which is now Alphabet) in Brighton at the beginning of 2019. We first caught them live and direct at the ‘Hidden Herd’ alldayer event at Patterns on 13th July, the same year and they were then accompanied on by Jude Lilley and Josh Cassidy-Stone, and after that the outfit went on to perform at Latitude in Suffolk. Wind the clock forward to 2nd December 2022 and we again caught up with Chappaqua Wrestling, but this time they were supporting Blossoms at Brighton Dome, and the then lineup featured Jude Lilley, John-Paul Townsend and Coco Varda.
This afternoon the lineup consists of Charlie Woods (vocals, Fender guitar), Jake Mac (vocals, left-handed Fender Stratocaster guitar), Tom Forbes (Fender bass, backing vocals), John-Paul Townsend (drums), and Coco Varda (Roland Juno-Di keys, Novation keys, vocals, percussion, tambourine), and they kicked off bang on their allotted time of 2:45pm. Unfortunately the beach is rather sparse at this stage in proceedings, but the quintet aren’t put off by this, and offload eight numbers during their 32 minute set, which concluded at 3:17pm.
Their opening number was a new unreleased tune called ‘HEATH+’ and it certainly rocks along nicely. Throughout the performances there is a melodic polished twangy guitar sound accompanied by a slight electronic feel to it. Half of their set is culled from their only album to date, last year’s ‘Plus Ultra’, the first of these being ‘Kulture’, which isn’t as fast as the opener and is less immediate. Selection three is ‘Wayfinding’ (also on the album) and this benefits from a trio of vocals on the chorus and a false ending and is the choice of the trio of tracks thus far.
They inform us that they are “gonna play some new ones”, the first of these being ‘Catherine Wheels’, which seriously kicks in from the off and sounds immense on the vast stage, and is even better than ‘Wayfinding’. The second newbie was ‘Forgive And Regret’ and this is another solid rock tune. We are then informed about their album that dropped last year and they perform ‘Full Round Table’ from it. This begins with what seems the deepest bass note possible and is followed by fourway shared vocals. The penultimate selection is their 2020 single, which is titled ‘The Rift’, and sees Coco kicking the tune off via the keys. There’s another keyboard intro on their final number, ‘Wide Asleep’, which can be found on their album. This has a melodic keyboard tone and a quiet start, before the others show us what they’ve got in the lockers. Chappaqua Wrestling were a more than worthy selection for today’s opening act, as cemented by the big applause from those that were present. Let’s hope that they announce a series of live concerts pretty soon!
Chappaqua Wrestling:
Charlie Woods – vocals, guitar
Jake Mac – vocals, guitar
Tom Forbes – bass, backing vocals
John-Paul Townsend – drums
Coco Varda – keys, vocals, percussion, tambourine
Chappaqua Wrestling setlist:
‘HEALTH+’ (unreleased)
‘Kulture’ (from 2023 ‘Plus Ultra’ album)
‘Wayfinding’ (from 2023 ‘Plus Ultra’ album)
‘Catherine Wheels’ (unreleased)
‘Forgive And Regret’ (unreleased)
‘Full Round Table’ (from 2023 ‘Plus Ultra’ album)
‘The Rift’ (a 2020 single)
‘Wide Asleep’ (from 2023 ‘Plus Ultra’ album)
