A Beautiful Day Out with Seth
Levellers, Seth Lakeman and Pals (12th July 2008 - Arley Hall)
So Saturday was a good one for the most part and here is a bit of waffle about it all.
Arley Nearly There Yet?
The original idea for this day was to Sammo for a day out. We'd bought him the day-glo ear defenders that he had for the Rock Radio launch and we were looking forward to taking him as he likes a bit of Seth and loves banjos, which feature in many of the Cornish man's set. But then a week or so ago, the gig was extended from a three-band evening show to a full-day event, so Mummy got the jitters and we were convinced that the day would be too long and that we'd have stress. So off the boy went to Grandma's for the night.
We had a day's worth of food packed-up in the car as well as some camping chairs and all that, as the day was advertised as a "Picnic Concert", so it all sounded very civilised. The venue was Arley Hall, which is situated nearly Northwich, so the drive was pretty easy apart from the last bit where the signposts disappeared and we needed to break open the A-to-Z to get us the last three miles down the winding country lanes to the place. We were a bit worried as there weren't many other cars on the road and we thought that the thing may have been called off. But it was OK as we drive in and went to the car park past the big camp of caravans and the like. We parked up and made the 30 second journey from the car to the gates. We were greeted by the friendly gate staff, who didn't do the usual Nazi Gate Staff thing and just ushered us into the arena, offering us bin bags for our litter (and probably for us to stick over our head in the event of rain!)
The arena, as it were was situated in front of the house on a slight slope which ensured a good view for everyone. It looked as though the place was set up for a good-sized crowd and I think that there was eventually about 4500-5000 people there, although I'm probably wrong on that. The facilities were all there that you'd need and the fact that you didn't pay for parking and that you could take in all your food and booze made the whole thing a whole lot sweeter. The weather was cloudy, threatening rain, but it never came, bu the wind was tending to blow the stage sound around a bit during the day.
When we got in the place and got settled, we realised that we should have brought the boy and immediately regretted bottling-out in bringing him. There were loads of little kids running around, playing and blowing bubbles and all that stuff. He would have loved it. From this point on, we really regretted our decision. I nearly went home to get him, it was that close. Sorry son, next time we'll take you...
There was the obligatory visit to the merch stand, but I walked away. They were only selling Levellers stuff at the time and I didn't want to get the T-Shirt and I had all the CDs bar one, which I could get cheaper again as it was a later album that I can probably live without! I would have bought some Seth stuff for me and the missus, but there wasn't any there.
The whole thing seemed very civilised with the usual stands selling beer and cheesy chips. It must be said that the cheesy chip man seemed to be in a foul mood most of the time. When I visited him, he was swearing up a storm at his cooker good style. I also worried about the apple sauce that I put on our pork and stuffing baguettes as it'd been standing open for quite a while... But then again, we didn't end the night by crapping ourselves, so it must have been safe enough. There was some posh wine stall, which seemed a bit midle-class for this event full of old hippies and crusties. Maybe they were a leftover from the Jools Holland gig the previous night? Still, I think they did a brisk trade.
3 Daft Monkeys
As the whole thing kicked-off at 1pm and we got there at about 1.45pm, we managed to miss Nick Harper, which was a shame, as I wanted to check his act out. But we did get to see 3 Daft Monkeys who played a good folk set. They played various instruments during the set and the main singer guy loved to stamp on his little bass drum, which reverberated around the field nicely. They were an entertaining bunch with a good touch in stage banter, apart from a possible freak dig at Whitesnake videos, but they were forgiven as the music was pretty good. Not good enough for me to rush to buy CDs, but entertaining. They got the crowd into it and there were a lot more 3 Daft Monkey T-Shirts in the audience after their set than before.
Chumbawumba
Before I start, I'll tell you that I sat down with little knowledge about this band apart from the hit single and the controversy of them and a bucket of water at the Brit Awards in the 90s. I was ready to listen and enjoy, if possible, as they milled around setting up their gear (no roadies for this lot either) and then disappeared off-stage to be properly introduced. But I knew it was going to be rough when after the MCa introduction, they wandered on and told everyone hello and how they were "Chumbawumba and not (insert mispronounciation here) like the MC just called us". It wasn't said with any touch of humour, but as serious as a heart attack. Riiiiiight. Cue song one. And off they went.
I should cut to the chase here, as any more description of their set will just sound like a complete slag off. But screw it, let's elaborate as I've been waiting a day to write this and I want to enjoy it.
Put it this way, a Van Halen gig this was not. Party time was over for an hour. The joy was about to be killed. Every song was some wining diatribe against something. Nothing or no one was spared. We all know that domestic violence, homophobia and facism are bad things (mmm,kay?) and no one in that field looked as though they were gay-bashing, wife-beating neo-nazis (they were all aging hippes for the most part) so they were kind of preaching to the converted. Then they started on rich footballers, the government and miserable rock stars. They even finished the set by having a go at the audience with a song with lyrics along the lines of "you came here to watch our show and the miserable bastards won't even play the one song we know". Quite.
The audience for the most part seemed to ignore them as they continued apart from some woman who seemd to take pleasure in walking round the audience singing along. Well, she sung one work in three in every song and seemed to just move her mouth around for the rest. The crwod at the front for 3 Daft Monkeys all went off to take a shit or grab a butty or something. Jeez, having your teeth drilled was almost as an appealing activity as sitting listening to Chumbawumba. They blather on about miserable rock stars, but I've never seen such a f*cking miserable and unlikable act play on stage. It just made me think that they should piss off home and just forget the band. They've been around forever and it makes me wonder who the hell actually would pay to see that shit a show. I wish that they had never been added to the bill as it was a complete downer to be subjected to them. They were the worst kind of self-righteous kill-joys I've ever seen.
Everytime a song ended we heard a very non-comittal "ta" from someone on stage before one of them started on some dribbling mither. It was like listening to the worst moaning wanker student you could imagine. I wasn't expecting "HEY ARLEY HALL, YOU CRAZY F*CKERS! LET'S ROCK... 'ERE'S A SONG FORRRR YA!" But something at least a little bit upbeat would have lifted the mood a little. I mean, Tori Amos aings about some pretty miserable and heavy subjects, but at least she has some sort of delivery and performance skills to take the audience on some sort of journey and make the show a show and leave you elated. Not this lot, they just stomped it all into the ground.
Going to a festival or a gig or whatever is about ENTERTAINMENT. You are there to ENTERTAIN and not preach at us. The sound of the music was OK and the harmonies were great, but the attitude of the band and the projection form stage was just so negative. I mean, thank f*ck that the sun came out on them as if it'd started raining, the field would have cleared, even with the band on. Oh man, it was just shit. SHIT. I texted Marky-Boy a few times to tell him so. I just wanted the thing to end so they could get the hell off the stage as it was them standing in the way of us and The Lakeman.
I could have been quicker about this, but they were actually the worst band I've seen live. Ever.
Nathan and Quinn
After the Chumbawumba debacle was over and they left the stage, a couple of mics were left on the stage and two blokes wandered on with guitars. At this point, the PA was still playing the Van Morrison CD that they had on repeat (all bloody day) and there was activity around them as the roadies cleared some other gear off stage. I went past the sound desk to ask who the blokes were and even the sound guy wasn't really that sure!
After about 5 minutes of stage business around these fellas, the MC wandered on and announced the gents. He didn't check to see that the mic was on and all we heard was more Van Mo. The blokes stood around gently strumming, waiting for the PA to come on for a further minute until we were treated to them strumming. A cheer greeted the first song as people settled to watch and listen.
It was a short but sweet set with some excellent guitar playing. They only played for about 20 minutes, but they made the most of the time infront of a very receptive audience. Thankfully, the audience (good-naturedly) reminded them that no one heard the band name, so they repeated it for us and left the stage. It was a good idea to fill the stage time like this and they were a refreshing act after the total arse of the band before them. I would have bought a CD off them, but I was trying to be a good boy and not buy anything!
Sir Seth of Lakeman
...And then it was time. It was a similar stage set-up to the last Manchester gig with a proper drum kit and the like. This was the first time that any roadies were really properly doing the "gig routine" of plonking on all the gear and "two-ing" into the mic. The volume went up slightly here although the sound did remain pretty clear throughout. Nathan and Quinn, who had a little crowd by them at he sound desk after their set, looked a bit gutted at the fact that everyone left them in a hurry as Lakeman and band wandered on and took their positions. Seth said hello and announced that "this is a Cornish drinking song" before launching into "How Much", which kicked off a set that featured of new songs in it, including the one I was waiting for; "Solomon Browne", so that was good.
I was down at the front, taking a few photos, for the first song or two and the atmosphere was good and the crowd seemed to be there as much for him as for The Levellers. As I wandered back, the atmosphere was holding up and people seemed to be enjoying the set. Seth himself looked like he was having fun, but didn't talk too much during the set, well not as much as at previous shows. Sean seemed a little furrowed-of-brow, but he always seems a little serious on-stage.
At some points, the set seemed a little hurried, espeically on some of the older numbers. "Lady of the Sea" seemed to be faster than I've heard it played live before for example. Then again, some of the newer songs did threaten to drag a little, especially on "Greed and Gold". Maybe this is all because the band are playing-in an album of new material into the set. Stuff like "White Hare" were missed, but it didn't ruin the set by any stretch. I'm still not convinced about having a proper drumkit up there really, but the new songs do seem to use kit instead of "box" a lot more. Still, it sounded all fine, apart from on "Lady of the Sea" (again!) where the fiddle was really quite piercing from the PA and the lack of backing vocals to add some harmony to the songs.
I may sound a bit grumbly on this, but the set was good and he played well and it was a good show. It was better than the last Manchester gig and it was good to hear some new stuff played from the new record. I think that some of the old stuff did need resting for a while. The "Hoe-downs" were good and he obviously rattled through the set so fast that he was able to tag on an encore to the show, which was good.
Seth's Setlist
- How Much
- The Storm
- The Hurlers
- King and Country
- Blood Red Sky
- Solomon Browne
- Riflemen of War
- Lady of the Sea
- Greed and Gold
- Cherry Red Girl
- I'll Haunt You
- Take No Rogues
- Colliers
- Blood Upon Copper
- Poor Man's Heaven
- Kitty Jay
- Ye Mariners All
- Race to be King
Dreadzone
We had to wait a while whilst the crew faffed about with some comupters for the next set and there wasn't someone to come on and play whilst we watied, so we hung out and relaxed for a bit. The MC came on and didn't wait for the PA to shut off beofre he spoke, so he told himself that this was Dreadzone. A lot of people were pretty keen on this lot and as they started with their pounding beat, a LOT of people got to their feet and started dancing. Their music wasn't my kind of thing (dance-dub-reggae kind of thing), but they certainly did know how to work a crowd and they were interesting to watch for a while, although I had had enough by the time they left the stage an hour later. We had been sat around for a while and got a bit cold, which was incredible since it was mid-July, but the band managed to warm-up the crowd as the sun started to set over the field.
I think that the favourite bit of the band for me was the lead singer bloke who, for whatever reason, took the stage on crutches and basically worked the stage like Bez-on-Crutches, complete with baggy dancing. Excellent.
Levellers
We had to wait quite a while for the headliners to come on. They brought a shed-load of gear on and spent time hanging their own backdrop and insisted on checking every piece of gear twice, at least. So we had lots of time to get sorted and to watch the sky go dark. By this point, the threatening black clouds had cleared for the most part and the fear of rain was no more. People moved more to the front to wait for the Levs. There were by this point, a lot of new T-shirts in the audience, so they must have raked it in on merch sales on this day!
So, on they came and launched into it at about 9pm. They played for about 80-90 minutes as far as I can tell and I get the impressions that they trimmed the set a bit. The set was OK, but they did seem to keep away from the songs I wanted to hear, which was a shame. But then again, they've got twenty years worth of material to play, so there you go. I'm not sure what they've been palying lately as I've not kept up-to-date with Levellers news over the last few years after the last time I saw them, which was very disappointing and the last CD, which was only OK. But they played good and worked the crowd well. The lack of didgeridoo was a bit odd, especially on songs where it used to be so prominent, like on "One Way". Then again, this crowd was a partisan one which have probably seen them play thousands of times. Even the little kids seemed to be wearing old Levellers T-Shirts... I myself, couldn't find my old hoodie from 1998, so I couldn't be in with the in-crowd!
It all seemed to be business as usual for The Levellers and everyone was up and dancing, even me. Then again, it helped to do that to fend off the cold night air. At this point, the band could do this stuff in their sleep and the whole event seemed like a meeting of old pals, so it was a good atmosphere all round and a fun show to attend. There were some seriously pissed people there by that point, but their activities were more in the dancing-and-falling vein rather than d'yer-wanna-fight vein, which was good.
They finished up at about 10.45pm-ish and treated the crowd to a firework display which had us ooo-ing and ahhh-ing at all the right places and that was that. We were ushered out and bid "Goodbye" by the still incredibly friendly gate staff and returned to the car, which was literally within spitting distance and in a well-lit car park. It was nice to be able to just amble back to the car with no stress. Grand!
I Can Arley See The End of the Queue
We sat in the car for 45 minutes and drank a cup of tea and finished off some of the picnic food that was left over from the day. We watched the cars not move in the queue to leave the car park and listened to some cheese rock on the radio to stand-up for Da Rokkkk since some of the too-kool-for-rock-skool people were putting it all down. A quick blast of Malmsteen's "Heaven Tonight" brought it all back to real life. It was good to chill out for a little while and then we left. We ended up following the espresso coffee man out of the maze-like back roads from Arley Hall back to the A556 and then it was fifteen to twenty minutes to home, which we got back to just about midnight.
All in all it was a good day, but we missed Sammo a lot and really wished that we'd have taken the chance in bringing him along for the day. We kind of thought that we were damned if we brought him (tiredness, paddies, etc.) and damned if we didn't (guilt etc.). But there you go, you live and learn.
It was just refreshing to go to an outdoor gig and be able to pay once for the thing. There was no parking charge and you could bring all your own stuff for the day, so you needn't buy food or beer. We spent fifteen quid the whole day, mainly spending on the pork baguettes which we fancied at tea time. Usually, we'd get through the better part of a hundred quid, but we spent next to nowt. Great stuff. If only all gigs were that way these days. The admission was about £30 each and for that you got seven bands and a relaxed atmosphere and you could bring your own stuff... perfect and good value (apart from Chumb... you know :) ).
It'd be nice to go again if such a thing came up, but it'd be good to know that some of the bands would be better. We'll see if it crops up next year and get back to you!
A Beautiful Day Out
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