Wychwood Music Festival 2008

This was the fourth annual Wychwood Festival, and perhaps the most rewardingly diverse one yet. For the uninitiated it is situated on the Cheltenham racecourse site, under the gaze of the large buildings that comprise the upper and lower spectator stands, partly on grass, partly on concrete and all overlooked by some beautiful rolling hills that i presume are the Cheviots (didnt they do a peel session in 94?!).It is a relatively compact multi event cornucopia of delights, with not only music, but poetry, theatre, numerous workshops, healing fields and even a lending library! Yet again the weather gods smiled favourably upon us and it remained a rain free festival.

Our weekend went something like this... On arrival we found that our 2 man tent was about as much use as a prime minister in a credit crunch, so in the car, down to Tescoes, 276 mph, new tent (20 quid!...bargain!)....rushed back, put that up, armed ourselves with Fosters lager, John Smiths beer and a sneaky bottle of bacardi and set forth.

First of many highlights was the set by surrealist rock n roll superstar, Robyn Hitchcock and the psychedelic trams, no Peter Buck in tow this year but original soft boy guitarist Kimberley Rew doing the lead guitar honors. 'Ole tarantula' and old favourites, 'Brendas iron sledge' and 'Kingdom of love' went down a treat. I was particularly impressed with Robyns purple trousers, nice.

Lots more comedy this year, the improv all stars, Josie Lawrence, the incomparable Steve Frost and Steve Sheen recreated the 'who's line is it anyway' format with lots of audience participation and swearing..... much mirth was had by all. Friday afternoon we saw Air Cav, who despite a clumsy name were really excellent, fusing elements of U2, Arcade Fire and, anyone remember Curved Air from the seventies??...to create an anthemic, and rousing glorious noise. Only caught a bit of Dreadzone, sounded fantastic, but i needed a chicken curry (priorities). Friday's comedic highlight was a small geordie bloke called Dave Johns, absolutely hysterical, like Peter Kay, but filthier and from a different part of the country!

On to sunday and in spite of being fed a helping of seaweed for breakfast (apparently it's a delicacy in Wales.......i'll stick to corn flakes thank you)...i managed to survive long enough to experience more great new stuff on the wickwar stage, namely the Nearly Men, who did a mighty cover of 'there is a light' by The Smiths. Then The Loungs, why the o??...no idea, but despite their grammar they were top banana, infectious psych at its best and there were outbreaks of sporadic fairy dancing at the front, which is always a good thing.

Heavy Load comprise 5 lads, 3 of which have special needs, you would not believe the energy and fun levels for this set ...incredible...they do a song called 'Is Bruce Forsyth dead?' and a cover of Kylies 'cant get you out of my head'.....chaotic punk rock mayhem in a tent, what more do you need??!.

A more sedate musical feast unfolded on the mainstage with the arrival of Piney Gir, a small lady form kansas with a big frilly dress and a whole bag of country and western songs... simply irresistable. Duffy was obviously a big draw and despite my reservations she can't half bang out a tune, that voice is incredible, when she did 'Rockferry' i nearly cried. Oh, and she's only three inches high...not many people know that.

I was in such a good mood i almost enjoyed the Proclaimers, 'i would walk 500 miles' etc etc etc. The Divine Comedy headlined and Neil Hanlon, the Charles Hawtry of rock n roll had the crowd eating out of his very posh hands. But my moment of revelation lay in a small tent a few feet away. I wandered into a set by the unlikely named Silver Camper Van... it was beautiful.....all gorgeous vocals and intelligent lyrics married to some lovely tunes, really refreshing... i almost dropped my Fosters. Apparently there is an album ...it's now at the top of my albums i must own list.

At midnight, Jeff Green did his bit, very funny, but alot of his material was familiar......in my note book for saturday are the words ...barnaby, 8 years old doing an acoustic version of purple haze, more cryptic are the words, pirates, big sette, walnut cake and Welsh bastards!.....well it had been a long day!

Sunday unbelievably, still no rain!....more brilliant and diverse music. First up, at dinner time were The Young Republic from the u. s. of a. playing dark Americana with a hint of vengence. They did a killer version of Dylan's 'Isis' which seemed to win everybody over. Now then, over on the wickwar stage again, yet another revelatory moment and vying for the best band i saw all weekend were We See Lights, hailing from Scotland and posessing genuinely passionate voices and stunning harmonies these guys and one gal are the electric folk future (trust me on this!)....apparently they had just won a spot at the Isle of Wight festival in a battle of the bands scenerio, you can see why they won ....fantastic, check em out, they will make your life better.

Getting tired now, Kate Rusby was enchanting but boring ( i was in a minority)...caught 3 daft monkeys doing their usual enegetic eco friendly folk punk se , with some virtuoso fiddle playing from Athene Roberts. Later we were in the pressence of folk royalty as the imagined village took to the stage, Eliza Carthy, her dad Martin, Chris Wood, Sheila chandra and aided and abbetted by Billy Bragg, they delivered a superb performance and their versions of 'Scarborough fair' and 'John Barleycorn' were rivetting.

Honourable mentions must go to Dreadzone, Kissmet, The Blockheads, Swimming With The Fishes, Way Out West and John Hegley.What a weekend! ...and don't take my word for it, try it for yourself next year, coz if you fancy a bloody good time in a family friendly enviroment with lots of like minded people, ignore the over priced fiasco that is Glastonbury and get yourself down to Cheltenham in 2009.

Written by: John Haylock