Guilfest
Posted by: seagull on 07 July 2003
An interesting line up spread over the week-end with Alice Cooper, Madness and Atomic Kitten being the headliners on the three nights, other highlights being Love on Friday and Jemini (yes them) on Sunday.
I went on the Saturday as Seagull Junior wanted to see The Undertones and Madness. I was quite keen as well, a bit of nostalgia as its about 20 years since I'd seen either of these bands (and the Stranglers who were also on).
We arrived and had a mooch around. It had the atmosphere of a family picnic in the park (well, this is gentile Guildford we are talking about). We found the BEER TENT and sussed out the layout then settled down to watch Hip Slinky who were playing on the Uncut stage (apparently the lead singer/guitarist is allegedly the offspring of Leo Sayer). They were surprisingly good, purchased a 5 song CD from them (later signed when Seagull jr caught him outside the VIP area).
We wandered back to the main area, via some food stalls, and more BEER (sadly only keg Courage
) and waited for The Undertones. I was a bit apprehensive because they were playing sans Fergal but the first few bars of Jimmy Jimmy soon put my fears to rest as the singer did a very fine Fergal-like vocal. They rushed through their set in the time honoured way, songs lasting two and a half minutes and much humour injected through out. Hmm forty something teenagers but they still cut the mustard, the playing was extremely tight and the set was well structured with new songs as well as the old finishing with My Perfect Cousin which had the whole crowd singing along.
Aqualung followed. I knew nothing about them beyond the VW Beetle advert. A complete contrast to the 'Tones, slow melancholy songs with big build ups. I found them a little one paced and thought that the sound engineer should be shot as the mix was terrible (too much Balrog bass) and lacking the subtlety that the songs probably deserve. I felt that I should like them (I'm a sucker for sad music) but I somehow failed to be moved
We wandered off again while Skin was playing. She sounded ok but not to my taste.
Then came The Stranglers, Guildford bad-boys made good. They took a while to get going and minus Hugh Cornwell did lack some bite. The played Peaches and things really picked up. Again the mix was lacking the keyboards were far too far back and were drowned out by bass and guitar, Golden Brown sounded terrible but they finished on a high with No More Heroes.
As dusk fell the atmosphere grew. It was a toss up between seeing Madness on the main stage or Richard Thompson on the Uncut stage. The opening bars of One Step Beyond settled that one! They ran through the hits with all the energy of their youth. All the crowd were up and dancing and singing along with their favourites. With their back catalogue it was no crime for them to play their greatest hits, which in their case were geniune hits. They stormed through them all with gusto and the grins on everybody's faces grew as the set progressed. They finished with Night Boat to Cairo.
These were interspersed with trips to the comedy tent and mooching round the site. All in all we had an excellent day, even the weather was kind, cloudy but dry. Not exactly Glastonbury but all the better for it I think. This was my first visit to Guilfest and my son's first proper gig. I shall definitely be looking out for next year's line up. Seagull jr was pleased to have seen two of his favourite bands in one day and he even bumped into one of his teachers so some gentle ribbing to be had there.
I went on the Saturday as Seagull Junior wanted to see The Undertones and Madness. I was quite keen as well, a bit of nostalgia as its about 20 years since I'd seen either of these bands (and the Stranglers who were also on).
We arrived and had a mooch around. It had the atmosphere of a family picnic in the park (well, this is gentile Guildford we are talking about). We found the BEER TENT and sussed out the layout then settled down to watch Hip Slinky who were playing on the Uncut stage (apparently the lead singer/guitarist is allegedly the offspring of Leo Sayer). They were surprisingly good, purchased a 5 song CD from them (later signed when Seagull jr caught him outside the VIP area).
We wandered back to the main area, via some food stalls, and more BEER (sadly only keg Courage
) and waited for The Undertones. I was a bit apprehensive because they were playing sans Fergal but the first few bars of Jimmy Jimmy soon put my fears to rest as the singer did a very fine Fergal-like vocal. They rushed through their set in the time honoured way, songs lasting two and a half minutes and much humour injected through out. Hmm forty something teenagers but they still cut the mustard, the playing was extremely tight and the set was well structured with new songs as well as the old finishing with My Perfect Cousin which had the whole crowd singing along.Aqualung followed. I knew nothing about them beyond the VW Beetle advert. A complete contrast to the 'Tones, slow melancholy songs with big build ups. I found them a little one paced and thought that the sound engineer should be shot as the mix was terrible (too much Balrog bass) and lacking the subtlety that the songs probably deserve. I felt that I should like them (I'm a sucker for sad music) but I somehow failed to be moved
We wandered off again while Skin was playing. She sounded ok but not to my taste.
Then came The Stranglers, Guildford bad-boys made good. They took a while to get going and minus Hugh Cornwell did lack some bite. The played Peaches and things really picked up. Again the mix was lacking the keyboards were far too far back and were drowned out by bass and guitar, Golden Brown sounded terrible but they finished on a high with No More Heroes.
As dusk fell the atmosphere grew. It was a toss up between seeing Madness on the main stage or Richard Thompson on the Uncut stage. The opening bars of One Step Beyond settled that one! They ran through the hits with all the energy of their youth. All the crowd were up and dancing and singing along with their favourites. With their back catalogue it was no crime for them to play their greatest hits, which in their case were geniune hits. They stormed through them all with gusto and the grins on everybody's faces grew as the set progressed. They finished with Night Boat to Cairo.
These were interspersed with trips to the comedy tent and mooching round the site. All in all we had an excellent day, even the weather was kind, cloudy but dry. Not exactly Glastonbury but all the better for it I think. This was my first visit to Guilfest and my son's first proper gig. I shall definitely be looking out for next year's line up. Seagull jr was pleased to have seen two of his favourite bands in one day and he even bumped into one of his teachers so some gentle ribbing to be had there.