Greetings, Fellow Hippie...
Chagstock first met us with brilliant stewards, some of the most amazing people as neighbours and a somewhat stressed out backstage team running about like headless chickens after three hours of saying, “Come back in the next hour and we’ll sort your passes out then”. In the end, it was all worth it.
Friday
A rather shy Alice Gemima stepped up to the acoustic stage on Friday night to a frustratingly talkative audience alongside the rather idiotic sound monkeys. Regardless of the minor mishaps, her voice overpowered her lovely jazz guitar whilst blissfully swaying, and this is from the one who was told that she’d be opening the acoustic stage at 1pm after the original act was ill. If it wasn’t for the crowd, Alice would have shone. Instead she was unfortunately treated more like an afternoon pub act – 4/5
You can hear my interview with Alice here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/alice-gemima-interview
Kate Mcgill again had the sweet voice of a solo artist accompanied by her guitar, but after more technical issues (one being her tuner accidentally being turned on) did disrupt her set. But with original songs and performing a bastille cover, she still fought on with a pretty good crowd chant being involved near the end - 3/5
Hurrying in from London, Emily and the Woods performed short songs that consisted of sound effects on guitar and songs that were short, sweet and down to earth. From Emily’s fantastic vocals to the effects and soloing from her brother’s guitar, they were certainly a band who stood out – especially when it was announced that hey had recently supported Ed Sheerhn and Newton Faulkner – 4/5
You can catch my interview with Emily here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/emily-and-the-woods-interview
Met with some loud bursts of feedback at the start of the set, Ellen and the Escapades needed to do something rather drastic to recover. But never fear – with dancing folk beats, harmonica and a crowd going crazy for a good time and waiting for the headliner, Ellen and the Escapades managed to get away from a set that was almost going to collapse with style – 5/5
Raurri Joseph decided to make the crowd dance even more, which was useful after a futile search for a good source of caffeine to keep us awake. Raurri sounded almost like an American bluesman, churning up anthem after anthem that everybody loved, over walking bass lines and a tight rhythm section. Raurri
Joseph and his backing band sounded born and bred for solid festival life – 5/5
After the merry cock up of the one and only sound monkeys of KT Tunstell’s sound engineers managed to postpone her set for 50 minutes in the scheduled time of one and a half hours of performance, it looked as though Chagstock’s first sell out year would have been a complete disaster. Even in the midst of this, KT
still remained strong, performing fan favourites of ‘Black Horse and a Cherry Tree’ that evolved into a fantastic cazoo version of ‘Seven Nation Army’. This
was all supplied by her use of looping her guitar, vocals and even beat boxing over house beats and anything else that she could make up. Nothing can put a
good Scot down, and KT Tunstell managed to pull off her set without breaking a sweat – 4/5
Saturday
These Reigning Days had the challenge of waking up Chagstock after a night of screeching babies and the odd hollering drunk. Even so, the pop/rock/indie trio sounded like the happy outcome after a fightbetween Black Sabbath and Soundgarden, so it was guaranteedeverybody was woken up, with bubbly songs on keyboard to pure driven hard rock – 5/5
Slipdown Dog have got to be one of the most happiest bands alive, full stop. Even then, they made the crowd stomp, shout, skank to an amazing cover of ‘Monkey man’ and dance. Even then Paul Besselle (vocals) didn't give a damn to the kids in the crowd by yelling “This is fucking awesome!”,which practically summed up the set in its entirety – 5/5
You can hear my interview with Slipdown Dog here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/slipdown-dog-interview
Big Boy Bloater were a band that echoed from the main stage, with big sounds and a true blues attitude. This was another band that sounded built for festival purposes only whilst ignoring the commercialroute that most festival bands follow – 4/5
Cosmo Jarvis may be loved by radio 6, but it appeared that Chagstock may have loved the duo more. Armed with a bass, acoustic guitar and a bass drum – Cosmo Jarvis won all the festival goers over by making them dance, clap and sing to “Gay Pirates”, which is just a fantastic song – 5/5
The Monkey Gland Blues Band were met with some technical difficulties at first, but still went ahead. Of course being from the blues genre, their stuff was rather repetitive and tiring in the shelter from the blazing sun outside. However, some Motown material cheered people up and made sure they were awake til the end – 3/5
Mad Dog Mcrea are one of those band that pulsate and radiate energy - with catchy songs, an amazing fiddle player and then decide to perform a cover of ‘Bear Necessities’. How is hard not to love a band that are so jolly and still decide to perform a Disney song? – 5/5
New Crisis Band rocked Chagstock with festival anthems such as ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, and 'Lovestruck’, even if they had to read off lyric sheets. Regardless, they still performed a darn good set – 3/5
Juan Zelada sounded like one of those solo artists that should have been a headliner, making people do the boogie and sing and shout. Doing this before Alabama 3 sounds like a challenge, and Juan Zelada accepted it and won – 5/5
Seth Lakeman emerged on the main stage with a big crowd gathering, and it isn’t suprising to find out why. Being a virtuoso fiddler and singer whilst doing both at the same time is remarkable, but with a fantastic backing band to accompany him and his multi-instrumental persona, it’s no surprise that he was a huge
success –5/5
You can hear my interview with Seth Lakeman here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/seth-lakeman-interview
Alabama 3 unplugged? You’ve got it, stripped to the bone with a harmonica and a guitar with fantastic guitar playing, amazing vocals
and with vocalist Larry Love sounding like someone who has ingested enough narcotics to fuel the South American economy for a lifetime, and even going livid to the people who left to see Fun Loving Criminals. Even then, he and the band is one of those people who sound more inspirational than Che Guevara – 5/5
You can hear my interview with singer Larry Love here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/larry-love-alabama-3-interview
Fun Loving Criminals are one of those bands that sum themselves up in the band title – having that much fun must be criminal, especially if the Conservatives are in power. Showing love, massive bass lines and anthems that everyone should know, they played brilliantly and were the perfect band to end such a good
festival – 4/5
Chagstock may have been overwhelmed and found itself bursting at the seams at the fact it’s the first sell out year, from the organisation being drastic on the first
day to perfectly smooth on the second. It’s been hailed as one of the best mini-festivals of the southwest, and it isn’t surprising. Everyone is friendly and good to talk to, the food suppliers choose not to be as extortionate as they are in most places and the lineup was perfect. Congratulations from Keith’s Reviews on being its first sell out year, so roll on 2013…
Overall rating-4/5
Friday
A rather shy Alice Gemima stepped up to the acoustic stage on Friday night to a frustratingly talkative audience alongside the rather idiotic sound monkeys. Regardless of the minor mishaps, her voice overpowered her lovely jazz guitar whilst blissfully swaying, and this is from the one who was told that she’d be opening the acoustic stage at 1pm after the original act was ill. If it wasn’t for the crowd, Alice would have shone. Instead she was unfortunately treated more like an afternoon pub act – 4/5
You can hear my interview with Alice here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/alice-gemima-interview
Kate Mcgill again had the sweet voice of a solo artist accompanied by her guitar, but after more technical issues (one being her tuner accidentally being turned on) did disrupt her set. But with original songs and performing a bastille cover, she still fought on with a pretty good crowd chant being involved near the end - 3/5
Hurrying in from London, Emily and the Woods performed short songs that consisted of sound effects on guitar and songs that were short, sweet and down to earth. From Emily’s fantastic vocals to the effects and soloing from her brother’s guitar, they were certainly a band who stood out – especially when it was announced that hey had recently supported Ed Sheerhn and Newton Faulkner – 4/5
You can catch my interview with Emily here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/emily-and-the-woods-interview
Met with some loud bursts of feedback at the start of the set, Ellen and the Escapades needed to do something rather drastic to recover. But never fear – with dancing folk beats, harmonica and a crowd going crazy for a good time and waiting for the headliner, Ellen and the Escapades managed to get away from a set that was almost going to collapse with style – 5/5
Raurri Joseph decided to make the crowd dance even more, which was useful after a futile search for a good source of caffeine to keep us awake. Raurri sounded almost like an American bluesman, churning up anthem after anthem that everybody loved, over walking bass lines and a tight rhythm section. Raurri
Joseph and his backing band sounded born and bred for solid festival life – 5/5
After the merry cock up of the one and only sound monkeys of KT Tunstell’s sound engineers managed to postpone her set for 50 minutes in the scheduled time of one and a half hours of performance, it looked as though Chagstock’s first sell out year would have been a complete disaster. Even in the midst of this, KT
still remained strong, performing fan favourites of ‘Black Horse and a Cherry Tree’ that evolved into a fantastic cazoo version of ‘Seven Nation Army’. This
was all supplied by her use of looping her guitar, vocals and even beat boxing over house beats and anything else that she could make up. Nothing can put a
good Scot down, and KT Tunstell managed to pull off her set without breaking a sweat – 4/5
Saturday
These Reigning Days had the challenge of waking up Chagstock after a night of screeching babies and the odd hollering drunk. Even so, the pop/rock/indie trio sounded like the happy outcome after a fightbetween Black Sabbath and Soundgarden, so it was guaranteedeverybody was woken up, with bubbly songs on keyboard to pure driven hard rock – 5/5
Slipdown Dog have got to be one of the most happiest bands alive, full stop. Even then, they made the crowd stomp, shout, skank to an amazing cover of ‘Monkey man’ and dance. Even then Paul Besselle (vocals) didn't give a damn to the kids in the crowd by yelling “This is fucking awesome!”,which practically summed up the set in its entirety – 5/5
You can hear my interview with Slipdown Dog here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/slipdown-dog-interview
Big Boy Bloater were a band that echoed from the main stage, with big sounds and a true blues attitude. This was another band that sounded built for festival purposes only whilst ignoring the commercialroute that most festival bands follow – 4/5
Cosmo Jarvis may be loved by radio 6, but it appeared that Chagstock may have loved the duo more. Armed with a bass, acoustic guitar and a bass drum – Cosmo Jarvis won all the festival goers over by making them dance, clap and sing to “Gay Pirates”, which is just a fantastic song – 5/5
The Monkey Gland Blues Band were met with some technical difficulties at first, but still went ahead. Of course being from the blues genre, their stuff was rather repetitive and tiring in the shelter from the blazing sun outside. However, some Motown material cheered people up and made sure they were awake til the end – 3/5
Mad Dog Mcrea are one of those band that pulsate and radiate energy - with catchy songs, an amazing fiddle player and then decide to perform a cover of ‘Bear Necessities’. How is hard not to love a band that are so jolly and still decide to perform a Disney song? – 5/5
New Crisis Band rocked Chagstock with festival anthems such as ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, and 'Lovestruck’, even if they had to read off lyric sheets. Regardless, they still performed a darn good set – 3/5
Juan Zelada sounded like one of those solo artists that should have been a headliner, making people do the boogie and sing and shout. Doing this before Alabama 3 sounds like a challenge, and Juan Zelada accepted it and won – 5/5
Seth Lakeman emerged on the main stage with a big crowd gathering, and it isn’t suprising to find out why. Being a virtuoso fiddler and singer whilst doing both at the same time is remarkable, but with a fantastic backing band to accompany him and his multi-instrumental persona, it’s no surprise that he was a huge
success –5/5
You can hear my interview with Seth Lakeman here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/seth-lakeman-interview
Alabama 3 unplugged? You’ve got it, stripped to the bone with a harmonica and a guitar with fantastic guitar playing, amazing vocals
and with vocalist Larry Love sounding like someone who has ingested enough narcotics to fuel the South American economy for a lifetime, and even going livid to the people who left to see Fun Loving Criminals. Even then, he and the band is one of those people who sound more inspirational than Che Guevara – 5/5
You can hear my interview with singer Larry Love here: http://soundcloud.com/keithling/larry-love-alabama-3-interview
Fun Loving Criminals are one of those bands that sum themselves up in the band title – having that much fun must be criminal, especially if the Conservatives are in power. Showing love, massive bass lines and anthems that everyone should know, they played brilliantly and were the perfect band to end such a good
festival – 4/5
Chagstock may have been overwhelmed and found itself bursting at the seams at the fact it’s the first sell out year, from the organisation being drastic on the first
day to perfectly smooth on the second. It’s been hailed as one of the best mini-festivals of the southwest, and it isn’t surprising. Everyone is friendly and good to talk to, the food suppliers choose not to be as extortionate as they are in most places and the lineup was perfect. Congratulations from Keith’s Reviews on being its first sell out year, so roll on 2013…
Overall rating-4/5