Sunday 17-08-20 At The Edge of The Sea II

[caption id="attachment_726" align="alignnone" width="300"] The wristband, preserved for posterity.[/caption]

If Friday was the entree, then yesterday was the full three course dinner. Maybe it was more like a gourmet tasting menu, as we had a variety of bite-sized courses, all of which were quite different and attractive in their own way.

Yes, we were back to The Concorde II for the "mini-festival" that was At The Edge of The Sea (ATEOTS). Now into its 9th year, ATEOTS is curated by David Gedge and a guaranteed way to see The Wedding Present. There are always a variety of bands playing, and this year was no exception.

Last year we wandered in late and realised that we had missed Cinerama - we weren't going to make that mistake again! In fact we nearly got there too early - M turned up at the railway station an hour early, but managed to spend some quality time in The Green Man waiting for D & me.  I snuck in a pint as well, and then we headed to Brighton.

We got into the venue in time to see Ellie Ford play the harp and sing, she was brilliant and it was a great way to start the day. Then it was into the main room for Cinerama, David Gedge's side project. I had only heard one or two of their songs years ago on the John Peel Show, and I was looking forward to seeing them. Not knowing any of the songs was a bit of a drawback, but "Get Up & Go" and "Health & Efficiency" stood out for me. I think it gave the lyrics the chance to breathe. During the performance I looked around and actually the place seemed quite busy; it seemed like most of the people there had had the same idea as us, that they didn't want to miss Cinerama. Actually it was quite impressive, considering it was 4pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon...

Next up were The Sleazoids who were pretty good; they played tight and energetic garage punk, and the guitarist was a previous member of The Wedding Present. Their set was good, and I intend to look them up on Soundcloud when I get a chance...

We returned to the main room to see Scare Taxi, who are the new band of one of the former members of These Animal Men. They were okay, they made a good noise and they were tight, but it wasn't for me. Their finale though was a cover of "Tainted Love" which was brilliantly unhinged, and they were worth seeing for that alone.

Then it was time for Jade Inland, who weren't my cup of tea. By that time we were getting a bit hungry, and so we missed The Popguns and went to Yellowave Cafe for some vegetarian chilli (D & M) and some veggie nachos for me.

We got back in time to see Flowers, who reminded me a bit of Royal Blood, in that they were a tight power pop outfit, although Flowers are a trio rather than a duo, and obvs the Flowers vocals are completely different. But I stand by my assertion that the vibe is similar, and I'm willing to take on anybody who disagrees (aside: I'm not at all willing to do that).

The Charlie Tipper Conspiracy were okay but didn't float my boat, but I did admire Helen McCookerybook, not only was she a good singer but she kept time really well. A silly thing to notice I suppose, but considering that she was performing solo with an acoustic guitar, the songs she performed had various and interesting rhythms.

The crowd really thinned out from 6pm to 8pm, I reckon a lot of people left the venue to get a bite to eat. Actually it's probably worth saying that even aged 45 I felt like one of the youngest people there. Obviously there were a few 20-somethings at the venue, but really the average age must have been 45+. So people were being sensible and lining their stomachs, or taking a break. I could see that a number of people still at the gig were flagging (as was I) and I guess we were just holding on until Gedge was back onstage with The Wedding Present.

That came around soon enough, after a French version of the Laughing Gnome, and another raffle controversy - for the second year running, the main prize had to be redrawn, since the original winner wasn't present. The Wedding Present featuring the new bass player and additional keyboard players took the stage at 8:30 pm more or less precisely, as per the planned running order, and launched into "Going, Going". The opening tracks were enticing and languid, before launching into the usual Wedding Present fayre of heavy guitars and remorseful lyrics; not that I am denigrating that at all, that is what we love about TWP. I'm just pointing out that on this album Gedge held back for the first couple of tracks before giving us what we have come to expect. I don't own the album but on the force of this performance I think I shall buy it; stand out tracks for me were "Bear" and "Little Silver" in particular, and I also liked the closing two tracks for the mellow (comparatively) vibe.

They finished off with three poppy tracks which caused a bit of moshing, the last of which was the only one I recognised - "Brassneck". It was brilliant and probably worth the entire day's attendance, even if none of the other performances were any good - which wasn't the case.

Thinking back over the whole day, I kind of realised that TWP / Gedge is a noisenik; that is, a lot of the bands performing are loud and noisy and maybe aren't as directed and focused as TWP are. Seven hours is a long time to spend in a venue, and ten acts is quite a number to see in one day. I was quite tired by the end of it, but enthused by a couple of performances, Cinerama and The Wedding Present being the highlights I think, along with probably Flowers. The rest were interesting to see but I probably would only pay to see Sleazoids again, from the rest of the line-up. We'll have to wait and see who agrees to play next year, but these two years may have been enough for me.

Saturday 17-08-19 At The Edge of the Sea

Last night I went to see The Wedding Present perform "George Best" in its entirety at the Concorde II in Brighton. I went with M, a friend from Worthing, and we met up at the venue. Normally we might have a pint or two before the gig, but I was feeling a little delicate due to over-imbibing the night before, and we are going back to the Concorde today to see The Wedding Present again, so we took it easy.

I left work at 5pm, which was probably a little later than I normally would on a Friday, but I had a call with someone in the U.S. at 4:30, so it worked out well. Normally I wouldn't accept calls at that time on a Friday, but it suited. I wandered along to McDonald's and had my traditional pre-gig dinner. I did briefly consider going elsewhere for dinner, but where else would I get something that is vaguely filling for £7.50? So I ordered a Big Mac Meal and six chicken nuggets and tucked in.

From there I wandered slowly through town, down to the seafront, and sat and looked out at the sea. It is quite awesome, watching the sea. It stretches out to the horizon, moving and heaving mindlessly and endlessly, wave after wave, never ending or changing. Staring at the sea and appreciating its vastness often reminds me that any concerns or problems I might have don't amount to much in the grand scheme of things. Some people (politicians, celebrities) may benefit from the same sort of reflection, maybe? Just a thought.

Anyway, I met M outside the venue, he changed his ticket up for a wristband, and we wandered in. I saw a big chap who I thought looked like John Robb, but thought nothing more of it, and we went to the bar. As we were getting the drinks in, I asked if he had seen The Membranes before; they were the support band. M had seen them at a New Year's Eve shindig back in '97 or '98, and he said "they're fronted by John Robb, of course, I remember him being very... energetic". Ah, so that would explain the presence of John Robb then...

The Membranes came on at 7:30, as advised, and were okay. I'd not seen them before, or heard any of their stuff. They were punk, but they had the BIMM choir onstage with them - they were trying something different. I did think at one stage they were a bit "prog/punk", if such a thing exists...? The music was quite loud and gothic, and because the external door was open and it was daylight, the effect was a bit jarring.

Then it was time for The Wedding Present. They played a couple of songs to warm us up before getting to the main event. I think "Love Slave" was one, and "Deer Caught in the Headlights" was another, which I enjoyed with its "DUM DUM" double bass drum rhythm. They played a couple of tracks from "Going, Going..." and then launched into the album tracks. I really enjoyed the performance, despite not knowing the album that well. Of course the album opens with "Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft", which I did know, and I really enjoyed "Shatner" too. I like that early Weddoes sound, and the lyrics are always interesting in a conversational way. We did think that maybe because they had been playing "George Best" recently they might not give it 100%, but there were no worries on that front. The band certainly were getting into it, and it looked like Gedge was really dishing out the treatment to his guitars. They finished with a rousing version of "Kennedy" which incited some serious moshing, and then it was all over. Another enjoyable show from the semi-legendary (Gedge's own words) The Wedding Present.

We stopped for a couple of pints at The Queen's Head before getting on the train, and after a bit of street theatre (a drunken row between a couple of kids) we were home safe and sound. It was time to go to bed, to get a good night's sleep before going back and doing it all again today.

TTFN.

Sunday 17-08-06 Camping in Derbyshire

On the Thursday before last (27th July) we headed up to the Peak District with the kids, our trusty tent & our friends H & I. We had decided to see a different part of the country; normally we had down to Dorset, but we've kind of exhausted free & cheap days out there, so we decided to try somewhere new.

We hoped for good scenery and warm weather; one out of two wasn't bad. We stayed on a campsite outside Ashbourne (Callow Top) which was brilliant. The fields were well-kept, the facilities were clean, and the bars were reasonably-priced. There was an outdoor pool which kept the kids occupied when we weren't out and about, and if it had been down to them I'm sure we would have stayed on the campsite for the entire stay, and they would have stayed in the pool for the whole five days.

We got off to a bad start, in that I forgot to set the alarm for Thursday morning. TW had agreed with H&I that we would set off at 05:00, so I should have set the alarm for 04:30. Unfortunately I went to sleep before setting the alarm, and so we didn't wake up until ten to six. Still, we were on the road by 06:10, so that wasn't too bad. We were at the campsite by midday, and set up at a leisurely pace. We had a Tesco delivery booked for 3pm, and that raised a few eyebrows when it arrived, although quite a few of those were raised in appreciation.

On Friday morning we took a walk into Ashbourne and had a look around; it's quite a nice little town, although it seems to be swamped with heavy lorries. I was speaking to my Dad and he suggested that the drivers may be attempting to avoid the M5, but for whatever reason the number of large lorries certainly seemed disproportionate. We got back to the campsite, and then the rain set in. It rained for the rest of the day, while we tried to stay dry in H&I's trailer tent. The weather was a bit wearing; if someone had suggested we leave the tents where they were and we check into a Travelodge, I would have bitten their hand off. But we persevered, and the weather for the rest of the stay wasn't as bad. Unfortunately, though, because of the way we'd pitched the tent, there was a lot of water caught between the tent footprint and the groundsheet, to the extent that the tent seemed to be floating atop a lake, and water was coming up through the groundsheet and soaking the carpet. There was nothing we could do at that time, so we slept on it.

Saturday morning the weather was better, and the lake under the tent had dissipated, so things looked better. We moved the tent forward and removed the footprint to let it dry and give the remaining water a chance to soak away. We decided to actually visit a couple of peaks on that day (otherwise what would be the point of visiting the Peak District?) and so we drove to Mam Tor. We took a bit of a wrong turning and ended up driving through a beautiful, dramatic gorge - it was worth taking a wrong turning to see that, and TW at the time said that this was the sort of scenery she wanted to see in the Peak District. Mam Tor is a two-hour walk from Kinder Scout, which we were thinking about walking to, but it was already 1pm by the time we got to the top of Mam Tor, and I didn't fancy getting back at 5pm. In addition, we weren't properly prepared, I wasn't wearing proper walking boots (The Eldest had appropriated them) and we didn't have enough water and snacks to see us there and back. The views from Mam Tor were breathtaking enough though, so I don't feel that we missed out. Maybe next time...

Saturday evening everything was fine, except that H managed to slip down the step from her trailer tent into the tent, and she caused some ligament damage. H&I had to spend Saturday night in Derby A&E while we looked after their kids and had a barbecue. Saturday night the rain came down again, but we were fine overnight, and there wasn't any water ingress this time.

Sunday we visited the stepping stones at Ilam, which was quite the walk after the previous day's exercise. The stepping stones were the culmination of a lovely walk along the river, although I found it a bit unnerving having to cross them - but that was the only way around. After that walk, we headed back to the campsite for some lunch and then drove into Derby. The girls were silent for the 45 / 50 minute drive, and I think they were just worn out from the hike up to Mam Tor the previous day and the trek to the stepping stones - and back! We went to Go Outdoors first for a good look around - there's nothing like going to a camping store while you're camping, it's like camping². Then we hit Pizza Express, and that was when the girls perked up a bit. They probably just needed refuelling...

On Monday we stuck around the campsite, and in the evening we had fish and chips from Ashbourne. They were delicious. And then on Tuesday it was time to head home...

It was a good holiday, despite a few unfortunate events. H's ligament damage being the most inconvenient of those. The flooding of the tent was up there, and we managed to burn the clutch in our car on the way to Callow Top as well. I lost track of which day was which - always a good sign that I'm relaxed, and the campsite was brilliant. The scenery was memorable, and I'd recommend the area, it's lovely.

TTFN.

 

Thursday 17-08-03 Man Up

Last night we watched Man Up and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a Simon Pegg vehicle, but at the same time it was a veritable “who’s who” of modern UK comic actors. There was Ken Stott, Harriet Walter, Sharon Horgan (off of “Catastrophe”), Rory Kinnear (I love him in “Count Arthur Strong”) as well as the Peggster himself. Lake Bell was a strange choice of lead female, I thought at first, but I really warmed to her and would like to see her other work.

The characters played by Pegg and Bell became more & more likeable as the film wore on, and it was obvious that a happy ending was on the cards, but about 15 minutes before the end it really jumped the shark by deluging the story and the audience in a vat of cheese. I was speaking to a friend at work today and he reminded me of “Run, Fatboy, Run”, and I would say that the volume of cheese at the end of the film was more or less equivalent to that.

One thing that did surprise me was that the film was made in 2015. If you had asked me, I would have said that Pegg would have been too busy to make this sort of film. I would have thought he would be glamming it up in Hollywood making Star Trek films – which are brilliant, by the way. Maybe he just has a soft spot for this type of UK comedy film? Although during the opening titles I did see that the film was produced by StudioCanal, who I always think are a French company.

If you like Simon Pegg and the type of film he makes, you’ll probably like this, but watch out for the cheese at the end, that would be my only caveat. Pegg is Pegg, a perfectly likeable fellow (much like Tim off of “The Office”, or Martin Freeman as he is also known), but Lake Bell makes the film, in my opinion. She and Sharon Horgan make believable sisters, strangely, and the family interplay between Ken Stott and Harriet Walter is a delight. There is a lot to enjoy in this film, so get to it.

TTFN.