Pirates, Poi and Pancakes - Beautiful Days 2006
Well, that was a top, top weekend!!
Friday
Evangeline2670 and I arrived at the Festival site around 1pm on Friday, found where our friends were camped (they had two flags flying) and quickly set up our tent and then sat round for a few hours chilling out and chatting.
The Flag:
Then we headed off (via the beer tent for a pint of ale :D ) to the 'Big Top' stage to see Drunk in Public open proceedings. Drunk in Public is the acoustic spin-off from the Levellers (the band responsible for organising the festival), with the addition of Rev Hammer (who also plays as part of Red Sky Coven, the acoustic New Model Army spin-off!)
John Leveller (fiddle)
Mark Leveller (guitar)
Simon Leveller (guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica)
And Rev Hammer (guitar)
After their set, we head off for a quick brows of the stalls, another pint or three of beer and a very nice veggie pie, along with watching a couple of bands on the main stage. :D
Wandering back from the Big Top, we bump into a couple of our friends dressed in their pirate finery... being chased by a random collection of kids ^_^
PirateChris, PirateJen, Faz and Mark
PirateRob, fending off the small children
PirateChris... running away :D
We grab another beer or two and a garlic mushroom and cheese pancake (mmmmmmm) and head up to the tent to grab some warmer clothes.
Then we head back down to the main arena to see the end of Gomez's set, then return to squueze into the crowded Big Top stage for Hayseed Dixie - an awesome bluegrass who play heavy metal covers (Black Sabbath's War Pigs, Green Day's Holiday) and their own songs, plus an outstanding rendition of Duelling Banjos which has the whole crowd bouncing!
After that, and another pint or two, we head back to the tent for some sleep.
Saturday
We wake up quite late and have breakfast, and head into the Little Big Top for a screening of the DVD of Rev Hammer's 'Freeborn John' preformance from last year's festival. With beer supplies then topped up, we go for a good wander round the whole site and I get a cool celtic design tee-shirt and Evie gets a very nice shimmery green skirt.
We sit with our friends in the main stage area and watch Goldblade play their punky set, then grab more beer and food (another garlic mushroom pancake) and head down to the Big Top to see 3 Daft Monkeys play a raucus set of folky pop. I like them so much I buy a CD! The following band were boring by compare, so we retire to the beer tent to wait them out, before returning to see Chumbawamba play a superb acoustic set, then it's a frenetic dash back to the main stage for Killing Joke
(Sorry... we don't appear to have taken any pics on Saturday >.>)
Sunday
On Sunday, we again have a lay in until 10am-ish, then just sit around a chill out for a bit before putting on our pirate gear...
DiC the Cabin Boy
Cap'n Evie
and heading down to the Big Top to see The Fabulous Good Time Party Boys Medicine Show Sunday Morning Prayer Meeting Revue *inhales* - Rev Hammer and assorted musicians (including ex-NMA guitarist Dave Blomberg) play an awesome set of songs, just the thing to get the blood flowing on a Sunday morning!
We return to the tents and chill out a bit more, just chatting and drinking beer :D
One of our friends (Chris) has a couple of sets of Poi - balls with streamers which you whirl around - Mark and Katie also try their hand at Poi
After even more beer, we swap our pirate gear for our Masquerade Ball outfits...
and head down to the Bimble Inn stage/bar to see (or rather listen to... the tent was rammed!) Simon Leveller and Dan Donnely play an acoustic set, then meet up with some other friends and chat to them as we head back to the Big Top (passeing through the Main Stage area where the Buzzcocks are playing) to catch comedian Dylan Moran - the tent is so full we stand in the falling rain just outside one of the entrances, but we can (just) hear his stand-up routine. When the tent clears after his act, we grab a beer and head in close to the stage to see Alabama 3 Unplugged - a wicked combination of blues and humour
When they finish, it's another mad dash back to the main stage to catch most of the Leveller's set. This is a band I used to follow back in the early 90s, but the last few times I've seen them they just haven't seemed to have that spark which I enjoyed back then, however tonight they are on good form and play plenty of old songs which get the huge crowd dancing away.
The finale comes with a flaming and sparking version of the Lev's 'Rolling Anarchy' emblem, suspended high above the stage.
They finish the weekend's music and we return to our tents and sit up chatting and drinking until the wee small hours until a shower forces us into our tents and off to sleep.
And that's it... we broke camp this morning, said our farewells and returned home *sighs*
But we'll definitely be back again next year!
Friday
Evangeline2670 and I arrived at the Festival site around 1pm on Friday, found where our friends were camped (they had two flags flying) and quickly set up our tent and then sat round for a few hours chilling out and chatting.
The Flag:
Then we headed off (via the beer tent for a pint of ale :D ) to the 'Big Top' stage to see Drunk in Public open proceedings. Drunk in Public is the acoustic spin-off from the Levellers (the band responsible for organising the festival), with the addition of Rev Hammer (who also plays as part of Red Sky Coven, the acoustic New Model Army spin-off!)
John Leveller (fiddle)
Mark Leveller (guitar)
Simon Leveller (guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica)
And Rev Hammer (guitar)
After their set, we head off for a quick brows of the stalls, another pint or three of beer and a very nice veggie pie, along with watching a couple of bands on the main stage. :D
Wandering back from the Big Top, we bump into a couple of our friends dressed in their pirate finery... being chased by a random collection of kids ^_^
PirateChris, PirateJen, Faz and Mark
PirateRob, fending off the small children
PirateChris... running away :D
We grab another beer or two and a garlic mushroom and cheese pancake (mmmmmmm) and head up to the tent to grab some warmer clothes.
Then we head back down to the main arena to see the end of Gomez's set, then return to squueze into the crowded Big Top stage for Hayseed Dixie - an awesome bluegrass who play heavy metal covers (Black Sabbath's War Pigs, Green Day's Holiday) and their own songs, plus an outstanding rendition of Duelling Banjos which has the whole crowd bouncing!
After that, and another pint or two, we head back to the tent for some sleep.
Saturday
We wake up quite late and have breakfast, and head into the Little Big Top for a screening of the DVD of Rev Hammer's 'Freeborn John' preformance from last year's festival. With beer supplies then topped up, we go for a good wander round the whole site and I get a cool celtic design tee-shirt and Evie gets a very nice shimmery green skirt.
We sit with our friends in the main stage area and watch Goldblade play their punky set, then grab more beer and food (another garlic mushroom pancake) and head down to the Big Top to see 3 Daft Monkeys play a raucus set of folky pop. I like them so much I buy a CD! The following band were boring by compare, so we retire to the beer tent to wait them out, before returning to see Chumbawamba play a superb acoustic set, then it's a frenetic dash back to the main stage for Killing Joke
(Sorry... we don't appear to have taken any pics on Saturday >.>)
Sunday
On Sunday, we again have a lay in until 10am-ish, then just sit around a chill out for a bit before putting on our pirate gear...
DiC the Cabin Boy
Cap'n Evie
and heading down to the Big Top to see The Fabulous Good Time Party Boys Medicine Show Sunday Morning Prayer Meeting Revue *inhales* - Rev Hammer and assorted musicians (including ex-NMA guitarist Dave Blomberg) play an awesome set of songs, just the thing to get the blood flowing on a Sunday morning!
We return to the tents and chill out a bit more, just chatting and drinking beer :D
One of our friends (Chris) has a couple of sets of Poi - balls with streamers which you whirl around - Mark and Katie also try their hand at Poi
After even more beer, we swap our pirate gear for our Masquerade Ball outfits...
and head down to the Bimble Inn stage/bar to see (or rather listen to... the tent was rammed!) Simon Leveller and Dan Donnely play an acoustic set, then meet up with some other friends and chat to them as we head back to the Big Top (passeing through the Main Stage area where the Buzzcocks are playing) to catch comedian Dylan Moran - the tent is so full we stand in the falling rain just outside one of the entrances, but we can (just) hear his stand-up routine. When the tent clears after his act, we grab a beer and head in close to the stage to see Alabama 3 Unplugged - a wicked combination of blues and humour
When they finish, it's another mad dash back to the main stage to catch most of the Leveller's set. This is a band I used to follow back in the early 90s, but the last few times I've seen them they just haven't seemed to have that spark which I enjoyed back then, however tonight they are on good form and play plenty of old songs which get the huge crowd dancing away.
The finale comes with a flaming and sparking version of the Lev's 'Rolling Anarchy' emblem, suspended high above the stage.
They finish the weekend's music and we return to our tents and sit up chatting and drinking until the wee small hours until a shower forces us into our tents and off to sleep.
And that's it... we broke camp this morning, said our farewells and returned home *sighs*
But we'll definitely be back again next year!