Whickham Villa News

Chase Park Music Festival

Report from the Compere's Point of View

by

Nick Hedley

Nick had a brain injury himself a few years ago, he recently published a book on living with an acquired brain injury  - link to buy the book here

Here is Nick's review of the day:

Arriving early, I was able to see some of the festival layout being setup and the whole festival layout area was an improvement on last year’s event, particularly the stage setup, which made the various music artists a more visible and focal point of the festival. Not a cloud in sight, and the temperature also remained high throughout the day.

Many stalls were present, but this report is from the event ‘Compere’s point of view, so I’ll be honest and say that I did not stop at some of the stalls. I did pop into the cake stall quite often, no sorry, too often (well, they did certainly make exceedingly good cakes;-), and chatted to Miranda from ‘Cbit’, the Child Brain Injury Trust quite a bit (I have a degree in Primary School Teaching, so Cbit is of interest to me, also as I have a brain injury myself) and she is always friendly to talk to. To aid in children’s appreciation and basic concept of the brain, Miranda had made and brought along a ‘jelly’ shaped like a brain, for the children to touch and feel. This ‘tactile’ way of learning was definitely interesting fun and effective for children at the festival.

I had intended to beat some legal reps, Irwin Mitchell on their Scalextric race track ‘lap time challenge’, but time just seemed to fly past and I never got the chance.

The bands and solo artists on offer this year were a real bunch of class acts (no offense to last year’s bands). Also, all the artists were very friendly and enjoyed the experience. My band/singer and songwriter review list follows;

Mary Sends Out Warning      

Mary Sends Out Warning were the perfect artists to start off the festival, a fab chill out sound. Of the acoustic folk music genre, they were (and still are) a charming bunch with a fun, lovely and unique sound.

Skylark Song              

A truly unique blend of folk, blues and country music, an excellent next step to begin to ‘crank up’ the eventual ‘fever-pitch’ of the festival (and I’m not talking about the bar). Their music was chock full of Guitar, beautiful vocals and fiddle. Haunting melodies ahoy............! They definitely took the music genre and atmosphere up a notch, ‘cranking up’ the festival well.  

Percy Hedley Superstar DJ’s     

Comprising of, ‘DJ Spikey, 4Litres and DJ Mad Max. I was absolutely loving these guys’ music; an outstanding mix of clubbin tunes. Felt like a return to my uni days; where my ‘degree in clubbing’ came in handy.

Top Boy Family                                         

 The gorgeous and extremely charismatic Toni Marie, who origionally sang in the band Dream On for 5 years surely where she honed her fab and professional vocal talents. Today she performed with 2 guys known as ‘Top Boy Family’. They made an excellent combo/duet act. All of the artists who performed in the festival were genuinely very nice, but I felt Toni, and the guys (Dap C and Silvar), were surely the most charismatic and charmed everyone they met at the festival. Fab sense of humour too. Noticeably experienced on the stage, with a potentially fearless nature.                                                                                                                                                         

Jamilah            

Officially, I should remain impartial, but I’d be lying if I said Jamilah was not my favourite act of the day. A gorgeous divaesque North East England and US singer and model, extremely friendly, very charismatic, with an infectious sense of humour and chuckle. She also possessed and used her amazingly soulful and uplifting voice to great effect. Well done Jamilah.

The Soviets                          

Another excellent act, the Soviets were greeted with enthusiasm and clearly high expectations from the festival audience and visitors. Needless to say, the Soviets didn’t disappoint. I have since listened to their music, full of dark basslines and irresistible unforgettable hooks. I’m practically humming their tunes as I type this report. 

Hattie Murdoch              

This singer songwriter was quite a surprise. Her voice had been described by various internet quotations as a mix of Ellie Goulding, Florence and the Machine and Eliza Doolittle. I disagree. She’s better than all of them! She had an excellent stage presence, and did actually end up with the biggest audience applause and screaming of the day when she had finished. Well done Hattie!                                                    

Mausi        

Regarded as one of the North East’s most intriguing emerging acts, you’ve never heard a band like this. Truly unique (in a very good way!), their tunes gave some catchy choruses and great harmonies wrapped up in a pleasing and attention grabbing mix of dance, pop and synth. I believe this acts lead singer had the best stage presence of the day, and didn’t just sing the song, she gave us quite a subtle yet attention grabbing performance.                         

HEADLINE ACT: The Lake Poets   

The Headline act ‘the Lake Poets’ had a lot to live up to given the strength of the acts on in this festival. The Lake Poets is Martin Longstaff with supporting musicians. Fresh from a performance at Glastonbury the weekend before. Only formed mid 2010, the Lake Poets have amassed a legion of fans as well as shared the stage with some of Americas top Indie, Acoustic Folk musicians and groups, and today showed us why. Hauntingly beautiful melodies and thought provoking lyrics. Fab stuff. Martin was a thoroughly decent, modest chap too.

And so concluded a totally excellent day, most likely the best day I’ll have this summer. Weather was very hot, and the Sun continued to beat down. Unfortunately, I failed to heed the warnings about Sun protection, and got myself badly Sunburnt. I have since invested in a hat, and slap on Sun protection cream.

Finally, a big thanks to both Whickham Villa and their partners the Percy Hedley Foundation and Irwin Mitchell for their involvement in this fab event.

Also thanks to Alistair McDonald  and well done for organising a smashing, hitch free day.......