SANSOM + LEAN WITH THE BREEZE + LUCY DARKE – THE SIDINGS, NEWHAVEN 8.8.25
2024 witnessed the inaugural ‘DedFest’ independent outdoor festival which was set in the heart of the East Sussex countryside. It was thankfully a great success! Now the family friendly festival is not only set to return to the beautiful Crockstead Fields, Eastbourne Road, Halland, East Sussex, BN8 6PT, but the organisers have kindly organised a free entry taster event at The Sidings in Newhaven, which is sandwiched between the actual Ferry Port of Newhaven and the famous swing bridge. We have been reviewing local concerts for eight and half years and yet tonight was our first ever opportunity to head to Newhaven and review proceedings, it would be rude not to take the organisers up on their gracious offer, and so this evening we are here in order to see what Sansom, Lean With The Breeze, and Lucy Darke have to offer.
This trio of artists will be performing just north of Halland off the A22 Uckfield to Hailsham road on Saturday 16th August along with 19 other rising stars. This year’s ‘Deadfest’ will be running across two stages, whereas last year it was just the one. Clearly this is a positive sign. It will feature music acts hailing from London, Brighton and beyond. These being Gaffa Tape Sandy, KEG, Projector, congratulations, AtticOmatic, ChitChat, Comforts, Fukushima Dolphin, Ideal Living, Lean With The Breeze, Lucy Darke, Moon Idle, Mulimba, Nature TV, Room Service, Sansom, Telecom, The Rapports, The Roebucks, The Stanford Family Band, Trip Westerns, and Winter Gardens.
‘DedFest’ was born last year out of a true passion for great music plus great drinks and this year’s family and dog-friendly event will continue with the exact same ethos. This is very much the same this evening in sunny and relatively hot Newhaven with many families with tots and doggies enjoying themselves. With our Abyss Brewery beers dutifully purchased, we made our way to the nearby performance area, which turned out to be a marquee on the grassed area with a plethora of circular paper lanterns of varying colours and sizes hanging from the lighting which ran across the structure. We are literally positioned a stones throw away from the swing bridge and sea. The atmosphere is very much relaxed with folk of various ages, including several little people who were no doubt having their first taste of live entertainment.
The music for this evening was kicked off by Brighton based (via Lincolnshire) Lucy Darke who entertained us for a mere 21 minutes from 6:09pm to 6:30pm. Lucy was centre stage and was naturally on lead vocals as well as acoustic guitar. She was joined by Valley T who was also on acoustic guitar and she offered backing vocals. Completing the trio was Lily Balmer who was taking care of the bass guitar duties.
The first thing I note is how striking Lucy’s eyes are and that she resembles Ella Flannery of Coco And The Lost. Musically I pick up that Lucy’s vocal delivery is within the realms of what Woodpecker Wooliams used to deliver around a decade ago. The music is dreamy and relaxing and just perfect to get us in the zone for this evening and ‘Dedfest’ next week. The overall sound is crisp and clear and the soundguy on his ipad deserves a mention.
We are given a handful of songs with the first three coming from Lucy’s recent ‘Earthly Delights’ EP, these being ‘Sweet’, ‘Kiss Me In The Chaos’ and ‘Saboteur’, and the remaining couple of numbers are, I believe, currently unreleased. Lucy informs us that for her actual ‘Defest’ performance she will be accompanied by a whole band, which I think meant 5 people in total, and so it will be interesting to compare next week’s set with tonight’s performance. I’m not aware of any other forthcoming concerts after ‘Dedfest’, but I’m certain a couple of members of our team will be extremely interested in seeing what Lucy (and chums) have to offer.
Lucy Darke:
Lucy Darke – lead vocals, guitar
Valley T – acoustic guitar, bvs
Lily Balmer – bass
Lucy Darke setlist:
‘Sweet’ (from 2025 ‘Earthly Delights’ EP)
‘Kiss Me In The Chaos’ (from 2025 ‘Earthly Delights’ EP)
‘Saboteur’ (from 2025 ‘Earthly Delights’ EP)
‘Plaster’ (unreleased)
‘Fairweather Frank’ (unreleased)
After a 21 minute live music hiatus, we are back in the marquee in order to witness Lean With The Breeze which is the project of Simon Gledhill, who is taking care of vocals and acoustic guitar. He is accompanied by Lewis Harding who is also on acoustic guitar. We are in their company for 38 minutes, from 6:51pm until 7:29pm and in that period the fellas offload eight compositions. According to the Bandcamp page, it states that “Lean with the Breeze… Free fall with ease. Songs and musings from the wondering mind of Simon Gledhill. Acoustic based honey for the ears from Brighton UK”.
Just like Lucy Darke, Simon will also be having a full band performing at next week’s ‘Dedfest’, so once again, I will see how this compares. As far as I can tell, five of tonight’s eight songs are unreleased and the other three are single releases. They commence with a trio of yet to be recorded numbers: ‘It’s Late But It’s Not Dark’, ‘Burnt Toast’ and ‘The Puzzle That We’re Living In’. However, mid-set Simon pipes up and informs us that he likes to rename his tunes, so your guess is as good as mine.
Visually Simon somehow reminds me of Braintree’s folk songwriter Jay McAllister aka Beans On Toast, but this simply may be down to the cap that he’s wearing and the beard. Again, the sound is crisp and clear and the tracks are giving me the vibes of the upbeat songs of Don McLean and Gordon Lightfoot. It’s toe tapping tunes for all and Simon says “What a beautiful evening to play acoustic tunes” and he was indeed correct. Simon’s biggest fan was his toddler son who was obviously running on Duracell batteries as he kept trying to clamber on the stage to join his dad on guitar, much to everyone’s amusement, bless him. As you would expect, it’s an inoffensive set, which is just as well, considering the amount of joyful tots knocking around.
Simon informs us that he has a track coming out next Thursday, which I believe is called ‘Actors’, unless he decides to change its title. He is also in the process of recording an album. Their penultimate number was ‘Living As They Should’ and this features some quality acoustic guitar interplay between them. But it’s on the closing number, ‘Rise Again’ which sees Lewis really shining through.
Lean With The Breeze:
Simon Gledhill – vocals, acoustic guitar
Lewis Harding – acoustic guitar
Lean With The Breeze setlist:
‘It’s Late But It’s Not Dark’ (unreleased)
‘Burnt Toast’ (unreleased)
‘The Puzzle That We’re Living In’ (unreleased)
‘All With A Smile’ (from 2021 ‘Leaning With The Breeze’ single)
‘Me And The Leaves’ (unreleased)
‘Cognito Sunshine’ (from 2023 ‘Cognito Sunshine’ EP)
‘Living As They Should’ (unreleased)
‘Rise Again’ (from 2023 ‘Cognito Sunshine’ EP)
After a 38 minute hiatus on the live music front, which afforded us the time to grab some more Abyss goodies, the live action was on the go again with the arrival of Sansom which is the project of enigmatic frontman Edward Sansom, who is a Brighton based artist. He is joined by a trio of musicians, Sabrina G on Novation synth and backing vocals, Grace on bass and backing vocals, and Lewis on drums. Edward was taking care of lead vocals and certainly knows his way around his Gretsch guitar with fitted tremolo. We were in the quartet’s company for half an hour, from 8:07pm to 8:37pm and in that time they performed seven tracks, a half dozen are single releases and the other, ‘White Swan’, I believe is yet to be recorded.
Edward shows their statement of intent from the very start by informing the punters “Right it’s time for some rock music” and the quartet launch right into the 2023 ‘Sinner’ single and then segue straight into the 2021 ‘Saturday’ single. Interestingly, Edward has a second microphone which is sometimes utilized, and this has a microphone at the top which is connected to a megaphone which is hanging underneath. I can’t recall having witnessed something like this before and it’s a novel idea that works rather well and adds another dimension to their sound.
Our photographer Sara-Louise Bowrey then informed me that she recognises Sabrina G as she has photographed her before at Hastings Fat Tuesday and that she has also performed at The Great Escape, so I guess that Sabrina is also an artist in her own right, which might go some way in explaining why Edward bigs her up during the performance.
Edward informs us that they are going to play ‘Golden’ which is coming out on 15th August and I’d have to say that it’s the choice cut of the set. This was followed by ‘Call Me’ (not the Blondie tune) and this was about adultery. Grace’s deep bass notes on this were a special highlight as well as Lewis’ drumming. Before we knew it, they were launching into the final song of the evening, this being the 2021 ‘Suck It Up’ single. It’s extraordinary that a gig concludes at 8:37pm, but it certainly helps in getting the account written up before bedtime.
I absolutely loved the vibe of The Sidings and I truly hope that there are more notable music performances for us to review in the near future.
Sansom:
Edward Sansom – lead vocals, guitar
Sabrina G – synth, bvs
Grace – on bass, bvs
Lewis – drums
Sansom setlist:
‘Sinner’ (a 2023 single)
‘Saturday’ (a 2021 single)
‘Burn The Bridges’ (a 2025 single)
‘White Swan’ (unreleased)
‘Golden’ (a forthcoming 2025 single)
‘Call Me’ (a 2025 single)
‘Suck It Up’ (a 2021 single)
I’m sure folk have many questions regarding ‘DedFest’, such as “Where exactly is it?” Thankfully the organisers have been most helpful and have listed 15 FAQ’s on the bottom of their ticket link page. Just click on each question and a dropdown answer will appear. Find the answers and your tickets HERE.
