‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – GLASTONWICK FESTIVAL, CHURCH FARM, COOMBES 31.5.24 – 2.6.24
Glastonwick describes itself as both the music festival with good beer, and the beer festival with good music, something that has maintained a solid status in the South East music community for the last 28 years, since its inception in 1996. Born as a concept from the minds of Attila the Stockbroker, Alex Hall and the sorely-missed Roy Chuter, the festival was organised as a retaliation of the repetitive cycle of other festivals where the only entertainment is interminable blues cover bands and, I quote, “the urine of Satan was the only beer choice”.
DAY ONE: FRIDAY 31.5.24 (6pm – midnight)
As I park up in the overflow of Coombes Farm in Lancing on the final Friday of May, I made my way up to a barn that was already generating an atmosphere unlike any I’ve seen in recent memories… but I don’t know how much of that I can attribute to not being a festival person myself; regardless, my experience of the opening day of Glastonwick’s 27th running is one I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.
THE ANTIPOET – 6:15pm
I was a little late for the “beatrantin’ rhythm ‘n views” of The Antipoet, but what I caught was nothing short of bewildering! In the circuit for over 15 years, the words and humour of Paul Eccentric, joined by double bassist and backing vocalist Ian Newman, have culminated in the release of six studio albums and wide notoriety across festivals and shows across the UK. The duo have a spiffing knack of social awareness infused with the cockney patois of Chas and Dave, albeit donning steampunk attire and a need to not take oneself too seriously. Their songs grew in humour across the set, from a Doctor Who parody track and a swing-based song about policemen being mistaken for furries to songs with unsuitably phallic themes and a track dedicated to all the kids festivals they jokingly claim to get asked to play frequently. The sermon of The Antipoet got me thinking as they finished performing; I don’t drink, I’ve never had the urge to down pints with “the lads” on a Saturday night, but I sure as hell would with these guys!
FRACTURED – 7:05pm
Little is known about the Brighton band Fractured, other than their approved knack of angular wit-laden tunes from Attila the Stockbroker as well as their array of bills across Brighton with groups such as neo-punkers Fisheye. These guys have a classic post-punk flair that remains a constant for their 35-minute set and while their humour may not be as distinctive or charming as The Antipoet’s, but there are a lot of satirical and tongue-in-cheek moments that play into the band’s sound very well, whether it’s a song about the popular front of Brighton that is Preston Park, or a political track that features lyrics about Michael Jackson not being dead and instead, working at Sports Direct. Their musicality is very strong with every band member tying together quite nicely, especially on a track towards the end of the set, with vocalist Jeff Hayward’s proclamations of “I’m not breaking down today” reverberating across the barn!
JANINE BOOTH – 7:50pm
Now, Janine Booth was an absolute treat, and possibly my favourite act of the day! Having written and performed poetry since 1981, Ms Booth had given it up towards the end of the decade, restarting her career 25 years later, now blossoming from a ranting poet under the name The Big J into an angry middle-aged woman poet (her words!). Janine is an outspoken advocate for various socio-political movements and practices, all of which are detailed, praised and challenged across her various books and performances of her poetry. Her deliveries are stellar, with her opening poem about what’s tolerable in life depending on your social class resonating with many people in the crowd, as does a heart-breaking recital about the famous poster phrase “it’s okay to not be okay”, which Janine thoroughly tears into with malice, reducing it as patronising and a normalisation of mental health struggles. Janine’s emotional directions in her poems are wonderful components of her performance, but that’s not to say that she doesn’t know how to tickle the audience’s funny bones from time to time. Take her poem about her appreciation for people who acclimate within the vegan diet, only for her to spoil the fun by derailing the poem into several digs at vegan cheese…! Or the limerick about Jeremy Hunt? Well, long story short, there are only so many words that rhyme with the politician’s surname.
EAST TOWN PIRATES – 8:35pm
The East Town Pirates have been sailing the musical seas of Ipswich for the best part of two decades, already with a handful of albums under their belt and flaunting them like a captain’s treasure to festivals abound! The five-piece, suitably adorned in swashbuckling attire, showed a stunning display of theatricality, punk progressions and a marvellous pooling of audience interaction, with many hardcore fans clamouring down at the barrier just opposite the stage. There are tracks in the group’s set that stretch towards more hard rock inflections, while others have a folk punk flair that fans of The Pogues would really appreciate. I’ve always been fascinated at the appeal of bands like East Town Pirates; the nostalgic pirate revivalism seems extremely niche and yet it still finds fans from punk, metal and folk circles, meeting and bonding in tight circles in a way that not many other offshoots of those respective genres do. I will admit that the archaic display of an era of days gone by infused with the sounds of a contemporary style that continues to arouse music fans took me a while to adjust to, but by the end of the set, the East Town Pirates won me over with their charm and astral musical abilities!
TV SMITH – 9:35pm
In 1976, for three years, a punk rock group by the name of The Adverts achieved commercial success with their single ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’, leading to praise from John Peel and controversial, yet critical acclaim through ‘Top of the Pops’ appearances and a cementation of a hidden punk gem of the 70s. Following their split in 1979, Tim Smith, aka TV Smith, found a successful pathway of solo releases, from his 1983 ‘Channel Five’ record to his 2020 ‘Lockdown Holiday’ release, all showcasing a remarkable array of songwriting and relentless performance attitude. Armed with just an acoustic guitar, Smith takes us on a journey that echoes the aura of artists like Elvis Costello and John Lydon. There’s a big sense of earnestness about TV Smith, as if he’s got his own world that he operates in, being enough to draw in the audience for his 40-minute set. His songs of political unrest and human unity are immaculate and touching underneath the punk attitude, with the peak of the evening seeing Mr. Smith being joined by Attila the Stockbroker on violin for a closing two-song leg that reaches incredible peaks of audience elation by their departure at 10:15pm.
DAKKA SKANKS – 10:40pm
Closing out day one is Dakka Skanks, a band that has demonstrated across eight years, several singles and a full-length album that they are something very special indeed. Coming to Glastonwick for the second time, these guys have alchemized a spellbinding blend of ska, punk, dub and rock in a concoction that I’ve not witnessed for a long while. The five-piece make use of atmospheric instrumental textures atop a strong and steady baseline of instrumentation that one would find in any other rock band; however Dakka Skanks take their conventional set-up into sky-high raptures with lead vocalist Clara Byrne’s stunning performance hypnotising the barn. However, these guys did something truly special for me, which is this: years ago when studying at Northbrook College, I would do many performances across Worthing alongside my friend’s band Chequered Red, a band who also had a similar flair of musicality to Dakka Skanks. That incarnation of the band is no longer present, but watching Dakka Skanks took me all the way back to dingy Worthing bars in 2019, enjoying my life to the fullest and falling in love with music to no end. No other band I’ve seen live has made me reminisce about something so precise in my life, so thank you Dakka Skanks for a tremendous close-off to a wonderful festival!
Read our account of Day Two HERE and Day Three HERE.
