Rockstock and … well, long overdue…
This is long overdue, so apologies – it’s been a busy ol’ time. Rockstock and Barrel happened at the end of September, and it was as magnificent as ever. After finishing up work we arrived on site on Thursday evening and got ourselves set up and reunited with our lovely festival friends. Soon enough the cider was flowing (Pear and Chilli was my weapon of choice for most of the weekend) – and the music was starting in the acoustic lounge before the festival proper started on Friday.
Phil Cudworth took to the stage first – probably more familiar to most of us for his awesome woodwork, it turns out he’s a bit of a dab hand with guitar and singing too! He opened with a potentially childhood-destroying song called Disney Princesses where he painted probably on reflection a more healthy set of role models than those proferred by the film company in question, then on to Coward about growing up in the 70s. A mixture of irreverence, humour but also underpinned with real charm.
Coward was up next and then Bounce, then it was on to Hippy Chick. I must admit I started losing track of song names – there was one about a chap called Gary, Computer Nerds has a question mark next to it then there was a really bluesy number called Tollpath Blues. Then we get to where I’ve just covered subject matters – one song was about Russians, another about VIPs, then one called Green-eyed Monster. The set finished up with Free for a Day but as Zoe took the stage she asceded to the crowds demands for an encore, which we got in the form of Sunglasses – a reflection on how stage-performing can adversely affect ones personality. Something to watch out for!