Cornbury 2006 - a long post with lots of words in it.

So Cornbury 2006? Was it worth it?

Most definitely.

Highlights: Robert Plant, The Pretenders, SoulJacker, Good Dog
Lowlights: Robyn Hitchcock, Dualers, Deacon Blue.
No lights (yet): Rocco DeLucca, Nerina Pallot.


She was good Nerina, very pretty (see above), oh, and she can really sing too but some of the guff between the songs is just too silly for words and she loses all the atmosphere. I hope she watched The Pretenders and learned. Robert Plant was peerless. If ever restraint was given out he took his share and several other people's too. That may seem an odd thing to say about the Overlord of heavy metal, but he never once allowed a song to go on too long, or a chord too many to be played, or the music to be overpowered by effect. He can't dance though.

There was quite a lot of stuff around the various stages to do with violins and nasal twangs, without which I can easily do. But do keep an eye out for Chantelle Pike. No, it's not a good name, but it is hers. And why Kate Rusby was in the small tent when she was enough of a draw for the main stage, and there was space in the Sunday line-up, I don't know.

The Waterboys and Ronnie Spector didn't turn up. The former because they were stuck in Lisbon when their plane was cancelled - which is fair enough. Blame BA, we all did. The other, well, she just didn't show up, and no word to anyone as far as I could gather. So you can guess what everyone thought of her.

But the failure of Mike Scott to show up led to a combination of the excrutiatingly embarrasing and the mildy heart warming. The embarrasing was Richard Allinson who is a second rate DJ who floats around never quite getting his own show, mainly because he's never quite good enough. He is so deeply patronising that it made my toes curl. Anyway, the upshot was that we had an extra hour with no band on the stage. Luckily Rocco DeLucca thinks people at rock festivals should hear music, so he perfomed an extra set. He had already done his stuff, which is quite amazing, but needs honing before it's really listenable to. It's kind of delta blues crossed with Jimmy Page and someone else famous who plays slide guitar but whose name I can't remember. But it was inventive, exciting and real music. And it kept Richard Allinson behind the stage. Which is almost the best place for him.

Good Dog and SoulJacker were the youngsters. And I have to be pompous and say that music is looking good for the future. These two bands were good, really good, especially the latter. I shall keep an eye out for their album. You can tell when a band is making a buzz at these places because the crowd just keeps on getting bigger as they play their set. By the end it was standing room only, and we all hollered and screamed (in a very dignified way, you understand) for more and, I love this bit, the lead singer said "Thank you, that's our first ever encore. We don't know what to play because we hadn't planned for this bit, so we'll just play our first song again". Bless. The oldest is only 17. If I tell you the song was called something like 'Jimmy Page drank my tea' you may see where their influence lay.

In contrast the decidedly middle-aged Robyn Hitchcock (who?) and two, or was it three, of REM including Pete Buck were quite dreadful. Simply awful. From the stupid comments between the songs to the dreadful noise that lashed our ears, with each song sounding exactly like the cacophany that had preceded it, they were the (very) low point of the festival. Deacon Blue were just dull, and the Dualers murdered more songs than I though possible in one set.

I've also got to mention Hayseed Dixie on Saturday. I can take or leave them: breathtaking skill and great entertainers and all that but, you know, once you heard a bluegrass version of an Iron Maiden, AC/DC etc song, you've heard their whole idea. Anyway, my 12 year old son adored them.

We sat some of the time in the tent and at one point some people came and joined my son and I at our table. Very polite they were, and chatty, but no sooner had they sat down than a younger couple came up to the older of the two men - he was grey, fuzzy and very quiet - and asked to be photographed with him. "Thanks very much," said the young girl, "you're an absolute legend." They toddled off happy with photos and autographs. At the table, there was considerable teasing banter about this old fella being a "legend" and what it was worth. Not much was the merry conclusion. It was only after he had went off somewhere that we worked out it was Martin Chambers, The Pretenders' drummer. He didn't return. Bugger. My son's a nascent drummer and we had the (only) chance to chat. And get autographs.

Neither of us had been especially looking forward to The Pretenders on Sunday, but they were bloody good. I mean seriously outstanding. Loud, tight, no frills and minimalist stage clutter, but they also have Chrissie Hynde. Speaking as a still red-blooded male she's quite something:
We were only a few feet away from her (you can see my piccies from Cornbury on my Flickr page - see the side bar) and she is looking fantastic. She has the kind of prescence that you can not ignore. She spoke little, but effectively, and they played song after song after song. Almost 90 minutes of perfect rock. Short songs, played brilliantly and delivered without fuss. And Martin Chambers was mighty. In fact they were so good that we decided that Texas would only be a let down after that, and came home* knackered but delighted.

Oh, and also a hell of lot poorer. Even though our tickets were free, I still managed to shell out £150 on food, drink and so on. And for that we didn't even get a concert T Shirt. I tried to get one for the little'un, but they'd all gone by Sunday.



*Wrong decision it now turns out. Apparently Texas were even better. Bugger.