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MATHEW STREET MUSIC FESTIVAL 2006.... Part 1.
Photographs by Patrick Trollope
FOR the
fifteenth year running, the largest European free music festival
began with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, on last Friday
evening at the famous Pier Head Stage One. Despite the poor weather,
well over a thousand people gathered to hear the City’s famous
orchestra and its special guests. Unfortunately, it was raining
intermittently as the orchestra began, then, as a sharp wind from
the south was driving the rain on to some very expensive
instruments, these needed to be moved back. This caused some delay
and the cancellation of some of the orchestral programme.
Nevertheless what we heard was excellent and was enthusiastically
received. Very few people quit their ground, the rest remained
remarkedly good humoured despite some heavy bouts of rain.
Liverpool Phil’s new Russian conductor, Vasily Petrenko was
conducting music from Tchaikovsky when such a downpour occurred and
a sea of umbrellas unfurled, almost like a scene from Fantasia! The
Orchestra had thought to combine music with a football theme, both
subjects being dear to this City and achieved it, despite the cut in
the programme. Soloists, Jennifer John and Thomas Lang gave us a
rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, ‘When you walk
through a storm’ seemed very appropriate. Peter Wylie gave us,
‘Heart As Big As Liverpool’ and Gary Christian of the
‘Christians’ sang Lennon’s, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ accompanied by an
orchestra as it was originally intended to be. Mark Forrest of
Classic FM ably presented the concert despite the challenges.
Following some final Russian fervour from the Phil, the whole show
culminated with fireworks, which brightened the sky during a brief
lull in the rain.
“Well worth braving the elements”, was the opinion of the
attenders who we spoke to; a good start to the Festival!
So it was with trepidation about the weather that the rest of the
bank holiday weekend was anticipated. Saturday and Sunday however,
turned out to be fine, dry and warm with a light wind. It was just
right for such a function as this festival. Monday’s performances
will be reported next week. There were two, well separated, stages
blasting out the artists’ music.
Stage One (Pier Head North) began at 10.30 with Sounds of the
Sixties, which gave us all a nostalgic return to that wonderful
golden era when it all began. That was followed at 11.30 by that
blues-rock band, Hamsters. Next came that great Liverpool musician,
Gerry Marsden. The fabulous Gerry and the Pacemakers gave us an
exciting memory journey by playing their old hits with all the gusto
and panache of yore. Among the tunes they played were, ‘It’ll be
alright’, the local anthem ‘Ferry across the Mersey’,
and, of course, they had everyone swaying and singing, ‘You’ll
Never Walk Alone’. The well known twins, Craig and Charlie took
over at 1.30 with their renowned, The Proclaimers. The crowd was
quite dense by now and was rocking to the melodies hammered out into
our eardrums. Dr and the Medics took the stage at 1.45 with a
musical display, which captivated everyone. Their dancing was well
choreographed. When the Doc, in his red coat, did a dance with a
lady I thought that he was going to propose to her at one stage!
Much to everyone’s surprise, there was even a strip-tease to one
number! The crowd enjoyed singing with the group, ‘I’m a
Believer’. An hour later they were followed by the German
musician, Johnny Silver, who really pleased the audience with his
captivating John Lennon impressions. 5.30 and Herman’s Hermits took
over their slot in the entertainment. This took the festival to even
greater heights of musical pleasure as they played music from those
now far off days. To close the day’s rocking and rolling, from 6.30
to 7.15, we were regally entertained by those stunning stars of the
60’s, playing their wonderful tunes.
So to Stage Two at the South end of the
Pier Head which kicked off at 11 with Streetwaves. They are the
proud winners of the Liverpool X-Factor Search for fresh musical
talent. This was followed, at 12.15, by Rambo and Leroy, who are
Liverpudlian singers and songwriters. They blend the traditional
with contemporary styles most successfully. The next band was an
indie rocker style called ’The Most Terrifying Thing’. They
were well worth listening to. A group came on at 1.45 called
‘Lyons and Tigers’. They had tunes with lively rhythms with some
rap mixed in, most enjoyable. ‘Kuki’ took the stage dead on
2.45. Although this was billed as a seven piece band there were only
two as, I believe, the band had split-up and the lady singer with
the male accompanist were making a come-back. I was impressed by her
voice and choice of songs. I wish her the very best of luck. They
were followed by Tommy Scott’s ‘The Drella’s’ an hour later.
They had a very good beat and their vocal pieces were done with
clean and clear diction. At 4.30, a band, which first performed at
this festival last year, took the stage. Zombina and the Skeletones
have improved and matured into an excellent and exciting band. Their
make-up was not as exciting as last year, but their music really set
the pulses racing. The follow-on group, ‘Fridge Mountain Fires’
took over and continued with some very good, lovely melodies. 6.15
and the ‘The Maybes’ started to entertain us. They have a
great beat and are, no doubt, good to dance to. I very much enjoyed
their rock and roll tunes and songs. The last band to play on this
stage was ‘Missin Beats’. They gave us all ‘just what was
needed’ to encourage us to come back on Sunday. Their hot and
fierce beat extracted from me.
AND so to Sunday. Oh, how we wish we
could be at both Stages and with every performing band, but that is
not possible. Father Christmas opened up stage one and
then the shows started.... Luckily we managed to get around to
most of the performances. Stage 1 started the day off at 11 o’clock
with the Finnish band, ‘Gubbrockarna’. They are a
large band who played hits from the ‘60’s and ’70’s. They were very
exciting. ‘Gubbrockarna’
were followed by a female band, called ‘Connie Lush and Blues
Shouter’. Great stuff!
(Click on the exclusive interviews on the Liverpool Reporter, to be
added later this week., and will be also added to the 2nd part of
this story in next weeks Southport Reporter )
At 1.15 Ian Broudie’s
pop legends, ‘Lightning Seeds’ took to the stage. An
excellent band. Thus we had a
fantastic warm up, so to speak, for the rest of the day.
(Click on the exclusive interviews on
the Liverpool Reporter, to be added later this week., and will be
also added to the 2nd part of this story in next weeks Southport
Reporter )
So it was then on to
‘Wonder Stuff’. Boy did they play music, which stirred one’s
feet to tap! In some songs sung by ‘Shack’ there were some
lovely lyrics along with a subtle blending of instrumental sounds.
It was a real pleasure to listen to them.
Then came a very
popular group, ‘Tabby’. They are a very accomplished band who
gave of their best with good harmonies and a well-balanced mix of
tunes and songs. Their stage presence was excellent.
To round the day off
at Stage 1, we were entertained by a gripping, sensational band from
Argentina called, ‘Dios Salve a la Reina’ (God save the
Queen!). The high spot of the day! They not only had the audience
jumping, but waving and clapping. They were electrifying!
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And so to Stage 2 (at
last!!) At 11am Streetwaves again started the day’s music here. As I
have already said, they are the proud winners of the Liverpool
X-Factor Search for fresh
musical talent.
A group, which has not yet, I have heard, been signed up, followed
them! My, I wonder why. That took us to 1pm and the music of
‘Santa Carla’. I found them very intriguing.
‘Freemaker’,
another unsigned band took over to entertain successfully the
ever-growing large audience. By now it was 2.30 and the ‘River
Niger Orchestra Presents’ was on the stage. How catchy the
African music is! I enjoyed the costumes as well as the tunes and
vocals, some of which were danced to by a very colourfully dressed
young lady. There was a lot of invited audience participation too.
The ‘John Smith Band' had an
exciting beat and seemed quite popular. I love swing, so I was sorry
that I unavoidably missed ‘The Mags’ whom I was hoping to
hear. I did manage to catch ‘Blue Demon’ who had a good
sound, a steady hard style with a quick rhythm, but apart from their
lyrics not much variation. They were followed by a truly ‘true
party and fun band’ with good balance. They had a variety of
tunes and gave the impression that they really did enjoy their
playing. The
concluding group today on this stage was ‘The Laze’. They are
a 6-piece band who really had the audience excited. Good, loud
distinctive harmony was a real hall mark for this talented group.
More from Monday's events in next week
issue as well as audio.... BUT this week we have ???
pages of photographs for you to look at!
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