Sunday 3rd July 2011 - Hop Farm Festival - Prince

Sunday 3rd July 2011- Hop Farm  - Prince

We drove to Maidstone on Sunday morning to check into our Travelodge hotel (Maidstone Central), and having checked in around mid-day, we set off for Hop Farm. We set ourselves in a similar position as Friday, just a little further over, as on Friday we could hear background noise from the other stage, during quieter moments on the main stage.

We arrived to catch the end of Aloe Blac on stage (first band of the day), an American soul singer who seemed quite good and got a reasonable crowd reaction.

Next up was Eliza Doolittle, an English singer/songwriter. She was OK, just not really my scene or that exciting really.

By mid-afternoon, Imelda May, Irish vocalist, Rockabilly- style band hit the stage. I had recently given their latest album "Mayhem" a listen and was suitabley impressed, quite looking forward to the performance today. I was not disappointed, and enjoyed most of the hour long set, and was able to recognise most of the tracks. A good, lively,  performance, and went down well with the crowd.

Larry Graham and Graham Central Station went on next. Larry Graham, formerly of Sly & The Family Stone, and backing band, Graham Central Station. The set was a sort of bass heavy, funk fusion. Musically it was OK, but overall did not really float my boat.

By early evening, it was time for Tinie Tempah`s performance.

Again, it did nothing for me, not really a fan of rap, and the performance seemed a little lacklustre, whether a fan or not. Went for a walk. Not impressed!

Anyhow, by now, it was nearly time for the main event- PRINCE!

After a long delay Prince's band wandered on stage late, and a very loud cheer went up from the 30,000 plus crowd. The band then began to "tune up" for the next few minutes, teasing the crowd with everyone awaiting the "Purple Ones" appearance.

After several minutes of this and then a gradual build up of tuning instruments, turning into a teasing, bass heavy, introduction.... Prince appeared on stage to a massive, huge, cheer and loud applause.

I am not (and never have been) a Prince fan myself, but this build up, and then the strong bass line, and the obvious high quality of even this intro for the first number was leading me to believe this was going to be something very special indeed.

The vocals, the music, the attitude, the talent of this legendary musical icon did not disappoint, it surpassed everything I was told beforehand of what was to be expected. Simply awesome.

Susan (my other half, and Prince fan), looking very pleased with the performance. Fourth time now she's seen him live and it took her a long time to convince me he was worth seeing.

The favourite hits were all present from 1999, Raspberry Beret, Nothing Compares 2 U, Let's Go Crazy.... and many more in this 2 hour plus perfomance.

We did leave a little early, at the end of the first encore (there were 3 encores!!)  anticipating chaos in the car park, but we left happy in the knowledge that what we had witnessed was probably one of the best festival performances in the UK this year.


If you ever get the chance to see Prince - even if you would not consider yourself a big fan - do it, you will not be disappointed. 

Prince Hop Farm Set List

1) We live to get funky/Rave un2 the joy fantastic
2) Lets go crazy, delirious, Lets go Crazy (Reprise)
3) 1999
4) Little Red corvette
5) Nothing Compares 2 U
6) Take me with U
7) Raspberry Beret
8) Cream
9) Don`t stop till you get enough (M.Jackson Cover)
10) Lets work
11) U got the look
12) Make U feel my love (Bob Dylan cover)
13) Purple Rain

Encore 1
14) Kiss
15) Controversy
16) Play that funky music (wild cherry cover)

Encore 2
17) Everyday people (Wild cherry cover with Larry Graham)
18) Come together (Beatles cover with Larry Graham)
19) I want to take you higher (With Larry Graham - Sly & Family Stone cover)

Encore 3
20) If I was your girlfriend
21) Dance (Disco Heat) (Sylvester cover)
22) Baby I`m a Star


Our Gig Score:

Aloe Blac   6/10
Eliza  Doolittle 5/10
Imelda May  7/10
Larry Graham 5/10
Tinie Tempah 4/10

PRINCE   10/10

Saturday 2nd July 2011 Brighton & Eastbourne

Saturday 2nd July 2011 Brighton & Eastbourne

A bright sunny Saturday morning, and we decided a trip to Brighton would be good, as it was only around 25 miles away from our Crawley hotel.

We found Brighton to be busy and bustling when we arrived late morning, and we parked in a multi-storey (underground) car park on the sea-front. (an expensive £5+ for just 2 hours).
A look at the Brighton Pavillion was followed by strolls around the busy "boutique" shops and cafes of "The Lanes" then a more leisurely stroll  along the pier and a large sundae ice cream.

   
After a couple of hours we decided to escape the hussle and bustle of a busy Saturday and head for a more sedate Eastbourne.

This was followed with a late Fish and Chip lunch at Harry Ramsdens in Eastbourne, and we mulled over the differences between the two seaside resorts.
The more up-market, chic, busy (and expensive) Brighton versus the quieter, OAP haven of Eastbourne (well the sea front was nice , Eastbourne shopping area less so!).
Parking in Eastbourne was considerably cheaper!!

We enjoyed aspects of both, and having filled up with chips, we headed off for a steady drive back in the summer sun to the delights of Crawley, and to prepare for our music festival treat the following day at Hop Farm.

Hop Farm Music Festival Friday 1st July 2011

Hop Farm Music Festival Friday 1st July 2011

We left the Yorkshire Dales on Thursday, travelling down to Kent to attend the Hop Farm music festival on the Friday and Sunday. (Headliners were The Eagles on the Friday and Prince on the Sunday). The journey of around 300 miles to our Holiday Inn Express in Crawley took around 5 hours.

Friday arrived, and on a sunny early afternoon, just after lunchtime,  we left Crawley for Hop Farm, a 45 minute drive away. Access into the venue was quick, and with chairs and picnic items in hand we walked for about 10 minutes to the main stage area and took residence about three quaters of the way back in an uncrowded and relaxed setting.
There were plenty of facilities, food stalls selling all variety of products, and you could take your own food in with certain restrictions such as no glass and no alcohol. (There were bag searches)
The Hop Farm festival has being running for 4 years and it was expected that around 30-40,000 persons would attend on each of the 3 days.
The line up is shown below, though we only attended on the Friday and Sunday. Also note that there were 3 main performance areas so it is not possible to see evert artist perform as the 3 areas host the performances simultaneously throughout the day. We chose to stick to the main stage.

We arrived just before Jimmy Barnes took the stage, and enjoyed a fairly short but enthusiastic performance which was OK, nothing spectacular, but seemed to go down fairly well with the first day crowd.

I was looking forward to 10cc and was not dissapointed, though a few glitches occured with the generator at the beginning and during their last number. The power totally failed and the band had to leave the stage. We witnessed much dark smoke from the standby generator adjacent the stage and after about 20 minutes power was restored and the band returned to loud cheers to finish their set. A pity as they were very good indeed having gone though most of their well known tunes.

The next Band - Death Cab for Cutie - I did not enjoy so much, having never heard them before I expected something quite hard hitting considering the band name. They were a little bland and unrememorable for me, very indie but not really much different to hundreds of other bands of the same genre.

Brandon Flowers of "The Killers" fame hit the stage late afternoon, and whilst never really a Killers fan myself, he was very popular with the crowd. He did finish with "Mr. Brightside" a well known Killlers favourite and this went down a storm with the crowd. Also invited to the stage was a member of that band.

So early evening arrived and Bryan Ferry. The quality of the band, the vocals from Mr. Ferry, the set list and peformance with video backdrops and dancing girls was very impressive. The best act of the day so far.. by far!! The popular hits were covered and the hour long set was over too soon, perhaps Mr.Ferry should have being headlining this festival?

Late evening, and The Eagles walked on stage to loud applause from the expectant crowd.

They launched into "Hotel California" possibly their best known song with little or no introduction, and to be honest, I thought the version tonight fell a bit flat, perhaps the sound was a bit off initially. The sound, atmosphere and set did improve, but to me and for a festival crowd there appeared to be much newer material aired than the good old stuff much of the crowd possibly wanted. Lets not forget, this is not an Eagles concert, but a 3-day festival with possibly much of the crowd ateending for the 3 days, and possibly not Eagles " die-hard fans " as such.

They were good, but could have being so much better (for this crowd). I thought the set picked up especially after half-way through. It was their last show of a European Tour, but they should have gone out with a bang rather than a fizzle. Enjoyable, but then so were other bands that were not headlining, it should have been more than just enjoyable. A bit like the simple minds gig last week.. close, but no big fat cigar!!

The Eagles set was around 90 minutes, but we did leave near to the end to beat the rush of thousands of cars trying to leave the car parks together!

After finally finding the car in the dark we left with little delay, and did actually hear most of the 2 or 3 numbers remaining whislt walking back to the car.

 

Our Gig Scores:

Jimmy Barnes: 5/10

10cc: 7/10

Death Cab For Cutie: 5/10

Brandon Flowers: 6/10

Bryan Ferry: 8/10

The Eagles: 7/10

Hop Farm Friday Experience: 8/10

Ribblehead 29th June 2011

Ribblehead - 29th June 2011
(Pathfinder Guide Yorkshire Dales - Walk#15  7 Miles, 3 Hours)

After a day off from walking and visits to Kirkby Lonsdale, Sedbergh and Settle, we chose to visit Skipton market the day after the above drive with a walk in the afternoon at Ribblehead.

So after a scenic drive we parked by the side of the road opposite a rather full lay-by at ribblehead (Near the station Inn)

The weather was warm, but cooler than the hot and humid days previous, perfect walking weather.

The route took us across a fairly busy wide track directly to and then under the Ribblehead railway viaduct of Settle-Carlisle railway fame. Much work was carried out in the 1990`s to repair the viaduct and the line thankfully remains open(and quite busy, by the number of trains we observed during the course of our walk).

Once under the bridge it became obvious that most were simply parking, looking at the bridge then returnnig to the car park, and the track ahead became much quiter, and opennig out into open dales.

The 3 Yorkshire peaks of Whernside, Pen-Y-Ghent and Ingleborough were all easily visible for much of this low level flat (but very splendid) walk.

After several miles we arrived at Chapel-Le-Dale and stopped for a late lunch, eating our sarnies on a bench in the church yard.

Pressing on along mainly good tracks and passing several farm steads (some abandoned and derelict) we turned back towards Ribblehead and the viaduct became visible again in the distance.

 The final stretch of the walk took us back to the viaduct approaching level with the railway over the bridge, and then decending down adjacent to it, and back along the wide track again to the car park.

We arrived back at the car at 16:20 having taken around 3 hours around this interesting, very scenic low level walk. Highly recommended.

Our Walk Score: 7.5/10