Day 1 - Friday 21st February 2014
Due to my remote geographical location
and my naturally lazy disposition, I don't get out to as many gigs as I would
like these days. So, when an event offering two days of live music popped up
just a couple of miles down the road it seemed churlish to ignore it. So, once
work commitments had been met, I rocked up at the Whistand Bay Fort and
strolled in to the old Vaults Bar which is part of a holiday park just in time
to catch Vince Freeman taking to the
stage with his band. Musically speaking, the trio were tight, accomplished and
clearly enjoying themselves on stage. However, for me, the style was a little
bland and the kind of songs you'd imagine on an X-Factor rejects album. Vince
and the boys threw in a couple of covers including 'L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.' by
Noah and the Whale and Johnny Cash's 'Ring Of Fire' which peaked the crowd's
interest but all in all it was a relatively forgettable set not helped by a
distinctly washed out and subdued sound mix.
After a top up of the cloudy
cider (yes, my head is hurting today) it was time to check out the Blues Rock
covers band Nine Lives from Cornwall
who started off sounding like a Thin Lizzy tribute band with a Roger Daltrey
wannabe on vocals. Again, though, the sound let them down as you couldn't hear
the vocalist or the lead guitarist above the rest of the band for the first
half of the set. Nevertheless, the quintet ploughed enthusiastically through a
set that featured songs like AC/DC's 'Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be', Guns'n'Roses'
'Sweet Child O' Mine' and ZZ Top's 'Gimme All Your Lovin'' and the lead
guitarist (the youngest of the bunch by a long way) played some great licks
when you could hear him. As the sound improved towards the end of the set, plenty
of air guitar was played along with set closer 'Highway To Hell' by AC/DC.
The main attraction for the
evening could be seen preparing behind the stage with the slightly incongruous sight
of seven men in 1940s American GI garb. These are the seven men of Company B, a troupe of Westcountry
musicians who play Swing and Jive music that cannot fail to get your head
bobbing and your leg twitching. With a mixture of their own compositions and
covers like Louis Prima's 'Jump Jive & Wail' and 'Just A Gigolo', they got
the crowd going without much effort and the whole joint jumping in no time at
all. Their horn heavy version of 'King Of The Swingers' got all ages happily
swinging along and I'm a sucker for big ol' double bass being thwacked live on
stage.
As warm ups go, this was a pretty
good for a first night and things certainly improved as the evening went on.
I'll be back up for day 2 later, who's in?
More information:
Vince Freeman - https://www.facebook.com/Vincefreemanofficial?fref=ts
Nine Lives - http://www.ninelivesrock.co.uk/
Company B - http://www.companyb.org.uk/index.htm