Shiiine On Weekender!!! Was It Worth It?
I thought that I’d leave a review of Shiiine On Weekender for a week or two just to let my emotions calm and filter out what I thought happened and focus on the reality…I think I’m about there now. Poor little Minehead…it became like a rabbit in the headlights…its proverbial mouth hung wide open in a daze while thousands of indie music loving 90s preachers descended upon it with purpose, intent and a “come on!!!” in their mostly overweight bellies.
This was the first festival that I’ve been to where there were no squabbles about what band we were going to see…no band fan dilemma at all…hats off to the organisers North Country Boys! You could (if you a person who likes drawing up schedules) easily plot out where you were going to be and at what time throughout the weekend…although I missed two bands that I really wanted to see…but that was to do with traffic and train delays more than the event providers.
So…after missing Thousand Yard Stare and Milltown Brothers…two bands that I have at least seen before but would have been great to see them again we got ourselves into our bungalow just as Space arrived on stage. The sound of Female of the Species echoing from the dome meant we had at least 10-15mins before the Farm started. Having not eaten at all on the mammoth journey down my first thought…as always if it’s not cake and coffee…was to grab something substantial to eat. This lead to a quite surreal moment of being sat in a Burger King watching The Farm live…that kicked the event off nicely. The Farm…although never my favourite band…played their favourites well with the added incentive of doing a cool rendition of The Clash’s Bankrobber with Groovy Train and All Together Now. On first impression of the sound of the event I wasn’t that impressed…I felt as if the dome took away too much of the sound. We got ourselves as close as we could to the stage but only managed to get halfway and still it sounded like they only had the sound up half way. That said though it was time for the main band of the Friday night…The Inspiral Carpets.
I have been lucky enough to see the Inspirals three times live and they have been excellent on all occasions…but this was the first time with Stephen Holt (their original lead singer)…apart from a few dodgy live YouTube videos…so they were on my not-to-miss list. The chorus of moo’s that followed every song had me grinning from ear to ear…as did the appearance of Walter the Puppet…the band stopped their set to have pictures taken with him…love that sort of band/fan interaction.
I feel that I have split loyalties with the Inspirals because I was a massive fan of Tom Hingley who sang most of my favourite songs so when Stephen Holt was singing Tom’s songs it just wasn’t right. Stephen singing the old Dung 4 songs and the new album…excellent…especially Let You Down what a song that is live!!! After playing a great mix of old and new songs they finished with an encore of Directing Traffik and Saturn 5…one final “MOO” and they were done. They are a band though that still have that something else when they play live…you love them more the more you see them…25 years on! Happy with the end to the Main stage it was off to the Centre stage to see what James Atkin of EMF fame had to offer. To be honest his new stuff wasn’t my cup of tea…I will have to give it a better listen but nothing really jumped out at me…that was until the moment he welcomed Derry Brownson (keyboards and samples for EMF) onto the stage for the last two songs…the crowd suddenly woke up…EMF’s Children then Unbelievable were blasted out that left people yet again with big smiles on their faces. The old kings of ambient The Orb finished off the Friday night but with the toll of the days’ journey down we were starting to flag…well those of us who weren’t gurning with eyes as big as their beanie hats were anyway so we headed off to bed…to try and pace ourselves…knowing what was to come on Saturday.
Bez’s pool party was sacrificed for free games of pool in a local pub and a few pints of Guinness to get us ready for the evening ahead.
Northside were up at 4:30pm…Shall we take a trip was a massive tune for me as was their album Chicken Rhythms so I was ready and raring to go…unfortunately no-one else was…I really felt for Northside’s front man Dermo. I'm glad he had his bottle of JD for company...there were idiots all around me that were drunk and shouting all sorts of rubbish at him and 2 mins later they had the mike turned off and they had to leave the stage without playing any of the songs that people had gone to see. This is one of the main reasons that I don't go to festivals because ignorant people don't seem to want to give other bands a chance and spoil people's enjoyment...I’d love to know what the real reason was as i was really looking forward to seeing them. Twitter for the past few months has been full of praise for them...very odd? The world is full of opposites…and if the crowd were not up for Northside then what was to follow was light years away from it…what was to follow was the most emotional experience that I have ever had at a gig. I have never been this close to bursting into tears in a public place before in my life! By now…it felt as if all 6000 people at Shiiine On were shoe-horned into the Main stage area…it was time…it was Peter Hook’s time…he came, saw, conquered and wiped the floor with everyone.
If anyone has seen or read reviews of Peter Hook and the Light they seem to have taken some time to warm up in a gig before getting better and better…we were part of the lucky few that saw him hit home from the start…pick us all up on his trademark bass and throw us around the dome. We got a full emotional assault from Joy Division and New Order that touched places that you had forgotten existed…from Digital, She’s Lost Control and Transmission he was joined by Mondays vocalist Rowetta to perform on Atmosphere…beautiful…just beautiful…insert tears here. Then without time to recover…a song I never thought I would hear live…Blue Monday…6000 people went from sad to happy in the space of a bass cord. I was never really a big fan of New Order…Joy Division I love to this day but I could easily only have 3 or 4 songs that I’d say that I enjoy. Lucky for me that he played all 4 before finishing with Love Will Tear Us Apart and everyone was in bits again. Funniest moment came when after they played Digital…Hookey in no uncertain terms told a bloke to turn the spot light off that was shining in his face…saying “I’m not usually a man that swears” as a pre-cursor.
It was time for some food and a well deserved recharge before the Mondays were due on so we sacrificed the Stereo MC’s for Pizza Hut…4 bottles of San Miguel and a pizza later and we were ready to go again. The last time I saw the Happy Mondays live was in 1990 at Whitley Bay…they had 60s singer-songwriter Donovan supporting them and he was dreadful…he was booed off the stage in the end. There were further inhouse squabbles between Shaun Ryder and Mark Day (keyboards) so much so that songs would start..then stop half way through…then start again…it was a crazy gig. I didn’t know what to expect…in truth…I don’t think the crowd did. What we got was a great run through of Pills N Thrills with the encore of Hallelujah followed by my personal favourite Wrote For Luck.
The Mondays have always had that cool feel about them…all the band members looked relaxed and really enjoying themselves…Bez was his usual amusing self..job done perfectly with crowd interaction…Ryder still had the wit and manc swagger from years passed…and Rowetta…has still got IT.
The funniest moment of the set was when Shaun was embarrassed to sing Bobs Yer Uncle saying he was too old and fat to be singing it as it was too dirty…the rapport between Ryder and Rowetta was still there…I hope they keep going for a bit of time yet. After the evening at the Main stage I didn’t think that it could get any better…not for the first time…I was wrong. We luckily made it into the Reds bar to see the Clone Roses play what my brother called a Karaoke set in front of a packed adoring sticky-floored crowd. Following a superb version of Love Spreads we set off to Centre stage for 808 State…and a sit down…my neck was killing at this point…vodka was needed. MC Tunes had little to offer with new songs that didn’t really sound that good…even his best song to date The Only Rhyme That Bites he did without the original 808 State music because he “never liked it”…so that was a disappointment.
808 State did not disappoint though…their set was in a word….Stunning…a mixture of electronics…live guitar…drums..and horns they sounded like no-one else that weekend…old floor fillers like Cubik, Olympic and In Yer Face…finished off with Pacific!!!…I’ve not danced for 90 mins solidly for 20 odd years and they just made me!!! Manchester house DJ Graeme Park took over and that saw in the end of Saturday…4:30am and we were done in. Sunday at Shiiine On was always going to be a quiet one…with only The Wedding Present on the Main stage that we were bothered about we headed out into Minehead for something to eat.
It looked like most people were heading home on the Sunday...which I thought was a bit crap for the bands still to play.
When the Wedding Present hit the stage the packed feel from the night before had gone along with most of the atmosphere. I love the Wedding Present but I hadn’t seen them live for 20 years so I was really excited about this gig.
They were as good as I remember them to be...although Dave Gedge is the only original band member left from the days of George Best, Bizarro and Sea Monsters...they still come together with the same sound...many guitar strings are broken in usual Gedge whirlwind fashion...old favourites such as You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends, Kennedy and Dalliance all played and finished off with the quite sublime Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft...dedicated followers leave fulfilled...fans waiting for the Wonderstuff nodded their heads in appreciation. None of us were that bothered about The Wonderstuff...and I couldn’t see Vic Reeves popping up out of knowhere so I wasn’t really that bothered with sticking around to watch them...so with that in mind we got a few more drinks down us and that was it...time to reflect on a great weekend. Had a chat about going again next year...think I only would if there was a big group of friends going. Although there was no visible trouble there...not that we saw anyway...with everyone being between 30ish plus you didn’t have to step over any passed out drunk youths on the floor or dodge piles of sick which is a bonus...but it did seem to be around 80% blokes with the majority of them being away from partners for the weekend were making the most of it that turned the bar areas especially in the Centre bar into a bit of a cock-fest. All in all though it was a weekend of some amazing moments that I for one will never forget...Thank You Shiiine On!!!
