Like last year, I went up to visit my mate Jae and his family in Edinburgh and take in the Fringe. But this year combined it with an all day music festival at the Royal Showground near Edinburgh. Even got VIP tickets for the experience.
Let me first say that "Royal Showground" conjures up in my mind something rather different from the reality. Its a windswept bit of wasteland with a few stands erected, unnervingly close to the airport runway. And what did I get for my VIP experience? A couple of visits to a pleasant toilet. Honestly, that was it, since I wanted to get down to the front, and not join the queue to the bar.
The programme could have been entitled "Nineties Day" given the line up. We arrived too late to do anything but hear a bit of the first act, Republica, from the queue for security. But the first act I was keen on, and for whom I have tickets later in the autumn, was Reverend & The Makers. An excellent, although short set, and they rather disappeared in the oversize stage.
I have seen this band many times, but they have added a new young lady on bass who was a very welcome injection of youth
The Reverend has certainly put on a few pounds over the years, and one wondered if his exhortations to the crowd to "bounce" were entirely wise given he was trying to set an example. But he is always good fun. Most memorable comment was "I am freezing my tits off up here". Probably fair comment at that. By the end of the day I was wearing my gloves. Scotland in August for you.
Next up were a band I had never seen before - Alabama 3. Needless to say they have nothing to do with Alabama, being formed in Brixton by a Scotsman and a Welshman. But they sound American. And sound very good too.
Middle act was Embrace. They were focussing on the 20th anniversary of their album Out of Nothing. I am afraid I always found them a bit bland, and while in appearance they have aged rather better than most of the others on the bill, their sound just didn't do anything for me, now or then.
Penultimate act were the View, the youngest band of the night and the only "local" band, although Dundee is rather a different place to Edinburgh. But they were the only properly Scottish band on show.
Youngest band, and by far the most energetic. Lead singer Kyle Falconer might not have read the weather forecast, or was just super keen to show off his bare legs. Shortest shorts I can ever remember a band member wearing on stage!
To show you what a small world we live in, back in London I got chatting to a bloke at the bar in my pub, and given the Scottish accent asked where he was from. He said Dundee, and so I mentioned the coincidence that only the previous weekend I had watched a band from Dundee. I showed him the photo below (when Kyle had rather nicely bounded down from the stage after his set to press the flesh with the crowd) and it turned out that not only did this man in a random North London pub know of the View, but knew Kyle personally when he was younger. He commented how much better he looked now. (I think the rock star dalliance with drugs had taken its toll, as it does with many a young rocker.)
The other thing you might notice from below photo is the huge gap between the stage and the front crowd barriers. I have been to many venues where the entire auditorium is smaller than this buffer zone!
And finally on to Ocean Colour Scene. Sad to say that lead singer Simon Fowler does not look a well man, although a bit younger than me. Very overweight, he rather limped on stage and didn't move around much when up there. Fortunately his vocals are as good as ever. Very much a band of the nineties and Brit Pop, they really shone brightly with their classic album Moseley Shoals, notably the single the Riverboat Song, (which everyone who claims never to have heard of the band or the song recognises when played, such is the familiarity of the guitar riff.)
While most bands tend to finish on their best known song, OCS stated with it. Credit to them. Go in big, front load your set.
Not so sure about their choice of backdrop - lots of shots of them when a young band. Good for nostalgia I guess, but a rather sad contrast to the aging rockers on stage. Perhaps more bizarrely, the son of one of the guitarist also plays with the band as a supplemental guitarist. But they hid him away in the far back corner to the left of the drummer. Sorry I didn't get a photo, but this young man is a stunner in the looks department - think young Brad Pitt. "Bet he gets all the groupies," commented my mate.
They finished on their second best known track, the Day We Caught the Train, with more backdrop of carefree youthful band having fun on a sunny day. Really nice. But stark contrast to the bunch of old blokes playing on a freezing Edinburgh day which only featured the two showers. Mid August. Huh.
Would I see OCS again? Yeah, of course. They sound as good as ever!
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