Fest class
How often do you come away from a local festival loaded down with CDs by people you’ve never heard of? Pretty much never, we’d wager - but that’s exactly what happened to PRSD at the over the weekend.
Held at Ullacombe Organic Farm near Haytor on Dartmoor, Aeon boasted a host of top musical turns as well as some really tasty organic food and clean toilets - staggering work for a two-day local fest, we’re sure you’d agree.
So who were the aforementioned ‘top turns’? These were the aforementioned
‘top turns’.
First up, we caught a dose of Top Shop power pop from the , whose ramshackle girl-group charms won us over instantly. The fab tunes conjured memories of Kenickie but the combo’s air of gimlet-eyed ambition was more reminiscent of The Faders. In fact, they even had a song called Give Us A Show On T4, Mr Producer (not strictly true). Nevertheless, we loudly proclaimed them our favourite band ever, until common sense kicked in and we skulked quietly from
the barn.
Next, we happened across , who definitely had a touch of Buckley-the-younger about him, but there may’ve been some Robert Smith and Morrissey in there too. There’s not much more to say about the excellent singer/songwriter, other than if he’s not a massive star in two years time, we’ll eat our People’s Republic t-shirt.
We also found time for a chat with and her band before their show.
Evi (pronounced ‘Evie’, fact fans) admitted she was nervous about playing and ‘absolutely bricking it’. Turns out she needn’t have worried. Her voice is simply astounding, soaring above the tumbling drums and chiming guitars. Despite Evi warning us to expect goth music, it was actually more reminiscent of the shoegazing likes of Slowdive et al. Top stuff and well worth a listen.
We were also wildly enthusiastic about Caballero, whose two-man, dumb-ass riffola machine ended our Saturday night very nicely indeed. Mrs PRSD wasn’t quite so enamoured but by then she more interested in ‘hanging out’ with Evi Vine’s band. What a roggen roll lifestyle we lead, eh viewers?
On Sunday, we woke early to enjoy acoustic sets from , (pronounced ‘Rachel’, doncha know, ) and the divine Ms Vine, who looked rather the worse for wear. David Sanders was also back to justify our musical love. The 4-Star Lovers, however, were nowhere to be seen. Blub!
We hung around a bit longer to sup tea and catch the 80s stylings of the , and Hendrix-wannabes Cat In The Hat (we know - awful band names) but were not entirely won over. They were, however, the perfect accompaniment to a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Before we left, we caught up with unflappable Aeon organiser Niki who admitted she hadn’t slept for two days and assured the PRSD that Aeon would be back next year, ‘bigger and better’ with more acts and a dance tent.
Hey, what more can we say, other than we had a most excellent time. So much so, we haven’t slagged any bands off in this review. Wonders, as your mum used to say, will never cease.
Oh, and we wanna hear from yous lot. If you went along to Aeon at the weekend, why not leave a comment and let us know what you thought? We’d be interested to hear your views. Yes, really!
Posted by Thin White Duke
August 30th, 2006
5 comments
