A couple of weeks ago we went to see (and tape) Hey Negrita and The Travelling Band at The Maze in Nottingham. (I realise that I am a little behind here but what am I gonna do?).
Hey Negrita play the kind of blues soaked americana that you would expect to find in Texas, but with a very British perspective. They first came to my attention supporting Alabama 3 on tour in 2006 and then I caught them again at Trowbridge Village Pump Festival in the summer. They put on a great show and are really nice guys to boot. I can fully recommend catching them if you get a chance.
The support act, The Travelling Band, were equally as impressive.
Imagine if the Beach Boys had a group orgy with CSNY in Manchester and their bastard offspring formed a group, then you are coming close to the sound of The Travelling Band. Four part harmonies delivered over a variety of instruments which change hands with alarming regularity, resulting in some great songs that all have a different feel. Their forthcoming single “Only Waiting” was selected as the single of the week on Radio 2′s Radcliffe and Maconie show which surely signals bigger things to come for this impressive group of musicians.
This past weekend saw the first “Robin Hood Beer Festival” take place in the grounds of Nottingham Castle. We managed to sample some rather fine ales, (Favourite for me was Milestone Somers Wheat Beer), but I will leave it upto someone more “qualified” to comment on that side of things.
This was a new venue for a well established festival and judging by the amount of sold out beers on Saturday afternoon, it was a huge success. A few things definately need attention.
1. The layout was not great. The main tent was jam packed almost all the time and I would like to see it spread across two areas next year. (Also the smaller tents only being open in the evening meant missing a chance to sample some of the beers that I wanted to try).
2. Indoor seating needs to be increased dramatically. This wasn’t so much of an issue on the Friday as the weather was good, but the drizzle on Saturday really rammed this point home.
3. The single point for buying the beer tokens was badly situated and somewhat inadequate which led to long queues and congestion around the main entrance. More points of purchase and better positioning is needed for next year.
4. The single entrance meant long queues to simply get into the grounds (for non-members). As a wristband was needed to buy beers, it would surely be manageable to run more than one entry point.
Hopefully these issues will be looked at for next year which will make a very good event great.
Last night I watched Terry Gilliam’s “Tideland”. I really don’t know where to begin.
Like all Gilliam films it is visually stunning, has moments that will make you laugh and moments to shock you. Sadly (and maybe this is my own inadequacy) I just didn’t get it. It seemed to be going along at a pace without ever going anywhere. I suspect I could watch this film over and over again and take something new out of it every time and still end up thinking WTF?
