Summertime is back in town, Time to get your Scooter out.

And the scooters have been out. Everywhere in fact.

I've played 3 scooter rallies in the past week, up in Northwich at the Mid Cheshire Charity Scooter Rally, locally in Haverhill for Haverhill Scooter Club Scootermania and in North London for Sunday Best - Scooter Fest

Northwich was a great run, where I managed to purchase the most gorgeous pair of Dr Martens - beautiful non patent Sunshine yellow, from Boots & Camo - before playing a huge set with Ska Wars, 5 encores!

I've added some footage of this gig on my video page 

Then came Big 10 at Haverhill - where the boots made their debut at a gig. This was a hot one - but absolutely packed. We all battled through the heat and played a blinder.

Saving the best til last - Sunday Best. A glorious sunny day at Capel Manor in Enfield, scooters & boots all brightly polished, with some great vintage clothes stands and best of all - Meerkats!

Big 10, Ska & Meerkats. What else do you need?

Here are some pics from Sunday Best (and a wobbly video I took when Big 10 had a brass free moment) - really hope we see you next year!

Keeping the faith

x

Thoughts on Glasto - 1 month on.

Oops. I did it again. It's nearly a month since my last blog - despite last month promising I'd post about Glasto & other bits.

It does seem a bit silly blogging about Glasto nearly a month after getting back, it's all Latitude Latitude Latitude now, but I do have a few thoughts.

Firstly - Festival Chic. Give me a bloody break.

Wear what you want to a festival - not what the shop window of TopShop tells you. It was depressing - denim shorts & designer wellies. Glasto is not a fashion show - it's about the music, the arts, the social discussion. It is not about being a peacock. So you don't wash your hair for 5 days? So what? The world won't end.

Secondly - Guardianbury

Cloth bags with witty slogans written by no-one who's ever been to a festival ever. These Guardian bags (free if you buy their weekend paper) began a few years ago - initially matching the cloth Yeo Valley bags, but with the Guardian logo. Now they're luminous, with such phrases as 'I made a friend for life last night and I think their name was....' or worse. Elbow Lyrics. Don't. Get. Me. Started.

I've found it quite easy to ignore festival chic & Guardian sponsorship for the past few Glastos - but it's encroaching more and more. Or maybe I'm just getting old & cynical. Either way....I wish I could unsee it all again.

Thirdly - Good happy things now (promise) THE GULLY!

The Gully - the new stage in the Dance Village (or Silver Hayes or whatever it's called now) and it's a REGGAE stage & it is wonderful. It's also long overdue. The Gully and another new stage (The Blues) are in recognition that we are no longer throwing shapes and blowing our whistles, but are in an age where reggae and dub can be appreciated 24 hours a day, not just on a lazy sunny afternoon. I spent more time at The Gully than any other stage, a string of great live dub acts & soundsystems. Perfect, and about time too.

Check out Only Joe - who I saw on the Friday.



Other worthy acts I saw were Beady Eye (as expected) Goat (Bonkers) Toy (Strobey) Don Letts (Very Strobey) Public Image Ltd (Outstanding) Granny Turismo (seen to be believed) Jagwar Ma (Beside themselves with happiness to be there) First Aid Kit (impeccable) The Proclaimers (ever present, infallible) and some guys called The Rolling Stones.

Here's a clip from the fantastic PiL set on a sunny Sunday. I'm stood behind the guy in the red top hat!



Maybe see you next year Glasto, but I'm wondering if we've had our time - sad but true.
If you book Bowie, however - I'll be there with bells on. Whether bells are on the TopShop festival chic list or not....

lx