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A
short overview of Sunay at the 2002 Whitchurch Festival
Whitchurch Festival
Sunday 4 August 2002 (Afternoon)
As Paul and Nik
returned from their foray Damian strummed heartily into, then paused
to "not deafen everyone" before resuming probably the highlight of the
set, 'Naked'.
Whitchurch
Festival Sunday
4 August 2002 (Evening)
Once again the Whitchurch Festival proved very good value at £35 for a weekends worth of entertainment. As usual I was impressed by many of the bands, surprisingly so in some cases. Others I expected to enjoy proved less entertaining but I didn't feel cheated as others lapped them up. Roll on Whitchurch 2003. Find out more about the normal version of the Focus 8 album at Musea.
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Arriving
late again - though in time for a start similar to the previous afternoon
- I found the surprise opening act already well into his set. From that
you may assume another man with acoustic guitar singing some covers
but you'd be wrong. Instead Rolf proved a rather interesting
alternative with an electronic drumkit and further sampling paraphernalia
almost surrounding him as he pounded through some original material.
You may wonder how this all fitted together and I have to say better
than I would have expected. As Rick Allen of Def Leppard showed more
than a decade ago samples can be worked from a drummers footpad and,
along with a CD (judging by the packing boxes just offstage), Rolf provided
a pretty full sound for around half an hour. The only track I caught
the title of was jokingly introduced as "I can't sing so this is 'Nil
By Mouth'." No vocals perhaps but a competent, if unusual, set that
showed the variety of this festival bill.
As
a heavily perspiring Rolf removed his equipment Keith Bell informed
us that once again the second act was late in arriving so he would be
playing a short set. The crowd didn't mind, some even shouting out requests
between songs. This afternoon covered mainly different ground, though
still harked back to Elvis at one point, and repeated a Peter Gabriel
track, 'Mother of Violence', played on the opening night. Jonathon again
stepped up a couple of songs into the set to provide some passionate
mouth organ backing to Nick Drake's 'Northern Sky' and Sam Cooke's 'Bring
It On Home To Me' before finishing up to allow the newly arrived Damian
Wilson and party to set up.
With
no band mentioned I assumed Damian would be solo with just an acoustic
guitar for accompaniment. Instead he had his brother Paul, keyboard
player Nik Slack and a shy young lady by the name of Hannah Townshend
to back him. Until
today I have to admit that I wasn't a fan nor particularly aware of
Damian's history. As a relative newcomer to Landmarq I am familiar with
the more recent female fronted version while the handful of solo tracks
I'd heard just reminded me of the rather dreary and repetitive style
of Lloyd Webber musicals. Boy was I in for a surprise.
From
the off Damian seemed relaxed in front of a crowd and chatted as if
we were all old friends, taking time to introduce his fellow performers
before getting round to "having a singsong." Indeed they even performed
the soundcheck after the introductory chat and invited the throng to
join in with 'She's Like a Fable'. 
I
realised from this initial song that the voice was far superior to what
I expected and could see why Classic Rock Society members voted Damian
'Best Male Vocalist' in last years BOTY (Best Of The Year) awards. Heck,
even John Dexter Jones admitted he understood being usurped and, as
you possibly know, compliments don't sneak past those lips very often!
The music and friendly chat continued with hints given as to the plant
that was the subject of 'Homegrown'. Poor Nik was the subject of an
unexpected solo early in the set when Damian explained that "Nik doesn't
know this but he's going to entertain you for a minute." He passed the
test. Reaching his favourite song Damian added "maybe I shouldn't say
that about my own songs" but after he explained the tale behind 'When
I Leave This Land' and the local interest of it being about "a cemetery
not far from here" I think we were convinced it was very dear to his
heart. So caught up in the back-story he forgot to swap guitars which
resulted in a restart much too the amusement of band and audience alike.
Paul was forced to cover with a tale of childhood brotherly japes and
a saucepan attack that didn't work out as planned. With the song finally
completed Paul and Nik departed for the bar while Hannah sat quietly
watching Damian carry 'Nothing Left In Me' by the strength of his voice
and some simple guitar though she did add some delightful harmonies
to the chorus.
He
admitted that he "enjoyed that" before commenting that the beer was
also enjoyable. I think the audience agreed with him. The
quality continued through a couple more songs before they were called
back for an encore of the soundcheck song that featured and amusing
alternate couplet that ran "She Lives in a stable, drinks Carling Black
Label" showing the man doesn't take himself too seriously which can
only be a good thing. With that they made their exit without any plug
for CDs which was admirable. As they packed up I couldn't help but feel
that I'd probably seen the most satisfying new act (to me) of the event,
possibly the best overall. CDs were actually available outside the other
hall but I still think the voice has to be heard live to be truly appreciated.
If there is any justice Damian will be back headlining one of the evenings
next year. If he can provide such a powerful show with just acoustic
backing imagine what a good rock band backing him could achieve.
Treebeard
on the other hand covered a more folky area and with five musicians,
Gordon Walker on fiddle and Chris Jellis on stringed devices, swelling
the Haze line-up of the previous afternoon, provided a very full sound.
The set covered tracks spread as widely as folk standards, covers of
The Levellers and U2 plus even a couple of newly written tracks, most
of which were to be found on the heavily promoted Treebeard CD. As they
admitted, it had only been two years in the making but was finally available
this weekend for the first time. Beginning with an acapella song the
set continued with instrument changes at every opportunity including
accordion and mandolin. Chris forgot the hat changes though and only
donned his conductors' hat after they concluded the chugging 'Train'.
He did however remember to wear the sheepskin rug that previously he'd
been standing on the encore of 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' Not
to be outdone Gordon donned and doffed a devils mask as he duelled with
himself for the climax of the track. With so much happening in the set,
again almost two hours, and too little space to do it justice I'll just
say that having missed the show last year I understand why the audience
provided such a loud cheer - heard in the car park as I arrived. Entertainment
was certainly the name of the game and I don't think anybody present
went away feeling cheated. Certainly the CD stall was surrounded by
eager purchasers of a momento of the show.
Time
changes abounded and the musicians were enjoying what I believe was
a rare live performance. If that is the case it certainly didn't show
as the four-piece band were extremely tight. Intermingled with the modern
sounds were 60's style organ that reminded me of Jon Lord during the
longer pieces played in late 1969. Animal noises emanating from the
keyboards covered the switching of guitars mid set before the "ballad"
(if there can be such a thing without lyrics) became rather wild towards
its conclusion. The pummelling continued before a quick mention for
the band website (
Hmm,
Henry Fool was a new name to me and I had no idea what to expect. They
certainly didn't compete with swift time changes or powerful instrumentals.
Instead they provided a fairly samey set of quiet, evenly paced introspective
songs that featured quiet and sometimes almost inaudible lyrics that
could have been written in any students bed sit. 
Playing
material that spanned their debut Cyclops album, exclusive tracks from
the labels samplers and new songs any change of direction seemed lost
in the almost tedious slowness of the set. A couple of songs were played
up as being "us with our Metallica T-shirts on" ('Dreaming of Babylon')
or the audience being asked to imagine Axl Rose singing but they rocked
less than at least one of the other tracks. The set started interestingly
enough with an acoustic guitar following a familiar Floyd scale but
soon the instantly forgettable music began to merge into one. Much of
this may have had something to do with drummer Fudge Smith not being
present, Richard Groom taking his place at short notice, but a guitarist
having to double for a missing keyboard player probably didn't help
much either. In fact several mentions were made of previous partnerships
those on stage had been part of but ultimately maybe they should have
stuck with them, as I'm afraid I found nothing of lasting merit in the
performance. I thought maybe that I was alone in this but talking to
the Focus fans congregated towards the stage they seemed of the same
opinion. Perhaps Damian Wilson and Henry Fool should have been switched
for a better bill. Certainly Damian deserved the larger crowd and would
have elicited a better response.
And
so to the headliners and I guess main attraction of the festival. Certainly
they would have been the only band present that a random member of the
public would have heard of. Playing their first UK gig in well over
twenty years what should probably be called Thijs van Leer's Focus as
he is the only remaining original member the band were greeted by the
largest crowd of the weekend. The leather coated heavy figure of van
Leer reminded many present of Tom Baker's Doctor who as he walked across
the stage, bottle in hand, to take his rightful position behind the
wooden bulk of a Hammond Organ. It took more than five minutes for the
band to actually start playing but when the Leslies, then flute, kicked
in the wait was worth it. In what was just a basic school building Thijs
surprisingly introduced 'House of the King' as "appropriate for this
beautiful room". 
Still
the acoustic guitar of Jan Dumee and flute certainly sounded majestic.
Following a band introduction, Bert Smaak and Ruben van Roon comprising
the rhythm section, it was on to the first of many imaginatively titled
tracks 'Focus 2'. Moving almost chronologically they continued with
most of a piece that covered the second side of Moving Waves, 'Eruption'.
'Focus 3' was followed by the most recognisable track of the set, 'Sylvia'
which certainly pleased the overly drunk woman stood next to me. She
spent the remainder of the set sat on a table in front of the stage
- facing the audience. The other noticeable thing was that van Leer
sang just the low register "la la's" while the guitarist covered the
yodelling. 'Focus 5' preceded a track written in memory of the Strasbourg
bells that made a huge impression on van Leer as a child.
Humour
followed as van Leer introduced 'Focus number 9" which isn't in their
new album Focus 8 (a limited edition of which was available exclusively
at the show), but was promised for the follow up. Surprisingly the other
well-known Focus track, 'Hocus Pocus' concluded the set though the band
returned quickly with 'Brother' from the new album. It slotted nicely
among the older tracks and though proving the band may not have progressed
too far it maintained the musical standard. The final couple of tracks
were also from Focus 8 and brought the show and festival to a fitting
conclusion. Having gone in as a sceptic about the virtues of Focus I
have to say they were thoroughly enjoyable and the hour and three quarter
set flew by which is always a sign of a good gig.
