Rhythm Festival

The Rhythm Festival 2011 in Old Warden Park presents as a good venue with the stages close enough to each other for easy switching and yet not too close to each other to interfere. The surroundings were lovely and the food and drink were at reasonable prices. We went for the 2nd of the three days and saw Slim Chance first up. They did a great set of Ronnie Lane songs - see below.

We had not heard of Sandi Thom but are glad to have seen her - a really lively and accomplished set.

The afternoon was breezy but as you can see, good enough to sit on the grass. The audience was a bit sparse, put off by the weather forecast perhaps or maybe there aren't so many old rockers and hippies about these days, though we did see tie & dye Grateful Dead t-shirts adorning the ample torsos of a few pony tailed, sandal wearing festival goers. We were in anoraks, not at all fashionable, but they came in very handy later on!
Next up was Bobby Valentino. He has played in a few bands over the years (e.g. Fabulous Poodles, Hank Wangford) but this line up was called Bobby Valentino and the Musicians. Good stuff!

One reason I went to the festival was to see Jack Bruce. The very accomplished Norman Beaker Band kicked off with two numbers before Jack joined them during a very heavy downpour. This prompted him to call for 'Sunshine' which went down very well. We got what we came for, some old favourites, including Politician, Born Under a Bad Sign, We're Going Wrong
and White Room. Great stuff! The voice isn't what it used to be but the bass playing is still top notch and the sax player was superb.

So that was five outdoor concerts in summer 2011 and we got wet at four of them; the only dry one was in New York. It's going to take somebody special to get me out there next year...