Chris Butler
Tallington Ashes 2002
The
second successive year of the Tallington Ashes and also my second successive year of
appearing at Blyth Power's annual music and cricket weekend. The venue is the Whistle Stop
in Tallington, Lincolnshire. It's a few miles to the East of the town of Stamford. The
Whistle Stop is a lovely pub with a campsite to the rear of the venue and an outside
bar/stage area. It even boasts Internet access!
I
loaded up the car on the Friday afternoon with all the stuff I'd need for the weekend:
Guitar, leads, CD's, newsletters, clothes, sleeping bags etc. Thankfully my mate Allan had
travelled down earlier than I could and was putting up the tents in time for our arrival.
I'm a pretty inexperienced driver and it was to be my longest distance driven so far and
the thought of it made me more nervous than the thought of playing the gig! I filled up
with petrol and checked the car over ready for the drive down from Derbyshire to
Tallington. (By the time I arrived home Sunday afternoon, I'd clocked up 160 miles!).
Hoping we'd get nice weather (it had been a wet July so far) we set off hoping to try and
reach our destination before dark! We actually arrived at about 8.40 pm. It had taken us
two hours and I was relieved, delighted and quite impressed by my driving exploits. There
was an informal acoustic evening on the Friday evening so I got a drink, took out the
guitar and tried to get some sort of tuning done. Joseph Porter kicked it off. Always
entertaining and a pleasure to see him perform songs like 'Death and a lady'. I followed
next and performed four songs. Strike!, The Blackleg Miner, Wish You Were Here, Just Do
It! I performed 'Strike!' and 'The Blackleg Miner' because of the industrial action I'm
involved with in my workplace. Our one day strike was to be the following Wedneday and
those songs seemed to me to be quite appropriate to perform. Then Gob Dylan did a few
songs including 'Anarchy in the UK' done in a style of Bob Dylan and a punky version of
Dylan's 'Knockin' on heaven's door'. Then it was Jessie Adams turn to do a spot. The first
time I'd seen Jessie perform solo with an acoustic guitar and great fun he was too. To end
the acoustic evening, Steven Cooper (Blyth Power's guitarist) did a couple of songs
including a great duet with Joseph Porter. They played the song 'Goodnight' has an
appropriate finale. And it was goodnight from us too as we went off to our tents and warm
sleeping bags for the night. It was a cold and wet night but Saturday was to be very
different indeed.
I
awoke to glorious sunshine and so we travelled into Stamford and trawled through the
streets and shops and after breakfast and a mid-morning tea or coffee, returned to the
venue just in time for Blyth Power's lunchtime set. A great set from the band too. Sitting
in the sun with a cool beer while songs such as 'Bacchus on the wagon' filled the summer
afternoon was a real joy and made me realise how lucky I am sometimes getting to play the
odd gig with a band like Blyth Power. It's so enjoyable to do and there's an old quote
that springs to mind from ex- footballer George Best. 'It's only work if you don't enjoy
it' and that sums it up really. I also remember a quote from George when asked the nearest
to kick -off time he'd made love. He replied "Half-time!". But anyway, I
digress…The weather was hotting up and it was soon time for the cricket match! I was
again on the Blyth Power team this year and this year we won! Admittedly I didn't score
any runs getting caught out on my fourth bowl but I did catch someone else out too and so
I like to think I played a part! With the ashes safely in our posession, we relaxed in the
sun, ate, slept, drank and chilled out before the evening's entertainment started. It was
hot, it was peaceful, and it was heaven…
First band of the evening was Poke. Don't ask me to describe them. Ok then, err… Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band crossed with Frank Zappa maybe but more wacky! I'm not even close with my description but it will have to do. The singer reminded me of the late actor Oliver Reed in looks. Daddy Those Men Scare Me were next, followed by Rome Burns. The diversity of the musical acts was incredible and in my opinion it made for a more interesting and entertaining evening. From folk to punk to roots to gothic rock to indie pop, Something for everyone surely? Rachel Pantechnicon provided her/his poetry again this year and then it was time for General Winter. I do like them. The song 'Shopping' is a particular stand out and they closed their set with The Mob's ' Another day, Another death'. I quickly followed them though how do you follow a song by The Mob?! I put in my usual dodgy performance anyway with the guitar slowly going out of tune throughout the set! It was still fantastic fun to do and I enjoyed every second. Lots of thanks to Blyth Power for inviting me to play again this year. My full set list was: - Stefan, Wish You Were Here, The Ballad Of Dylan And Jack, For Fox Sake, Paranoia?, Q. And Children? A. And Children, The Blackleg Miner, Wordplay, I never liked James Bond Films Anyway.
Next up were Eastfield. Jessie Adams and co. were excellent as usual. 'Pepper', 'Drive on Henry' and lots of other fast paced punk numbers in their 30 or so minutes. They're lots of fun and even get my feet tapping! Then came the headliners and the reason why most people were there. The brilliant Blyth Power. The amount of work the band must have put in to make sure the weekend not only ran smoothly but was a great success must have been huge. Not forgetting the excellent PA guys and Jessie from Eastfield too, there was always help, guidance and support on hand if it was needed and in Joseph's case, the loan of a plectrum for the Friday night set! (I forgot to take any with me, my thoughts being so concentrated on the drive to Tallington. I later bought some from a music shop in Stamford on the Saturday morning!) Blyth Power played for a good hour until the curfew at 11pm. Lots of my fave songs as usual. It was nice too to hear songs like 'Chevy chase' and 'Ixion' again but equally good to hear was songs such as 'Edward lay bare' from the latest album. They even did a version of Zounds' 'Dancing' too for good measure. It was an excellent ending to an excellent weekend with the most common phrase I kept hearing being "Who needs Glastonbury?" Precisely. After bidding farewell to some friends and wishing some a safe journey home the next day, I retired to my tent and sleeping bag. Knackered but happy. It was a cold night again but I slept soundly.
A
resounding success in my opinion. Thanks again to Blyth Power and everyone else involved
for making it a weekend to remember and for making this crap folk singer feel so welcome.
Maybe see you all again next year?
Blyth Power's review can be found here.