大象传媒

It was over a year ago since we supported the legendary band The Vibrators at Hitchin鈥檚 Club 85 and, despite nearly being bottled off by mad mohican鈥檇 punks, we went down a storm with ROTW promoter Chris Ripple who booked us there and then to play this year's ROTW.

And so there we were - all geared up for it, well rehearsed (ish) and excited to be playing our first festival. We packed our rain macs, tins of beer, spare guitar, pocket full of mints, and even our own Roady (Crafty). We had all the essential festival gear and were ready to rock!

Fanfare

We headed up the A1 in the seriously laden groove mobile (PGs carrying a little extra holiday weight!)听and arrived in a fanfare of听rain, people in yellow jackets and South American folk songs.

We checked in at Artist HQ and听fab buggies came and collected all our gear and I got a ride. It was like Austin Powers meets Spinal Tap, the question was - could we find the stage?

Yes! The stage was great. You could reach out and touch the bands, engage with the crowd, it was definitely the most rock 'n' roll stage, nothing fancy, just bands, a merry crowd and a load of bangin' toons!

However, all was not going smoothly. Chris, the promoter of our stage, was stressed as the PA had turned up two hours late and they where behind with the acts. We were due on at 7.30pm but who knew what time it would be. There were artists and amps everywhere waiting to go on??? Anyway, we went off for a wander to check out the rest of the fest.

Massive

First, the catering tent - yum yum - watch those pocket god hips! The food was so good that they apparently ran out of it later. Cue emergency trips to the supermarket to stock up on veggies and mince!

The Main Stage was massive, almost as big as Hitchin itself, and there were thousands of people everywhere. Being 鈥減ocket鈥� sized, this was quite scary and we were quite pleased that we were on the smallest stage. As the old听 鈥渉ippy鈥� adage goes: 鈥渟mall is beautiful鈥�.

The setting was picturesque with the Priory and the river and the green (now brown) meadows. But where had all the cows gone? However, with the idyllic pastoralism came those pesky blighters, the midges, who were making a fine feast of the Pocket Godettes, so we went in search of sanctuary. No, not the Christian tent (complete with pews), but we found the volunteer/crew tent to hang out in.

This was where all the action was. Police giving out warnings to wasted underage drinkers. And free cups of tea! And we also found the posh toilets, the only ones there! This was a serious result! Don鈥檛 let me mislead you though, as there was no trouble at all and it was a very laid back mixed family type crowd.

Noise

Back to the Arcade Eclectic stage and the Jazz poetry was in full flow. Indeed, the revolution is alive and well on this stage. There was a mad and bad set by Mark Astronaut, the Chris Ripple experience sounded like Hawkwind jamming with WB Yeats and Joy Chance got all political and stuff, which made a change in these days when it鈥檚 supposedly uncool to stand up for what you believe in.

It was getting quite dark now - at about 8.20 ish - and we were worried about being able to see our guitars. Nige put his drums on the grass and song after song he slowly began sinking into the marshy soil, becoming one with the earth!

Mark then went rock 'n' roll mad and began jumping into the crowd. There weren't quite enough punters to surf but there was some seriously freaky dancing going on.

Apparently we made a serious amount of noise for a little stage. Chris the promoter was well chuffed and we felt that there was a really good vibe going on there, down by the river. I'm looking forward to next year's Rhythms ....