Reviews
Event: Hampton Hill Summer Festival
Date: 17th July 2010
Website: http://www.hhfestival.org.uk/default.html
Opportunity for a major Chasfest last weekend, with Chas Cronk playing four separate gigs with three different bands on two consecutive days. Sadly, I only managed two of them, but recognised several people at both gigs, so I am sure someone managed to take in all four.
First up was the Hampton Hill Summer Festival. This was the first festival held there, and was in support of local charity Shooting Stars, a hospice for young children.
Shooting Stars has long been associated with music, as the parents of Marsha McDonnell, who was murdered by Levi Bellfield, discovered that Shooting Stars was a charity that their daughter supported, so in honour of her, they staged several charity music events.
The whole of the high street was decked out with balloon modellers, face painters, a dog show, and all sorts of other similar attractions, with a stage erected in the mews outside the Shooting Stars head office.
Didn't arrive in time to catch the first two acts, Groove Academy and Will Cherry, but saw the third act, Storm. Storm was a little too heavy for my tastes, but absolutely brilliant, none the less, not least because all members were still at school. They played several hard rock covers, some of which I'm sure I recognised, but not being too familiar with the genre couldn't guarantee I could name correctly. They also played several of their own compositions, all very excellent pieces of music, one of which, "Walk Across That Line", can be found on Youtube at Youtube.
The next act I had been looking forward too ever since I saw the poster. They were called the Ukay Ukes, and were billed as a duo of Ukulele players I had incorrectly guessed that they were likely to be two members of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, but I was mistaken. As a result, I was quite disappointed with them, but I dare say that that was down to my own misconception rather than anything wrong with them. Basically, they played their ukuleles along to a pre-recorded sound track, which seemed a bit of a let down to me.
Cry No More, of course, was the main reason why I was there, featuring Chas Cronk on bass, and Roy Hill on lead. I don't think it would be possible to see Cry No More without laughing heartily, but this was definitely the most hilarious I have ever seen them. If you have seen them before, you will know that they can be a little blue, and are definitely not what would spring to mind if asked for a recommendation for a family fun day. Roy tried manfully not to swear knowing that there was an audience full of children, but the more he tried the harder it got. Within the first few minutes he was apologising.
He started the act by leaving the stage entirely, Chas trying desperately to look as if this was all planned. Roy returned with a pile of set lists to demonstrate that they normally could chose from around 260 songs, but with children present they were limited to only two songs. At the end of the set, someone from the audience called out "What was the second song?", which had everyone, Roy included, in stitches.
The first song they played was not "Life In Hollywood" as Roy introduced it, but "George's Bar". This was quite lucky as Life In Hollywood is definitely not one of their most family orientated songs. This was followed by one of Roy's spoken set pieces, "Dinner With Joan", and then "On Holiday".
The next song, "Falling" was extended to almost prog rock length, coming in at around eight minutes. The reason for this was that Roy insisted on dragging all of the charity collectors up on to the stage and making them join in. They all seemed to have a fantastic time up there, and I am sure that all of them will have become life long supporters of Cry No More. I really don't think I have ever laughed as much. "F.A.S.H.I.O.N", "Sixties Baby", and "Temptation" followed, and then they had run out of time, and should have left the stage to make way for the next act. Roy has never been very good at finishing on time though, and felt that the evening would not be complete without "I Love Roxy". It would not have been fair, according to Roy, to have left us without an example of his amazing skill in mimicry. Well, I've seen Cry No More many many times, and am still waiting, but in the meanwhile he gave us Jimmy Saville and Lester Piggott.
As is customary with Cry No More, they won't leave the stage without playing "Wooden Heart", which includes quite a bit of audience participation, including an exchange where Roy calls out, "What do you want to drink Roy?", to which the audience normally respond, "F*** off". Luckily, most of us were too busy laughing. Me, I'm still chuckling.
Didn't stay for the last act, Old Fiddle Workshop Band, so sadly can't review them.
To ruin an otherwise perfect day, I received a parking ticket whilst I was there, which I think was ever so mean, considering that it was a charity event. There was no parking restrictions in place, and on the other side of the road there were signs up asking you to park half on the road, and half on the pavement, so that's what I did. However, apparently the signs only applied to that side of the road. so I was fined for having wheels on the pavement.
Consequently, I would have happily recommend Hampton Hill to anyone, but now I would caution anyone on going there. Donate your money to Shooting Stars by all means, but do it from home. Mind you, if Cry No More are back there again next year, I dare say I'll be back.
Pete Bradley