Reviews
Event: Judy In June Festival
Venue: Sallywood Farm,
Town: Nr Stroud, Gloucestershire
Date: 20th June, 2009
Website: http://www.judyinjune.org.uk
Sometimes things just feel right and from the moment I saw the beaming sunflower smile on the flyer (before I knew the line-up and before I knew the cause), the Judy in June Festival was a place I wanted to be.
The Judy in June Festival is a non-profit making organisation held in aid Marie Curie Cancer Care. Set up by London based musician Koozie Johns in memory of his mum Judy who passed in early 2008, this was the second festival and this year was held on her birthday. There are, of course, countless events held for charity every week of every year and ones in aid of cancer charities usually hold a special resonance as if there is anyone reading this that has not been touched by cancer the sad fact is there a huge probability that you will be. It may be directly; it may be a friend, a family member or loved one.
To make a difference the organisers needed to get the balance right. They needed to actively promote the cause without resorting to Geldof style "give us the money NOW" exhortations. The reliance was on a line up, all loosely connected with London's 12 Bar Club, which would deliver performances keeping you there all day and all night. Without the quality of the bands playing it would have been as easy to put loose change in the tin of a chugger or be like the visitor to the local fete; yes you'll buy a cake from the WI stall, yes you'll see if you can pick up a ten year Jack Higgins paperback and yes you'll spend a couple of quid on the tombolla, but no, you'll not be there at the end when the raffle is drawn, things to do and all that.
The main event was on the Saturday but the site opened for those wishing to travel down and pitch up on the Friday. I had made a mess of my back a month earlier and a 5 hour drive had done it no favours. As I hobbled to exchange my ticket for a wristband one of the organisers refused to let me carry my tent on my own. That friendly nature and willingness to help was a constant factor throughout the weekend.
The music started at around two o'clock on Saturday, a sensible time considering the Friday night camp fire was still burning at well past three and it was only a heavy downpour that sent most scuttling to their tents. The late start also allowed for an increase in sales in the local Millets and Argos stores as several people decided that air beds were really the way to go. JD Smith opened; one man, one acoustic slide guitar, one hell of a lot of noise. Early in the day he said that he gets through two sets of strings a week; he plays his rockabilly so hard I'm surprised that he doesn't get through two guitars a week.
Buckshot Soup is a four piece bluegrass group from Derby who play, in their own words, songs "straight from the country kitchen" and they are very, very good. Obviously influenced by the likes of Old Crow Medicine Show they have, in Richie "On-The-Barrel" Head a sublime dobro player. With the vocals of Bobbie Lee Chalmers combining with those of guitarist and mandolin player Duke Williams and backed by Chuck Waltzner on upright bass they play a tight set of original material that would have been as at home in South Carolina as it was in South Gloucester.
Tankus The Henge sounded good, but my messed up back meant that I spent their entire set laid down in my tent wired up to a TENS machine. I also missed the opening track of The Penny Black Remedy's before the watershed performance that saw some of their lyrically risqué tracks being replaced by those more suited to a six o'clock start. With tracks like "Bring Back Brando", "Some People Just Don't Know When To Quit" and "Paint in (Penny) Black" (a note for note cover of the Stones track, but with Marijana Hajdarhodzic replacing all lyrics with one word "die"!) TPBR proved themselves to be the perfect festival band: every song made you either want to dance or sing, or, more often than not, both.
The Grit are a London based Ska Punk / Rockabilly band front by the Geordies Big Louis and Louis Ville. They played a set that combined their own tales of the City such as "Stuck In Streatham" with a few covers like Toots and The Maytals "Pressue Drop" and Johnny Cash's "Folsum Prison Blues" where TPBR's Keith Thomson (looking like George Michael dressed in a black suit and shades) guested on lead vocals.
As the sun set, Koozie Johns and the Sinnerstar Collective were the perfect headliners. Taking the stage to "What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor" their mix of rum soaked modern sea shanties and good old fashioned rock n roll love songs was a counter balance to the frentic nature of the previous bands. The gorgeous "Velvet Eyes" was dedicated to his mum (it was her favourite song), "Halfway Home" to fallen friends.
At half past ten the fireworks display started which was much like the whole day: very intense and very beautiful. The best was still to come, after the final rocket had fallen from the sky everyone gathered around the campfire that burned until the sun rose on the longest day of the year. Bottles were passed, songs were swapped, and friends were made. One such friend told me that "this is the best twenty pounds I've ever spent": I cannot sum up Judy In June any better than that.