Grooves On The Green

Ashley Cross, Parkstone, Poole

Featuring : Lady Winwoods Maggot, Bigface Reggae, The General Public, Powdered Cows and Saturday Sun

This is the 11th Grooves on the Green that has taken place in Ashley Cross green in Parkstone, which is a small suburb of the seaside town of Poole. The event is free, and is all about two main things people having a good time in the summer sunshine and to raise money for the local Lewis Manning Hospice. Well the good news is the sun is brightly shining and lots of people have set up camp in front of the stage with their picnics, blankets and drink to see what musical entertainment the Festival has to offer.

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First band on are Swanage’s Saturday Sun who are usually a four piece, however disappointingly today there are just two of them. Kicking of with ‘Borderlines’ their mellow sound gives a nice gentle start to the event, the smooth guitars melodies and haunting vocals fit in so well with the initial chilled out atmosphere. The crowd are treated to a stunning rework of the Neil Young classic ‘Heart Of Gold’ complete with harmonica accompaniment which makes for a really great start . Next Up ‘The Sea The Sea’ are meant to be performing however news is that they up split up and the news has not made it to the organisers. As a music fan I am very frustrated as this is such a waste of a slot that hundreds of bands out there would have loved to fill. Their slot is filled with an impromptu performance by ‘Flamenco Stu’ who’s set goes sadly largely ignored by most.

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The Powdered Cows fronted by the talented and rather zany Disco Out (Murders In) utility man Martin Roberts are the next band to take to the stage. Martin continues with his usual fancy dress coming out dressed in a silver spaceman uniform. The band perform of tracks ‘The Fire Truck song’ and ‘Eyes Of Knives’ that contain lots of electronic wizardry , the songs are all a bit experimental and I am not sure the vast majority of the audience quite understood what was happening, despite this the band left the stage to generous applause. The whole place by now was completely packed with thousands of people enjoying the sunshine making the most of the annual free event.

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The General Public bring their funked up sound to the Ashley Cross crowd and play a great 30 minute set that is packed with some great easy to listen to numbers produced with acoustic guitar and keyboards couple with a funky bass rifts. The stand out track of their set was their very infectious latest single ‘Mug’ which gets in your head easily after just one listen.

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The whole of the audience have been patiently waiting for a band like Bigface Reggae, they came out and gave the audience just what they wanted, music that they could dance too. Fronted by talented local artists Si Crocket and Si Genearo the band delivered a strong set full of up tempo classics that got the people moving with great songs such as ‘Cheeky Monkey’ and the very appropriate ‘Bring On The Sunshine’. The band really know how to entertain and are the perfect festival band that work extremely well in this sort of setting.

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Last but not least death western band Lady Winwoods Maggot take to the stage kicking of with the excellent ‘Unleash the Dogs’ from their latest album ‘Buffalohead’ and, like Bigface Reggae, they had most of the crowd up dancing. With their guitars and banjo turned up loud they produce a sound that is creative, alternative and appeals to virtually everyone. They played a good mix of their own material along with a selection of well chosen popular covers including a rocking version The Osmond’s ‘Crazy Horses’ and Tom Petty’s ‘Free Falling’ which seemed to get the whole park singing along. All to soon the curfew time of 7pm arrived and Grooves on the Green 11 was over for another years, let hope number 12 with be back with another great line up and the sun shining again next year.

Videos
Lady Winwood’s Maggot

Bigface Reggae
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq6-pvMJKqU
The General Public