Muscliff Family Music Festival

Muscliff, Bournemouth

Featuring : Peace, Love & Gloves,Recreation Band, Blazin’ Aces, Brothers Grimmer, Adam ‘Yeti’ Phillips, Deaf By 4, and more

Saturday 8th September saw the launch of yet another great community Festival in Bournemouth the “Muscliff Family Music Festival” situated in Muscliff Park an excellent well kept bit of green belt land amongst a large housing estate on the outskirts of Bournemouth. The event was planned for earlier in the summer but due to the appalling wet weather it has to be cancelled, there is no such problem this time as the sun was out with plenty of blue skies.

The organisers aim was to provide some a great day out for all of the family along with raising some much needed money for charity, the nominated charity was the John Egging Trust in aid of the Red Arrows pilot who sadly crashed and died during the Bournemouth Air Festival in 2011 a short distance from here. The event kicked off with a big band in the form of “Swing Unlimited” a big brass band playing a host of popular tunes starting the day off in some style. As the big band performed, people started making their way to the site encamping in front of the stage with portable chairs and picnic blankets making the most of the late summer sunshine.

Deaf By 4

The entertainment continued with a host of quality hand picked young solo female artists; Bethany Luther, Lucy Gilber and Nicola Brown all gave very good accounts of themselves with some pleasing vocals that showed each were worthy of a place on the stage. The first “proper” band of the day were Hampshire’s 5 piece “Deaf By 4” who proceeded to blow away the cobwebs by providing a storming set of well chosen covers, front man Steve Webster did his best to warm up the crowd with some cracking versions of “Dakota” by Stereophonics and final number rocking number “Smoke On The Water” by Deep Purple, which showed some especially great guitar work from the chaps on stage.

Adam “Yeti” Philips

Things seem quieten down a little when the multi talented Adam “Yeti” Phillips takes to the stage, this guy not only performs as a solo artist he also is in two top local bands, rock band “Asp”, and folk band “Fish Out Of Water”. With just an acoustic guitar Adam thoroughly entertains the sun soaked audience with a great selection of songs including the final number “Down By The Riverside” where he promised his sun glasses and a hug to the loudest singer, a few people tried their luck until a loud(ish) winner was eventually found, a great set by one of Dorset’s truly great musicians.

As well as plenty of great musical acts the site also had a good range of stalls eateries, fun for children such as bouncy inflatables and slides, as well as a huge inflatable chill out dome home to some DJ’s performing some interesting urban music sets. The next act on the main stage were Bournemouth’s “Brothers Grimmer” a well tuned power machine that got everybody’s attention the moment they stepped on stage, the band are usually a four piece but today they are slimmed down to just a three, opened with a Dad’s favourite “Start” by The Jam which got lots of Dad’s of a certain age singing along. Lead singer Lee Cleary with his long hair, plaited beard and hippy shades showed the younger bands just how to do it with some great vocals and some supreme guitar work just perfect for a summer festival in the sunshine. As well as a few covers the band provided some great moments with their own original songs including “Who Am I” and “Whipping Boy”, accompanied by their very own energetic dancer Michael Bundell who break-danced expertly despite the heat, right in front of the stage delighting the crowd. The band left the stage to the best audience reaction of the day.

Brothers Grimmer 1–2–3

Sadly I missed a few acts due to a prior commitment during the middle of the day but I returned just in time to see local rock act “Blazin’ Aces” who turned up the volume to 11 just so everyone in Dorset could hear them. These guys have only been around since February 2012 and already have been entertaining rock fans in plenty of local venues around Bournemouth and Poole steadily gaining confidence and a performance to be proud of. The four piece fronted by Stu Whiteford take their lead from bands such as “Metallica” and “AC/DC”, they wear their rock hearts proudly on their sleeves. The band played an energetic set of around 30 minutes including a cover of Metallica’s “‘Master of Puppets” along with their new single “Ain’t Nothing” which showed some great creativity with some solid twin guitar work. The festival’s musical style diversified event further with some urban rap sounds of “Tee & Gift” who provided some alternative entertainment before the last two bands.

Blazin’ Aces 1–2–3

As the darkness started to fall over Muscliff Park, the temperature dropped and the local Mosquitoes decided to come out and feast on any piece of skin on show, much of the crowd despite this just covered up and waited patiently for the headliners. The penultimate band of the day were the four piece “Band Recreation” from Southampton who seemed a little unorganised and somewhat unrehearsed, they played their own original songs which mostly sounded good but seemed to end abruptly with various discussions going on between the band between songs, sadly I am sure just an off day for them.

Recreation Band 1

On to the headliners, Dorset Music Awards winners “Peace, Love & Gloves” , these much anticipated local heroes take to the stage to a great reception, kicking off with “Bang Bang Bang” from their debut EP “Burn It, Pass It On” the band play their own very original style of Lithuanian Jazz coupled with Amish Reggae. Tonight the guys are a man down as bass player Bradley is on the Isle of Wight at Bestival, stepping into to his shoes for one night only is “Olie” the band’s original bass player who does well to learn a the song new songs in double quick time. The band ends the day on a high despite having the set cut show due to the strict 9pm curfew. A great start to a festival with humble beginnings that I am sure next will with grow into something even better, huge respect must go to the organisers who did a fantastic job putting everything together!!