Teddy Rocks 2024 – Day 1

May 3, 2024 0 By Jon

Charisworth Farm, Blandford Forum

Ted Newton was a 10-year-old who we lost to a very rare incurable bone cancer in 2008, his brother Tom and the rest of the family honour his memory each year with a music festival and not just any old music festival. Teddy Rocks Festival initially started out life at the Greyhound pub in Blandford, where in the first year it raised just over £400 in 2011. Since then the festival has grown above all expectations and now at its new permanent home at Charisworth Farm, Blandford Forum; it has been raising huge amounts of funding for a host of Children’s cancer charities, providing financial and emotional support to children and families undergoing treatment for cancer. Ted’s memory lives on in this festival and his legacy has had such a profound effect.

Festival organiser Tom has made no secret that over the last couple of years the festival has come across plenty of financial challenges and this year due to the rising cost of the big headliners, it was decided to just feature tribute acts on the main stage to keep the spiralling costs down. The festival features multiple stages including the main Ted Newton stage, Big Man Stage, Vocalzone Stage, two stages in the Transcend Merry Woodlands, Hangover Hill Expressions Lounge (Comedy and Acoustic tent), Teddy Raves inflatable Tent and a stage in the festival’s very own on-site pub. As well as the tribute acts, there are a host of local and national acts to choose from that hail from a host of different genres.

It all starts on the Friday evening and thankfully, despite being a little chilly it is dry. As the first outdoor festival on the calendar of the season, it’s usually a time to catch up with old friends and make plenty of new ones. As a family friendly festival it’s not just about the music, there are plenty of activities to keep children occupied along with a host of stalls and fairground rides. Here at Charisworth Farm the Teddy Rocks team keeps the layout very similar each year, so finding your way around is easy once you get your bearings. To top this the festival boasts possibly the cleanest toilets and ones that you don’t have to queue for.

Once again the Rock Regeneration team of Myself Chinners, Becky, Ross, and photographer Lynn are here for the weekend to bring you our experiences and the lowdown of what goes on. Our first port of call is the Vocalzone stage where the MK Garrison; a Star Wars Costuming Group featuring Storm Troopers, Hera, Darth Vader, Grogu, and the Mandalorian are enthusiastically dancing to the colourful Mischa & His Merry Men. Mischa is one of the organisers of the Merry Woodlands stage and works tirelessly every year to bring a great line-up. His colourful band full of hand-picked musicians featuring keys, strings and percussion; along with a copious amounts of brass are a joy to listen to. Positive vibes emit from the stage with songs that equally uplift and educate, you cannot really ask for a better start to the festival.

Mischa And His Merry Men 1

A quick trip over to the Merry Woodlands stages featuring an smaller acoustic and mainstage. It has an Alice in Wonderland labyrinth vibe to it and the place is where lots of the local musicians hang out, supporting each other’s performances. The hotly tipped Archie Ray makes a welcome appearance and his impassioned original songs provide some lovely entertainment for the crowd. We turn round and Dorset’s number one pirate act the Bonsai Pirates are set up and ready to go. Bob, Becki, Dave, Mandy and Julien are a highly animated outfit who own the stage with some skilfilly infectious instrumentaion, along with some beautifully melodious harmonies. They own the stage and put in a wonderous crowd-pleasing performance that sets the bench mark high.

Archie Ray 1

Becky heads over to catch Lacey, who are a four-piece Alt/Rock band from Nottingham who formed back in 2010 and consists of childhood friends Graham Turner (Lead Vocals & Bass), Josh Lewin (Guitar & Vocals) Pete Maksymiw (Guitar) and Dave Pearson (Drums & Vocals). Tonight they open their set in the Vocalzone tent with “3am Sonata” from their album “This is All We Are” which was released earlier last year.

Lacey

Grazz interacts with the crowd saying “you only have one life, take as many memories with you as you can” before opening the song “Maybe I’m Alive”. It’s clear to see the band are enjoying performing today, their chemistry on stage is energising and captivating their audience. The band close their set with Dream “In a Little Less Colour”, with the audience clapping and singing along; ending on Grazz saying “Teddy Rocks you’ve been amazing, we’ve been Lacey, we will see you again” before they leave the stage and headed over to the big man stage for Grazz and Dave to sign up for Barrioke.

I am then summoned to the Big Man Stage by the ultra busy Becky who has put her name down for Barrioke. What the hell is “Barrioke” I hear you all cry? Well Shaun Williamson who used to play “Barry” in Eastenders has become a karaoke host and gets people to join him singing popular songs. Tonight is Becky’s moment of fame with the Tina Turner number “Simply the Best” and to my complete surprise she nails the vocals and get the plaudits from the packed tent. She’s even accompanied by Shaun with a blow-up sax solo. (Check out the video below).

Barrioke

The variety of this festival is just fantastic and big kudos must go to the organisers in putting this stirling line-up together. Wandering around with my set times lanyard around my neck, it’s hard to decide what to watch next? You’re never going to get around to see everything, but you will see a variety of great music. Next I head over to catch Dorset Rock band Towers who are to my surprise performing a Miley Cyrus cover “Jaded”, apparently it’s their latest release and I have to confess they have done a great job with the track. With their three melodic guitars and the uplifting emotive stirring, vocals they never fail to impress.

The wonderfully named Ragwormers with the fusion of Blues, Funk and Rock and killing it in the expressions lounge. They are an outfit with their own unique groove that give off great vibes, five friends playing in a band have great fun together while entertaining any onlookers. With tracks like “Chasing the Stars” and “I Took It All” their Saxophone-infused sounds impress.

Ragwormers

It’s getting dark and with all the colourful lights and the delicious smells from the food vendors, this place is coming to life. The twinkly lights of the Merry Woodlands are calling and Bluegrass band Dr. Beatroot featuring special guest ligger Jon Bruce from Pronghorn on washboard are on the stage. They are infectious and the crowd are treated to a great set with some clever musicianship, along with some great harmonies. We are also gifted with a welcome trip back in time with a track from frontman Steve Perry’s former band “ Disco’s Out (Murders In)”.

Dr. Beatroot 1

Right after the Dr. Beatroot shenanigans ended, local legend Si Genaro pops up on the acoustic stage for a short set. His unique style and high-spirited mischief has made him a local treasure. His music peers are out in force showing their support. Si provides us with a great cover of Damien Rice’s “Volcano”, along with some original tunes including the delightful “Penny For My Thoughts” and the highly original beatboxed “HellFire”. There are shouts for the rather rude “Alestorm” cover that he performed last year, but thankfully Mr. Genaro decides to behave himself for once. Si Genaro’s brother from another mother Matt Black is now on in the all seated expressions lounge. Matt’s piano playing and near the knuckle comedy is being enjoyed by a big crowd.

Si Genaro

Becky heads on to the Vocalzone tent and tells us about the Thomas Nicholas Band. I approach the stage with excitement and anticipation for this next band only knowing that Thomas is an actor who has appeared in many films and television series, for me I knew him from playing Kevin in the American Pie films. The band took to the stage and opened with “Stifflers Mom”, his version of the song “Stacey’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne to a tent full of people singing along with him. He then goes on to say that his song “My Generation” is on the American Reunion soundtrack and that’s it’s nearing its millionth play on Spotify and that is thanks to all the fans in the UK and around the world.

Thomas Nicholas Band

His set this evening includes many of his own compositions, as well as a cover from Blink 182 “All the Small Things”, Lit “My Own Worst Enemy” and a parody of Bowling For Soup’s “1985” renamed “1999” to tell the story of American Pie in less than 3 minutes. Thomas afterwards took the time to meet and greet his many fans after his set and spoke about his 7th studio album, which is due to be released later this month. The album was produced by Taylor Carroll (LIT, Kemikalfire) and includes features from Bowling for Soup, Less than Jake, The Early November and Ayron Jones.

Our final act of the evening is the six-piece Punk on Your Hits featuring on guitar, festival organiser Tom Newtown. The band with Jimmy on lead vocals takes cheesy pop songs and gives them the Pop/Punk treatment. The band know how to start a party and they whip up the crowd with a host of tracks that everybody on the Big Man Stage knows the words to. With tracks from Katy Perry, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera they provide a great atmosphere and a wonderful end to our first evening.