Barnstomper Day 2

August 30, 2024 0 By Jon

Barnstomper Festival, Cerne Abbas Brewery

Friday – Day Two

Barnstomper is pretty much the last outdoor festival of the season for me and I’m really fortunate to have spent the Summer from April-September at many of the great local festivals. There is a real family feel to many of the Dorset/Hampshire festivals, with many people spending their Summer weekends enjoying everything they have to offer. There are many characters from all walks of life and in many respects it feels like I’m here with hundreds of old friends. I confess sometimes it is hard to pull yourself away from the endless chatter to see the musical entertainment.

This year we are all remembering two familiar faces that have sadly passed away in the last year: Will Beavis, a popular member of the bar staff and Tony Benoy who was an avid supporter of all things music across Dorset. In their memory the two stages have been named after them as a fitting tribute.

Unfortunately as I have my two Beagles at home to look after, so I cannot camp over like the vast majority of people do. My journey’s back at night along the country roads avoiding deer, foxes and badgers are thoroughly worth it. (BTW Thank You to my Doggie Daycare sitter Uncle Leighton)

With some of my gig besties in tow Ross Ferrone, Tim Lacey and the bowler hatted cider drinking, Dorset Knob throwing gentleman Dorset Phil our day starts with some Ska from The Decatonics. Front girl and apparent “Wordle Queen” Sally and her band of musical all stars whip up the mostly hungover crowd (especially Sally’s Man Chris) during their 12:45 slot. With some clever Ska injected reworkings of Radiohead’s Creep along with Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” they triumphantly win over the now awake audience.

The Decatonics 1–2–3–4–5–6–7

Next up Dorset Phil brings his jolly individual tunes to the second stage. As well as being one of the nicest blokes on the scene, he can also produce a great tune or two. With songs that feature some wonderful childish schoolboy humour “Purbeck Toad” about the strange noises that comes from tents after a day at a festival and “Dorset Knob”, apparently about a local biscuit. The hilarious opening line is “Knob Knob Knob Dorset Knob, I likes mine with Cheese”.

My 12 year self would have loved it!!

Dorset Phil 1

Barnstomper unlike many other festivals won’t fleece you unnecessarily, firstly weekend ticket holders are able to camp or park their motorhome for free. Tony Viagra’s T-shirt stall run by the Bruce family sell festival T-shirts for just £15, when most other are £20-40. My saviours of the weekend are the ‘Bad Hand Coffee’ stall who are keeping me alert with some really great tasting coffee, along with some amazing peanut Butter cookies. (no they did not ask me to say this!!) There is also the Papa Cheese food emporium who supply some healthy meals which included as much salad as you wanted, including some impressive rainbow coleslaw.

The wonderful voice of Jack Francis is serenading us over on the mainstage, ably harmonized and accompanied by fine musician Hannah Robinson. The very colourful Edd Bleach along with his constant sidekick Ryan Barber are up next. His set features a beautiful dream come true moment, when Gaz Brookfield/Nick Parker’s faithful fiddle player Benny Wain steps up to perform with him. Edd wrote a great song called “Folking Idiot” and the lyrics actually included a line about Benny Wain. The two friends who are live favourites of the Weymouth music scene cannot stop smiling during their set.

Jack Francis 1–2–3–4

Next up Dorset’s accordion-led punks Sinful Maggie shake us up with a sterling set on the second stage and pull one of the biggest crowds of the day. They open with staple live favourite “Shitfaced” and set out their stall early doors. They breeze through a set of originals and more than give a great account of themselves in preparation for their forthcoming tour with fellow Dorset icons Black Water County.

Sinful Maggie 1–2–3–4–5

Concrete Prairie from the historic city of Bath slow things down with a nicely chilled set, with their Americana and Blues-injected tunes. They have a sort or Elvis meets Cash vibe and are a very welcome addition to the line-up.

Concrete Prairie 1–2–3–4

The loudest band of the weekend are Monkey Bizzle and I need to get my earplugs in during their set.

Monkey Bizzle 1–2–3–4–5

Their Rap/Metal style features lots of infectious tongue in cheek lyrics including the hilarious “See You Next Tuesday”, “Someonelsie” along with a great tribute to those cider guzzling West Country music mimicking Skimmity Hitchers.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the Boot Hill Allstars; Flounder Murray and his band of merry folk bring the entertainment to the second stage with a large amount Sass from the frisky two voclaists, along with a wonderful rainbow full of different genres colliding beautifully. With contagious melody and constant catchy rhythms the six-piece band deliver the party atmosphere with songs like “Rasputin” and “Recipe for a Protest Song”. They even provide some free shots of an unknown alcoholic beverage to some fortunate members of the audience.

Boot Hills Allstars 1–2–3–4–5

Following on from this those Skimmity Hitchers are up next on the main stage and their reputation precedes them with their scrumpy and western styles, along with the borrowing and rewriting of popular, already established songs. Tatty Smart heads them up on vocals with Magners O’Magnersson on Double Bass, Drum Cheddar on drums.. obviously and Brian Ferret on guitar. “Bad Town On The Coast”, “West Country Holiday”, “Viva Lyme Regis” and sounding a lot like Green Day’s “American Idiot”.. “Cider Drinkin’ Idiot”, the West Country quartet bring a lot amusement and a great performance to this festival.

Unfortunately their world famous badger “Baz” was run over and flattened last night by Flogging Molly’s tour bus. His blood stained pelt was rescued and laundered and the band offer it up to one ‘lucky’ fan who wears it dancing in tribute to Baz’s theme tune “Badger Man” – no Skimmity’s gig is complete without a romp around in a badger suit.

Skimmity Hitchers 1–2–3–4–5

After the huge momentum of the last three bands the next act Will Varley comes onto the second stage. I’ve seen this guy perform before and he is a really talented artist with some great original songs. My only criticism is that I feel his slot as a solo artist with an acoustic guitar was at the wrong time, I feel it would have been better to swap him with the likes of Sinful Maggie or even The Decatonics. Sadly most of the hight-spirited audience are chatting throughout his set so it was difficult to really enjoy what Will had to offer.

Will Varley 1

Tonight’s headliners are 1990’s Forest of Dean Indie/Rave superstars who stormed the charts with the album “Schubert Dip”. EMF – short for Epsom Mad Funkers, I remember seeing them as a youthful energetic live band back in 1992 at Reading Festival. Like many others around me, we wondered if they could still produce the goods all these years later.

EMF 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8

From the moment they arrived on stage with vocalist James Atkin in his sensible raver shirt, along with fellow colourful band members Ian Dench on guitar, Stevey Marsh on bass, Derry Brownson on keys and Adrian Todd on drums display that they all still have the abilities that impressed back in the day.

With singles like “Children”, “I Believe” and of course the tune everyone wants to hear “Unbelievable”, the band provide plenty of energy and huge amounts of enthusiasm. It looks like the band are even surprised with the positive reaction that the crowd give.

The band up the stakes with some well chosen sing-a-long covers including Depeche Mode’s “I Just Cant Get Enough” and Neil Diamond’s “I’m a Believer”, a tune that they released as a single with comedians Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer. Of course we all know the words and sing them right back at the band. There is a great atmosphere as the band perform and the general consensus is that we all enjoyed the band’s set much more than we had expected to. A great way to end Day two…roll on the final day ….

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