a memorable opening day with a very diverse musical selection at Alchemy
Alchemy Festival 2011 review
Monday 26th September 2011
Having arrived on the festival site early I had a chance to look around the site as final preparations for the weekend were being made. The site was set up in much the same way as last year, though the Live In Vehicle and car parking areas were switched around. Access to the site was quick and easy and the camp site built steadily throughout the day. It was clear from wandering around the arena that more thought had been given to entertainment other than music with preparations being made for the fireshow to take place on Saturday evening. The unfortunate thing to note is the lack of a programme of any form. It need only be a very basic guide with approximate timings but would go a long way in terms of knowing about clashes across the weekend and being able to plan for favourites.
Musically the day began in the afternoon with Pennyless on the Kaplick Solar stage playing soft lilting acoustic harmonies with acoustic guitar and violin, playing fairly traditional folk standards and a fine version of Devil Went Down to Georgia. After this it was over to the Liberty stage in the bar marquee for the The Skraelings playing loud abrasive punk rock including covers such as Another Girl, Another Planet and playing them very well. Then I headed for the main Philosophers Stone Stage for Three Wise Men playing trippy acoustic folk tunes with a progressive slant, well suited to chilling out in the mid afternoon sun that Alchemy festivals seem to get a lot of.
After a short break to check out the food offerings settling for a chicken skewer from Its All Greek which was very tasty, I returned to the Kaplick stage to find, in the absence of his bandmates Doozer from Doozer playing a solo set which included, alongside the traditional cover of Carter USM's Sheriff Fatman a fine version of Pulp's Common People.
I took a further opportunity to wander around the site and discover the location of the Bicycle Powered stage in the woods and to make a note to return there later in the weekend before heading back to the lace and butterfly adorned mainstage to catch Here & Now's performance though I personally found this very disappointing and quickly headed for the Mushroom Stage where Zetan Spore were playing a customarily storming festival set to a rammed marquee. I then ended the opening night with a superb DJ set from Sprocket in the same tent. All in all a memorable opening day with a very diverse musical selection.
review by Darren Luckhurst photos by Gary Stafford
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