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home » festivals » Endorse-It In-Dorset » Endorse-it Indoors 2007
Endorse-it Indoors 2007 review (page 2)Wednesday 11th April 2007
I’m taken by surprise by Ed Tudor Pole as I’m kind of expecting a band to be with him, not just him and his guitar. He starts off playing the guitar with a strong voice and it’s slightly off the wall. There’s something that makes it captivating. Like watching established folk singers that bring a presence as well as the music. Unfortunately a string breaks and he has to ad-lib a rather bad tale about a sponge while fixing it, amazingly he holds our attention, although it could be the manic random Santa rapidly spiralling into whirling drunkenness at the front of the crowd.  With songs structured simply about everyday things like taking the kids out for a drive. It shouldn’t actually work, this style of delivery and his accent and manner. But he somehow carries it off, like a guitar wielding Otway. It’s old flavoured punk, and I wasn’t expecting it. He doffs his cap at Joe Strummer, well invites his ghost onto the stage and shakes his hand at one point. And, yes it is kind of cheesy, but I do think that Joe must have inspired Ed, there’s no other reason he’d have taken to the stage. He looks all wrong on it, yet with his off kilter delivery his mastery of the acoustic guitar and hiss ballsy rock n roll delivery it all works rather well. Yes I know he briefly joined the Sex Pistols as a replacement for Johnny Rotten (singing ‘Who killed Bambi?’) and fronted his own band Ed TenPole Tudor, with whom he had a hit with Swords Of A Thousand Men that he distorts out of all recognition to end his set. So I should have expected him to be a success, but I really thought he’d fall flat. He didn’t though, in fact he appears to be enjoying himself as cheers greet his encore. Well technically it’s our encore, as we, the crowd all sing ‘Swords of 1000 Men’ back to him with no accompaniment! I take my hat off to him, a truly grandiose performance on the night even if I didn’t find any crystals. The bar is out of ‘! Beer’ but fortunately it’s been replaced with barrels of ‘Amarillo’ and ‘Mermaid’ as we drown our thirsts ready for the next act. Sure enough, a crowd has finally materialised for the masters of cow punk Pronghorn who pack the stage. There’s the banjo, fiddle, guitar, horns, bass and kids on washboards too, with Lamma and company delighting us all while having fun themselves. I’d like to tell you what they played but I’ve no chance I just danced away like a loon revelling in the speed folk they pumped from the stage.  A glorious souped up Hillbilly hoe-down sure is the best way to celebrate Easter. Pronghorn are just unbelievably good at what they do, their time on stage flies by and before we know it they’ve finished their encore. Phew! After that it’s time for a breather and a chance to get a bit to eat. Meanwhile Merv (from Eat Static) does his usual magic trick from behind the decks and gets the space in front of the stage occupied with some crazy dancing. Plundering all kinds of sounds and putting the Merv seal of approval over everything – I love his DJing nearly as much as Eat Static itself. No idea what he played but he gets great applause once the audience stop writhing. I guess it is quieter than last year, but without a headliner of such wide appeal that was to be expected. RDF/Military Surplus never hit the main stream but they’re legends on the crusty scene. With their ska/dub sound they dovetail nicely from Merv’s DJ set and before we know we’re off with Chris Bowsher speaking his distinctive poetry over the beats.  Last time I saw them was at the bleedin superb Endorse It festival, where they sounded pretty good. Tonight they sound really back on form. Karen and Steve providing great vocals in sympathy with Chris and Steve’s bass was terrific when he chose to play it, a real highlight for me. At times reggae and at times more ska angled the songs came thick and fast! I spot a Cracked Actor in the crowd too clearly enjoying himself. ‘Chinese Poem’, ‘Hot on the Wire’ and a terrific rendering of ‘Surplus People’. ‘Borderline’ and ‘Sore Point For a Sickman’ all take me back again to sun drenched days nearly two decades previous. They sound as good as ever! Magical! We buy a copy of Chris’ Poems Part One on the way out. It’s been another excellent festival, bet the weather half tempts the organisers to consider taking it outside, but how often is it usually sunny on Easter day? I’d like to send a big thanks to all the organisers for such a brilliant day. Shame it felt a bit less festival like this year. I think the lack of stalls made it feel more like a big gig. Saying that though, they were fantastic bands none the less - all terrific festival fare, bring on Endorse-It In-Dorset 2007!!! Much more of the same please! review by Scott Williams photos by Karen Williams
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