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home » festivals » other UK festivals/events 2004 » Purbeck festival 2004
overviewPurbeck Festival 2004Thursday 9th September 2004 I wish I could say it was a brilliant festival since the organisers were kind enough to give me a ticket but the people made this festival not the music and definitely not festival peripherals because there weren’t any. It was the most basic festival I have ever been to. My kids were bored stupid, so much so that I ended up mostly away from the site and stage, missing some of the music. About half of this review belongs to someone else, my camping neighbour, Rob from Portsmouth – bless him! On Friday, Spoonphed, a young local band, were well-received by loyal fans and new listeners, kicking off with an interesting set of covers plus some great originals. They were followed by the Dead Plants, a bunch of well-established hillbilly punks who provided a festival moment at the end of their set during a momentary power cut. Playing their last number, literally unplugged, the audience listened more closely and was united, even enraptured, by this moment of intimacy! Kill Stereo proved popular, with rip-roaring punk and frenetic raucous rock sounds. I managed to catch Chunking, the final Friday act. More sophisticated, they instilled a warm ambience, preparing us for a chill-out over candles and brandy coffee (thanks, Rob). It was disappointing waking next day to see only about six stalls (four selling food), no workshops, and no festival décor. And we couldn’t find the water. My kids couldn’t wait to get away. Apparently there were trampolines but we left the site too early that morning to see anyone arrive and got back too late (about 5pm) by which time he’d long gone...). Sadly I missed Pronghorn – Rob told me they did a great Motorhead cover, Ace of Spades and a three and half year old boy accompanied the drummer! They were popular with the small audience - masses of energy. The High Town Crows finally got me dancing with lots of folksy punk/blues/diddly hillbilly tunes. Excellent fun. Long Orange played a well-crafted, thoughtfully-arranged set of original material. Rob thought they’d be a name to watch out for in next year’s festie line-ups. I thought they were good but my favourite of the weekend was definitely The Absolute Darlings – quite magical with some really catchy tunes. I hope they weren’t doing covers that I didn’t know but from the style and sound of them, I’m fairly sure it was all original. I didn’t like their last track but the rest was great. Reactor rounded off the weekend with hi-energy renditions of tracks like 'I’m only dreaming...' Theirs was a long set and they had to work hard to please because much to my disappointment, System 7 didn’t play... I wasn’t surprised. System 7 are a trance band - very different to the other bands who played. There were no preparations for their set, not even a DJ, let alone décor. It’s a real shame that there was such a small audience – those who were there made the most of a pretty poor show with sound checks not being done prior to the event and irritating interruptions to every set except the first (Spoonphed). Everything was very last minute, poorly advertised and (dare I say it?) - organised. It was more of a gig in a field. I expect stalls, workshops and kids’ activities, colourful décor with flags, giant puppets and other walkabout performers. The festival crew were friendly and Dorset obviously has a lot of lovely people and talent to offer as well. The venue had so much potential but was much under utilised. Festivals are meant to be a celebration of music – let’s hope they get it right next year, if there is next year... review by Jane Jarvis
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