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home » festivals » Rhythm Festival » Rhythm Festival 2011
legendary acts put on a show on the second day of Rhythm FestivalRhythm Festival 2011 reviewMonday 5th September 2011 Bedford band Kilto Take opened the indoor Albone stage on Sunday afternoon to an audience of 5 people if you need a barometer of what hey were like by the time they finished their set there were around 200 in attendance, people who dropped in to check them out ended up staying. They played a brilliant gig, and managed to pull in a large crowd and keep it.
Pretty Things, were an ear opener to me, they may be old (to me) and I know nothing of their music, The Blockheads banged out crowd pleasers whilst I headed over to see Pearl Handled Revolver. I watched Terry Reid more out of interest he seemed to jam with his band rather than follow a set list and once again his set was cut short. The MC DJ guy was once again booed! The Animals & Steve Cropper followed. The 'legend' factor on the main stage peaked as we were treated to anecdotes about the Animals & Steve Cropper, every song a classic.
When he finally came on stage, the crowd warmed, but I didn't, I felt his performance was a bit slow to start with. So, after a couple of numbers I went off to watch Macavity's Cat who resemble a stage invasion close the festival on the albone stage, and they did a great set of originals and covers in a their cowpunk style. They rounded off the night apologising to the stage manager before inviting the audience onto the stage which left me wondering if the whole performance wasn't one big stage invasion? There was also some Morris Dancers, and they did performances on Saturday and Sunday. But breaking the tradition, they also had women Morris dancers. They seemed to attract quite a lot of attention. The comedy stage made a welcome return, and this year they had a parental guidance for the shows. There were many acts on, and they all seemed to get a good sized audience. There was a children's area with circus skills and sports, as well as the return of the solar cinema. They also had a funfair, but it didn't seem to be very popular. There was a virtual circus as well. It had some really cool stuff in it, including a version of space invaders which you played with using a bike as a controller. You peddled to fire and steered left and right to move your ship. There was a variety of food on offer, which was reasonably priced and of good quality. Food included- sausage & mash Ice cream stand, an beautiful Chorizio stew, minute steaks There were 3 bars around the site, all with very sensibly priced drinks. However, I heard mutterings about queing times people were left waiting for quite a long time to get their drinks. There are two campsites - the Vegas and the Buena Vista. The Buena Vista is meant to be more suitable for families, but there didn't seem to be a noticeable divide in the campsites. They also had some luxury 'Yippee Yurts' on site. The toilets were quite good for festival loos, they were clean, and didn't smell too bad! There also always seemed to be plenty of toilet roll. For those that wanted them, there were showers on site as well. My main suggestion to organisers is that more rubbish bins are definitely needed within the arena area! The ones that I found were overflowing, as well as people throwing their rubbish on the floor because they couldn't find a bin. Separate ones for recycling would be appreciated too! There was a merchandise stall, which was well priced, T-shirts for £15. Posters for £1, last year's T-shirts for £5 and the programme (£5) although it arrived after the festival had started had a £3 off coupon on a 2011 T-shirt. Because the new site was next to an airfield, home to The shuttleworth Collection, we were very lucky to be able to watch a free air display on the Sunday as the planes practised their stunts. It was very exciting watching it, but I certainly wouldn't want to do it!  review by Phoebe Rodwell photos by Paul Rodwell / Rob Matheson 
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