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home » festivals » Wychwood Music Festival » Wychwood Music Festival 2011
Wychwood offers a wealth of activities for kids alongside some diverse musicWychwood Music Festival 2011 reviewFriday 10th June 2011 After a late night and a very warm Friday, the only antidote is to use up all of the friable breakfast fodder. The breakfast of champions is consumed and a slow start to the day is exactly what is required. Lets face it, after bacon, eggs, sausages, beans and tomatoes, we can't move anywhere fast!
Our eldest is into diablo and devil sticks so we head over to the open sessions run by Circus Kaos. Steve Kaos and his helpers are brilliant at getting the kids involved in all manner of things. Fancy trying your hand at uni-cycling, juggling, poi, hula hooping, stilt walking, plate spinning? In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to walk into his area of the field and see him taming a lion. Our lad gets some tuition and meets the challenge of learning a new trick. On the musical front, we thoroughly enjoy Eliza Carthy. Her ability to hush a crowd and get feet tapping and heads nodding for 'Blood on my Boots', and 'Wings' is great. We also catch some of John Cooper Clarke while enjoying a cider perched by the Big Top. His punk rock poetry and uber cool status is typified by his rendition of the filthily sublime 'Evidently Chicken Town'.
Having been to Wychwood before, we've seen Robyn Hitchcock over the years in a few different guises. This year, he and his backing band play the 'Clear Spot' album by Captain Beefheart. Now I must confess I've never knowingly heard this album before but for me, this is the best Wychwood performance of Robyn Hitchcock I've seen. His engagement with the crown is amusing in an off the wall kind of way. Between songs, his voice reminds be of Bill Nighy playing Dylan in The Magic Roundabout (maaaan). This is the LP version of the album so we're treated to a joint imagining of the vinyl being flipped during the set too. Very entertaining and impressed enough to buy the album that he's covering for the day too.
The Bluetones, announced recently that this autumn will see their farewell tour and another band whose hits aren't immediately obvious. I recognise quite a few, find them entertaining and really enjoy their big hit 'Slight Return'. The sound of the dohl drum smashing and crashing can be heard from afar and it pulls me into the big top like the Millennium Falcon to the Death Star. Kismet's set comes to a close as I get closer and those leaving tell me what I've missed. A mental note is made not to miss them next time but I reassure myself that you can't do it all. Headline act The Waterboys are another one whose set I couldn't even hesitate to guess at (other than 'The Whole of The Moon'), which they do play. I hear influences to or from The Levellers in 'Fisherman's Blues' and really love 'You're a Big Girl Now'. They play other songs that I didn't know were theirs, or perhaps in some cases aren't but they bring back memories anyway. Our eldest is keen to see the headphone disco, so we queue to get in and after 20 minutes of dancing and singing, he's had enough and secretly we're glad to get back to the tent and get to sleep. It's been another busy day.  review by James Tayler photos by Andy Pitt 
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