Lets Rock Bristol provides great soundbites of nostalgia

‘Let’s Rock’ Festival is part of a conglomerate of festivals through the festival season, showcasing the best of the 80’s and 90’s, bands from days gone by whose popularity was over 20-30 years ago.

This year, Let’s Rock has eight different locations, including Shrewsbury, which was the last weekend in May, Bristol, which is the first weekend in June, following on from this Leeds, Norwich, Exeter, Southampton and London. There’s even a Christmas special too down in London in December.

The 80’s have had somewhat of a revival over the last few years, with 80’s festivals popping up all over the place, and this year is no exception. I’m not complaining especially as I love 80’s music, I was in my teens when it all kicked off, I adored ‘Haircut 100’, Loved ‘Howard Jones’, even much so, I broke his cassette tapes in my Walkman I played them so much, ‘Ultravox’/’Midge Ure’ – the very first vinyl single I bought and I finally got the chance to see him live last year, and it blew me away. ‘T’Pau’ obviously, drove my first mini listening to the cassette of ‘Bridge of Spies’ to work, my partner is a few years younger, seven years in fact, and I think I drive her insane with how I still latch on to the 80’s era.

I’m a billy no mates today, going it alone to relive my youth, again!, but I guess I’m not the only one. The 80’s were the best, riding out on your bike in the summer holidays, actually talking to your friends, no games consoles, no mobile phones, you actually made an effort to call for your mates after school, there was such thing as talking, Youth clubs were epic, Frankie Said, Duran, Spandau, Culture Club, TOTP’s on a Thursday night with the added bonus of Kenny Everett, Grange Hill, Tiswas, Vinyl, Walkman’s, Flares, Cords, it was bloody fantastic, and I guess that’s why us fifty something’s love 80’s revival gigs and festivals.

Today‘s backdrop is the wonderful Ashton Estate near Bristol, where the Balloon Extravaganza is held every year and the Kite Festival, acres and acres of plush surroundings, a quick hop off the M5 and you’re in lush countryside.

Saturdays line up is ‘Back to the 80’s’, followed by Sunday, which is ‘Back to the 90’s’. Today is the day, feeling like I’m back in my teens again driving that little T Reg mini I had, tootling to my first job as an office junior, where’s the fluorescent clothing, the leggings, the Frankie Says t-shirt, I just love it.

Today’s line up boasts 13 acts including ‘The Village People’, ‘Technotronic’, ‘Kim Wilde’, ‘Howard Jones’, ‘Nik Kershaw’, ‘Tiffany’, ‘Gloria Gaynor’, ‘Heaven 17’, ‘Captain Sensible’, ‘A Flock of Seagulls’ and ‘T’Pau’ to name but a few, the day runs from midday all the way through until the finale at 10.30pm.

It’s a family day out, picnic style with dressing up, it’s just an excuse for an 80’s party, dust the cobwebs off ya 80’s gear and boogie on down. There’s always the die-hard’s down the front and the families tend to gather near the back with their picnic blankets, deckchairs and buffets. Anyone for a sausage roll?

Compares for the day were Pat Sharpe and Dave Benson-Phillips, introducing each act and filling in in-between each set.

Unfortunately I missed the first few acts thanks to the traffic from junction 15 – 19 of the M5, I finally managed to drag myself to the site at 1.30ish. What an amazingly sunny day for an 80’s extravaganza.

‘Captain Sensible’ was on just as I walked into the arena, his last song unfortunately, ’Happy Talk’, I really wanted to see him too, but the traffic prevailed.

The first act I saw was ‘Flock of Seagulls’, apparently they don’t play very often in the UK,I wasn’t a fan then and I’m still not, all I can remember about them, from back in the day was his immense hair, but now the test of time and 30 years on he no longer has hair.

Each act apart from the main three, later in the evening, did a 30min set, maximum 6 songs, short, sweet and to the point.

Next act up was ‘Tiffany’, I had seen her before last year at Let’s Rock and she still has a powerful voice and can hold a note perfectly. Gem of the act for me was the last song of the set, ’I Think We’re Alone Now’, totally epic and the audience loved it.

One of my idols from my younger years, ‘Nick Heyward’ of Haircut 100 fame up for a 30 minute set, classics including ‘Fantastic Day’ were definite crowd pleasers and the audience were lapping it up.

One of my favourite bands from the 80’s were ‘T’Pau’, Back in the day I loved ‘Carol Decker’, her voice was to die for back then, and still is now. There is a 30^th anniversary tour this year to coincide with the release of ‘China in Your Hand’, so check out the dates in November and December.

(Just a little note here about unsung hero ‘James Ashby ‘, Lead Guitarist with T’Pau, he can definitely play that guitar and is a serious addition to T’Pau and a lovely guy too).

Sadly as I played all my T’Pau cassettes in my car 24/7 I do know most of the lyrics, so when you’re trying to concentrate in the pit and take photos it’s not easy.

A 30 minute stonking set with gems like ‘Secret Garden’ and ‘China’ and one of the newer tracks ‘Read My Mind’ from the ‘Pleasure & Pain’ album.

Between sets you see loads of things and at Lets Rock Bristol when I got there, there was a troop, or Garrison as they like to be called of guys dressed up in Star Wars gear, it was absolutely epic, I am a die heard Star Wars fan and this was a dream come true for me. Obviously I had a few sefies with Darth and one of the Stormtroopers; these guy’s deserve a lot of credit, as they tour the UK raising funds for charities. Big up UK Garrison (501^st Legion: Vaders Fist).

‘Heaven 17’ were quite forgettable, I can’t remember one of their songs from back in the day, and today was no exception either. The thing that struck me were they were pushing their political opinions, even wearing Labour rosettes, I love music, gigs and festivals, but I draw the line at politics and artists advising whom to vote for.

Act of the day for me was ‘Village People’, they were epic, they did all the dance routines and sounded pretty cool.

The cowboy was easy on the eye and got a few wolf whistles throughout the set. All the old hits, everyone was loving it, me included.

All I can remember about ‘Kim Wilde’ is my brother lusting over her when he was in his teens and he always had ‘Kids in America’ blaring away in his room back in the day. Years have passed now and Kim proved on Saturday night she still has it, a biker/rock chick at heart, backed by an amazing band, including her lovely brother ‘Ricky Wilde’.

A 55minute set of song after song, it really is surprising how many hits Kim Wilde has had, and she’s still going strong, I heard a rumour a new album is on the horizon, so I’ll look forward to that.

The festival was closed on Saturday night by ‘Gloria Gaynor’ and she didn’t disappoint, providing over an hour of her back catalogue to keep the audience sweet and contented for the drive over or walk/stagger back to their tents.

The whole emphasis of the day at Lets Rock is it’s a family day out, reminiscing about 30 years ago, dressing up and allaying all your inhibitions, it’s a fun festival and well worth a punt if you’re into the 80’s,give it a try if your of a certain age (50’s/60’s) you won’t be disappointed.

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