The South close Simon Says which will carry on regardless for some time to come

Simon Says 2014

Saturday 26th to Sunday 27th July 2014
De Montfort Hall, Granville Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE1 7RU, England MAP
£25 for the weekend

Sunday was a little less lively, but the quality remained, indeed the very first band on the outdoor Hobgoblin stage that afternoon, the fresh-faced and faced three-piece Tapestry were perhaps the most experimental bunch of the entire weekend, doffing their saxes and synths to Alt-J and Goblin.

Multi-instrumentalist Chris Conway provided laughs with wise and witty songs about aliens and superheroes and a double flute part piece, before seasoned local performer and recent TV sensation Sally Barker provided a packed, yet intimate session to the sun-baked garden.

“I’ve played gigs for thirty years in Leicester and abroad, then I play half a dozen songs on the Voice and it all goes crazy,” she opines, but you can tell a certain amount of satisfaction in her leisurely delivery and her shout-out to her proud mum in the crowd.

More importantly, she knocks every song out of the hall’s grounds; from the slow, spiritual cover of To Love Somebody and Walk On By to her own incessant and surprisingly political compositions Money’s Talking and 1,000 Faces.

For the few who ventured out of the sun to explore the hall itself, there was the dark, delicious treat of Jonny Halifax and The Howling Truth, two good ol’ boys retching out fuzzy blues via squalling, grizzly guitars and distorted harmonica.

Poignant songs of loss and regret delivered with a dash of defiance are Elizabeth Cornish’s speciality, and she and her band served up a sweet and slow selection of these from her debut album Displaced.

At the end of the spectrum indoors, globetrotting miscreants Skinny Lister got pulses racing with their scintillating shanties, local front lass Lorna Thomas cavorting about with a jug of whiskey, before teenage duo The Native capture restless attentions with the jangly yet mournful songs of urban angst.

Finally, The South, made up of members of nineties hit machine The Beautiful South, many of whom are from Leicester, storm the indoor stage to rapturous applause – unsurprisingly, as they’re the closest thing Simon Says has to a bona-fide major name.

They’re slick and professional, easily joshing with the crowd and each other, and their erstwhile band’s classics like Perfect 10 and Old Red Eyes Is Back are rightly rapturously received. Closing on the sing-along Good As Gold is particularly apt, as it seems like this spunky local festival will be carrying on regardless for some time to come.

review by: Alex Scoppie