Jack Up The Summer 2024 Review

The amount of time, energy and money that goes into putting on a single event is astounding – particularly for a small festival who don’t usually have a large team to share the work round. The logistics of booking acts; negotiating with local authorities; putting the infrastructure in place on the site; convincing stall holders to come along; promoting the event; convincing the public to part with hard earned cash to attend; organising cleaners, sound engineers, lighting techs, photographers, security, volunteers and more. Then making sure everything is shut down and cleaned up afterwards is a full-time job. To do all that once is a herculean effort. To willingly do that for a decade is probably akin to Sisyphus, pushing his boulder up a hill only to have to do it again the next day.

Jack Up Summer Party is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, having started as a one-day event in 2013 (yes I know that’s 11 years ago, but no one counts the COVID year). Over those years it grew, starting out as an 80s festival, before expanding out to include 70s and 90s acts, expanding from one to three days, moving to three different locations, before changing its focus from original to tribute acts as a two-day event, hosted at its own campsite.

This anniversary is a bittersweet one though, as like many festivals in recent years the increased costs of running a festival have become too big and so it announced that this would be the last ‘Jack Up’ multi-day event.

Now in their third year on the current site, it’s a pretty well organised affair – at one end of the field is the stage – a converted airstream camper (the big stainless steel ones that appear in so many American movies), while lined down either side are the usual range of food and drink vendors, as well as clothing and craft stalls. At the back is a small fairground with rides for the kids. There’s plenty of room in the middle for people to set up their own little spaces and a reserved area at the front for the keener to get up and dance. It’s a nice change from the crowded pack at the front you get at other festivals, and helps create a more relaxed feel on the site. Although you can’t help but feel for the acts, particularly in the early afternoon, who get up on stage to see the audience sat resolutely in chairs 30 to 40 feet away from them.

While the festival is mainly tribute acts, that doesn’t diminish the event. I was recently talking with a friend who asked me what the point of tribute acts were? Personally I think they provide an important role in the music industry, filling two roles – first is they allow an affordable option to go and see live music. When tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour are selling for hundreds, if not thousands of pounds, a £20 ticket for her tribute is affordable for a family already struggling under the cost of living. While you may not get the spectacle of the full show, you do get a far more intimate experience, as engaging and memorable as the real thing. 

The second role I think is far more important. Bands come and go, and sadly the artists do pass on, but tributes keep their music alive and vital. If like me you believe that music is at it’s best when performed live, tribute acts give you the opportunity to hear these songs performed. How many brilliant songs would pass into obscurity simply because the original artists have died, and the radio only plays the big hits? With plenty of new acts with hundreds of songs being written and released, how long before some acts simply stop being played? Tributes keep their memory going far better than any other medium.

Jack Up Summer Party is a diverse event with a range of artists to suit every taste, Saturday started out with Ariande Grande (courtesy of Always Ariana) and ended up with a stunning performance from Tina Turner tribute Typically Tina. This show was as much a masterclass of how good a band can be – accurately portraying Tina’s distinctive style with ‘Tina’ supported by guitar, bass and drums. In between saw a performance from Lionel Ritchie (Hamilton Browne), who’s claim to fame (other than being a pretty good soundalike) was that he was Lionel’s stunt double in the Walkers crisps advert, getting pushed through a window by Gary Lineker when Lionel tried to steal a crisp. Best of the day came from John Lennon tribute Javier Parisi, whose acoustic set was perfect in the summer sun and showed off John’s music at its best; and Mac*Busted’s energetic recreation of McFly and Busted managed to draw a good crowd to the front. The only mis-step (excuse the pun) of the day was Steptacular. I’ll admit I am no great fan of the original group, but their performance wasn’t the best – Steps are built on dance routines and harmonies, but they were noticeably off on both. Never has ‘better best forgotten’ been a more accurate phrase.

Sunday saw local group Texus open the show – always a tall order for any act. Sunday lunchtime is the graveyard slot of a festival, but those who made the effort to come along got treated to a great show. Lead singer Tracey Wozencroft’s vocal was a pitch perfect recreation of Sharleen Spiteri – easily switching between the soulful and rockier songs. The band put on a great show, particularly harmonica player Simon Clarke, whose playing elevated the songs giving them energy and life.

Due to a family death Bruno Mars tribute Jeff Dingle had to cancel, but another local act Utmost Elton stood in. Elton John’s music is one that transcends generations, and seems to find favour with different generations from his original honky tonk, rock and roll, to the Lion King era and more recent collaborations with Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran. Simon James is more than up to the task of covering all his eras and I don’t think anyone missed the original booking. 

Nathan Moore has almost legendary status at the festival based on previous appearances, so it was appropriate that he came along to the final festival. Best known as part of 80s boyband Brother Beyond, his show encompasses their big hits, but also plenty of feel-good covers. Nathan’s real appeal lies in his ability to engage with an audience, quite literally taking to the crowd and performing amongst them – getting them to sing along while posing for selfies and occasionally stealing their drinks! The crowd however lap it up, both young and old. 

Still buzzing from Nathan’s performance, the line up wisely keeps the energy going, with Bryan Adams tribute Bein’ Adams keeping the tempo going with some classic rock, before Re-Take That bring us back to the pop again. As a 90s indie kid Take That represented everything that was wrong with the music of the era, but now, 30 years on I have mellowed towards them somewhat, and can appreciate there was some decent songwriting there. Their performance benefitted from the intimacy of the show and with good engagement with the audience. The high point however was a ‘surprise’ appearance from Tony Lewis. The Robbie Williams tribute’s arrival raised the game of the rest of the band and turned what was already a good performance into a great one.

Finishing the evening off was The Princes of Motown, who took us from the classic era of Motown up to modern R&B. Clearly having seen how effective Nathan Moore was, they too left the stage to perform among the crowd, creating a more personal show, and ending the festival on a high point.

As a last show this weekend has been a fitting send off for one of the favourite events on our calendar. It’s a shame to see it go, but I understand the reasons behind it and to bow out on their terms rather than sink under trying to keep going is sensible. Organisers Alex and Sarah have poured a lot of love into this festival, and it always shows. Thankfully they do intend to keep going with the programme of one-off gigs through the year, so the spirit of it will hopefully be around for many years to come.

Running festivals is a challenging career, the market is saturated, costs are always rising, and the cost-of-living crisis squeezes ever harder on disposable income. But I think that it’s the smaller festivals that are so important and need to be supported – while the big events have a natural draw, it’s the smaller shows that provide an important place for new talent to thrive. I’ve been lucky to see a lot of bands perform small events that have gone on to bigger fame and fortune. If we lose them the whole industry will be poorer for it. If you’ve got a festival local to you, please give it your time, and enjoy the music that’s there – because one day it might not be.

 

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