The Dawn Chorus / The Retrospective Soundtrack Players - Blogging all over the World

Sunday 5th August 2007
Chalgrove Live Festival, Oxford

So we all woke with that gruesomely hung over, furry mouth, stiff neck, stinking of BO in a hot tent festival feeling and made our way down to Oxford. Me and Paul - the designated drivers - were still pretty drunk and the scorching sun didn't really help with the hangover on the drive down. Paul was probably the worst for ware out of all of us - he was white as a sheet when he was attempting to eat a bowl of Frosties in a service station.

We had no idea how either of these festivals would go, but we agreed to do the Chalgrove fest since Oxford is right on our path back home from Derby. I suppose after Saturday's pleasant surprise we should have expected a comedown, but with all due respect the Chalgrove Festival was a shocker. A huge field with more trade stalls in it than people. And there weren't that many stalls. An enormous stage with a barrier maintaining a 20 foot gap between band and audience. Or where the audience should be. To top it all off, the organisers were pissed off at us for not bringing a drum kit. To a festival! 10 bands in a day and they expect them all to bring their kit. And to top that off (lots of toppings here) we were down to play an hour long set. The words 'free rehearsal' come to mind. I can't say I've ever felt quite so much like I wanted to be anywhere else than on that stage, playing old songs to a handful of people who weren't really listening. Oh well. As I said earlier, it was on the way home anyway so it was no great shakes. On a positive note, the guys from the 2nd stage were very kind in lending us a bass amp, and the man from the Beer tent bought us all a drink and had some very nice things to say. Then I drove the last few hours home, watched the end of the Charity shield, had a nice big proper hot meal (Beans on Toast IS a meal if you have cheese and ham underneath and an extra slice of toast), saw my girlfriend for a few hours and then collapsed into bed and slept for 12 hours straight. Great Days.
x