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Elly Roberts reviews
Celebrating 60 years of the end of WWIIon one of the hottest days of theyear, fifteen thousand fans turned up at Cae Glas Oswestry to experience aneleven hour music marathon, organised by entrepreneurial musician andproducer Phil Beaumont and Oswestry Town Council.
This, the fifth event inthe border town, OML has grown in stature each year. Drawing performers fromall corners of the UK and America, this superb showcase has turned into amini-Glastonbury. Charging a bargain five pounds per ticket, the day-longrolling format is rapidly becoming one of the serious festivals on the UKcalendar. A real family affair, with food and drink stalls, small funfairand fire jugglers, there was plenty to keep the day rolling on. All ageswere represented on stage and in the crowd, with the relaxed picnic styleatmosphere juxtaposed by plenty of musical styles to keep everybody happy,from out and – out rockers to the delicate nuances of acoustic guitars.
With such phenomenal talent on display, it only served to prove that the UKis still a world beater when it comes to music development and credibility,even if most of them werent household names. As temperatures soared intothe mid 20s, the heat was matched by even hotter acts. Alternating smoothlyfrom main stage to the bandstands acoustic stage, Beaumonts vastexperience was evident on all aspects of the event.
The main stage brought bands such as North Wales outfit Redstone, now basedin London, who gave an insight into their future international rising.Sophisticated rock and harmony is their penchant, heard on Night After Nightand jaunty Bye Bye. This autumn sees the reworking of horror flick Jekylland Hyde. To their credit they have two songs, Old Boy (single releaseSeptember) which features in the opening sequence, and On This Rock alsomakes the soundtrack cut. Clearly, Redstone have all the makings of a bandwith a massive future.
Popular locals and recent Wrexham Chicago Rock Café competition winnersBlindsyde brought the first stage surge, as ruggedly handsome Scott Tudorled his troupes through a storming eight song set, showing an expandedrepertoire of accessible rock. Best bits delicious Wah Wah guitar riffs byAndrew Feaks, I Belong and Slow Down. This band has come a long way in 12months, and it shows. Another local outfit, A Little Bit of Chaos, with PhilBeaumont on drums, gave a familiar professional covers sojourn of rockstandards, concluding with a stunning guitar solo by Amos Cooper on PrincesPurple Rain.
Highly rated Alabama blues balladeer Lisa Mills, aided on upright bass bypint-sized Ian Jennings of The Big Town Playboys, brought glamour andsensuality. The flame-haired beauty brought gasps from he crowd with gutwrenching deliveries and vocal gymnastics. Having debuted at Glastonburylast year, she returned for a second dose of OML as part of her five week UKtour promoting her excellent CD Im Changing, recorded in LA. Doing coversand originals, Sunshine is a cert for BBC Radio 2 playlists. She can seen atthe Trowbridge and Gloucester Blues festivals.
Riff laden Essex trio The Morenas, fronted by swarthy rock-star guitaristPaulo Morena, are serious contenders for the big time. Their storming OldSkool rock has mass appeal and class, catching the eye of TV musicprogrammes. Again playing a 40 minute set they have a formidable repertoireincluding singles It Shouldnt Matta and Coming Home. This band is destinedfor major attention. If they get to Glasto, theyll blow everyone away withstage antics and soaring vocals. Theyre about to show The Darkness thedoor!
On the acoustic stage, there were superb performances by Strangefish who arecurrently recording at Forge Studio in Oswestry. This low key quartet weresensational, with some Peter Gabriel like vocals from Steve Taylor. PinkFloyds Wish You Were Here was breathtaking.
Local hero Adam Howes kept it simple on acoustic guitar with severalself-penned songs Pieces, Fall and covers, including crowd pleasers AmericanPie, U2s With Or Without You and Green Days Time Of Your Life. Hishighlight was Damien Rices The Blowers Daughter as he pulled in some palsto support.
Back on the main stage with headliners The Family Mahone, led by Radio 1 DJMark Radcliffe, they folk-rocked into the twilight as they turned up thepace with an energetic set of drinking songs, bringing the crowd to theirdancing feet. This combo is perfect festival fodder, and they know it, asthey confidently played to the crowd at every opportunity. Romping throughfavourites like Dirty Old Town, the Waterboys Fishermans Blues, andselected CD tracks from On the Razzle and Songs of The Back Bar, the partyatmosphere intensified.
With the crowd at fever pitch, they encored with a stirring Irish Rover.
Rounding off a glorious day, Porthywaen Silver Band gave a rousing Promsstyle finale, with Union Jack flags swaying to Jerusalem, and RuleBritannia. This lead to one of the most spectacular fireworks displays ever.
An exhausted but beaming Phil Beaumont said, “This years event was the bestso far. On the day, there was a fantastic turnout, and I am told that thefestival goers were estimated at 15,000. I would like to thank everyonewho worked so hard to make it possible and all the artists who performed sobrilliantly.The festival was sponsored by Oswestry Town Council, ForgeRecording Studio, Systems Workshop and BBC Radio Shropshire.”
Weblinks:www.strangefish.co.uk /www.thefamilymahone.com /www.LisaMills.com /www.themorenas.co.uk /www.blindsyde.net /www.redstonemusic.com
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.