Marcus.....SuperHero of The Day
Babajack played to a jumpin'
house at Bar place. Where d'ya start? Fronted by Beccy Tate on
percussion and vocals, this acoustic blues band play across every
boundary. With songs like 'Gallows Pole' and 'Rooster Blues' we ran
the gamut of emotions. Trevor Steger effortlessly moved from
slide to harp to winebox and laid his Tom Waites voice on us like
fire on dry tinder. Passion and tenderness and rockin' from these
guys. You can see why they are on the Blues Awards nomination list...
Unable to move for fear that an HBBF
groupie might steal his place at the bar, The Hat stayed on for
Rabbit Foot. Was that a smart Non Move! Not only did The Hat
get to hear a fabulous set but I fear he fell totally and helplessly
In Love with yet another female musician...along with 200 others..
This band is phenomenal. Just three people working a room to make it
sound like an arena concert. Fronted by the beautiful and hugely
talented singer Carla Viegas firing up the African drums, Andy
Whitely on bass and with Captain Jamie Morgan playing
out of his skin on guitar, they really know how to party. There was a
wonderful moment when the guitar and vocals exchanged echo 'fours'.
Quite brilliant. Tight, fast, exciting but taking time to
occasionally take a breath and woo us with a slow number, this group
must surely be one of the discovery hits of the festival. It was so
good to see the foot tapping and dancing and when Jamie hit the floor
with probably the longest ever version of 'All Night Long' in the
history of the world, you knew you had seen the Festival Party, there
and then...
Down at the Picture House the Bluekings
had the unenviable job of stepping in at the last minute after a
cancellation and they saved the day with aplomb. Dashing in from
Weatherby Yorkshire, these guys put the pedal to the metal and never
let go. A fabulous wall of sound of solid blues, they rocked through
the classics with a harpist vocal front man getting the stomping feet
going. Thank you guys!
Sprinting the fifty yards back to Blue
Horizon (joke), The Hat was overwhelmed by Stuart James. He
has played with Dr Feelgood and Joe Bonamassa and ain't no slouch.
Playing hard-drive rock blues, Stuart takes no prisoners and just
smashed it brilliantly to the delight of a packed house. The Hat has
to report a Magic Festival Moment. Just as Stuart kicked into the
Rory Gallacher number 'Baby I Want You', our Paddy Maguire (Rory's
biggest fan) walked in. It was Rory's birthday as well. Paddy's beam
could have powered the Main Stage for a week.
The Festival headliner Todd
Sharpville delivered everything expected and more. Playing with a
group of absolutely top flight musicians in the shape of Paddy
Milner on keyboards, Pete Clark bass and the astonishing
Mark Teixeira on drums, he held the stage and our gaze for
every second. He has great crack with the audience and you can see
the rapport with his band players. There were some wonderful
moments.When they played 'Everything will be alright', Paddy felt
obliged to top and tail it with an outrageous dsplay of keyboard
virtuosity; and Todd's version of 'I need you so bad' was taken from
slow poignant brilliance to a no holds barred rip-em-up - and oh,
what a delight to see a drummer get the opportunity to take a proper
break and show his mind-blowing spectacular skills. Gifted musicians
having fun is a no-brainer as a spectacle. How could you not enjoy
Paddy doing some ostentatious double handed keyboard slapping on 'Red
Headed Woman' and almost turn it into a square dance! And don't
forget Genghis, Todd's dog, who is clearly a HebdenFest Groupie. Also
The Hat is anxious to say how nice it was to hear Todd, who has a
great line in stage chat, take time to thank the festival organisers
and pay tribute to the vibe they have created in such a short time.
Brilliant Band, Nice People. Hot Night. Wang Dang Doodle....
Back for the Mad
Paddy Jam. The Hat and Genghis and what seemed like a thousand others
packed in to see the talent let its hair down. All the day's heroes
were there, but let the Hat pay respects to just two of them. It was
good to see Richard Kershaw, Hooson's guitarist up on stage
despite battling some fearful pestilence and also the seriously
understated Marcus Lazurus up there giving us 'Take a Look at
Yourself' after doing a billion hours stage managing everyone else.
He is The Hat's SuperHero of The Day.
Well, dunno about
you, but I gotta get a cure for this soon.... this blues thing, know
what I mean....
Pip Pip!
The Man In The
Hat.