by Chloe Yates
So after somehow managing 8 Feeder gigs in ’06 I was resigned to ‘07 being a Feeder-free year for me. Fortunately for me rumours of inaccessible-to-me festival appearances in first Wales and then Scotland were then followed by news of Redbourn 2007 at Herts County showground on August 11th. And even more fortunately I realised said gig was fairly near to where fellow pro-boarder Kev lives… and he has a car. A plan was formed, and what started off as a trip for me and Kev grew into a FFS Proboarders Meet-up, with 8 of us confirmed staying in the same Travelodge near Kev, plus a few other faces also due to join us on the day. It would also mark the first Feeder experience for pro-boarders Chris and ‘usually-based-in-Dubai’ Katie.
Friday 10th August was spent travelling down to the Travelodge to meet up with Chris, Rach, Stacey, Ant, Katie, Clare and Andy-Staffs. First mishap of the weekend was when I arrived at Hanger Lane tube station to discover there were 6 different exits leading to 8 different subways and I had no idea which one would take me to the Travelodge. Cue wandering around for 10 minutes or so before emergency phone call to Rach… “Can you come and find me please?” Never fear, your trusty tour reporter was found and lead safely there, whereupon piratey cakes were shared round (arrrrr). Friday evening, Stacey, Clare, Rach, Chris & I headed up into trendy Fulham to see up-and-coming rock band iMMa play at the Kings Head Pub. Stacey & I street-team for them and when they announced a London gig night before Redbourn it seemed perfect timing. They put on a fab set, full of energy and were mesmerising as ever live – check them out at www.immarock.com and www.myspace.com/immarock . If you’re missing Skunk Anansie, these guys may help fill the void ;) Had a quick chat with lead vocalist Erika afterwards and passed on some iMMa MuffiNs I’d made them – something to keep them going on the 4.30am start up to Scarborough the next day! Then it was back up to the Travelodge and hello to Andy-Staffs who’d arrived while we were out, complete with legendary Jon Lee Tattoo – please check out www.myspace.com/jonleetribute . Then it was off to catch our beauty sleep in preparation for Redbourn.
Saturday 11th August dawned bright and sunny. We all met up in the bar, dressed in specially made Redbourn 07 FFS T-shirts – massive thanks to Mr FFS himself in sorted those out for us - Marc they looked absolutely great. With the choice of ‘Tangerine Me’, Piratey ‘Argh Matey’ or ‘Grant & Mark & Taka & Dean’ designs spread out between the group of us, we ensured that the FFSers would be getting themselves noticed at the festival. We also gave the website a bit of a plug and in the absence of any official Redbourn merch, had people coming up to us all day asking where they could get such fab t-shirts – think MW’s onto something here for the future!
The sun shining, we settled ourselves down on the grass near the main stage with the aim of soaking up some rays and enjoying some good music… interrupted by the occasional water pistol fight! Apologies to anyone sat near us who got accidentally sprayed in our battles. We were also armed with Piratey FeederFanSite flags, a tangerine inflatable beach ball and paper ‘tangerines’ spelling out “Life’s Just A Piece Of Fruit”… yes I know Grant is never ever going to play tangerine ever again but we might as well have some fun winding him up about it!
First band on the main stage were Big Hand – an experimental/ska type band complete with top hats and tails, a singing drummer and a trumpeter. Despite the appearance of sound and technical issues that would end up blighting the entire day they put on an enjoyable show, despite it being rather early in the day and were a good laugh, perfect start.
Sadly the Redbourn organisers had failed to provide line-up information for the stages, and changed bands around last minute, meaning to an extent it was pot luck who you ended up seeing. Up next were Pull Tiger Tail, a last minute replacement for Tiny Dancers – who were due to play on the other stage - so was a tad confusing to say the least to have their replacement on the main stage, and 2 bands before their billing on the website had stated. Anyhow, they were pretty good, despite the random electronica moment or two. Hitchmo were on next, and I can’t actually remember anything about them now so that probably speaks volumes! After this, the fun really started (!) – according to my memory of the website stage line-ups, Ghosts, the main draw for me alongside Feeder, should’ve been on next. But they weren’t. With dodgy sound issues continuing, we got another 2 smallish bands. The Amber Plan and then The Raid. Note to the Amber Plan – stupidly high volume and lots of fuzz does not on its own = good music. My ears haven’t quite recovered yet. The Raid seemed to pull quite a crowd but I have to say I’d never heard of them, they were ok but didn’t really grip me at all, and ditto the advice regarding fuzz. Still while they were on there was the opportunity to see a few familiar faces and some new ones, great to meet FFSers Suzi and Amy for the first time, and to say hi again to Big Pete & Nance and then Mr B from the Official Board – he gave us all the goss from Loch Lomand the previous week. Speedboats to the stage and everything so I hear, are Feeder going a bit diva on us? :p
Following the Raid’s set, it was clear that not only was the main stage now running rather late (something to do with the sudden addition of 2 more bands better suited to the second stage perhaps?), but that technical problems had kicked in with full force. Ghosts were due on at 5pm, the Raid didn’t finish until 5.10pm, and then it took Ghosts technical crew over an hour to get their equipment working – at one point their roadie, trying in vain to get Si’s guitar set up was pleading with any “one of the 7 people at the sound desk give me some help please!” but it seemed those 7 people had better things to do than what I assume was their job. The words ‘Complete’ ‘Utter’ and ‘Shambles’ came to mind – the only bright spot the news that Ordinary Boys had been moved to the other stage (erm possibly due late running issues….?) saving me the horrible experience of being confronted with Preston’s’ face.
Once everyone had got their act together and Ghosts were actually able to perform, the guys put on a great set. It’s the third time I’ve seen them this year, one of my favourite new bands and they went down a storm. We got a couple of unexpected album tracks and plus cover version of the year in their take on Pussycat Doll’s’ Don’t Cha. Debut album ‘World Is Outside’ is out now and you can catch some of the tracks on www.myspace.com/ghostsuk or www.ghostsmusic.com . Even if you think you’ve never heard of them, you might find you recognise ‘Stay The Night’.
After Ghosts, my ears were demanding a bit of a break and my stomach food. So, leaving Katie, Kev, Ant & Andy in our prime spot, dean-side, second row, Clare, Stacey, Chris and I headed off to get crepes (yes they ARE proper festival food) and listen to Feeders’ Festival Support Band (aka Dirty Pretty Things) from afar. Third festival in a row I’ve seen DPT, each time they’ve been on before Feeder, and although I enjoy some of their songs, I’m not too fussed by them. They take their full hour set, finishing at 8.10pm. Feeder are billed as 9pm-10pm, with a “strict 10pm curfew”, there’s still The Automatic due to play, and the aforementioned technical issues have meant its taking each band a good 30 minutes to set everything up before playing. It’s blatantly clear that something has got to give.
We head back to the other guys in the crowd, worming our ways through to second row. The guys tell us that Grant had appeared at the side of the stage during DPT with baby Hana. As they tell us this, one of Feeder’s crew appear with Hana on the grass at the side of the stage to show her the crowd. Cue us girls going “awwwwwwwwwwwwww she has little pigtails” and all the guys rolling their eyes. Bless. The Automatic then rush on with Pennie declaring “It’s all f***ed up, we only have 20 minutes, don’t blame us, if you want to blame anyone, blame the organisers and blame f***ing Feeder”….. erm, hang on a minute there mate, I don’t think it’s Feeder’s fault the organisers cocked up the running time. Anyway, we get 20 minutes of very mental Automatic, Pennie jumping into the crowd and everything going bloody crazy for ‘Monster’. As a band they’re decent enough, it’s amusing just to watch Pennie go totally mental, but I don’t think there’s any need to start slagging other bands off. I found out afterwards that the Automatic had flown back from America just to play this gig, had arrived to be told by the promoter that they “only had 20 minutes because Feeder had demanded a whole hour or they won’t play.” Pennie clarified after that information had been wrong and apologised to Grant accordingly. Still, I don’t think The Automatic will be playing Redbourn again. That’s assuming it happens next year…
The Automatic finish at 8.55pm, stage-crew rush on and do a sterling job in obviously difficult circumstances, and Feeder are ready to come on stage at 9.15pm. The usual “Fee-Dah” chants are getting going, the piratey FFS flags are waving in anticipation and biggest cheer on the night when the band we’ve been waiting for finally get on. The guys, understandably, look pretty pissed off and as frustrated by all the delays as we all are. However, they launch straight into Feeling A Moment as if they’ve never been away and thank god, Mark is in a different t-shirt to the Tuxedo one. It’s probably too much to hope that he’s lost it though. (NB. There’s nothing specifically wrong with that top, except it must ming to high heaven after being worn so much. Maybe it’s fallen apart in the wash… let’s hope he does wash it…). Talking of Mark, the next track is his and his alone. It is, of course, the awesome Shatter. Never fails to give me tingles and Mr R is a joy to watch drumming to this. If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing him drum this live, do yourself a favour and go watch the Redbourn clip of it on youtube, he goes absolutely mental but in a fantastic way – look out for the “Cooooome onn!” bit (oh the flags on the right… that’s me and Clare, you might also see the tangerine ball bouncing around) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-QtKUQtWrQ
Shatter was followed by Come Back Around – another track Mark goes mental for, and bless him he, and the rest of the guys look completely knackered by the end of it. (9 months out taking its toll?). Grant then introduces “another from Comfort in Sound” and we all sing along to Just The Way I’m Feeling. Up next is that festival classic of tracks in good old Buck Rogers. Like a lot of people I’m pretty bored of hearing this now, but truth be told it is at its best in a festival setting. There’s the usual mega bounce. Grant then apologises for the set being short, explains there’s a 10 pm curfew, and the boo’s from us result in Mark gesturing very clearly, complete with drumstick pointing “It’s not us, it’s THE MAN!”. Grant dedicates the next track to The Automatic, it’s Pushing the Senses. It’s then straight into Lost & Found – complete with new intro and no hand claps! Which I’m a bit sad about, it denies Mark a bit of drummer/crowd interaction, and confused the hell out of me at first as I tried to work out what track they were playing! It goes down well though, loads of people around us know it, and I think it gets as good a response as Buck. “One from our first album” is up next – the cue for the FFSers to shout ‘tangerine’ but actually it was High, which means a good opportunity for some FFS flag waving. Grant: “what’s written on the flags?” looking nearer as I hold the end straight so he can read ‘Feeder Fan Site’. “Nice flags” is the response – made my day that did, as did the rock horns from Grant and Dean in our direction.
Running short of time, the guys wrap up with 7 Days in the Sun, and, naturally, Just A Day. A short but tight set, the guys themselves don’t disappoint, leaving to huge applause and giving us all thumbs up. It’s clear they had to drop at least 3 tracks - when the set lists were pasted to the stage floor before their set you could see 3 great black lines crossing through entries. The previous week they played Pilgrim Soul, Insomnia and Tumble & Fall (though not High), I’m happy we got High not T&F but disappointed may have missed Pilgrim Soul. Rumours also that Yesterday Went Too Soon was soundchecked make it all the more frustrating that their set was cut. (I WILL hear that live again one day). A finger has to be pointed at the organisation – it was clear from the first act on the main stage at 1pm that there were sound and technical issues that would cause delays. It was enough to warrant moving Ordinary Boys to another stage. Why then add MORE small acts to the main stage? First rule of festival management I would’ve thought is “don’t piss off your headline act”. If bands like The Amber Plan had been moved, chances are the backlog causing both The Automatic & Feeder to cut their sets would have been avoided. And why allow Dirty Pretty Things a full hour when it’s apparent that the two later acts will only get half of their allocated time slot? If you’d cut DTP to 40/45 minutes, Automatic could’ve had 40 minutes and still been off stage before 9pm to allow Feeder to set up and play for longer than the 40 minutes they got. A shame that an otherwise fantastic weekend was tarnished by mismanagement.
Despite that, we all had an awesome time, and it’s an effort to scrape Katie off the ceiling she’s so hyper at finally having seen Feeder. The response of die-hard Muse fan Chris to his first Feeder experience is “Muse Who??”. “Roll on the next Feeder tour” we tell them, you think a festival is good, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Time to head back to the Travelodge, and the following day we all say goodbye until the next time. I head off to Stamford Bridge to catch Chelsea’s first game of the season (boo, Ed), and to my delight not only do we win but I get a free flag. Little things please little minds and all that, but life is good, Football is back, and so are Feeder. Rumour has it that new album will be out April-time, plenty of time to save up for a tour. And Congrats to Grant, Kana & Hana on news of baby Nicholas number 2 on the way... I guess we can forgive Grant the wait for new stuff then ;-)
Is anyone else bored of the lack of Feeder news?