Riverside

Fri 3 Aug 2012, 11:15

Spence, guitarist from the Brickwork Lizards here.

Thanks Charlie M for the great comments - Riverside is such a fantastic festival and we were delighted to support it. Being a Fawlerite, it was also great to play my local festival.

Looking forward to next year already!

Fri 3 Aug 2012, 06:01 (last edited on Fri 3 Aug 2012, 06:04)

I could not agree more. Superbly organised and run, good beer, great food ... and a very wide variety of music to please most tastes! I present below an edited version of my comments from a well-known social forum:

Saturday July 28th:

Best bands for me? On Simon's Stage (the main stage) it had to be the Inflatables; their set of classics by the likes of Madness, Desmond Dekker, and others of that ilk brought the sun out and got everyone dancing!

On the 2nd Stage, again a no-brainer ... definitely the folk music-based Green Children of Wolfpit, with their wonderful display of virtuosity on guitar/mandolin, fiddle and harp. A real treat!

A special mention, however, for Twisted State Of Mind. These 12-year-olds (yes!) played their particular flavour of heavy metal with competence, humour and maturity. If they continue to progress, their future is a bright one.

Sunday July 29th:

Without any doubt at all, the band of the day for me was The Brickwork Lizards. A wonderful almost Klezmer-like mixture of pop, middle eastern, jazz, and who knows what else, thrown into a musical food-blender and spat out with virtuosity and gusto ... and there was also a belly dancer! The oud player was quite extraordinarily good. The audience loved them ... I urge you to get to see this band!

Also worthy of honourable mention:-
Ran Kan Kan, with their fine interpretations of Cuban music (their rendition of Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va", made famous by Santana, deserves particular mention). This enormous band (almost 20 of them on stage!) also won peoples' hearts.

Other highlights of the day for me were Swindlestock, for their very enjoyable fusion of blues, country and folk, also The Shapes and Blin' Johnny.

And in conclusion ...
I think it's very appropriate to thank every single person who had anything to do with this festival. It was superb. As long as I am not in the USA, I will definitely be back next year!

Thu 2 Aug 2012, 22:53

i have just come online to write pretty much the same thing. well done to all that helped organize it and run it. you all did a fab job and it was great.

Wed 1 Aug 2012, 09:17

Well it's Wednesday and as no one has mentioned Riverside on the forum so I'd like to say well done to all involved from the organising to the acts the bits that I watched were great over the 2 days and I'm glad that I took a brolly down Sunday as it was very useful at times so once again well done !