Wad’s goin’ on
Wadstock 2006
Wadham College, 29th April
Summer in Oxford is often described in terms of the famous “three Ps” • punting, Pimm’s and parties. For Wadham students though there’s a fourth • Phestival. Wadstock has been running for years now and has earned its well-deserved place on the local musical calendar, thanks to its reputation for eclectic lineups and an amazing atmosphere.
This year, miniskirts and sunglasses were out in force as the beautiful people of Wadham and those lucky enough to be their guests, thronged to the quad, cocktails and cameras in hand. The fi rst band at any big concert is traditionally shockingly bad. With The Goulash, however, tradition is no excuse. From woefully bad covers to woefully bad songs which may or may not be covers (you honestly couldn’t tell) there’s no saving grace.
They may be being ironic • one thing’s for sure though, the joke’s not funny. Excursion are a back to basics outfi t, just two guys and a guitar. Their chilled out sound goes down well with a crowd starting to drink at midday and sitting under summer sun. It’s nothing special or groundbreaking, that’s for sure, but compared to what they’re following it’s a godsend.
At this point the comperes undermined Wadham’s hippy reputation somewhat by producing a box of waxing strips and proceeding to ask several disturbingly willing volunteers to aid them in the impromptu treatment.
Hairless and with voices a little higher than before, they went on to introduce Deptford Mice, who combined inventive drumming, a collection of effects pedals to rival that of Sonic Youth and soaring ‘cello, with their elegantly layered sound perfectly setting the tone for the relaxed lunchtime crowd.
Next on stage, after our illusions about Wadham’s peacenik image were further shattered by the comperes (this time instigating some kind of grudge match in the infl atable boxing ring) came Steven Swinbank’s two-piece fi nding it rather hard to get into the swing of things due to some technical hitches. The levels weren’t quite right, meaning that their heartfelt sound struggled to carry throughout the crowd.
This was unfortunate, but the underlying talent was obvious to those paying attention, with some expert keyboard playing and sincere lyrics. Strange Days took to the stage next, bringing with them another cello and a well-practised set of tight, riff-packed songs. They brought about a defi nite shift in the tone of proceedings, as the pace picked up and the crowd started to pay more attention to the stage than to the free ice cream.
Hard on their heels followed the appropriately named Lonely Echoes, apologising for their lack of a drummer but continuing nevertheless with some nice acoustic guitar and tight vocal harmonies. E=MC Hammer, clearly a band with a reputation, were showered with requests from the audience within seconds of taking the stage.
Looking more like Blink182 than their namesake, they looked as comfortable on stage as they would on a halfpipe, playing through their own energetic material before indulging the audience with the crowd-pleaser everyone had been waiting for. Inlight came next, plagued by amp troubles but playing on regardless, despite their lack of a bass.
Their relaxed, understated songs were nice but more or less swamped by the conversations of the crowd, who were mostly, it has to be said, debating whether said songs were Coldplay covers. Next came St John’s Juliana Meyer with her trademark acoustica, whose mellow sound and gorgeous vocals drifted out over the reclining afternoon crowd, and sea of empty wine bottles.
Her set nicely slowed proceedings and led to a short break in the music, during which many picked their way through the maze of ice cream tubs, copies of The Guardian and abandoned poetry books towards the barbecue and cocktail bar. This lull in proceeding was shortlived however, as the crowd returned refreshed and ready to rock out to college favourites, Bristol-based band Figment, who took the stage with the most commanding presence of any band yet.
These boys, clearly thriving in the live environment, seemed ecstatic to be playing in festival surroundings. Within moments, and for the fi rst time that day, a crowd of dancers formed around the front of the stage, staying there throughout the set of furious garage rock and clamouring for more until the boys returned to play a fi nal few songs.
The crowd’s enthusiasm continued as Jaberwok took the stage to treat us to a set of their infectious psychedelica- tinged funk-rock, quickly winning back and increasing the crowd of dancers. Their sound perfectly complemented the festival atmosphere which was by now, thanks to freely fl owing alcohol and continued sunshine, prevalent • in fact the band would not have sounded out of place at Woodstock.
The party feeling carried on as the stage was fi lled by Breach Of The Peace, a drumming collective whose combination of amazing energy, exuberance and varying shades of pink attire got everyone with an ounce of rhythm or bottle of wine inside them on their feet. After a winter of gigging in the darkness of Oxford’s pubs and clubs November seemed happy to be spreading their sound out into the open air of a sunny outdoor stage.
They sounded somehow slightly different in this environment, cleaner and understandably perhaps a little less intense, but certainly at no detriment to their reputation as one of Oxford’s fi nest student bands. As dusk fell The Restaurant took to the stage, with their tight, Beatlesesque sound keeping the crowd’s attention away from falling temperatures and the dilemma of whether or not it was still acceptable to keep their aviators on in the growing darkness.
At Risk went someway to making this decision easier, as everyone opted for the best view possible of their captivating singer Cat, who expertly led the band through a set of tight, high energy Garbage-tinged rock.
Having waxed their legs, downed pints of ice cream, fought each other with giant boxing gloves and made several unpleasantly homophobic attempts at inciting some on-stage boy on boy action (“Fairy steps! Take fairy steps!”) all in the sordid name of entertainment, the comperes rallied the crowd one fi nal time with a boozy, swaying rendition of festival classic Hey Jude.
The audience, also swaying by now, and not just in response to the music, completed the idyllic scene, with friends lifted onto shoulders, and even a couple of intrepid crowdsurfers visible above the sea of lighters and raised arms. Chants of ‘DFO’ greeted the evening’s fi nal musicians Dot’s Funk Odyssey, who knew exactly what the crowd needed to round of their day: a danceable set of favourites, including an epic samba-aided cover of the Reel 2 Reel classic “I like to move it.
?? In a day with so many highlights this fi nal display of Wadstock’s unrivalled festival feel was surely one, leaving the crowd to wander homewards with empty cans, good memories and imminent hangovers.
4th May 2006