Day 1 - The Festival Festivities Begin

Coughing like a banshee & unable to stand it anymore, I got out of bed at 4.15am dreading that I will keep the Stone Valley Festival campsite awake all weekend.

After packing the car we set off at just after 7.00am. We dodged all the traffic jams & arrived in Ware, Hertfordshire at 9.00am where I treated Jackie to a McDonald’s breakfast.

At 9.30am, we rolled into the Stone Valley Festival ground, no queue and we were told we could set up anywhere we liked in the top field. Spoilt for choice we picked a perfect location and just a very short distance from the car. We set up in less than 90 minutes.

We were just relaxing, when Andy and Tre appeared in the distance with Loupe, their 10 month old German Shepherd, affectionately known as ‘Johnny’ after The Shining character. Living up to his reputation, Johnny greeted us, by having a huge poo 💩, just 10 metres from our tent ⛺️. Lovely!!

After a quick beer, we joined Andy and Tre at their van for pre-gig drinks, then we headed to the show ground in time for the 1st band of the day, Small Fakers, to start at 1.30pm. To our incredulity, the gates weren’t opened until 1.30pm and the Small Fakers started their set just 2 minutes later with us and literally everyone else still queuing to get in. Annoyingly, we hardly got searched on the way in & Jackie was cursing the fact that she could have smuggled in a bladder of wine. I was also cursing when I saw the bar prices - Beer £7 and a bottle of wine £33.

The Small Fakers were good, playing Small Faces songs, obviously, that we all recognised.

Next up was the highlight of the day, Ruts DC, who were on criminally early, who played a fantastic set including Babylon’s Burning, West One (Shine On Me), Staring At The Rude Boys, In A Rut & Something That I Said to name just a few. I returned from the mosh pit to find that Jonathan and Emma had finally joined us.

Pop Will Eat Itself were the 3rd band who were better live than on record. Next was From The Jam who played all the classics including Strange Town, Mr. Clean & Down In The Tube Station At Midnight. The general consensus was that it would probably be their last tour as Bruce Foxton looks a frail old man. We then watched Death Of Guitar Pop, who were ok before deciding to seek some cheaper liquid refreshment - as in drinking Andy and Tre’s wine back at their van.

Sadly this is my last memory that night. Allegedly I over indulged. Apparently we returned to the arena for The Sherlocks, then I was escorted back to my tent by Jackie and Andy. This caused Andy to miss his ‘favourite’ band. Lip Up Fatty!!

Song of the Day - Babylon’s Burning by Ruts DC.Les mer