Stone Valley, France & Italy

Woke up 7.15am with no recollection of going to bed. I knew I must have had a good time, because I was still wearing all my clothes and now undoubtedly in the dog house.

It was a lovely sunny morning and I sought out the toilets which were perfectly clean and continued to be so throughout the festival. I returned to the tent where Jackie treated me like her slave all morning. She had me making coffees, collecting our chairs from Andy & Tre, buttering the bread rolls AND washing up.

We had a fly past of a quartet of Douglas DC-3s, which was nice.

Jackie was the designated breakfast chef and she made bacon baps. Andy and I had four each, whilst the girls had just a couple. Jonathan and Emma declined the offer to join us.

During breakfast, Loupe decided to dig a hole where we were sitting which quite frankly is now a health and safety nightmare. I should also add that he chose to have another poo on the approach to our tent.

After a more restrained pre-gig drink and missing the first act, Kid Klumsy, I rushed into the arena to see Millie Manders & The Shutup. I really enjoyed them. Lots of attitude. The others who caught the end of the set were not quite so enamoured.

The next act was an Italian trio of ladies called Smalltown Tigers, who sounded like Hole, but a bit shouty. I went up the front for the next band, Bar Stool Preachers, who I was really looking forward to. They didn’t disappoint. The lead singer really got the audience going with lots of crowd participation. Apparently all of our group enjoyed them.

The next band was The Farm, known for their one big hit - Altogether Now. They were much better than anticipated and improved with a female backing singer. They also played Stepping Stone, Groovy Train and The Clash song Bank Robber. At the same time, Manchester United were annihilating Manchester City in the FA Cup Final.

During The Farm set, Loupe started getting a bit ‘bitey’, so Andy and Tre took him back to their van. At the end of the set, Jackie and I went to find them for a cheap drink. On the way Jackie said she thought they would all be asleep in their van. How wrong could she have been, as we neared their van our ears were assaulted by a volley of insults and extremely bad language. It turned out that Tre and a woman in a glitter jacket were shouting insults at each other, because the woman had shouted at Loupe.

After a quick white wine, I returned alone (again) to the arena where I met back up with Jonathan and Emma for The Soup Dragons. They were dreadful. The lead singer could hardly sing and they finished their set 10 minutes too early then had to try and find another couple of songs to play which led to some confusion.

Jonathan and Emma then left me to return to their van saying they were going to give Ferocious Dog a miss, leaving me as Billy No-mates with 5 empty chairs for my imaginary friends. Andy later returned and said the girls were coming down later after Ferocious Dog, so it was just me and him for the band I had been most looking forward to and I had been bigging up all day.

We went down the front and were treated to a superb 50 minutes of punk folk music led by their charismatic singer, ‘Red’ Ken Bonsall. We were in a huge mosh pit of 50 & 60 year old men and women going crazy, between breathers! The band had a new album out and so I hardly knew any of their songs, but they did play my particular favourite, Punk Police. We also noticed that Andy and I featured on the side screens quite a lot as the camera panned across the crowd.

At the conclusion Andy and I bought a beer and saw that there was a massive crowd at the merchandise stall of newly acquired fans all wanting a t-shirt. We returned to our chairs to discover that the other four had all watched the entire Ferocious Dog performance and without exception agreed that it had been the highlight of the Festival. I don’t like to say I told you so, but…….

A short while later, Jackie and I went off for a wander and a wee. As I left Jackie for the urinals, a bloke walked towards me, whilst pointing his finger, then burst into song “5 o’clock in the morning and still I cannot sleep”. I applauded him, then embarrassed him by reminding him that the lyric is actually “4 o’clock in the morning…….”

Just to put this apparently strange encounter into context , I was wearing one of my New Model Army t-shirts and he was singing the song No Rest by New Model Army to me. During the festival I have had numerous people come and talk to me about New Model Army and the gigs they have seen. I have also met up with a couple, Michael and Tracy, who I had made friends with around Europe on the recent tour. They had also followed the NMA tour around Europe but by train.

Jackie and I unexpectedly found the Ferocious Dog band members beside their merch stall. They could not have been a nicer bunch of lads. I congratulated them on their performance and they all wanted to shake my hand. Ken even gave Jackie a kiss. They then posed for photos with us. I bought a couple of their t-shirts, one for me and one for Jonathan for his birthday. It turned out Jonathan had already ordered one on-line so luckily Andy agreed to have it.

Cast were the next band, who played all their catalogue of hits, including Fine Time, Walkaway and Alright.

The headliners were The Damned who in 1976 were the first punk band to release a single, New Rose. I have seen them numerous times in the past, but tonight’s performance was their best by far. They were excellent. Dave Vanian’s vocals were particularly strong. Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies were also on top of their game, supported by guitarist Paul Gray and a lunatic on keyboards called Monty Oxymoron. They played all the old classics including New Rose, Neat Neat Neat, Smash It Up & Love Song.

At the end of a fabulous day, Jackie and I returned our tent for a quick red wine nightcap before the rains eventually arrived.

Song of the Day - Punk Police by Ferocious Dog.Read more