Festival Coverage : HIPSVILLE - Friday Night

Friday night's opening act were The Hi-Class Joes, a tight beat combo seemingly fronted by two versions of Dan Ackroyd in his Blues Brothers guise. An ideal choice for kicking off proceedings they packed out their 30+ minutes as completely as possible, with a set that included originals as well as the likes of Gene Vincent's 'Bird Doggin'' and a lively version of 'Kisses Sweeter Than Wine'. Full use was made of every available opportunity for a rousing blast or two on the harmonica and the show was well & truly off to a flying start.

Quality was the name of the game now and The Norvins managed to raise the stakes further with their high octane brand of garage.  In Ed they've a ceaselessly moving frontman, never in one place for longer than a few seconds as he alternately prowls and pounds around the stage, all the time hollering fit to burst as Pascal lays down that wicked guitar sound and Jerome underpins it all with the slick organ work. Current album Yoga With Mona is out now on Soundflat Records & sales should see a great rise on the back of performances such as tonight's. Catching up with them in the bar later on it was clear they'd had as good a time as the audience.

The international theme is maintained as the focus shifts from France to Germany with the arrival on stage of The Mentalettes - three pitch perfect singers and their quartet of backing musicians. Ancient Rome was, in part, their theme of dress for the evening with the girls sporting togas and the odd gold laurel wreath adorning the lads. The tight time frame saw the group sail through a rambunctious and very entertaining set including their infectious 'Fine, Fine, Fine' and a cover of Billy Childish's 'Wild Man'. They were seen taking to the floor later on which underlines the great thing about these sort of events - those performing are fans first & foremost and enjoy the offstage part as much as the onstage.

Fancy dress was much in evidence as the final band of the night took to the stage in the garb of four milk men and a saucy housewife. These were Wigan's finest The Stags, looking like extras from some long-lost Robin Askwith film but delivering pure entertainment rather than leers and lewd winks (not that there wasn't the odd one or two of those ...). Keeping up their tradition of composing songs for the locations they play the first ever performance of 'Bisley!' was unleashed mid-way through their set along with such crowd pleasers as 'Bread & Butter' and 'Sour Grapes'. Organist Spencer Chess was rightly pleased with the show delivered and explained the costuming is an occasional element of the band's act, rather than a constant so don't all go expecting multi-coloured milk and the like at every show. Or for that matter the greco-roman wrestlers that made a Carry-onesque appearance near the end of the show. This was one whacked out evening even before the go-go gorillas were let loose ...

Apart then from the mono-purist overheard having a bit of a moan in the gents at one point this first night of the weekender was what could be called a resounding success.