Having steadily grown in attendance and scope of the acts over the past few years but little else, this year’s BML has changed dramatically as if the organisers sat down one night last year and went “how can we make this even bigger?”
So out has gone the free Friday night – I presume the larger numbers of people coming on a unticketed night was becoming too much of a security nightmare – and in comes two extra stages and a whole host of other attractions.
Last night’s visit to the new look Bingley was a new experience and one that requires a little getting used to. The main thing I always enjoyed about Bingley was that there was just one stage and you could just get yourself a good spot in the park and not miss any of the bands, free from the distractions and schedule planning needed to ensure you see your favourite bands, ones you want to see or, as I would like, to see a little of everybody. With one stage this was simple, with three, even if the scheduling on Friday night was friendly to at least capture a little of each band, it’s much trickier, and I’m not sure if I prefer it.
One benefit of the change, though, is that there’s always something to do. Even if the main stage is being prepped for another band there’s always something happening on the other stages.
Aside from the stages and the music, which I’ll come to shortly, the side-attractions have also exploded in number from almost nothing to many. Last year if you wanted to do something when a band wasn’t on it was either go to the bar, toilet, get something to eat or realise you were too old to hang around the kid’s play park area.
This year there is a lot to do elsewhere in the park. In front of the Musician’s Centre Stage is a small skate park for “the yoof” to play on, next to an area for smaller children with a wooden box to paint on, straw bales to sit on and other little toys and games to play. In the small compound next to the Raise The Roof stage is some more high-class food, away from the cheap and cheerful burgers of the main area, with Zouk and a small tent selling real ales now present, alongside one selling paella and another Chinese food. That’s not to say all the food in the main park is your traditional burgers and such, as to compensate for the doughnut and burger stands, there is Pizza Express.
And if the mud gets too much for you, and Friday night was a little damp, there is also a beauty area, offering treatments “from £3 to £16.50”. I doubt I will explore this area as it will take more than £16.50 to work on me, but it’s a further indication that BML is turning from a low-expectation end-of-summer festival to a major event.
Elsewhere on the compound there are far more toilets than below, a bigger bar (though queues on Friday night were some of the longest I’ve ever seen at the events, suggesting they might need to speed up to handle demand) and for the first time some cash machines, which is always good when you run out of cash for food or one of the stylish t-shirts, but they do charge you so only good for an emergency.
Back to my experiences of BML2012 and I arrived just before 5pm at the compound. The rain was drizzly and, though it never poured down, would continue to be similar through to 7pm. Though, at the time of arrival the main park was pretty mud-free, the entry paths were particularly muddy and made for a slippy entrance. Ticket checking was swift and quick but weirdly my bag wasn’t checked, even though I stood awkwardly for a few seconds next to a security staff member with my bag, expecting him to check. If this was common throughout the event it’s no surprise that I saw many people during the four hours of Friday night with smuggled in bottles of alcohol and, more worringly, the smell of the good old wacky backy.
(Though the best moment involving smuggling in was someone heading over to a bag in the corner of the RTR stage, obviously thrown over secretly earlier, to get a bottle of something, only to be immediately grabbed by a security staff member and having it confiscated. Clever but not clever enough!)
I headed over firstly to the new Raise the Roof stage, located at the top of the park. The most beautifully decorated of the stage, it had a very rustic, antique feel with old living room lamps, lampshades and clocks stacked up artistically on stage, with retro bunting strung around, giving the impression of a more laid-back, lounge feel, supported by the nearby real-ale tent. A steel deck platform stood in the middle of the compound, one assumes for dancing later. Though the main stage had its share of great acts during the night, it was this stage that I would keep coming back to.
After checking this area out I headed over to the Musician’s Centre Stage just across from it, thankfully the music not really bleeding through, which was smaller and less distinctively decorated and was the quietest of the stages during the night, with the smaller bands on it.
Heading to the big area, the main stage wasn’t much different from previous years but now had some great stack lights at the back which were operated very well throughout the night and really added to the atmosphere.
Scattered between the three stages, beauty area and parks were a few other things. There was a stall to enter a raffle to win prizes and an area where performance artists could do their thing. One I saw involved a rather butch looking man with short hair dressed in a tutu, geeing up the sizeable crowd near the MC Stage while his partner balanced himself on top of three wooden chairs and then did a handstand. To any onlookers it looked like they were superglued together but, no, they pulled apart after their show was finished. It was weird, wacky but strangely entertaining, even if the two people as part of it suddenly turned French as I asked them some questions at the end when they’d been speaking perfectly good English previously. Hmm.
As the night progressed Myrtle Park did become much muddier. I stayed away from the Mosh area, which I imagine was the worst, but the main areas outside the other stages were fine, it was just the paths between them. The staff of the event, though, were very proactive with straw to keep areas dry but this is the muddiest I’ve ever seen the event in the five I’ve been to, obvious by the amount of people covered in mud on the way home.
Below, in stage order, are my thoughts on Friday night’s acts.
Main Stage
Driving Lolita
A very energetic and catchy band, fusing punk, with rap and rock. The songs were powerful and memorable and really got the crowd going but for an opening act the lead female singer was pretty explicit which, as I’ve mentioned in previous years, sits awkwardly with a festival I see as more of a family event. Or maybe I’m just getting old. I really enjoyed their uptempo music and their engagement with the crowd was excellent and they were just what BML2012 needed to start it off. An appropriately titled song called ‘Put On A Show’ was the highlight for me but it was, overall, an enjoyable set. (7/10)
Stooshe
A surprise appearance this low down the ranks due to their acceleration to the big team since, I assume, being booked, Stooshe have certainly gone up in my estimations since I first saw them on TV and dismissed them as Nicki-Minaj wannabes. Though they performed their music to a backing track, and their set was a disappointingly short 25-minutes, what we did get in that time were some perfectly sung pop hits with their voices pretty amazing live. We got ‘Love Me’, though without the rap, and my personal favourite tune from the set ‘Wind Up Yo Waist’, which irritatingly isn’t on their debut album, as I loved the Jamaican-tinged sound. Album track ‘Kick Chase’ made an appearance, a catchy tune that won me over, alongside their current single ‘Black Heart’ bringing their set to a close. It was a very good performance with some good crowd engagement and they showed off how good they could sing. Fun. (8/10)
Kids In Glass Houses
I didn’t catch much of Welsh band KIDG due to me being elsewhere but they were the first band on the main stage that didn’t particularly grab me. They were tight as a band and had the sound but their songs didn’t particularly stand out or hook me in, but I’ll perhaps check them out at home and see what their sound is like there, but on the night I wasn’t that excited. (4/10)
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
It’s always a bit worrying when an artist hitting 71 is on the books for two reasons: firstly, will they be any good so many years after their hayday and will the audience of today enjoy it? Well I needn’t have been worried in this case as Motown Martha blew me away on the night. Starting the set off with ‘Quicksand’ and going through hit after hit, her voice, especially considering her age, was incredible and soared through the park, even if her speaking sections were a little waivy. We got treated to perfect renditions of ‘Only Your Love Can Save Me’, ‘Jimmy Mack’, ‘Heatwave’ and ‘Dancing In The Street’ and she was a sprightly on stage as any of the younger acts. Her efforts to get the crowd singing along were perhaps a little in vain, as it was a considerably younger audience on the night, but she pulled people in nonetheless and I saw lot of younger kids dancing to the catchy Motown sound, supported by some great backing singers and band instruments. She did struggle with people throwing ‘candy’ on stage (I dread to think what that was) which was a little disrespectful of the crowd, but not entirely unexpected. An incredible set and something I’m glad BML2012 included as it was a different sound to the rest of the gig and something to expand people’s tastes a little, plus she sounded on top form. (8/10)
The Charlatans
As with last year when the Fun Lovin’ Criminals were a let-down headliner after the energy of Skindred, so is it the case this year with ‘The Charlatans’. After the energy of Martha Reeves we got the more sedate Mancunian wailings of this band, kicking off with 1997 hit ‘North Country Boy’. Though a lot of people around me where enjoying the music I was not convinced with the vocals muffled and slurry and, though the band were tight and working well, the songs just didn’t grab me and I left early as it wasn’t particular worth staying around for, which was a shame as they have some good tracks, but they just didn’t come across on the night. (4/10)
Raise The Roof Stage
Spirit Of John
I missed this band – sorry!
Matt Belmont
>After a delayed start and a lot of banter with the crew, they finally got on with it, bringing some very enjoyable acoustic-esque music to the crowd with some muted drums, keyboard and large bull fiddle. A nice, relaxing start as the first act I saw but their delayed start for being late cost them a truncated set list. (6/10)
Sadie and the Hotheads
>An up-tempo seven-piece band that were far more laid-back than their band name would suggest. A very jazz-lounge style band with two lead female vocals that complimented each other well, their considerable set-list of tracks weren’t earth-shattering but the jazzy, cool style won me over. An ode to a debt collector with its spoken intro and ‘Let’s Fall In Love’ were two highlights of their set and, with some moments of genius including an assortment of whistles employed by the drummer at key moments, they were an enjoyable addition to the line up. (7/10)
Skinny Lister
Definitely one of my favourite bands of the evening, mixing in acapella sea-shanties with squeezebox-driven hits, including the catchy ‘If The Gaff Don’t Let Us Down’, their songs were very danceable and singable and the stage presence of the band was on top form. They even threw in some ballads like ‘Colours’ which off-set the perky, raucous shanties perfectly. (8/10)
Miles and Erica
More worth seeing than the Charlatans on the main stage that I had to leave their set for, this two-piece act of male singer and guitarist (Miles) and female singer and fiddler (Erica) was a great end to what was the strongest stage of the day. A fun, calming end to the night, perfect as the light-faded and the atmosphere switched, Miles was a great storyteller between songs and their tunes, though sometimes a little quaint, were fun to hear and the addition of the fiddle was great. Though Erica didn’t get as much singing time as her bandmate, she had a beautiful voice, and tracks such as ‘Cake’ and ‘Plans In The Sky’ were great to hear. It’s just a shame I didn’t stay for their entire set. (7/10)
Musicians Centre Stage
Small Words
I missed this band – sorry!
Ballyhoo Eventide
Surely one of the best names in music history, Ballyhoo Eventide worked off some great call and response vocals from the two lead male vocals with their differing styles complimenting each other, and the vocalist playing a guitar with one broken hand deserved some credit for that. They performed a handful of great rock tunes and I’d certainly like to hear more from this band after the festival. (6/10)
All Too Human
It’s always great to see a band on stage employing some keytar but, other than that, I wasn’t as taken by this band as the others with the vocals a little off to my ears. (3/10)
Barefoot Beware
I missed this band – sorry!
In Summary
Overall the first night of Bingley Music Live 2012 was great. The weather could have been better but equally it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The addition of the two extra stages worked, with more bands on stage than there would be normally and thus more choice and less time to stand around and wait, and these complimented by a wider selection of food and attractions so there’s certainly more to do than ever before. I can’t help feeling that a little magic has been lost in just being able to enjoy one stage and catch every bit of every band but it’s a trade off that works more in the favour of the new set-up.
With a few bugbears in the area of having a poor 3G signal which meant that even if I wanted to Tweet along as the electronic screens say I couldn’t (though whether this is my phone I don’t know) and the length of the queues for the bars, it wasn’t a perfect night but it’s a welcome return for Bingley Music Live and they still have their eye on the ball with the sound, lighting effects, information such as train times and stage times, and a general feeling of friendliness, and I look forward to the acts over the next two days.
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