The Original rabbit Foot Spasm Band's festival diary continues - with very different dates in Norfolk and back home in Oxfordshire
OXFORD jump-blues and vintage-jazz group The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band have a ferocious reputation as a hard playing - and even harder partying - bunch of musical hedonists.
This summer the dapper seven-piece are on the road, playing music festivals the length and breadth of the country. This is their festival diary....
His second instalment finds frontman Stuart Macbeth and the rest of our heroes on a slow train to the Far East (of England, that is)
A large bowl of urine sways violently in front of me, threatening to splash my shoes. Gosh, I’m thinking, I hope the next person to use the loo doesn’t think I’m responsible. I bring my activities to a conclusion and reach for the door handle.
Having held it in for four and a half hours on my train journey to The Norwich and Norfolk Festival I’m now only minutes away from my final destination - and I can’t open the door.
I’m locked in the loo on a train so slow you could imagine it stopping in Cholsey.
Under the circumstances I do what any normal person would do – go bananas. I’m violently banging my fists and pushing as they announce we’re about to hit Norwich. I begin shouting “HELP! Someone! Please! HELP!” at the top of my voice.
Eventually I am rescued by a little old lady. She immediately clocks the overflowing bowl of wee and throws me the evil eye. While I was pushing the door with all my weight it turns out all I had to do was turn the handle and give it a pull.
After this trauma I sneak off to our venue - an enchanting Victorian Spiegeltent. We’re here at the invitation of the Bo Nanafana Social Club whose legendary theme nights cover everything from Cold War kitsch to Carry On films. Their variety nights are a highlight of the 16 day festival which takes in theatre, art, dance and music - including big jazz names like Madeleine Peyroux and Hugh Masekela. Our gig sold out in 24 hours, which has done wonders for my ego.
No Broads here: Stylish Norfolk
Bo Nanafana’s nights are worth travelling for. Organisers Helen and Tristan pay great attention to detail, tonight decking out the stage with fresh cut flowers. There are bowls on fruit in the dressing room for us - and we’ve even been assigned our own assistant – I suspect it’s to ensure we don’t get drunk before the gig.
The accommodation also gets top marks. I have an en-suite room where I can warm up for the gig by watching BBC News 24 in the bath and eating complimentary shortbread. Could this possibly be the most civilised festival I’ll ever play?
Then, briefly, there’s the show itself – with a huge, dancing crowd and a wonderful guest performance from Italian guitarist Kit Cecconi. A couple of inebriated teenagers climb up for what I’d like to call a stage invasion – but I think that would be something of an exaggeration.
The following day I make the gruelling journey from Norwich to Cambridge, from Cambridge to London Kings Cross, from London Kings Cross to London Paddington, and from London Paddington to Oxford – without getting locked into the loo once.
From Oxford I get the X39 bus out to Wood Festival, deep in the Oxfordshire countryside. The bus driver drops me off on a country lane where I’m told to follow the guy in front of me who, apparently, knows where he’s going.
Dutch courage: Time for a civilized drink
The trouble is the guy in front of me doesn’t seem to know what planet he’s on, let alone how to navigate his way down these leafy lanes. I don’t know what it is about him that makes me so uncomfortable. Is it the beer gut, or the way he has sellotaped his spectacles together? Or is it that his lavish mane of long blonde hair that looks like it’s come straight out of a 1970s mental health centre? Either way it’s supposed to be a five minute walk – and it takes me and my trusty companion about two and half hours to get to the gate.
By now my Norwich hotel is a distant memory - I’m most definitely back in festival land.
There’s the usual queue for artist wristbands where you can tap your foot to the distant sounds of a band you’ve never heard of but would like to if you could ever get in.
For once it’s worth the wait – Wood is charming, founded by brothers Robin and Joe Bennett who describe it as a “family festival powered by renewable energy & community spirit” – an interesting way of letting you know they have tofu on the menu. It’s perfect for people with young children who want to avoid the muck and danger you’d expect at big name events like Glastonbury and Boomtown. Here all the mothers are happy, all the children are smiling – and all of the Dads gaze longingly towards the large white tent on the horizon where they’re selling cider.
Moshpit: A capacity crowd at Wood Festival ('Careful with those hoops - you could have someone's eye out!')
Our headline set is great fun and it doesn’t stop there - by the end of the night I find myself dressed as a badger and performing country and western songs. I’m onstage with The Dreaming Spires and Brian from Stornoway – who’re also dressed as badgers.
We can’t bring ourselves to ask why we’re dressed as badgers. We just get on with it - it’s the best policy.
- NORWICH AND NORFOLK FESTIVAL takes place 8-24th May 2015
- WOOD FESTIVAL is back 15-17th May 2015
Read the first part of Stuart's Rabbit Foot summer festival diary here:
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