TIM HUGHES looks forward to the rescheduled Riverside Festival in Charlbury this weekend, which was postponed last month due to rain

AMONG the biggest victims of the wet summer have been music festivals. Week after week, music-lovers have been drenched and forced to endure the kind of conditions last seen during the battle of the Somme – or, at least, the last Glastonbury.

Among the first casualties of those weeks of rain was Charlbury’s Riverside Festival.

Organisers of the two-day celebration of local music had planned to stage the event, now in its 17th year, in the middle of June, but were forced to postpone it due to the soggy state of the site – on an island in the River Evenlode.

This weekend it’s back, with most of its line-up intact, and riding high after a triumphant collaboration with Cornbury Festival – where the Riverside Stage proved one of the hottest draws of the weekend.

Up to 2,500 people a day will descend on Mill Field this Saturday and Sunday, for the intimate, and entirely free, festival, to enjoy sets by more than 30 bands.

“We are really happy to be back,” says festival spokesman Kathryn Custance.

“We were disappointed to postpone it first time round but were determined to bring it back. We couldn’t not do Riverside; it’s in our blood. We only put it off because the site was so wet. It has flooded in the past and if it’s really soggy there is a potential risk.

“But we’ve kept most of the same bands, with a few changes, and it will be a great festival.”

Highlights include art-rockers and Riverside regulars Smilex, pictured, punk-pop band Black Hats, upbeat synth-pop act Alphabet Backwards, Mediterranean-Middle Eastern songsmiths Brickwork Lizards, and ska act The Inflatables.

Among the many other bands, they will be joined by Secret Rivals, Listing Ships, Old Grinding Young, Dance a la Plage, The Cellar Family, Graceful Slicks, Von Braun, and Count Drachma – a South African spin-off of Oxford folk-pop band Stornoway.

International flavours come from London-based New Zealand rockers Melic, and Cuban-style party animals Ran Kan Kan.

Smilex headline proceedings on the Saturday night. The band’s frontman, and Riverside regular, Lee Christian can’t wait to get back.

He said: “We are always pleased to be playing the Riverside Festival because of its great homely vibe and, of course, the fact it’s free which gives it a kind of innocence other festivals have long lost.

“This year’s headline set is going to be extra special and, to be honest, the delay due to flooding is only going to make for a tighter, more eventful set as we’ve had longer to rehearse and plan some surprises.

“It’s our last show for a while, as we are too focused on playing live when we do gigs to finish our album and five years is too long.”

Referring to the delays which beset Guns ‘n’ Roses comeback album, he joked: “I don’t want our new album La Petit Morte to be Oxford’s Chinese Democracy! So it’s people’s last chance to see us for a while – and certainly the last chance to see us for free for sometime.”

Black Hats will play the main stage fresh from a triumphant show at last weekend’s Truck Festival at Hill Farm, Steventon.

Bass player Ian Budd said: “Riverside Festival is possibly the most important date in the local music calendar.

“We were gutted when the original dates were cancelled, but it’s testament to the organisers, and the huge support they get from the local scene, that just about every band has managed to tweak their schedules and is back on board. We’ve got some new material ready for the festival and we can’t wait to get the chance to play it.

“The Riverside stage at Cornbury went down really well with a great reaction from the audience, so we are also hoping to benefit from a ‘Cornbury bounce’,” adds Kathryn. New developments this year include the Riverside Fringe – a test of new talent – and a dedicated festival beer, Evenloder, crafted by Witney’s Wychwood Brewery.

Also hoping for sunshine is festival organiser Andy Pickard. He says: “Thanks to the jet stream behaving itself, the weather is looking good.

“Postponing Riverside earlier in the summer made us realise what a following we had. We’ve had tremendous support from our suppliers and friends in the music business as well as the people of Charlbury, so we’ve got a fantastic line-up with very few changes.”