Celebrating 60 years of the end of WWII
on one of the hottest days of the
year, fifteen thousand fans turned up at Cae Glas Oswestry to experience an
eleven hour music marathon, organised by entrepreneurial musician and
producer Phil Beaumont and Oswestry Town Council.
This, the fifth event in
the border town, OML has grown in stature each year. Drawing performers from
all corners of the UK and America, this superb showcase has turned into a
mini-Glastonbury. Charging a bargain five pounds per ticket, the day-long
rolling format is rapidly becoming one of the serious festivals on the UK
calendar. A real family affair, with food and drink stalls, small funfair
and fire jugglers, there was plenty to keep the day rolling on. All ages
were represented on stage and in the crowd, with the relaxed picnic style
atmosphere juxtaposed by plenty of musical styles to keep everybody happy,
from out – and - out rockers to the delicate nuances of acoustic guitars.
With such phenomenal talent on display, it only served to prove that the UK
is still a world beater when it comes to music development and credibility,
even if most of them weren’t household names. As temperatures soared into
the mid 20’s, the heat was matched by even hotter acts. Alternating smoothly
from main stage to the bandstand’s acoustic stage, Beaumont’s vast
experience was evident on all aspects of the event.
The main stage brought bands such as North Wales outfit Redstone, now based
in London, who gave an insight into their future international rising.
Sophisticated rock and harmony is their penchant, heard on Night After Night
and jaunty Bye Bye. This autumn sees the reworking of horror flick Jekyll
and Hyde. To their credit they have two songs, Old Boy (single release
September) which features in the opening sequence, and On This Rock also
makes the soundtrack cut. Clearly, Redstone have all the makings of a band
with a massive future.
Popular locals and recent Wrexham Chicago Rock Café competition winners
Blindsyde brought the first stage surge, as ruggedly handsome Scott Tudor
led his troupes through a storming eight song set, showing an expanded
repertoire of accessible rock. Best bits – delicious Wah Wah guitar riffs by
Andrew Feaks, I Belong and Slow Down. This band has come a long way in 12
months, and it shows. Another local outfit, A Little Bit of Chaos, with Phil
Beaumont on drums, gave a familiar professional covers sojourn of rock
standards, concluding with a stunning guitar solo by Amos Cooper on Prince’s
Purple Rain.
Highly rated Alabama blues balladeer Lisa Mills, aided on upright bass by
pint-sized Ian Jennings of The Big Town Playboys, brought glamour and
sensuality. The flame-haired beauty brought gasps from he crowd with gut
wrenching deliveries and vocal gymnastics. Having debuted at Glastonbury
last year, she returned for a second dose of OML as part of her five week UK
tour promoting her excellent CD I’m Changing, recorded in LA. Doing covers
and originals, Sunshine is a cert for BBC Radio 2 playlists. She can seen at
the Trowbridge and Gloucester Blues festivals.
Riff laden Essex trio The Morenas, fronted by swarthy ‘rock-star’ guitarist
Paulo Morena, are serious contenders for the big time. Their storming Old
Skool rock has mass appeal and class, catching the eye of TV music
programmes. Again playing a 40 minute set they have a formidable repertoire
including singles It Shouldn’t Matta and Coming Home. This band is destined
for major attention. If they get to Glasto, they’ll blow everyone away with
stage antics and soaring vocals. They’re about to show The Darkness the
door!
On the acoustic stage, there were superb performances by Strangefish who are
currently recording at Forge Studio in Oswestry. This low – key quartet were
sensational, with some Peter Gabriel like vocals from Steve Taylor. Pink
Floyd’s Wish You Were Here was breathtaking.
Local hero Adam Howes kept it simple on acoustic guitar with several
self-penned songs Pieces, Fall and covers, including crowd pleasers American
Pie, U2’s With Or Without You and Green Day’s Time Of Your Life. His
highlight was Damien Rice’s The Blower’s Daughter as he pulled in some pals
to support.
Back on the main stage with headliners The Family Mahone, led by Radio 1 DJ
Mark Radcliffe, they folk-rocked into the twilight as they turned up the
pace with an energetic set of drinking songs, bringing the crowd to their
dancing feet. This combo is perfect festival fodder, and they know it, as
they confidently played to the crowd at every opportunity. Romping through
favourites like Dirty Old Town, the Waterboys’ Fisherman’s Blues, and
selected CD tracks from On the Razzle and Songs of The Back Bar, the party
atmosphere intensified.
With the crowd at fever pitch, they encored with a stirring Irish Rover.
Rounding off a glorious day, Porthywaen Silver Band gave a rousing Proms
style finale, with Union Jack flags swaying to Jerusalem, and Rule
Britannia. This lead to one of the most spectacular fireworks displays ever.
An exhausted but beaming Phil Beaumont said, "This year’s event was the best
so far. On the day, there was a fantastic turnout, and I am told that the
festival – goers were estimated at 15,000. I would like to thank everyone
who worked so hard to make it possible and all the artists who performed so
brilliantly.The festival was sponsored by Oswestry Town Council, Forge
Recording Studio, Systems Workshop and BBC Radio Shropshire."
For prints of any of Elly's concert pics online,
email Elly
or call 07765 862017.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Celebrating 60 years of the end of WWII
on one of the hottest days of the
year, fifteen thousand fans turned up at Cae Glas Oswestry to experience an
eleven hour music marathon, organised by entrepreneurial musician and
producer Phil Beaumont and Oswestry Town Council.
With such phenomenal talent on display, it only served to prove that the UK
is still a world beater when it comes to music development and credibility,
even if most of them weren’t household names. As temperatures soared into
the mid 20’s, the heat was matched by even hotter acts. Alternating smoothly
from main stage to the bandstand’s acoustic stage, Beaumont’s vast
experience was evident on all aspects of the event.
Popular locals and recent Wrexham Chicago Rock Café competition winners
Blindsyde brought the first stage surge, as ruggedly handsome Scott Tudor
led his troupes through a storming eight song set, showing an expanded
repertoire of accessible rock. Best bits – delicious Wah Wah guitar riffs by
Andrew Feaks, I Belong and Slow Down. This band has come a long way in 12
months, and it shows. Another local outfit, A Little Bit of Chaos, with Phil
Beaumont on drums, gave a familiar professional covers sojourn of rock
standards, concluding with a stunning guitar solo by Amos Cooper on Prince’s
Purple Rain.
Riff laden Essex trio The Morenas, fronted by swarthy ‘rock-star’ guitarist
Paulo Morena, are serious contenders for the big time. Their storming Old
Skool rock has mass appeal and class, catching the eye of TV music
programmes. Again playing a 40 minute set they have a formidable repertoire
including singles It Shouldn’t Matta and Coming Home. This band is destined
for major attention. If they get to Glasto, they’ll blow everyone away with
stage antics and soaring vocals. They’re about to show The Darkness the
door!
Back on the main stage with headliners The Family Mahone, led by Radio 1 DJ
Mark Radcliffe, they folk-rocked into the twilight as they turned up the
pace with an energetic set of drinking songs, bringing the crowd to their
dancing feet. This combo is perfect festival fodder, and they know it, as
they confidently played to the crowd at every opportunity. Romping through
favourites like Dirty Old Town, the Waterboys’ Fisherman’s Blues, and
selected CD tracks from On the Razzle and Songs of The Back Bar, the party
atmosphere intensified.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
