Review: Rockaway Beach 2020
Review: Rockaway Beach Festival 2020
It’s hard to believe Rockaway Beach Festival at Butlins in Bognor Regis was already 2 weeks ago. One in which Mr Teeth Reviews was in attendance, representing with the fine folks of Southsea’s independent record store, Pie & Vinyl Record Café.
By comparison to summer events across the UK, Rockaway Beach Festival at Butlins is far more civilised. Whereby hotel rooms and self-catering chalets are available on-site, all included within the price of your weekend ticket.
Black Country New Road
Friday Review – Rockaway Beach Festival
With the festivities well underway, we arrived in time for Young Knives. The 3-piece have taken on an additional member, utilising a 2nd drummer to give them a pounding backbeat. Almost transforming Young Knives into the industrial rock of Killing Joke, and you know what, it most certainly worked.
Black Country New Road were an early sign of the diversity on the bill. Combining modern indie with impressive free-form jazz. It was an act Soak would find hard to follow, as we waited passionately for the nights’ headliner – Mr John Cale.
The intrigue about John Cale live is you’re never too sure what to expect. After all, he’s just as likely to perform a film score as he is Velvet Underground tracks. As such cult-classics from “Paris 1919” sat alongside the odd obscurity. Although it was always going to be “Waiting for the Man” that would be met with the biggest reception of the evening.
John Cale – Rockaway Beach
Saturday Review – Rockaway Beach Festival
Having set up with Pie & Vinyl Record Café, it’s worth noting this is a festival that takes place indoors, at a holiday resort. Where you can also spend time going for a swim, enjoy a game of 10-pin bowling or try out the latest in Virtual Reality arcade games.
As for the music, the Sweet Release of Death provided some experimental gothiness while Peter Perrett (The Only Ones) was fairly melancholy by comparison.
Penelope Isles, however, took the live performance as a chance to ramp it up a bit. Having a bit more fun with their debut LP “Until the Tide Creeps in”. The album is great on record, filled with dreamy tracks such as “Cut Your Hair”, however on stage it’s louder with more of an emphasis on the overall performance.
Nova Twins – Rockaway Beach
Rockaway Beach is known for pairing up and coming acts alongside established artists, as such penultimate act of the night was the previously unknown entity of Nova Twins. The duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Amy Love and bassist Georgia South, although more often than not there wasn’t even a guitar on stage.
The Nova Twins were a weekend highlight, possibly more suited to a Kerrang! audience than those awaiting the Jesus and Mary Chain. However, with distorted bass-lines and a 90’s nu-metal vibe, the pair kicked ass.
Sound-wise they raised the roof too, although as for Jesus and Mary Chain I was anticipating things to be much louder. The stance of Jim Reid front stage was dominant, while the guitar from brother William during “April Skies” was initially a little lost.
However, it seemed to all go largely unnoticed, with diehard fans lapping up every moment. By the time “Some Candy Talking” came about, the quality of the PA didn’t matter, as this was Jesus and Mary Chain rocking out at Butlins holiday camp.
Jesus and Mary Chain – Rockaway Beach
Sunday Review – Rockaway Beach Festival
Having ended the previous night with the worlds craziest game of air-hockey in the small hours, it was soon time to start Sundays trading. Although not without several trips to and from the live arenas.
One of which was to check out a group I knew little about, Eyesore and the Jinx. They were a band of both intrigue and excitement, whereby it would be hard to describe without unintentionally sounding insulting. As is the power of punk rock, especially backed with that of socially and politically minded relevance.
As performers go, Mez from indie-rock band Life certainly knew how to work a crowd. In some ways similar to that of Art Brut, both musically and in his delivery. However, it was to be Heavy Lungs that showed how to dominate the stage naturally.
The band has become more widely known thanks to the success of an Idles track about their frontman “Danny Nedelko”. Although both groups share mutual respect, as well as their similarities, with a Heavy Lungs performance filled with an abundance of energy.
Brix and the Extricated
In a previous incarnation, Brix and the Extricated would have been one higher on the festival bill. Due to featuring several past members of post-punk band the Fall. In fact, frontwoman Brix Smith was married to the late Mark E Smith of the Fall, but has long since become a star in her own right.
Currently promoting their new album “Super Blood Wolf Moon” Brix and the Extricated also slipped in the Falls’ “Totally Wired”. While the current material isn’t quite so art-rock, it’s still the perfect combination of edgy rock n roll, while displaying a slightly more pop-oriented side to proceedings.
As for bringing the weekend to a close, it’s impressive when a band can be the very last act of the weekend, headlining on the basis of a debut album released the same year. Dubliners Fontaines D.C left little room for anything other than performing the album “Dogrel” in its entirety, with only a couple of additional tunes along the way.
The crowd merrily sang along to “Hurricane Laughter” and “Boys in the Better Land” before the finale of “Dublin City Sky”. After which singer Grian Chatten announced they’d be no encore, as they have no more songs. Although that mattered not, for Fontaines D.C had proved themselves worthy headliners of a festival that had given us plenty already.
Rockaway Beach 2021 rumours had already started, with the festival themselves hinting at the arrival of John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd. However, even if that’s just a rumour, order your tickets regardless As whoever’s playing, Mr Teeth Reviews highly recommends getting involved with this fantastic weekend away in Bognor Regis.
Support your independent record stores at Pie & Vinyl Online.
Fontaines D.C – Rockaway Beach
