'Happy Days' sounds more like a creche or a retirement home than a festival and I've only given it a fleeting glance in the last few years but the promise of a skatastic Saturday was too great an opportunity to miss and so Saturday May 23rd saw the dance happy girls heading for 2-tone fun in …. Surrey!
The festival itself - almost works!
There is a jolly, friendly laid back atmosphere, but the price you pay for this is a degree of ineptitude and whole lot of piss poor security along the way.
Security on the gate consisted of a cursory peak inside the bag, and as we are more used to festival security that would rival Fort Knox, this was really quite refreshing but unsurprisingly meant that many people were able to bring out entire picnics that they had secreted about their person, in camping chairs, and picnic rugs. For those of us who came sans liquid refreshment, in an effort to support the finances and longevity of this independent festival, no cash or cards can be taken at the bar - it relies instead upon a system of tokens bought in advance. This undoubtedly does speed up the bar area, unless you ask for Pimms, but it does rely upon you knowing in advance how much you intend to drink. The jury is out on this one - but I blame my hangover on the fact that lemonade had the same token value as a beer.
A huge issue for me was that later bands had to compete with a thudding base from the party in the beer tent. This was a little surreal - surely festivals are an opportunity to hear live music! And yet many chose to stand and drink and dance to recorded music in a tent??? Each to their own - but those who come for the live stage shouldn't have to hear it.
But the biggest issue for Happy Days is the lack of security during the event. Janie and I took up position right at the front of the plebs area, as the completely bonkers and ineffectual 'host' kept referring to us as 'the ones with no money' and we had a great vantage point to watch people leap over the barrier into the VIP area in front of the stage. They needn't have bothered - others just walked straight in and came over to the barrier to goad their friends into doing the same. VIP folks were rightly irritated by the freeloaders but during 'From the Jam' it became downright dangerous to be at the front. The barrier was pushed over - innocent bystanders with it, and people just scrambled over to get to the mosh pit. Security was entirely missing in action!
So, having whinged my way through a catalogue of complaints, what was good about Happy Days? The good natured staff, the space, the smell of wacky baccy drifting on the breeze, taking me back to school days and without doubt, the Ska Saturday line up.
There is a jolly, friendly laid back atmosphere, but the price you pay for this is a degree of ineptitude and whole lot of piss poor security along the way.
Security on the gate consisted of a cursory peak inside the bag, and as we are more used to festival security that would rival Fort Knox, this was really quite refreshing but unsurprisingly meant that many people were able to bring out entire picnics that they had secreted about their person, in camping chairs, and picnic rugs. For those of us who came sans liquid refreshment, in an effort to support the finances and longevity of this independent festival, no cash or cards can be taken at the bar - it relies instead upon a system of tokens bought in advance. This undoubtedly does speed up the bar area, unless you ask for Pimms, but it does rely upon you knowing in advance how much you intend to drink. The jury is out on this one - but I blame my hangover on the fact that lemonade had the same token value as a beer.
A huge issue for me was that later bands had to compete with a thudding base from the party in the beer tent. This was a little surreal - surely festivals are an opportunity to hear live music! And yet many chose to stand and drink and dance to recorded music in a tent??? Each to their own - but those who come for the live stage shouldn't have to hear it.
But the biggest issue for Happy Days is the lack of security during the event. Janie and I took up position right at the front of the plebs area, as the completely bonkers and ineffectual 'host' kept referring to us as 'the ones with no money' and we had a great vantage point to watch people leap over the barrier into the VIP area in front of the stage. They needn't have bothered - others just walked straight in and came over to the barrier to goad their friends into doing the same. VIP folks were rightly irritated by the freeloaders but during 'From the Jam' it became downright dangerous to be at the front. The barrier was pushed over - innocent bystanders with it, and people just scrambled over to get to the mosh pit. Security was entirely missing in action!
So, having whinged my way through a catalogue of complaints, what was good about Happy Days? The good natured staff, the space, the smell of wacky baccy drifting on the breeze, taking me back to school days and without doubt, the Ska Saturday line up.
Scarlett's Roses
I liked Scarlett's Roses. It's tough to play the graveyard slot - the opening act of a small festival, but they know how to get a party started.
Scarlett's Roses are an energetic, vibrant band from South London. They are a something of a motley crew; from the whimsical and fey Scarlett, to a rambunctious Ollie and the unutterably cute Oliver on base to name but three, but the history of Ska demonstrates the strength of the melting pot. The band works and moreover are instantly likeable.
I liked Scarlett's Roses. It's tough to play the graveyard slot - the opening act of a small festival, but they know how to get a party started.
Scarlett's Roses are an energetic, vibrant band from South London. They are a something of a motley crew; from the whimsical and fey Scarlett, to a rambunctious Ollie and the unutterably cute Oliver on base to name but three, but the history of Ska demonstrates the strength of the melting pot. The band works and moreover are instantly likeable.
They are essentially a pop band but there is a definite ska vibe that permeates their own music both authentic yet fresh. An unsigned band needs to pull a few crowd pleasers and they did, with a couple of covers 'All About That Bass' and 'Royals', instantly recognisable but with a ska shaped twist ensuring that they were definitely not a cop out for this intriguing group. But their own music is their strength and this dance happy girl suggests you get out there and smell the roses.
Set List - Looked something like this
King of Hearts
Dreamers
Lisa
All About That Bass
Lost
Royals
Pulling Petals
Nightmares
American Boy
Truth be Told
Set List - Looked something like this
King of Hearts
Dreamers
Lisa
All About That Bass
Lost
Royals
Pulling Petals
Nightmares
American Boy
Truth be Told
Neville Staple
Janie had been to see Neville Staple a year ago and didn't rate the set that he did in Kingston, but I was looking forward to seeing one of the original rude boys and he only disappointed with a set that was far too short.
This was a relaxed Staple, extremely well supported by his musicians doing a set that had this 2-tone crowd singing and yelling in approval. Personally I would have loved a little more Fun Boy Three, a much underrated incarnation of Staple, Hall and Golding in my opinion, but as a festival set goes this had the feel good factor, in 2-tone.
The Selector
No one does sophisticated 2-tone like Pauline Black and the set we had was very much like the woman herself, timeless, elegant, passionate and warm.
Has she sold her soul to the devil? Does she look ANY different than she did in 1980?
Whoever tells you that side doesn't matter…. is lying!
The Selecter were made for festivals, they are the sound of summer and friends and dancing and nostalgia.
I defy you to hear 'On My Radio' live and not feel a rush of nostalgia for the 2-tone sound.
So much so that I feel a field trip coming on To 2-tone Central!!! (who knew????) so get your mum to sign the letter and form an orderly crocodile outside my place.
Whinge Warning
Gaps between sets were long - just as well as there were about a dozen female toilets and queues were longer, but it gives me time to flag the complete ineptitude of the happy days host, who was without doubt out of her depth and came across as a completely ditzy ,inept fool. My favourite moments included getting the name of the DJ wrong, constant references to the non VIP set as being poor and having no money, and insisting that we clap and cheer to bring a band back on and then lamely announcing 'oh well, they can't'! Meanwhile, on with the show….
So much so that I feel a field trip coming on To 2-tone Central!!! (who knew????) so get your mum to sign the letter and form an orderly crocodile outside my place.
Whinge Warning
Gaps between sets were long - just as well as there were about a dozen female toilets and queues were longer, but it gives me time to flag the complete ineptitude of the happy days host, who was without doubt out of her depth and came across as a completely ditzy ,inept fool. My favourite moments included getting the name of the DJ wrong, constant references to the non VIP set as being poor and having no money, and insisting that we clap and cheer to bring a band back on and then lamely announcing 'oh well, they can't'! Meanwhile, on with the show….
The Beat
So…. you don't have to scroll back very far to know that I am in the throes of a complete love affair with The Beat, yep both father & son. And, at their Under the Bridge gig I managed to have a sneaky snuggle with Ranking Roger Senior himself. (Did I mention that?) Therefore this was to be my act of the night, right?
Well….. not exactly. If I'd never seen them live before I would have been charmed by them, but this was not the rude boy father/son combo at100%. The Beat arrive on stage with palpable energy and they feed off the crowd to keep that up for the entire set but at Happy Days I got the feeling that they just weren't feeling it. The VIP area was, at that time awash with people passing the pringles which put a distance between The Beat and the real rude boy fans, many of whom I was meeting again having, apparently, chatted to them at Under the Bridge.
The compact set was chosen to perfection but it just wasn't their finest hour. You know when this father & son combo keep shirts on, that they just aren't feeling the love. But in no way did it diminish mine.
From The Jam
From the Jam are no tribute act - they are as the name suggests From the Jam. Bruce Foxton is an original and Russell Hastings is no karaoke Paul Weller, he has his own strength and power and rawness and (whispers) an arguably better voice. The ubiquitous Jam songs maintain a youthness and vitality in Hasting's hands.
Never one to fear the cliche, the crowd went wild for the entire set. Could have done without the full pints of beer being tossed liberally into the air and being slightly too close to the man who vomited where he stood, and danced in it, but I bloody loved From The Jam.
This is the setlist as published on setlist.fm and may well have been the intention but that isn't the set I remember. After 4 or 5 numbers there was frantic gesturing stage left and Hastings went to receive the urgent missive, went around the band sharing the info and went on to inform us that they had been told that this had to be their last number. They 'finished' with an incredible and riotous 'Going Underground' Did I mention that you really don't miss Paul Weller?
With the last drunken 'la la la la' still ringing (from us not them) they were told that actually they could play a few more and thus we got Eton Rifles, A Town called Malice and That's Entertainment (queue more la la la la-ing)
So a weirdly disjointed set but huge fun.
I believe the Happy Mondays were there too but that's as much as I can say. They're a band that despite their notoriety managed to pass me by entirely, possibly due to my sojourn to the land down under in the early 90s. So we stayed long enough to hear what appeared to be ranting from Shaun Ryder - hard to tell as we were now closer to the beer than the stage and the content of his rant was lost to the beat emitting from the tent. So, feet throbbing, ears ringing we headed back from whence we came.
Happy Days festival beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. The line up was almost faultless. Unlike some of the criticism levelled at the festival on social media, I don't see Ska and Mod as unlikely bed fellows and From the Jam were a huge hit with the largely 2-tone crowd. Happy Mondays were probably a bit more random but the naivety of those who think that Madness might be a possibility for a small independent festival, makes me grin.
All human life were here
Mixed in with ruuude boys and girls, hen nights and families. It was a good natured melting pot of a festival.
Would I go again? I might as well, I still seem to have some beer tokens left.
Happy Days festival beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. The line up was almost faultless. Unlike some of the criticism levelled at the festival on social media, I don't see Ska and Mod as unlikely bed fellows and From the Jam were a huge hit with the largely 2-tone crowd. Happy Mondays were probably a bit more random but the naivety of those who think that Madness might be a possibility for a small independent festival, makes me grin.
All human life were here
The Lovers
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| The Bikers |
 |
| And the plain unlikely |
Would I go again? I might as well, I still seem to have some beer tokens left.
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