It was another glorious summer day when we set off to play the Henley Festival. Given the prestige and scale of this event, it was an honour to receive the invitation several months earlier and we were both excited that the day had finally arrived. Percussionist Dan Garcia has been working with us on our new album, and it was great news that he was available to join us for this performance.
We arrived at the festival site in good time to pick up our artist passes and, I’m pleased to report that from that moment onwards we were looked after extremely well by the festival team. This was the second day of a five-day festival of arts and music and everywhere the site was a hive of activity in preparation for that evening’s visitors.
Once we entered the festival site, we were escorted to our performance area and could not fail to be impressed by it. Inside a very large Bedouin tent, replete with raffia matting, low sofas and tables, was a nice stage area with technicians already hard at work putting the sound system together. Open on both sides, a cool breeze from the river blew through the tent and gave it an airy and relaxed atmosphere. We unloaded our gear, chatted with the sound technicians for a while and then went through an expertly executed sound check. The sound created was terrific and it was nice to see the bar staff smiling and tapping their feet along with us as they went through their own preparations.
With the hour and a half still to go before going on stage, we took the opportunity to have a look around the site and to watch the main act for the evening, soul singer Joss Stone, going through a sound check with her band. What a voice, what a band; hers was certainly going to be some show later that evening!
We had a look at some of the artwork on show and for sale and then went for a light meal provided by the organisers – and very nice it was too.
By the time we had finished our evening meal, festival goers were beginning to arrive in numbers and the festival site was coming alive. As we passed back through the site entrance, there was all manner of street-performance going on. There were Britannias on stilts, mirror-clad figures, and a gaily painted couple dressed in what seemed Van Gogh-like painted costumes to meet those arriving. As we slowly drifted back towards our ‘green-room’, we stopped to watch a six-piece mariachi band, in full costume, playing The Beatles’ ‘All my Loving’. This was music that wouldput a smile on anyone’s face.
As we passed back by our performance area, we could see that people were arriving there and settling down with drinks for the performance. We briefly rechecked our kit and tuning and withdrew to the green room and prepared to perform.
This was an unusual type of event for us and we suspected we might an unusual type of band for this event. So, it wasn’t clear – until the first few verses of our first song – how the performance would go. However, it was clear throughout that those in the tent with us were both interested in and positive about what they were hearing. We had an hour set and managed to fit enough into it to give a good representation of our music and it was nice to have a few people come up and buy CDs after we had finished. It was especially nice to meet someone from the mighty Nettlebed Folk Club who strongly encouraged us to get a booking there – something we would be extremely keen to do.
After the performance, we stayed around to have a beer and chat with festival visitors before returning home before the crowds began to leave.
We thoroughly enjoyed the experience of playing the Henley Festival and would like to thank the organisers for both their kind invitation and for looking after us all so well.