Another fine day in the Kent countryside and another selection of varied music. Soulweaver were the first act I caught on the main stage, a power trio that have songs that are a bit more thoughtful than most similar combos, including current single ‘Red’ and ‘A Little Bit Down’ and ‘Moving On’ from 2023 album 'Liberty'. Over on the Kev Riddles stage I only caught the end of Ebb’s set. The six piece band, five young females and a Viv Stanshall lookalike on bass (‘Bad Dog’ - possibly not his christened name!) were entertainingly theatrical. They were followed on that stage by another Prog outfit The Emerald Dawn, who played soothing, ethereal music. Keyboard player Tree Stewart’s vocals floating out like an elfin lullaby. Ally Carter on guitar and sax, intriguingly a retired previous holder of the Chair in Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University, provided extra colour and an avuncular presence. Song titles like ‘Dancing with Spirits’ said it all.

Over on the main stage the rambunctious Soho Dukes strutted their stuff, a whirl of mobile figures. Underneath the swaggering bombast and Rock’n’Roll riffs their songs are well written, melodic rockers with decent lyrics, like ‘Analogue Man’, ‘Home Sweet Camden Town’ and ‘Bovver Boys’. Johnny Barracuda is an energetic front man and put the songs over well. They got the award for the most hats worn on stage. There couldn’t have been a bigger contrast between them and the act that followed on the main stage, Penguin Café led by Arthur Jeffes to celebrate the music of his late father Simon’s creation, the Penguin Café Orchestra.

As the late afternoon sun beat down on the stage (probably a nightmare for the band reading their scores) they played the perfect music for the setting, the hypnotically engaging compositions for mainly acoustic instruments, including a four-piece string section (which included, on this occasion, founding PCO member Geoffrey Richardson) that built up to the point where they interweaved with complementary melody lines to create a joyous sound that brought a smile to the face. They played many PCO classics like ‘Dirt’, 'Perpetuum Mobile’ and ‘Telephone and Rubber Band’ alongside newer compositions. Beautiful music.

They had been preceded, on the other stage, by the Fierce & the Dead, who banged out songs like ‘Magnet In Your Face’ and ‘What A Time To Be Alive’, which had their moments but didn’t make me feel like I was missing too much by trudging up the hill to the bar during their set. Troy Redfern followed them on that stage after the soothing balm of Penguin Café and, as usual, powered his way through a set big on head down slide guitar frenzy on his numbers like ‘Sweet Carolina’, ‘Come On’ and ‘Sanctify’. The song in his set that had the most impact was Son House’s ‘John The Revelator’, a simple Blues with pulpit style powerful lyrics, where Troy’s playing supported rather than overwhelmed the song. He’s a nice guy and earlier had stopped for a chat during the Emerald Dawn’s set, as he wandered through the crowd, a slim figure in a leather jacket.

Back on the main stage, Prog band Lifesigns, the brainchild of keyboardist John Young, played an enjoyable set as a three piece, using a backing drum track supplied from recordings of their previous drummer. No highlights stood out but the compositions built nicely and contained many interesting elements. Speaking later to others, there was a consensus that the headliner that followed them on the Lesley Dawes stage, the band IQ, was a slightly underwhelming choice. On recordings they sound quite upbeat, which wasn’t how they came across during the opening part of their set. The last act on the Kev Riddles stage was Blues harp player Wille Wilde who, with his sharp band, put in a terrific muscular performance playing tracks from his recent 'Blues Is Still Alive' album, including the excellent title track. They were electrifyingly superb; energetic, youthful Blues at its best.

Review and Photos: Simon Green