Somers Town Festival is always a great fun day out in the area between Euston and St Pancras stations that's full of life and odd things going on, like always we ran into loads of old friends on a sweltering hot July day.
The first act we saw were part of the Camden School collective and were called Walrus, they were an extremely young 5 piece who were putting the shambles back into shambolic covers, the first we heard, saw them getting close to was Positively 4th st that was delightfully askew, with the singer doing his best to keep the band somewhere close to the tune. Great Balls Of Fire was another raid on their grandparents record collection, they seemed to almost know the tune. The singer apologised for how loose they were, mainly because the drummer didn't turn up and they guy behind the kit was a last-minute replacement, before they played Nirvana's Come As You are in a totally wayward fashion that sort of got to the songs heart wonderfully. Moonage Daydream was slow slightly off kilter and full of charm. The singer then foolishly asked for any requests after they were told they had one more song, he then got annoyed at people asking for songs they didn't know, before a brilliantly ramshackle version of Like A Rolling Stone left a smile on our faces at how wayward it was.
The drummer stayed on to play in the next 4 piece whose name was mumbled so incoherently that I don't know who they were, but the drummer took lead vocals on a shambling execution of Black Dog with loads of stops and starts, I think the next song was Fine Love that had some totally drunken keyboards from the 12 year old on the keys doing his best Allen Toussaint, it was charmingly off key. They then finished with a mumble through Radiohead's Bends that seemed to miss half the notes, yet it didn't matter. If only they had rehearsed this could have been great.
We had a good walk up and down Charlton St by the fortune teller and hip-hop stage, along with the other delights on offer including the Humanist Choir who were not my thing at all. Before coming back to the second stage in time for some of The Crimson's set who of course had the same drummer, he was a busy 15 year old, who seems to be the king pin of the new Shambling scene, he got the female fronted 6 piece set going with the prophetic I'm No Good, well actually they weren't bad, just under rehearsed, but also having lots of fun.
House Party sounded like they had all been necking their mums Valium's and were just a touch sedated, the female guitarists kept deadpan faces while trying to get in the party spirit. The next song was possibly Rhianna's Man Down, by this point they were all about the vibes, this had plenty of them, they brought out an extra singer for a slacker soul version of TLC's Waterfalls that was perfect for an out of tune singalong.
It was time for some altogether odder entertainment up at the main stage that DJ Scratchy was hosting, they were running on manana time and struggling to get the acts on, but I arrived just as Diablada Pillarena were starting to wander around through the crowd, before DJ Scratchy introduced them as being Ecuadorian freedom fighters whose practise is in devil dancing, the troupe danced in a slow weird fashion with whips, besoms and all, while dressed in a series of elaborate masks, with flames and horns to the Ecuadorian dance music it was great fun.
They were followed by local rapper Kelz who was rapping over backing tracks to Dreams his flow didn't hold our attention and we wandered away during his second song. We returned in time to see the young Irish dancers show us there moves, they were fun even if some of them looked a touch uncomfortable in the heat. They were followed by one of the organisers of the Camden Mela who sang a couple of Bangladeshi classics that had a quite hypnotic backing track.
It was then time for the 150th Anniversary cockney knees up with the Pearly Kings And Queens close to where the first Pearly Kings started collecting funds to help those less fortunate than themselves in Somers Town. Once the Pearlies had assembled on stage and right on time the Sambattalion marched up Charlton Street to give them an appropriate drum roll and then some, they played three tunes before allowing the Pearlies to get underway with Roll Out The Barrel at which point for me things got a touch emotional so I spent most of the Pearlies set with tears in my eyes, sometimes from laughter and sometimes from the memories these songs evoke of family and friends who are no longer with us. How could I be crying to Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts, not even Danny Kaye's version should do that, almost everyone sang along to Long Way To Tipperary that the Pearly Princes had choreographed dance moves for, they kept us in the trenches of World War One for Pack Up Your Troubles that went into one of Nanna Mills favourites Bless 'Em All it was so great to hear a crowd singing along to this old standard.
They went full on music hall for I'm Henry VIII I Am with lots of dance moves and a lot of smiles all around. The last time I reviewed a version of the Hokey Cokey it was Slade's hit version, this time they managed to get most of the packed audience joining in, all sorts of cool muso's put there left leg in. My Old Man Said Follow The Van was hammed up nicely, it was also when the black guy next to me answered his phone and had to try to explain to his friend that he was waiting to see some lovers rock, not sure his friend believed him. They then took on Billy Williams hit from 1915 When Father Papered The Parlour that somehow I still seem to know the words of, I still remember Nana Lily singing this one to me back in the early 70's, it was good to see loads of the audience still knew this one.
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They then finished by Doing The Lambeth Walk that was a real rave up, then it was time to reveal the latest Pearly, DJ Scratchy welcomed to the stage a young lady who wore a Pearly Sari who was welcomed to gang before they closed with a wonderfully emotional Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner and the Pearly Sari is a perfect embodiment of London's spirit. The Pearlies then wandered into the crowd for some photos, even if the Pearly King Of Aldgate told anyone asking for a photo to F*ck Off before happily posing for pics.
We wandered back down Charlton Street to catch Knox from The Vibrators on the second stage, he started his set solo on an acoustic guitar, that was on the quiet side, I think he opened with We Vibrate although this was more We Grow Old. He was soon throwing poses before a dark slow version of Mr Executioner that started to get more peoples attention. He then brought out his solo band that was the same bunch of legendary muso's he played with, the last time I saw him solo, but with the addition of Simon Wild on lead guitar, they kicked into Judy Says (Knock You In The Head) with Simon going pretty Wild on the solo it sounded great. Sweet Sweet Heart had most of the audience singing along with Knox hamming it up a good bit. Runaround had some rockabilly punk driving at its heart.
Knox then pleaded with us all to Dance To the Music and how could we resist, the twisted love song that is Destroy was slightly out of place on a glorious day like this one, but went down a treat. Baby Baby was a huge great sing along to this classic punk love song, Automatic Lover was urgent and had plenty of bite still, before they closed with a brilliant cover of Syd Barrett's Gigolo Aunt a perfect song for a summer's day in Somers town.
We wandered chatting to various musicians and friends back up to the mainstage to catch the end of Peace & Love's set of Reggae classics the first song we heard in full was My Jamaican Girl the old Gaylads classic, that had a nice heavy dub feel to it. Monkey Man got lots of Bogling going on in the crowd, before everyone sang along to 5446 that's my Number. The 5 piece closed with a good bouncy version of Strictly Roots & Culture to make sure we got what the vibe was all about.
After a nice break chatting with friends it was time for the Queen of Lovers Rock Janet Kay MBE to headline the mainstage, her band came on and a bloke stepped up to the microphone who I thought would introduce her, instead he introduced and sang the first number Good Thing Going, that left some of us wondering if Janet had transformed into a man, we needn't have worried it was her son singing, who quickly introduced his mum so she could get everyone vibing with her on Brenda Holloways immortal classic You Make Me So Very Happy this was great upbeat lovers rock. You Bring The Sun Out was totally true as the sun burned down on us, Janet's incredible vocals sounded brilliant. Janet then introduced I Do Love You that sounded so nice and upbeat when it broke down in the middle they went into Sitting In The Park that was of course one of John Peels favourite reggae tunes, this was a brilliant sing along with everyone trying to hit the high notes. Feel No Way kept the upbeat lovers rock vibe to make everyone happy with her husband Victor Romero Evans and their son providing the backing vocals.
Janet told us we would all know the next song and encouraged us all to sing along to Betcha By Golly Wow the old Stylistics classic that had a heavier bass and backbeat and it seemed like the whole of Somers Town was singing along to the chorus. It was time for everyone to Rock To The Rhythm she totally had the crowd with her and everyone was up to singing along with her on Rose Royce's Wishing On A Star that was nicely stretched out, of course she closed with a monumental version of Silly Games that I think only about one in 30 of the audience got anywhere near the high notes but she made sure we all sang along and it really had an all-inclusive party vibe that was perfect too end the days music, it shouldn't need saying but Janet is still a total musical treasure and well worth seeing live with her pin sharp, super tight band.
This was another great day out in Somers Town, totally wacky and a totally great fun way to celebrate 150 years of the Pearly Kings & Queens of London. Thanks to everyone involved in organising this great free day out.
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